The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-27

a prince has an unmarried daughter.
Notlces are sent 10 all the provinces and
prlncedoms that such and such a-priucess
is to be married on such and such a dav.
ana all the best young men of the
provinces crowd into the brides fathers
mouse. Inc archer would come with his
| bow and arrow; the horseman would
come riding on his finest steed; the pun
dlt would come, getting by heart the
nhesU passages OF Sanscrit philosophy;
the poet would come, with the most elab-
crate verses in his pocket-if he had any
/ pocket In those days; and they would all
/ SIT IN a great convocat ton in the hall. each
/ one according 10 his rank-the warriors
| In one line, the pundits in another. the
| scholars in a third, and so on. At last
1 the pride comes out. decked in garlands
ana glowing masses of jewelry, painted
with sandal, saffron and vermilion, her
sllden garments trailing the ground. She
comes smiling and blushing, "demure.
| buXom, debonniere'n with wreaths of
! flowers in her hands.
| She walks through the serried ranks of
warriors and pundits and expectant schol-
ars. She walks with seeming inditfer-
ence, without casting single glance
| upon any individual, without taking anv
| interest in anything yet she is exceed
lngly observant all the time 1adies are
! wonderful in tricks of this. kind; and.
directly she has found her man, she puts
| the wreath Of flowers on his neck. Then
all the other applicants rise up and make
an uproar; there is crashing of teeth and
| clashlng of armor, and the competition
| breaks out into warfare perhaps, which
lasts for years. Yet the choice she has
| made IS irrevocable. This practice ex-
listed know not at what time The de-
4 scrlptions of these elaborate ceremonies
/ MI many Sanscrit book and form the
subjects of many tradition.
| 1t Is different now. do not know from
what cause, l do not wish to lay the
blame on the shoulders Of the Mussulmau
conquerors. All the preliminaries are
settled by relatives. Yet the marriages.
| on the whole, are not bad. The men are
about as bad as they are everywhere.
The beauty and the beast'' live side by
side all over the world The women of
India are sanity, patient, long suffering,
forglving, putting up with a hundred
| hardships without as much as raising
their voices. Such marriages and such
homes, ladies and gentlemen, make Hindu
| society. The ladies have to be secluded
| Most of them in all the large provinces
live IN their apartments-not allowed. not
liking to go out. In Bengal this custom
of seclusion is particularly rigid The
long prevalence of the custom has created
a strong opinion against women appearing
| IL RdOlAO at oil duQ Vi luuCs bnOuRH SOIQ6
of us have begun to do so, we have had to
bear good deal of rudeness. The people
have yet to learn to respect the other sex
or allow them their rights.
There are six ceremonies in the Hindu's
household. The first ceremony is when
the child is born. On the sixth day after
the birth-chamber is emptied of all occu-
pants. The door is shut, a lamp burns
low, and writing materials are at
hand. 1t is believed that the creator
comes down from the heavens and on the
forehead of the child writes the secret of
his future destiny. And every human be-
ing in India, therefore, is supposed to
have destiny and a vocation in life,
which was inscribed upon him by the
hand of the Almighty himself 1t is a
beautiful ceremony, because l do believe
that every man and every woman has
mission in life; and, if that mission were
understood and discharged. the whole
world would be the better for it.
About six months after the child s
birth there is ceremony to give him a
hame. The neighbors are invited, and
the child is dressed for the first time in
fine silken clothes. and is given to eat the
first solid food in the course of his life
time. The father sits there and other
relatives; and the father, or some very
near relation, puts morsel of solid food
into the childs mouth. Then the name
is given him. prayer is said, aud the
blessing of God is asked.
The third ceremony is the ceremony for
initiating child into knowledge. Knowl-
edge in India always means religious
knowledge. The child, in former times,
at his 9th year-now earlier-is taken to
the house of his preceptor. The preceptor
used to sit under the overspreading
branches of a great Indian fig-tree.
Ais juvenile pupils were around him
boys in all conditions, in all di-
mensions; some chatteriug, some reading
aloud, some doing. The little boy, the
| applicant for initiation, is brought. The
preceptor asks him to take berry from
the tree overhead. The boy does so. He
is told to break it, and pick out the seed,
Then the teacher tells him to put it I'M
der dry soil and put drop of water upon
it; and then the teacher says: AS that
little atom of seed put under the soil
will some time spring into great tree,
giving shadow to bird, beast and man, so
may the simple precepts of truth that
shall SOW in thy mind grow up into a
great tree of knowledge and spirituality,
giving shadow and ncurishment to thous-
| ands"
The fourth ceremony is the ceremony of
marriage. From the day of the marriage
begins the life of the householder.
The fifth ceremony is the funeral cere-
monv. The dead body is taken out upon
stretcher, always by relatives and
friends, to the sacred riverside; and the
same waters that embraced the living
man, when every morning he went to
wash away his sins, receive handful of
his ashes after he is cremated. Crema-
tion is the wisest and best disposal of the
dead. The Hindus thought so; you are
beginning to think So Some day you will
have to adopt 1t.
Al tha concluding ceremony of the
mans life is the ceremony in which offer
ings and oblations are given to the gods
and the ancestors, that his departed soul
may be received into heaven.
SWORD SWALLOWING.