304 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



ligious views; we can say of them as well as of their 



heathen brethren: 



"Some are good, some are middling, the greater 

 part are bad." — Martialis. 



"Habit has produced the custom." — Ovidius. 



Missionary work has done more good in supplying the 

 starving with food, the sick with nursing and with medi- 

 cal treatment, the poor with clothing and in the educa- 

 tion of children than in the christianization of the peo- 

 ple. The door to the heart of the Hindu is charity. 



The greatest .virtue of the coolie is his willingness to 

 work. It is the coolie who cultivates the fields, loads 

 and unloads vessels and cars, cleans the streets, empties 

 the cesspools and perforins all other menial work, for 

 wages which range from 8 to 32 cents a day. He has 

 held his place in the competition for cheap labor against 

 Chinese and Japanese, and against cheap workmen from 

 other parts of the world. He meets the demand for 

 labor in India and the low wages with which he is con- 

 tent have so far effectually prevented outside competi- 

 tion, and owing to the dense population and the severe 

 struggle for existence which are in evidence everywhere, 

 preclude the idea of a possible betterment of the condi- 

 tion of the laboring classes. The coolie has no desire 

 to accumulate wealth ; he is satisfied if by hard toil he 

 is able to keep the wolf from the door. His needs are 

 few, and what many a Chicago family spends every 

 day for newspapers will support himself, his wife and 

 children. From experience he can say : 



"Ye immortal gods, men know not how great a 

 revenue economy is." — Cicero. 



INDIAN ART. 



India is a groat art museum. The ancient palaces, 

 temples and tombs are the silent witnesses of the exqui- 

 site workmanship of native artists, who lived and worked 

 here centuries before Solomon's temple was built. The 

 masonrv of many of these remnants of ancient archi- 

 tecture is the wonder of the leaders of the craft to-day. 



