Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-05-18

AAO AulOO Adi iBO 0AobIlCb uuu OCCuptCO q
grand palace, and was in receipt of a
good revenue from his subjects.
He had long been looking for a
wife who could grace his stately
home, but until this time he had seen no
one who suited him. Tara was lovely
and accomplished, and she could direct
his large retinue of servants with becom-
ing dignity; yet because she had been
married dozen years before to an OBJ
scure lad whom she could not remember,
he was to be forever debarred from WOO
ing her. Hindoo law is like the laws OF
the Medes and Persians, and the marriage
of an infant is binding for life, unless
the husband chooses to turn her out and
divorce her.
The Sahib tried to comfort the chiet
with the hope that Tara might already
be widow and free to marry him. Moth
ing had been heard from Lalu for five
years, and they set themselves to devise
plan for discovering whether he still
lived. They decided to send procla-
nation into every village in Kattiawar,
calling upon Jairam to come forward.
Through him they hoped to find Tara's
brother, and then news of her husband.
Accordingly printed circular was sent
to the headman of every village, and in
few days Jairam was found. Then
Limbaji, the brother, was communicated
with, and he soon came, declaring his
intention to take Tara to her husbands
house at once.
The poor girl begged him to spare her,
She had been happy all these years, and
did not wish to 60 to the stranger whom
she could not remember. But Limbaji
was inexorable. 1t was disgrace to the
family that she had been kept from her
husband so long, and every day she re,
mained only added to the disgrace. So
she was torn from her friends at Ahmed
pore, and again they started on their
journey to Baroda.
When they reached Lalu's house they
learned that he was in the Maharajah's
army, and was then fighting a rebellious
hill tribe. He had taken another wife
who was then living with the Sassu whom
Tara had so much dreaded in her child.
hood.
And now commenced a hard life for
the poor girl. The Sassu and the other
wife were unsparing in their abuse of her.
She had disgraced the family, and had
broken her caste, and they cried out,
"Unclean! unclean!" whenever she ap-
preached them.
They tossed her food to her like bone
to dog, as she crouched in the darkest
and dampest corner of the house. She
was compelled to do all the household
drudgery-grind the grain and pound
out the rice and carry the water. The
few books she had brought from Ahmed
pore were torn in pieces and scattered to
the four winds, while her knitting
and embroidery materials were cremated
before her eyes. Her only comfort was
an occasional salaam from the Telugu
woman who cared for her in Ahmedpore.
The chief had sent this woman to
Baroda to give Tara aid and comfort as
often as opportunity offered. But the
opportunities were few, for Tara was
sedulousiy watched by the Sassu, lest
she should make her escape.
Sometimes the woman disguised her.
self as bangle-seller, and succeeded in
secretly conveying food to the poor girl,
who was made to fast until she was al
most starved She shed bitter tears
over the life she had left behind, and
thought regretfully of the grand home
which the chief had offered her in the
far-away Marathi country.
Why had she been married in infancyi
Why should she not have voice in the
matter of her life's companion? She
asked herself these questions number
less times, but no answer came. She
had been born a Hindoo, and she must
submit to Hindoo customs.
Time passed drearily enough, until
one day word came that Lalu had been
slain in battle. Then the house was
filled with wailing. The mother beat
her breast and clutched her hair, de-
claring that vile, polluted Tara was the
guilty cause of all this. She was thrust
into the street, and told never to darken
their doors again.
Now was the Telugu woman's oppor-
tunity, and she came to Taras rescue, as
the cartman had done years before.
At early dawn they were on their way
to Ahmedpore. There was no travelling
across the country on foot now, but with
the swiftest speed of the iron horse; and
in twenty-four hours Tara was in the
midst of her friends in Ahmedpore again,
and the news was flashed to the young
chief in his southern home.
In a few weeks there was grand wed
ding in Ahmedpore--the grandest since
the time of the old Mohammelan kings
The bride was lovely in her white
silken robes and diamonds, and the chic
was handsome in his full durbar cos
tune, with his jewel-hilted sword at hi
side. His garments were embroidered
with seed pearls, and the diamonds com
posing the aigrette of his turban would
have bought upa hundred villages lik,
the one in which Tara had in childhood
listened to the tinkling bells of the flock
as she lay under the cottage roof ant
thought of the distant stars from whence
she came.