Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a CenturyMassey, Montague
History
Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century
Massey, Montague
Calcutta (India) -- Description and travel; Massey, Montague -- Travel -- India -- Calcutta
After a little while, we made friends with a good many of the people
round about, who were at first rather inclined to be shy and
suspicious, but eventually we obtained promises that they would send
their children to the school and services which we intended shortly to
hold. We then took a small ground floor tenement standing in its own
compound, which had evidently not been occupied for some time, as the
man in charge, soon after we had entered into possession, caught two
large cobras. We furnished the centre room in a modest sort of fashion
and started business. We used to take it in turn every Sunday evening,
and later on we secured the loan of a harmonium, and were happy in
enlisting the good offices of a lady of the name of Cameron, who
played all the hymn tunes for us, to the accompaniment of which the
children sang, and this had the effect of considerably brightening and
enlivening the services. Later on we were joined by two others, one a
young barrister of the High Court, both of whose names I have most
unfortunately forgotten.
We carried on in this manner for about two years, when I resigned,
feeling that my place could be filled by much better and abler men.
The Rev. E. Darley took over charge about 1877, until the late Canon
Jackson appeared on the scene, and infused new vigour and fresh life
into the Mission. He was ably assisted by the lady who eventually
became his wife, who had been the widow of Mr. Charles Piffard, a
well-known and highly respected member of the Calcutta Bar, and she
was also the sister of our popular fellow-citizen, Mr. J.T. Hume.
Canon and Mrs. Jackson, by their strenuous activity and energy,
combined with the beautiful and simple life of self-denial and
sacrifice they daily lived, succeeded in developing the scope of the
Mission and creating it into the important centre of religious
activity that we see in Calcutta at the present day. Though they have
gone never to return, their spirit still lives, and the noble work
they so wonderfully achieved is for ever imperishably enshrined in
letters of gold and will stand out for all time as a beacon and an
example to generations yet unborn.
THE OXFORD MISSION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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