Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-02-29

.of the breyiity 81 their breath. Toward
the close 81 the last century d tenant OF
Mr.. Way, at Hoske ton, ii Suffolk, died,
leaving 8 widow with "a children, the
oldest Of whom was o girl under Ia years
of age. He had rented IA acres Of pas
ture land, on which he kept two cows. /
These COWS, with his little furniture and
clothing, were all the property he left.
The parish Of which he had been. an in
habitant was within the district Of an
incorp GRATED house Of industry where
the rule was TO receive proper objects
within the walls, but not to allow any
thing for the Ioutpoor, except III peculiar
cases. The directors Of the establish
ment offered to relieve the widow by
taking her seven Youngest children into
the house. When this was
proposed to her she I re-
piled in great agitation that she would
rather die in working to maintain her
children than part with any Of them
or she would go with all Of them into
the house and work for them there; but
if her landlord would continue her in
the farm she would undertake to bring
up the whole fourteen without any help
from the parish. She was strong
woman, about forty five years old and
Of noble spirit; happily, too, she had to.
deal with benevolent man.. He told
her she should continue his tenant and
hold the land for the first year rent Free.
and at the same time, unknown to her,
he directed his receiver not to call upon
her afterward, thinking it would be a
great thing if she could maintain so.
large family. But this further iber-
atty was not needed. She brought her
rent regularly every year after the first,
| held the land until she had placed
| twelve of the children in service, and
then resigned it to take the employment
of nurse, which would enable her to
provide for the remaining two for the
little time longer they needed support,
| and which was more suited to her
declining years. ~
The delicate, refined and religious
custom of the Hindoo widow, disdaining
to live after her husband, mounts the
funeral pyre on which his body is placed,
displays an amiability or faith only
equaled by the doctrines Of antique Or
thodoxy, which condemns every babe
not baptized to eternal torments. It is
claimed that the custom was introduced
with view Of making wives more care
tul Of preserving their husbands when
alive. A wife poisoned her husband,
and, to prevent all others from follow
| ing her example, it was decreed that
when husbands died their wives should
die with them. This theory is, howev-
er, at variance with the idea that the
sacrifice must be voluntary. Last sea-
son, when the Kiralfy Brothers put
on Around the World in Eighty Days"
Aonda, the Raiah's widow and heroine
of the play was not anxious to be burned
up, and she appealed to European
| tourists, ! who rescue her by
strategy from her fate. The tour
lists persuade their valet, Passepartout,
to personate the deceased, who, mount
! ing the grave in Hindoo costume, re-
proaches them for burying him alive,
| and forbids the unnecessary sacrifice
A Hindoo woman who resolves to die on
her husbands altar abstains from food
| as soon as her husband is dead. She
chews betel and invokes without ceas-
ing the god of her husbands sect.
When the fatal hour arrives she adorns
herself with her jewels, puts on her
most costly attire, as if she were going
to festival. Her relatives and friends
accompany her to the music Of drums
and trumpets.. The victim affectionately
embraces her friends and relations,
among whom she distributes her Jewels
| and ornaments. They bless her and en-
treat her prayers that they may have a
like fortitude. The widows generally
meet death with heroic firmness and
constancy, satisfied that in thus barring
themselves from conjugal attachment
they deliver their husbands from the
torment Of the next world, no matter
what crimes they may have committed
in this. Mr.. HOWELL, who was ono of
the prisoners in the famous Black Hole
of Calcutta, tells of one Hindoo wild
ow who, on being told the pain she
must suffer, put her finger into the fire
! and held it there for considerable time,
| after which she put fire on tho palm of
her hand, laid incense upon it and fun
igated the Brahms who were present.
Forbes, who spent many years in India,
and who wrote Oriental Memoirs" re-
lates the case of female whose hus-
band had amply provided for her, and
which is unusual among Hindoos, made
| her entirely independent Of her family.
She persisted in her determination to
accompany him to a better world, and
suffered not the tears Of an aged mother
and the cries of three helpless infants
to divert her from her purpose The
funeral pyre WAS erected, an immense
concourse Of people of all ranks assn
bled and a band Of music accompanied
the Brahms, who superintendent the
ceremony. The bower of death, en-
wreathed with sacred flowers, was erect
ed over pile Of sandal wood and spices,
on which lay the body Of the deceased,
After various ceremonies the music
ceased, and the crowd in solemn silence
awaited the arrival Of the heroine. II.
She approached, accom- anied by her
mother and three beautiful children,
richly attired, and wearing the hymene-
al crown. an ornament peculiar to q
! Hindoo bride at her marriage. After a
| few religious ceremonies the attendants
took off her jewels anointed her disheve-
led hair with consecrated ghee as also
the skirts Of FLOWING robe Of yellow mus
lin. Two prattling babes chung around
her knees to dissuade her from her fatal
purpose, The last pledge Of conjugal
| love was taken from her bosom by her
aged parent, in speechless agony.
/ Freed from these heartrending mourn
ers the lovely widow, with an air of
solemn majesty, received lighted torch
from the xBrahmins, with whom she
walked seven times around the pyre.