Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-06-27

they Are the Equals OF Men In All Affairs
of the ia mTIy.


they Are the Equals OF Mon In All Affaira
OF the Family.
Burmese women are treated well in .
the family and they are the equals of
the men in family affairs They have
their say in all business matters and
the only place in which their inferi-
ority is noticeable is in religion The
Burmese are Buddhists, and a Budd-
hist woman has no chance to go to-
Heaven. save by her soul at death
passing into the body of man. If she
Is wonderfully pious during this life
'ucn transmigration many take place.
and note that the chief worShipers at
the Pagodas here are women. Budd-
hist teachers put women much lower
in the scale of morality than man, and
they maintain that the sins of one.
woman are equal to the sins of
5000 of the worst men that ever
lived There are about 90 ono 0oa
Buddhist women in the world and
none of these have any other hone of
Immortality than this Nevertheless
| am told that the Burmese women are
more honest than the men, and that
their business promises are more to be
4
rule. and it is only lately that there
have been schools in Burmah for wom--
en-. The Baptist missionaries are do
ing a great deal in this direction. and
[ visited a female seminary here which
contained about one hundred girls
They were very bright looking girls,
too. and the president Of the school
told me that many of them could speak
three languages and that they were
fully as bright as the average Amer
lean girl During my stay an English
spelling match was gotten up for my
entertainment and n class of thirty girls
were spelled down. They were all
clad in the Burmese costumes and
bare-footed. bare-headed, and with
these tight dresses about their limbs
they stood and spelled the words
almost as readily as the teacher could
utter them. They had a queer pro-
nunciation aud accent, but they did
remarkably well, and two of the girlS
remained on the floor for full half
hour. going almost through the SPELL
ing book in that time. Asthe girls
missed they one by one went back to
their seats. some laughing and some
pouting. But the two who remained
to the last tired out their teacher and
as she said enough" they walked off
proudly kicking out their bare heels as
they lifted them from the floor in this
approved Burmese fashion. which
serves to keep the dress closed in front,
The Burmese woman has few of the
troubles and pleasures of New En-
l<r1- r. -
is done out of doors at this time of
year, and her range never gets out of
order. She builds her fire on the
ground, and her cooking utensils con-:
siSt of two or three earthen pots.
These and a jar OF water, with a CO.
coanut ladle, make up the kitchen
furniture, and our Burmese wife is nos
troubled with table spreading oor dish
washing She is never worr Il ABOUT
her flour nor her baking pow r- The
Burmese use neither knives Nor forks
Their staple food is rice, and huge
platter of this is cooked for
the family and placed upon the
floor. In addition there is a bowl
of curry, a kind of soup. gravy-lilzer
mixture. which is seasoned with fish
and pepper. and which is very hot
The family squat around the rice dish,
and each has his own little bowl for
curry, and a larger one for rice Every
one helps himself, putting his fingers.
into the rice platter and taking as much
as he can squeeze up in his hands. The
food is conveyed from the bowl to the
mouth with the hand. and at the close
of the meal every one is expected to
wash his own dishes No drinking Is.
done during the meal. and at the end
each goes to the water Jar and rinses
out his mouth. / have seen many
families at meals. and in no case have.
1 seen chop sticks or knives and forks
The Burmese dinner is thus perpetual
picnic.-F- G. Carpenter, in Louisville.
Courier-Journal