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Marriages.

BRADBURY-WILD.-Recently, by license, in the Baptist chapel, Kegworth, by Rev. T. Yates, William Bradbury, Gent., of Castle Donington, to Miss Hannah Wild. BROOKS-COLLIN.-July 24, at the Pound Lane chapel, Isleham, by the Rev. G. Towler, Mr. John Brooks, of Cambridge, to Caroline Collin, of Isleham.

BROWN-CROSS.-July 9, at the G. B. chapel, Beeston, near Nottingham, by Rev. H. Cross, brother of the bride, the Rev. James Brown, of Desford, to Catherine, second daughter of Mr. H. Cross, Chilwell. GOADBY WOODHOUSE.- In July, at Mansfield Road chapel, Nottingham, by Rev. S. Cox, assisted by Rev. T. Goadby, B.A., the Rev. F. W. Goadby, M.A., of Bluntisham, Hunts, to Miss E. Woodhouse, of Nottingham.

DENNIS-BARTON.-July 23, in the chapel at Babbington, Nottinghamshire, by Rev. T. Yates (uncle of the bride), Mr. Richard Dennis, near Pontefract, to Miss Edderline Barton, of Newthorpe, Notts.

GREENWOOD - JACKSON. - Aug. 17, at Shore, by Rev. J. Maden, Mr. John Greenwood, Mount, to Miss Emma Jackson.

GRAY-STAPLES.-Aug. 15, at Archdeacon Lane chapel, by the Rev. T. Stevenson, Mr. W. Davis Gray, to Elizabeth Alice, youngest daughter of the late Mr. James Staples, of Leicester.

WEBB-ASHBY.-Aug. 5, at Edinburgh, by the Rev. J. Gentles, of Trinity College Church, Frederick Webb, ironmonger, Leicester, to Eliza, youngest daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Ashby, of Leicester. WOOLLEY-MELLOR.-July 1, in the Baptist chapel, Kegworth, by Rev. T. Yates, Mr. Isaac Woolley, of Kegworth, to Miss Mary Mellor.

Obituaries.

CHESMAN.-May 28, at West Butterwick, after a short illness, Thomas Chesman departed this life in the sixty-eighth year of his age, much and deservedly regretted by a large circle of friends, and especially by the church of which he had been a consistent member for five years. Though far advanced in life before he publicly professed his faith in Christ, he had for many years lived a life of faith in the Lord Jesus; but in the summer of 1867 he felt it to be his duty, as well as his privilege, to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. He was cordially received into our fellowship; and during these few years he lived to be useful. Some important improvements lately made in our ancient place of worship have been made at his entire expense. His house was always open for the entertainment of our preachers and friends who came from a distance. He was naturally kind and genial, a lover of good men, and a friend to the poor. He knew in whom he had believed, and felt that He was able to keep that which he had committed unto Him. His end was peace. He fell asleep in Jesus, and rests in our burying ground at Butterwick, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to life eternal.

CURRY.-Mary, the wife of Mr. Henry Curry, of Wisbech, died very suddenly on 17th June. She had attended divine service twice on the previous Sabbath, and was apparently in her usual health. Shortly after retiring to rest, her husband heard her moan as if in pain, and, on procuring a light, it was found that life had already departed. Mrs. Curry had been a consistent useful member of the Ely Place church twenty-eight years. Her piety was of a deep

and earnest character, and bore fruit in a thankful, cheerful, and hopeful disposition. Her chief desire in life was to see her chil. dren become partakers of the blessings of true religion. Nothing could satisfy her heart until she saw this desire accomplished. Her conversation with Christian friends, her daily prayers, her letters to "the absent one," had this for their chief topic and aim. Happy the sons and daughters blessed by such Christian solicitude and care. Well would it be for our churches, and for our country, if all mothers felt the same anxiety for the religious and eternal welfare of their children. Mrs. Curry was one of those "holy women" whose removal creates a gap in the church which it is not an easy thing to fill. W. E. W.

NEWMAN.-July 27, at Callander, N.B., Mrs. Sarah Newman, the beloved wife of Mr. William Newman, late of Legbourne, Louth, Lincolnshire, departed this life; and was interred at Willoughby, Aug. 1.

WALLIS.-On Wednesday, Sept. 6th, 1871, Elizabeth Wallis, of Kegworth, departed this life. She had been a member of the Baptist church several years. She was in humble circumstances, and could not do much for the Saviour; but her "meek and quiet spirit," coupled with her firm adherence to the truth of the gospel, and her regular attendance on the means of grace, afforded pleasing evidence of decided piety. Her last affliction was very short. The first Lord's day in Sept., she was with her Christian friends, in the Sanctuary; and on the Wednesday following was with her Saviour, in His kingdom. We have no doubt of her happiness. "Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord." T. Y.

Missionary Observer.

LIBERAL OFFER TO COLLECTORS FOR THE MISSION.

THE following letter was received too late for insertion last month. The subject is so important that we give it the first place this month, and trust no time will be lost in accepting the very generous proposal of our correspondent's friend. The young people throughout our churches, whose hearts are full of missionary zeal, might, by volunteering to become Collectors, at once secure that this offer shall not be a failure. The Secretary of the Mission will gladly forward supplies of penny-a-week Collecting Books. The application for them should, as a rule, come through the minister of the church, or the secretary of the local auxiliary.

Dear young friends, ask your minister to write for four Collecting Books for every hundred members of the church. Mr. Orton's friend will give the first penny a week to each of you, and other friends, either in the church or congregation, will gladly help you to fill them.

To the Editor of the Missionary Observer.

Dear Sir,-I am authorized by one of my friends to say that he will gladly increase his contributions, if others will co-operate with him in improving the yearly income of the Mission.

It is, no doubt, in the memory of your readers that some months ago the Committee earnestly asked for an increase in the staff of Collectors, and suggested that there should be, in every church, at least one Collector to every twenty-five members. Acting on this suggestion, some of the churches have increased the number of Collectors, and the results have been very satisfactory. In order to encourage this movement my friend authorized me to say, in the Missionary Observer for June, 1871, "Let every church in the London and Lincolnshire Conferences have a Collector for every twenty-five members, and a warm friend of the Mission hereby engages to subscribe a penny a week to every one of the Collectors." It is now my privilege to state that this same friend is prepared to go beyond the limits previously named, and hereby extends his liberal offer for twelve months to all the churches in the General Baptist Connexion.

The friends who were present at the late Association know how much was said to awaken missionary zeal, and how many suggestions were made with the view of increasing the missionary funds. Besides the generous effort of Mr. Cook for the Mission to Rome, it was said, "we must do more for Orissa," "let us curtail our personal expenditure, and let us double our subscriptions," and a variety of other proposals were made which it is hoped will none of them be disregarded. The plan proposed, however, by my friend, is so simple, so easy of arrangement, and so sure to produce important results, that, with all my heart, I commend it to all the churches. It will extend widely an interest in the Mission; it will, in many cases at

least, increase the contributions from individual churches; and it will enable my friend to add, from his own resources, not less than £150 for the year.

I am, dear Sir,

Yours cordially,

Bourn, July 23, 1872.

WILLIAM ORTON.

N.B.-If churches adopting the plan suggested will kindly forward to me the names of their appointed collectors, my friend will, in due time, supply the amount of twelve months' subscription.

INUNDATION IN ORISSA. BY THE REV. J. BUCKLEY, D.D. Cuttack, July 6, 1872.

THE week now closing has been a very anxious one. The river has risen higher than has been known for many years; and we have been daily and nightly in dread of an inundation that would have inflicted damage on Cuttack that it would have required years to repair. The Lord has mercifully preserved us: the river is now so far gone down that there is no immediate dread of its overflowing its banks; but it is affecting to think of the damage done in many parts of the district. Cows, horses, buffaloes, elephants even, it is said, were seen carried down by the violence of the waters. One night the alarm was so great in Cuttack that many of the natives fled panic-stricken from their homes to places where it was supposed they would be safer; and as I laid myself down in peace to sleep I speculated on the possibility of waking and finding two or three feet of water in our bed-room; but from this calamity the Lord has preserved us. The damage done to the embankments is great, and it will probably cost the Government at least two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) to repair it but this is a comparatively small matter: the injury done to the crops must be very great, and several villages have been washed away. The loss of life, it is feared, is considerable, as many dead bodies were carried down by the violence of the flood; but our information from some parts of the district is as yet imperfect. Still there is no doubt that the sufferings of the poor will, in many places, be very great, as their houses have been carried away, and their little all destroyed. We are awaiting, with much anxiety,

tidings of the little flock at Khundittur, for their proximity to three rivers, the Khursua, the Brahmunee, and the Patooa, renders them particularly exposed to danger at a time like the present. For several nights the officers of the Public Works Departments and others were employed all the live-long night watching and working, as there were several places where it was feared the embankment would burst, in which case nothing could have saved Cuttack from an inundation.

This has been the greatest flood I have seen the inundation seventeen years ago was a few weeks before we left England. It was hoped that the protective works executed since that time by the Government would have saved us from the anxieties and fears we have had this week; but, probably, if it had not been for these works the damage done would have been very much greater.

In October, 1834, there was a destructive flood, and the College then newly built, was three or four feet in

water.

I wish I could convey to the minds of my readers the impressions made on my own as I looked on our great river when the water was at the highest. It was a grand and awful sight, as much so as any I have seen.

"Great God! how infinite art Thou,
What worthless worms are we.'

How impressive appeared the inspired description of human life, "Thou carriest them away as with a flood." The two ideas no doubt conveyed are rapidity and resistless force.

The post is, in our present circumstances, very irregular, and it is doubtful whether this will reach Calcutta before the departure of the next mail, but I hope it may. We are none of us

I

able to go to the ruth jattra this year on account of these circumstances. was preparing to go when the state of the river rendered it impracticable. I may add, that our apprehensions of danger from the rapid rise of the river began last Lord's-day, and continued till yesterday (Friday). I hope our young friends study the geography of Orissa; and for their information I may state that the source of the Mahanuddy is N. Lat. 20° 15', E. Long. 82°; but our danger this week arose from the Kajori, the principal branch of the Mahanuddy, which flows in a southern direction.

July 13.-I resume the melancholy story of last week. In the midst of judgment mercy has been remembered, and our news of Khundittur and Chaga is much more favourable than we had ventured to hope, for which we are very thankful.

Rice is becoming much dearer, and this will occasion great suffering to the poor. Government officers are now out in different parts of the district with a large supply of rice, salt, &c., and orders to relieve actual distress. The Commissioner told me that the Government would help those who were ready to help themselves; and we shall all agree that this is a right principle, especially as there is a great tendency in this country to throw every burden on the Government; but beyond the relief which the Government must administer, we shall all have much to do. As yet I don't see where the money is to come from; but the Lord will send it as soon as required.

Our merciful preservation at Cuttack is said to be owing to several breaches in the embankment-some of which were very large-a few miles up the river. One of these breaches is said to have been a thousand feet, and another six hundred. A lady of my acquaintance counted six elephants floating down the stream; there was a very large number of wild hogs; tigers too were seen, though I believe only a few; and strange to say, a horse and gig, the horse having silver trappings, and supposed to belong to some rajah or wealthy native. Many houses or roofs of houses were carried away with the poor people sitting on them. All that we hear shows with what awful suddenness the flood came, and with what rapidity and resistless violence,

wherever it overflowed its banks, it carried the people away. No estimate can as yet be given of the loss of life, but it must be great. The destruction of cattle has been immense. The judgments of God are abroad in the land. Oh that the people may turn to Him who has smitten them.

We had arranged to marry seven couples on Friday the 28th, but two of the bridegrooms who had to come from Chaga and therefore to cross the river, did not arrive at the hour appointed to go to chapel. We waited much more than an hour; still they did not make their appearance, and at length fearing that they might not be able to cross, we decided to go and marry the others. As the two brides who were left in the school saw their five companions depart, they had a good cry; but it did not end disastrously. As the service proceeded I perceived that some communication had been made to Mrs. Buckley that led her hastily to leave the chapel, and that one or two others went out at the same time. Thinking it probable that she had heard that the other bridegrooms were near, and that she was gone to fetch the two sorrowful brides, I lengthened the service till it could be known. This proved to be the case, and as no time was lost we were soon pleased to see the others come in to be united in the same happy bond; and so, though at first it had an untoward aspect, it ended satisfactorily. Let us hope that it will be so with the calamity of which I am writing. After the service more than six hundred sat down to the wedding feast on the school premises, and all seemed greatly to enjoy themselves.

BY THE REV. W. HILL.

Piplee, near Cuttack, July 10th, 1872.

Orissa is a land of drought and inundation. With scarcely any rain since last October, and with the thermometer ranging for weeks from 90° to 105°, we were suffering until about twenty days ago from drought. During the past ten days, however, this neighbourhood has been suffering from the greatest inundation that the oldest man living can remember. For months we had been sighing for rain, and from every direction there came the same

cry of "no water, no water;" rivers, tanks and wells, being alike dry. Much to our delight, on Friday, June 22nd, we had several smart showers, and so on the following day. On the Sunday the rain came down most freely, and at times it seemed as if the windows of heaven were opened, and the water was being poured down upon the thirsty ground. In England one inch of rain in a day is considered a good fall, but in less than two days we had more than ten inches, and in a week could not have had much less than twenty. As a consequence the country was submerged, and the roads became impassable. The rivers came down like infuriated beasts, and, refusing to be controlled by the ordinary embankments, overleaped their boundaries, scattering desolation around. Knowing the low and exposed situation of our village at Bileparda, we were anxious regarding the native christians, and famine orphans learning to be cultivators; but all communication was cut off, and to obtain information impossible. On the 3rd, one of the boys succeeded, with great difficulty, in reaching Piplee. He brought the painful tidings that on the previous Sunday night they had been driven out of the village by the flood, that since that time they had been on an adjoining hill without shelter, and with no food except a little rice which they managed to carry with them— that the bungalow and chapel, the school-room, and all the houses, had been washed down-that a bullock had been killed by a wall falling—and that the rice in store, as well as that sown in fields, had been alike destroyed. Early the next morning we had a sheep killed and sent it off to Bileparda with rice and other supplies, but the men returned saying that the river embankment had broken and they were unable to proceed, as the water was rushing in torrents across the road, the fields on each side being completely inundated. Other attempts were made to send supplies but, for upwards of a week, with no better success. During this period there was considerable fluctuation in the height of the water, which was owing, as we supposed, to the breaches in the embankment being enlarged or increased in number. The floods came into our premises, and had it not been for a new raised road, which runs between us and the river, our

house and school buildings must have been flooded also. As it was the road acted as an embankment, the water on the river side being several feet higher than on the other. Never before did I so realise the very uncertain tenure on which we occupy the land, and how soon we might be swept away. How

ill prepared we are for an inundation may be gathered from the fact that within an area of several miles there are no boats by which help could be obtained or afforded, and no high ground to which, in a case of necessity, we might flee.

To persons accustomed only to rivers in England it is difficult to give a correct idea of the rivers in Orissa, or at any rate of those parts of Orissa in which we reside. As the country approaches the Bay of Bengal it is low and flat, and being but a very little height above the level of the sea, it takes the water a long time to run off. In the rainy season the water from the high lands comes rushing down into the low country, and to prevent its spreading over the entire surface efforts are made to confine and direct it by means of embankments raised along the banks of the rivers. When the fall of rain is great and the rivers unable to carry off the water, inundation is the necessary consequence, and as the country is flat and low, it spreads over a wide surface, and lies a long time; rendering the land unhealthy and unprofitable. Useful, however, as the embankments are in preventing the low lands from becoming a swamp, they are necessarily attended with considerable danger, especially to those who reside in their immediate neighbourhood. In many parts they are ten or twelve, or more feet above the level of the country, and between these artificial banks, the rivers from a quarter of a mile to more than a mile in breadth, rush and roar furiously along, like, as has been said, so many mad bulls. With the embankments intact the raging waters are to a certain extent under control, but when the embankments give way and the waters break loose, they become simply irresistible, and with desolating effect sweep over the country below. The breaking of a river embankment in Orissa means the bursting of a reservoir, but with this difference, that the supply of water in the latter is limited, and in the former almost

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