194 



. . . where some of those Sikhs live who came back from 

 Canada on that ship Komagatu Maru and are trying to stir 

 up sedition. ... A lot of them landed at Ludhiana. I saw 

 them wandering about in European clothes, their long hair 

 was cut and also their beards shaved off, so that I scarcely 

 recognized them. . . . The Ludhiana district is a bad one 

 for thieves. The Salvation Army people have started a weav- 

 ing business where many thieves live, hoping to redeem them 

 from such lives — having to steal for a living. 



By February 20, 1915, she had grown a bit critical: 



Have our letters been opened by the censor? Yours all are — 

 even the newspapers. One week a bit was cut out — I suppose 

 it wasn't fit for us to read. It now takes 6 weeks for yours to 

 reach us. 



Reporting at once on things medical, psychological, spiri- 

 tual, economic and political, she continued: 



One afternoon about 4.30 your papa and I went to call on 

 the doctors of the Med School. It was their tea-time and we 

 thought they would be in. They are so busy they are hard to 

 catch. Dr Maja came to the door and said that Soni had taken 

 strychnine. So Dr Brown ran, and the girl denied having taken 

 it, but was dead an hour afterwards. There were 2 native girls 

 who were fast friends but they had quarreled and the other 

 one had taken up with another girl as her friend so this one 

 said she couldn't live without her and did take poison and lied 

 about it. They are so silly sometimes. Plague is very bad in the 

 Panjab just now. I have closed my little school, as the father 

 of one of the boys died and some were sick in the homes from 

 which the children come ... It is pitiful to see and hear 

 them when anyone dies. I passed a house a few days ago from 

 which I heard a woman screaming. I inquired and found that 

 her 14 yr old boy had just died of plague . . . Lest you may 

 not have reed my letter I thank you again for the pretty blouse 

 & the nice necktie for your papa. They are just what we 

 needed. . . . While away this last time the missionaries' 

 salaries were raised to $100 a month, so that we have plenty. 

 22nd Feb Those Sikhs that came back from Canada are 

 trying to do somebody harm. They have thrown several 



