| Description | Sends report of six months' work; school at Tutucorin closed; have begun Tamil school in Tinnevelly town; had bought ground for school but site was objected to by Brahmins responsible for the adjoining pagoda; in meantime the schoolmaster negotiated rent of piece of ground and opened a school in May; the young man has since died and at present the school is closed; another new school opened at Nazareth, a village near Alvar Tinnevelly; all pupils are Christian; the master is Tiruvershappen the catechist who had been appointed to Poonjoon, but the behaviour of the people there proved so prevaricating that they were considered unfit as candidates for baptism; it will do good for the local people to realise that "there is a profession of Christianity purer than that which they have been accustomed to behold in the Roman Catholic's profession; at Sitamburapuram prospects are clouded by the ravages of cholera; the catechist and his wife were ill and returned to Tanjore; school for catechists has gained two pupils; there are two or three boys whose minds appear changed by their having received Christian education, one in particular has forsaken the pagoda and spends his leisure hours reading Christian books at home.
Postscript: 3 Aug 1819: Courtallum
Judge has suggested Hough should apply to government for ground on which to build a school; has suggested land and offered to sign Hough's petition [copy] |