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On offer are a super pair [2] of stampless folded letters handwritten by famed American missionary Levi Spaulding, born in New Hampshire, educated at Dartmouth dated 1846 and 1847 and written at 44 West Washington place, in New York, they are addressed to Reverend Lewis Rousseau in West Troy, NY. In the first letter Spaulding writes about the children of Ceylon: "At our boarding school for girls at Oodoville we have more than 100 children. We take them at the age of from 7 to 9 and keep them until married, on the average maybe at the age of 16 or 17 (from 14-19). As soon as a child enters the school she takes it for granted that she must be a Christian. She hears about Jesus and the resurrection - talks with the other girls - visits the prayer room 2 or 3 times a day - holds meeting with other children.As soon as she can read the Tamil language she commences the study of English & again this language is taught to read, to write, and to recite in arithmetic, geography, etc. .of these 80 only 3 have been married and left the school who have not given good evidence of a change of heart & been members of our church.$20.00 dollars a year for about 8 or 9 years.has turned the heart of a heathen child from idols to Jesus & given her the hope of salvation." Letter two is datelined Oodooville Oct 22, 1847, but was hand carried to Boston, and placed in the mails, wherein Reverend Spaulding writes "Simply preaching in the American sense to this people seems not so effectual as teaching them to observe all things whatsoever C. has commanded, or if we preach it must be repeated so often and so long that it must amount to teaching before an impression is made. He writes about a girl in the class, the failing health of Miss A. a 2nd part of the letter is about Elira Ann Tyler, who is in the school.There are now 28 members of our church out of 85 belonging to the school. Nine have been married with in the year. He goes on with more facts about the school." BIO NOTES from one online source: Levi Spaulding, , missionary, born in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 22 August, 1791 ; died in Ceylon, 18 June, 1873. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1815, finished his theological course at Andover seminary three years later, and soon afterward was ordained at Salem, Massachusetts In 1820 he arrived as a missionary of the American board at Jaffna, Ceylon, where he labored fifty-four years, making but one visit to the United States during that period. In addition to his missionary labors, he superintended the Oodooville boarding-school for girls and prepared tracts, hymns, and school-books in the Tamil language, many of the best lyrics in the vernacular hymn-book being from his pen. Among his principal works are a translation of "Pilgrim's Progress" a "Scripture History" a Tamil dictionary (Madras, 1844), an enlarged edition of an English and Tamil dictionary, "Notes on the Bible" and a revision of the Scriptures in Tamil. He was one of the most accurate Tamil scholars in southern India, using the language with great facility and power. Ten days before his death "Father Spaulding" as he was called, celebrated the fifty-fourth anniversary of his embarkation at Boston for Ceylon, at which time he was the oldest missionary of the American board. VG Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
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