82 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



ment, and the single eye in the centre is the ' Eye of 

 Enlightenment ' ; the elephant's trunk suggests innate 

 power, the circle of eyes means all-seeing ; the serpent 

 signifies eternal, a serpent with its tail in its mouth having 

 been the universal emblem of eternity from the most hoary 

 antiquity in all lands and among all peoples. The count- 

 less members symbolise the abstract ideas of all-pervading, 

 all-controlling, and all-creating in every place at the same 

 time. What is this but the Jehovah of the Old Testament 

 and our own Christian God — Omniscient, Omnipotent, 

 Immanent — crudely, coarsely, if you like, here symbolised. 

 Truly if one will but look with the understanding, inner 

 eye, God, the One and the Same, is to be discerned in the 

 kernel and marrow of every creed, in every age, and in 

 every consciousness. 



Many a lesson have I learnt during talks with my 

 1 heathen ' ayahs, from one especially, who was with me 

 for many years, and only left me when I bid my last good- 

 bye to India. Her name — rather a musical one — was 

 Logan-harri ; she came to me when she was twenty-five, 

 a grandmother already ! On my asking her once why she 

 put flowers and kept a tiny lamp burning in a certain spot 

 — the hollow of a tree in an avenue — she answered me with 

 another question : ' Why does Little Missus put flowers in 

 front of Big Missus' picture always ? ' which was true of 

 me. By the ' Big Missus ' she meant my dear mother in 

 England, while I was the ' Little Missus.' She spoke very 

 pretty, fluent English. I understood her thought, and 

 was answered, also rebuked. ' Only that why, Missus.' 

 And she went on to explain about the lamp, which signified 

 ' a light in a dark place ' ; thus had she been taught 

 by her priests. I never forgot that short ' heathen ' 

 sermon. 



One morning I had a visit from a Salvation Army lass. 

 Began she : ' Was ' my ' ayah a Christian ? ' so I sum- 



