114 THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW 



ing for a god, having wrapped up in a dirty little towel, 

 correspondence with women, society leaders, in some of 

 our American cities whom he had known when lecturing 

 as a Swami to American audiences. He was telling our 

 students what fools they were to let missionaries teach 

 them the Bible, as it was not taught in America any 

 more. I do not blame the leper for traveling so much, 

 since his quest is in search of health, but it made my 

 work among the lepers very difficult. It seemed as if 

 I were running some sort of a transient hotel wher^ the 

 lepers could come in for a day or two, pull themselves 

 together and out again. In those early days at least 

 ninety-five per cent, of the lepers in the asylum on the 

 first of January were off again on their travels before 

 the thirty-first of December. I conceived that the duty 

 of a superintendent of a leper asylum is two-fold. 

 First, he is to care for the leper, and obey Jesus' com- 

 mand to cleanse the leper. Secondly, he is to protect the 

 public from the menace of the leper at large. 



After studying a number of occupations, recognizing 

 the physical limitations of the leper, realizing that noth- 

 ing made in the leper asylum could be sold outside, but 

 must be consumed in the asylum, and having seen the 

 wonderful results of Colonel Hudson's garden in the 

 jail I decided that we would have gardening in the leper 

 asylum. When I announced this to the lepers they said, 

 ''But that is work, is it not, Sahib?" I said, "Yes, it 

 can be so considered." They said, ''If it is work we 

 don't want anj^hing to do with it." I had to bribe 

 them to take to the work. I gave seeds of fruit, vegeta- 

 bles and flowers to as many as I could persuade to take 

 them. I offered prizes beginning with five rupees, four, 

 three, two, one, down to two annas. With nine months 



