the heathen will contribute to support their wretched religion. A rich
native in Calcutta has been known to spend more than one hundred
thousand dollars on a single festival--the festival of the goddess
Karle--and more than thirty thousand dollars every year afterwards
during his life, for the same purpose. Not long since, a rich native
gave at one time to his idols more than one million two hundred thousand
dollars. And what have Christians ever done to honor their Saviour,
which will bear a comparison with what the heathen do for their idols?
Alas, alas, few Christian men or Christian women, in all the church, are
willing to give even one-tenth of their annual income to the Lord. Most
of those who are rich, hoard up their money, instead of spending it for
the purpose of saving souls. And there are many persons who have never
given a farthing to send the Gospel to the heathen. O, what will such
say, when they must meet the heathen at the bar of God?




CHAPTER XIII.

THE GODDESS DURGA.


My dear Children--From what I said, in my last chapter, about the
goddess Gunga, you see that the Hindoos worship goddesses as well as
gods. There is another goddess much worshipped the wife of the god Siva.
She has appeared in a thousand forms, with a thousand different names.
Of all these thousand forms, Durga and Karle are the most regarded by
the people. I will speak of Durga first. Of all the festivals in Eastern
India, hers is the most celebrated. She has ten hands, in which she