"But I am glad," the little sufferer replied, "because I shall go to
Jesus. If you, mother, would love him, and give up your idols, we should
meet again in heaven."

An hour afterwards Rajee went to heaven; but I have never heard whether
her mother gave up her idols.

THE GANGES.--This beautiful river waters the sultry plain of Bengal. God
made this river to be a blessing, but man has turned it into a curse. The
Hindoos say the River Ganges is the goddess Gunga; and they flock from
all parts of India to worship her. When they reach the river they bathe
in it, and fancy they have washed away all their sins. They carry away
large bottles of the sacred water for their friends at home.

But this is not all; very cruel deeds are committed by the side of the
river. It is supposed that all who die there will go to the Hindoo
heaven. It is therefore the custom to drag dying people out of their
beds, and to lay them in the mud, exposed to the heat of the broiling
sun, and then to pour pails of water over their heads.

One sick man, who was being carried to the water, covered up as if he
were dead, suddenly threw off the covering, and called out, "I am not
dead, I am only very ill." He knew that the cruel people who were
carrying him were going to cast him into the water while he was still
alive: but nothing he could say could save him: the cruel creatures
answered, "You may as well die _now_ as at any other time;" and so they
drowned him, pretending all the while to be very kind.

It is thought a good thing to be thrown into the river after death. The
Ganges is the great burying-place; and dead bodies may be seen floating