Introduction
Born: September 11, 1853, Benares (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, India.
Baptized: December 1, 1853.
Died: 1937, Cawnpore (now Kanpur), Uttar Pradesh, India.
Born: September 11, 1853, Benares (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, India.
Baptized: December 1, 1853.
Died: 1937, Cawnpore (now Kanpur), Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ellen was the daughter of Reverend Nehemiah Goreh, a Maratha Brahmin convert from Hinduism, and Lakshmibai Jongalekar.
Her mother died when she was two months old, and she was adopted first by a Mr. Smailes, an indigo planter, but he lost his property in the 1857 Mutiny.
It was arranged that Ellen should go to the CMS Orphanage at Benares, but she was instead adopted by Reverend W. T. Storrs, a missionary.
She was taken to England, where she was educated, first in a private school in York, then in the Home and Colonial College in London.
When we came to England for a time, in 1865, we brought
Nelliewith us, and were, by the aid of kind friends, able to put her to a good school.When we returned to England, in 1871, she again rejoined us in our English home, and has been to us indeed as a daughter, and a most beloved one, and to our children altogether as a sister.
As year by year God’s grace has grown and shone more and more brightly in her, the wish has increased in her heart to go out and work among her own countrywomen; and now that desire has at last been gratified. She left England in October, 1880.
Mrs. Storrs
Home WordsPublishing Office, 1883)
Listen, listen, English sisters,
Hear an Indian sister’s plea—
Grievous wails, dark ills revealing,
Depths of human woe unsealing,
Borne across the deep blue sea!
We are dying day by day,
With no bright, no cheering ray:
Nought to lighten up our gloom—
Cruel, cruel, is our doom.
Listen, listen, Christian sisters,
Show ye have a Christ-like heart;
Hear us sadly, sadly moaning,
’Neath our load of sorrow groaning,
Writhing ’neath its bitter smart;
With no hope of rest above,
Knowing not a Father’s love;
Your true sympathy we crave,
You can help us, you can save.
Listen, listen, Christian sisters:
Hark! they call, and call again;
Can ye pass them by, unheeding
All their eager, earnest pleading?
Hear ye not their plaintive strain?
Let your tender hearts be moved,
Let your love to Christ be proved:
Not by idle tears alone,
But by noble actions shown.
This is no romantic story,
Not an idle, empty tale;
Not a vain, far-fetched ideal:
No, your sisters’ woes are real.
Let their pleading tones prevail,
As ye prize a Father’s love,
As ye hope for rest above,
As your sins are all forgiven,
As ye have a home in heaven!
Rise, and take the Gospel message,
Bear its tidings far away;
Far away to India’s daughters:
Tell them of the living waters,
Flowing, flowing, day by day,
That they too may drink and live.
Freely have ye, freely give;
Go, disperse the shades of night
With the glorious Gospel light.
Many jewels, rare and precious,
If ye sought them, ye should find,
Deep in heathen darkness hidden.
Ye are by the Master bidden,
If ye know that Master’s mind.
Bidden, did I say? Ah no!
Without bidding ye will go
Forth to seek the lone and lost;
Rise and go, whate’er it cost!
Would ye miss His welcome greeting
When He comes in glory down?
Rather would ye hear Him saying—
As before Him ye are laying
Your bright trophies for His crown—
I accept your gathered spoil,
I have seen your earnest toil;
Faithful ones, well done! well done!
Ye shall shine forth as the sun!
Ellen Lakshmi Goreh
From India’s Coral Strand, 1883
Being attacked with scarlet fever while residing in a large family of children, Miss Goreh was removed by her own desire to the 7 Fever Hospital.
During the time she was there, God was pleased to give her a mission of usefulness to the patients on each side of her. These lines were written in the Hospital.
From India’s Coral Strand, 1883
Led aside! What meaneth this?
Greatest blessing, highest bliss!
Sweet communion with my Lord,
Humbly listening to His Word.
’Mid the stir of daily life,
’Mid the tumult and the strife,
I could not learn what He would teach me:
His gentle voice could never reach me.
Called away from all I love,
Closer drawn to One above:
Human voices may be hushed,
Brightest, noblest hopes be crushed:
Sometimes lonely, sometimes sad,
Often joyful, often glad:
But Jesus Christ is always near me:
If I but whisper, He will hear me.
Laid aside from work for Him,
Though hot tears my eyes should dim,
Nothing, nothing
I would be!
If He really needed me,
He would not have laid me low:
Well His tender love I know.
Now laid aside from pleasant duty,
I gaze and see the Saviour’s beauty.
Called away to rest awhile
’Neath the sunshine of His smile:
Such a joy I would not miss!
If I could, I fain would kiss
That kind hand which brought me here!
Can it be a desert drear
Where love my pathway is surrounding?
All, all I have! and am abounding!
Laid aside—behold I lie,
Humbled ’neath Thy searching eye.
Painful lessons I am taught;
Now I know why I was brought
Here aside, my Lord, with Thee:
I was blind, but now I see!
I do not shrink: dear Master, teach me—
All sound is hushed:
Thy voice can reach me.
Called away to Jesu’s side,
Here content I will abide;
Peace, sweet peace, my spirit fills:
Every murmuring thought He stills:
All my tears He wipes away,
Turns the darkness into day.
Some work for Him e’en here is given,
A few dear souls to lead to Heaven.
Laid aside—yet not for long;
Sigh shall soon give place to song.
Even now I only praise
Him who humbled but to raise:
Polished by His skillful Hand,
Perfected in Him I stand.
O Jesus, Lord, I kneel before Thee:
With grateful heart, lo! I adore Thee.
Soon, again, I shall rejoice:
Soon again, with gladsome voice,
I shall spread the Saviour’s fame,
Shed the fragrance of His Name.
Of His wondrous goodness tell,
Greet the friends I love so well.
More earnest yet, more humble, make me
Through all my life do not forsake me!
Ellen Lakshmi Goreh
From India’s Coral Strand, 1883
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