The Penn's Grove record., 1888-03-03
Pundita Ramabai DOngre
Medhay.,

Of India, to her present unselfish efforts
in America to secure the establishing
of schools for the oppressed child-wid-
W OF her native land we cannot but
feel that she has been a God-sent in
sirument to appeal to American hearts
to relieve the terrible crushing sorrows
of Hindu women and widows. She is
u little dark skinned woman with deep
soulful, gray eyes, short black curly
hair, and at times has one OF the most
lovable, yet pathetic expressions l have
ever beheld. She possesses an instense
love for children, and in her beautiful
simplicity aud trust she is herself a
child. Domestic animals she is very
fond of, and to her the idea of killing
our gentle friends, the cows, for beet
seems extremely cruel.
! Her ancestors for a thousand years
have never tasted alcoholic drinks nor
does she know the lasts Of wine, except
through the communion. Her pure,
perfect Christianity rises above the
creeds and doctrines taught below and
worships at the Saviours feet as Il little
child would do, in all faith and love.
Rev. DIR. Joseph Cook so beautifully,
yet so truly, calls her "a star OF the
East"
To those who understand what great
mountain barriers the caste rules of In
dia are checking all reforms, the de-
gradati0ns 1ndia's.. INT are sub
jected to, the superstition and ignor-
ance floating around ena walls, the
task which Kamabai has taken up as
her life work to perform seems SD nee
essay, so urgently needed, that the
question arises why it has v before
been thought of. She proposes to
scale the walls surrounding and guard
ing iIiglrcaste widows from the mis-
sion workers and together with her lit
tie handful Of Christian teachers, low
er ilie drawbridge 50 that the mission
aries may enter in.
Prominent ministers of all denomina-
tiuns are taking up her cause z~ealously
because they understand what a power
inl ally Ramabai, a native Hindu wom-
an, will become to all church missions
VI her school is established at "r near
Pouna in southern India, the great
seat of Brahminism.
Ramabai was the daughter Of u
Marathi priest, and through her lath-
er's advanced views, unusual i'll India,
she received her education, Though
! Hindu gentlemen are educated it is
thought 10y the most of them II little
short of insanity to teach Il woman
| Sanskrit and other studies. Indeed,
many class them with cows anil otter
valuable domestic animals. Manu-
and other Hindu law-givers require
extreme subsection on the part of the
wife, and as little girls OF eight and
nine are married in India their lives
form sad. terrible tragedies written III
bitter tears, which fall all unlieeded
behind their gloomy prison like homes.
where the little wives are carried ard
given to the inothers-in-law to break
their spirits.
But terrible AZ the life of Il wife is,
more heart rtrding still are the sf'-
rows of Hindu widows. BY IA cruel SUI
perstit lou, it is believed that some
crime IF theirs in a former existence
has been the caI.se OF their husbands
deaths in this one, and they are shun-
ned. loatlIed, dispised, and closely con
fined a prisoner for fear of their bring
ing a possible disgrace upon the family.
All that they vaItav lot is taken from
| tbsI5, and they are ROBBED in 0li7 plain
garment of red, white or brown, They
are never permitted to marry again,
though they may never have been mar
ried, as we term marriage, for many
are widows before they AVE been
more than what We would term betroth-
ed.
Girls of High-caste families believe
that If they learn to read and write IL
causes their husbands deaths, and il is
thought a Shame iOr young girls TO be
caught with a pen or books in their
hands by the elders especially the male
elders of this household. From the
Higil-caste widows Ramabai hopes to
draw her supply of students and ms all
will not be fitted to became teachers
she desires that an Industrial Educa-
tiofal be given, such that they may
later support themselves; and she hopes
through this new found Independence
that they will become good Christians
as they will not then, AS now, have the
dread of being cast out from relatives
homes to s. arve, if they accept Chris
tianity. When High.caste girls or 9th
Ell Cas- es are cast out from their homes
they will not be received by any lower
caste, but because outcasts from all,
and must die or worse.
The Brahmins, High-castes, are the
priests OF India and for centuries these
men have been thoughtful students and
consequently High-caste girls an their
fathers side have inherited intellect.
Caste originally came about through
an economic division Of labor. The
High-caste, being the priest and stu
dent caste, the soldier casle, h trade
caste, and laboiing caste, formed The
| four" principal castles; but at the present
time caste has become religion of itself,
and The four principle castles are divid-
ed and redivlded and this together
with the fact that the rules against i'll
ter-marIiage and castles mingling to-
| gether are so strict cause caste to form
the chief barrier at the present time in
India against modern progress. Certain
methods of cooking are adopted by
each caste and the Hindus even build a
fire religiously and according to a pre-
scribed form.
Ramabai proposes 10 insert her edu-
| c~atiolial wedge in such a manner that
caste viii be humored until she has
educated her students and prepared
them for teachers OF to Become self
| supporting in other ways Rev. DIR.
Edward Everett Hale, Rev. DIR, Phil
lips Brooks, Rev. Geo. A. Gordon,
Rev Henry NJ. Field, Frances E. Will
lard, Dean Rachel i Bordely, and
MANY more are forwarding her work.
A prominent board OF trustees have
been appointed in this country t. take
charge Of her school if established.
In Woodstown, n, ]. was first or
ganized The Children's Crusade which
has since spread to other places and
now numbers over n hundred mem-
bers. 1t was started tn assist Ramabai
in raising her school fund, and its
members propose TO invite all children,
teachers and parents to unite with
them, that throueh the greatness of
their members they may establish a
kindergarten in connection with the
proposed school for the Youngest child
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