Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-21

finds himself betrothed by his father 5 or
grandfather,s command to some girl
perhaps antinfantSof six or seven years
old, whom he has not seems nor does: he
see her till at the age OF fifteen or
thereabouts. While he is vet atschooli
heis sent ont to fetch her home to his
There the child-wifeg takes the lowest.
place, and becomesat once the toy and;
slave OF all the women. She has to-
learn her domestic duties under the
strict eye Of her mother-in-law, and
drudges on; unless indeed, Gas is gem
orally the case,) Tiers is widow il
the family to have all the work heaped.
upon her; for q Hindoo widow is. the,
cursed of gods and men. However,
even IL this bethe case, the child-wife
must learn to do her work, which is
often mental, and must absolutely obey
her mother-in-law. The husband and
wife pass their lives in two almost seh-
tirely different tracks, sad are brought
mp in ideas and associations widely
different from each other. Beginning
as wife at sosearlY m age, and enter-s
ing by the dOorHsof marriage Ger.
emonies the little girl passes from
infancy into the duties md trialiof ma
$ture life, or at any rate into the seclu-
sion and imprisonment which are the
grayeo of childhood. This. dreary life
doom is appalling and most inncon-
ceivable to English readers. There is
no divorce in the Hindoo law; and,
even when she is cruelty treated or
mercilessly neglected, the Hindoo wife
patiently submits. Still, the only.
thought occupying her mind is Che
welfare Of her husband, whose wrongs
and injustices she religiously forgives.
Yet this cruel treatment from her
husband is preferable to- widowhoaod.
The Hindoo widow is never allowed to-
marry again. She has no one on
whom to rely; she is subject to unkind-l
ness from every one, and Isl Liable to
be driven to despair. She has to put
on the plainest dress, to live only on
vegetables and fruits, frequently to alb
stain from all food, to use no articles
of luxury. She is expected to harbor
no cheerful tholghts-to pass her life
Simmured within the fourwallss 81 the
zenana, with grief for her only com
panion. Thus the widow drags through
eAACI WI0uCu0u Al4c I'LL SlCOM Oe8G0s
comes and relieves her. It Oft
en- happens that a Hindoo wife
loses her husband B after
marriage; and then she is initiated
into the horrors of q widows life ere
she has passed her girlhood. An old
man Of sixty will not scruple to marry
a girl of eight, though he knows that
she will be an outcastin his house all
her life after she has been deprived Of
her husband. Out Of the total psopula-
ton of India there must at least be six
millions of women suffering fiji this
way. The last census Of Calcutta shows
that therea are tifty-fvethousand widows
in thatcity.
The more nlightened naBtiyyses 81 India
are strongly in fayorof the abolition Of
infant marriage and the Introduction
OF widow marriage; but the enlight-
ened are very few, and customsis om-
nipotents in thatsland. The only inn
proyement that has taken place in.
respect to MARRIAGES. among thegBrah-
mos, the new theistic bodYin India.
who do not marry their girls before
they attain their fourteenth & al and
who have also introduced the marriage
of widows. But their head, the late
Baboo Keshub. Chunder Sen, married
his daughter when she was only q lie
tie over thirteen years Of age to the
Maharajaho of Cooch Behar. For this
breach Of faith he was severely blamed
by all his educated countrymen, and
the whole Of the native press. turned
against him.-6. James Gazette.
WEEsNSfsaAst $50 AAlAf MEQTNfHHt-ZIE