116 THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW 



away from them. We planted out a lot of mango, guava, 

 orange, and lemon trees, papitas and bananas. Imagine 

 I have given a man or woman a banana shoot about eigh- 

 teen inches high. He plants it and waters it and in that 

 rich soil and sunshine it is soon up ten to twelve feet. 

 The big heart-shaped purple flower appears like the 

 knob of a shepherd's crook and as each petal falls off, 

 out shoots a little green finger-like banana. It is not 

 very long until there is a great big beautiful bunch of 

 bananas. About the time it is ripening I notice a little 

 wooden bed at the foot of the banana plant and I say 

 to the man or woman on it, "Hello, have you taken to 

 living the simple life, do you find that sleeping in the 

 open air improves your complexion?" "0, no, Sahib, 

 it is not that but that my friends and neighbors have 

 become so interested in this bunch of bananas that they 

 are sampling them and if I want any for myself I must 

 stay pretty close by." Or imagine a man with a cauli- 

 flower patch or potatoes just about ready. It does not 

 matter what a priest or Mahatma a thousand miles away 

 says about curing leprosy, the man with the garden patch 

 says, "I planted it and watered it and before I leave 

 I am going to taste the fruit thereof." So with the 

 good hand of our God upon us, gardening has been a 

 great blessing to the asylum. It has given the leper 

 something to occupy his time, something more to eat, has 

 made discipline easy and has been of the greatest service 

 in keeping the leper in the asylum. Ninety-eight per 

 cent, of the lepers in the asylum have come to regard it 

 as their permanent home. They do not wander, they 

 do not want to be driven out as they have established 

 themselves in their little houses and are as happy as peo- 

 ple can be suffering from such a terrible disease. 



