Grace Cottage
Mahableshwar [town in India]
March 29, 1894.Dear Friends:
As you see by the heading I am now up here among the hills, some 4000 ft. above sea level. There is a remarkable difference between the air here and that on the plains. Here it is cool and bracing and reminds me of the home atmosphere. The journey hither from Nagar is performed by rail to Wathar, via Poona, and thence by carriage the rest of the way. I arranged to come in a pheaton [sic] with two English ladies with whom I am acquainted. The horses are changed every six miles and thus we were able to make the entire distance of 40 miles in 8 hours between 2 and 10 A.M. although we had a long steep hill or ghal [sic - should be ghat] as it is called, to climb. We too chota hazri (the early morning meal) at War with our two lady missionaries there Mrs. Sibley and Miss Gordon. Mrs. Sibley is a widow lady about 35 years old, whose husband died very soon after he came out. She is a very sweet woman. These two ladies are holding the fort bravely in that large city where heathenism is especially rampant. An ordained missionary is sadly needed there and perhaps the Fairbanks will be sent thither.
I found one little girl at Mahableshwar that was surely delighted to see me. The next day after I came we began keeping house by ourselves in Grace Cottage one of the houses of the mission. There are four such houses, situated in pairs, Grace Cottage and Murray House being in the same compound and Green Hill and the Cliff being near each other about a mile away. The Cliff is the bungalow for the unmarried ladies of the mission. Green Hill is occupied by the Brissells, Fairbanks and Winsors; the Smiths and Mr. Abbott are to be in Murray House, while the Ballantines and Lawsons will occupy Grace Cottage. The Ballantines have just had a little son born to them, hence they will not be here for some days and we shall keep house till they come. We have our rooms fixed up very cosily. We brought two servants from Nagar besides the tongawallah or coachman. We are using on the table the silver ware which you girls were so kind in giving us for a wedding present, and it looks very nice.
We have a pundit here and are studying the language regularly. Then almost every afternoon there is something going on, a walk excursion, tennis party or something similar, so that our time is fully occupied. Mah. is a beautiful place. Unlike the Deccan, there are an abundance of trees here. A great many English people spend the two hot months here, including his Excellency, Lord Harris, Governor of the Bombay Presidency.
The Hardings and Bruces are to be at Panchgani about 10 miles away. But we all get together for the semi annual meeting in May. These weeks at the Hills are a time for the different members of the mission to become well acquainted with each other, and to devise plans for the work and get health and strength for the rest of the year on the plains.
Up here among the mountains is the abode of wild animals. A good sized panther was shot not far from here the other night. It is a common thing to see wolves coming down to the lake to drink. A few weeks ago a very large tiger was shot three or four miles away. He had killed a great many cattle and a few days before he was shot he had eaten a man.
You needn't be afraid however that we shall be eaten although Dedie wants a tiger skin very much and maybe she will send me to shoot one some day.
George, I have not yet received the fountain pen. It is time that it should be here but I am hoping that it will yet reach me safely.
I have not brought my typewriter so I will follow the old plan of sending this letter to George and having him send it home.
Yours with love
Harvey M. Lawson.P.S. Send all letters after May 1 to Ahmednagar as we shall leave here the last of May.
H.M.L.
[Harvey and his wife Dedie were at the Marathi Mission in Western India. This is also where Samuel Fairbanks was at the time, although his Mount Holyoke wives Abby Allen and Mary Ballantine were both deceased by 1894. Their children are likely the Fairbanks and the Ballantines referenced in the letter.]