Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-01-30
IyDIA'S CHILD WIDOWS.
THE UNHAPPY LIVES leo sY THs
WOMEN or THE EAST.

VIVA, usxh Caste Hinaoo Christian
Woman says Of Her siss~rs--Betrethea
I'm Their Infancy They Are I'm Death
the slaves Of Men.
At All Souls church, the Pundita Bamahai.
q high caste Hindoo Christian woman, gave
an interesting address concerning her work
in behalf Of tho child widows OF India The
Pundita j. q slender little woman with q low
musical voice. She has q remarkable com
mnnd Of English. She was attired in the
simple white vesrnents OF her people She
b endeavoring TO raise sufficient money TO
enable her to maintain . school In southern
India for the instruction OF Hindoo women
The picture that the Pundita drew OF tho
condition Of the Hindoo woman seemed 10
have strange interest for the hundreds Of
well dressed American women accustomed 10
liberty OF thought and aetionl Tho Hindoo
theory Of creation, the speaker explained,
placed the women as o provocative energy,
the results OF which have been sorrow and
misery. The man therefore is the master
and IL without blame. IL is the duty OF a
good mother TO get her daughter under the
influence OF male at once, for thereby Is
the females only salvation and hope for a
place in heaven. Ii is the CUSTOM when
children are mere infants, to promise them
20 youths for wives. When the girl 10 not
yet in her teens she Is sent to the house Of her
prospective mother-in-law, who educatcs her
with harsh measures and stick, impressing
upon her her inferiority 70 the male. Only
men are allowed TO study the philosophy OF
salvation, and n good wife ON dying centers
her thoughts on her husband, so that on her
return to earth she may take the form Of q
man and study the philosophy that brings
salvation.
WHEN THE HUSBAND DIES.
When the husband dies he does not let his
thoughts revert 10 his wife other than in
feeling of pity for her loss, lest be, ON re-
turning, take a step backward and assume
the shape of a woman. A woman who does
not find salvation through her husband win
be compelled, should she continue in the
form of her sex, 10 be reincarnated Z, 100, 600
times. The domestic life OF the Hindoo
woman is confined in four walls, and the
only opportunity she has of going outside is
TO draw water. She rises and remains
standing when her husband enters the house
and seats himself The husband can avail
himself Of the privilege OF bathing himself
In the sacred river, but she, because Of her
domestic imprisonment, being debarred FROM
making the journey, can enjoy only tho ex-
gu site pleasure Oh Dathing MS feet after he
has been swimming and then drink the
water. The power OF the husband Is abso-
lutte. He can doom his wife to hell II he be
I'm the mood, as he Is endowed with the
power Of god. A faithful widow worships
her dead husband as II he were present in
the flesh Study makes the women skepti-
cal, hence they are jcalously debarred from
IL as violation Of orthodoxy
missionary work cannot ACCOMPLISH thu
disenthrallment of these women,n said the
Pundita; lit must be done through educa-
ton. SO far as my experience goes think
that il Is next 10 impossible for missionaries
10 reach the orthodox people, as they are
called. There are some men who are at first
educated in western ideas, especially the
Brahnas, who win allow Christian mission
airy To visit the women OF their household
but most Of them do il because they want the
women to be n little educated, and since they
| have no female teachers Of their own they
are obliged To invite Christian women; but
/ have known the men, while they allow a
Christian missionary to visit their wives, to
strictly command their wives not to accept
any religious ideas, and thus placed the poor
woman in the plight of being compelled to
obey her husband, and at the same time read
her Bible. II she is sometimes convinced,
she has no power to accept the Christian faith
publicly. This renders her situation doubly
miserable New York World