The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-16

whittier the sere and yellow leaves drift
and rest, while the current beyond slips
by swift as ever. Why this particular
backwater should have called itself a
technical school Of art-neddlework has
nothing TO do with the story. Briefly it
was a sort of almshouse where twelve
old AIOhammedan ladies drew poor
monthly pittance of some few rupees,
and sat contentedly enough year after
year twining gold thread on TO fine net.
What became of the work when it was
done has also nothing to do with the
story. Perhaps it was sold to exc out the
funds of a charity which did its fair
share Of sOlacing sorrow in keeping
twelve pairs of small. soft, highbred
hands from the Quern-handle, that last
resource of the poor in India now, as it
was when the great mOngul refused TO al
low the importation of western ma
chinery on the ground that Gods best
gift TO the poor was the milestone about
their necks.
1t was in this odd little courtyard,
packed away decorously in the very
heart OF the loose-living, gambling, gold
workers quarter that Glory-of-Woman
found shelter after many years Of
patient. peaceful privauon; for Fahr-un-
nissa Chat was how her name ran in
the soft courtly tongue of the most
brutal Of cities was a Syyedani; in other
words OF the poorest and proudest, too
poOr 10 bring a dowry 10 a husband OF
bsr own rank. too generous to take one
without IL, too proud to stoOp TO part
ner beneath her. or rather too gentle.
TOO conservative. There are hundreds
such women in Delhi. and Fahr-un-nissa
rF7an ct
ing that being learned in the Koran she
had kept body and soul together by reel
tatiOns at fast and festival IN the
Zenanas, and so been spared hard labor.
Perhaps il was this which made her
look Younger than her fifty and odd
years; at all events there was scarcely
a wrinkle on her small oval face, ana
her tall slender figure showed no sign OF
age.
She was the youngest Of the scholars,
and every evening, when the gold unread
and the fflmy net had been locked away
in a queer carven Golfer. she was the
last to slip her small feet into one OF
those twelve pairs of curly shoes which
all day long had been ranged against
the Slip of wall doing duty as screen
at the door, and the last TO use the
Tickety dhOOlie which the charity pro-
Vided for the modest conveyance OF the
fair ones to their homes. 1t provided a
chaperOne. too. in the shape or Dig
lump of a girl about twenty. who sat on
the steps all day chattering TO the pass
ers by. giggling at their jokes, and chew
ing pan. 1t was a queer arrangement,
seeing that khadjiya Khanum, the eldest
of the scholars, was past eighty, but
then age had nothing 10 do with the fact
that she was a Syyedani and Juntu only
a gadabOut. There was another pair of
shoes. however. placed in a corner apart
from the rest: for it had come to be
recognized custom in the baCkwater that
there should always be a thirteenth pair
of feet ready TO slip into any vacancy
made by the sure decay which comes
alike to rest as TO unrest. And SOLVE years
before, when Fakr-un-nissa had stepped
into the last pair of shoes, left by
deserted wife who had gone down into
the grave leaving one fCrlOrn daughter
behind her, the old ladies had cast about
TO choose a suitable aspirant. Not that
they really had the right 10 appoint any
one, but because experience showed them
that the claims Of gratuitOuS worker
were seldom overlooked when Opportu-
nifty came for urging them. This time
the choice fell. naturally enough, on the
daughter Of the dead scholar Just in
her teens she was hopelessly alone in
the world: for her mother, after estranG-
Ing her own people by marriage with
a MOhammedan RajpOOt, had quarreled
with her husbands family; but not be-
fore little Yasmin had been married and
tom. become a widow for life by the
death of her childish bridegroom. For
race is stronger than religion and the
old RajpoOt ideas have survived CONVEX
sion. So Yasmin in her turn waited for
q vacancy in the shoes or rather Moor
banu waited. since the old ladies would
have nothing TO do with the flOwery. half
heather name. and set themselves dill
gently 10 transform her into a Lady-Of
light. 1t was not altogether a successful
r~frHHer TnrrTw
blood waxed rebellious sometimes; but
as a rule Fakr-un-nissa's soft voice with
its polished periods and careful intOna-
ton would bring her back 10 obedience.
10, thou shouldst mind me. Hearts
Delight" GlOry-Of-WOman would say
mothers shoes? Thou art young now,
Yssmin: so was I once; yet thou wilt
be as / am some day"
And Yasmin would make a face. well,
that is better than being like Khadjiya
Khanum or Maimana Begun with her
little eyes"
So the years passed. bringing no blank
TO the roll Of high-sounding names, no
break in the row Of shoes. no vacant
place in the semicircle of old women
which chased the sunshine round the
court during the cold months, and the
shade during the hot ones. For they
felt the stress of the seasons in their
old bones. Otherwise winter and sum-
mer were alike 10 them: as was the
green leaf and the sere, since they had
never seen either. But Yasmin felt the
springtime in her blood and began to
weary Of being at every ones beck and
call
she is a Rangharl Bury a dogs tail
for twelve years and il will still be
crooked said Maimana Begun. She
was full 70 the brim OF prOverbial wis
dom and had a little clique Of her own
in that semicircle Of fiimsy net. glitter
ing gold thread and withered hands.
Mumtaza MahuTs head and those Of half
q dozen Lights, or Desires, or Ornaments
OF the Palace. the World. or Of Woman
Wagged In assent 20 her words Ii was
easy to change a name, but not a ma
tUre; and had every one heard that
some one had seen Moor Banu talking to
a woman with whom she ought not TO
have been talking2
GlOry-Of- WOman's thin face grew
eager -" 'Tis a cousin. Mai Khadjiya
The girl told me of it and / have in
quired. A cousin Of the fathers mar
ried-yeai married, indeed to a trooper.
like he is, serving the Sirkar somewhere.
Such folk lose hold on old ways, yet
mean no harm We must not judge them
as ourselves"
''Wah. Fakr-un-nissat WOuldst say
the devil meant no harm next Thy
heart spOils thy faith. 1 marvel at thee.
thou who dOst fast and pray more than
IS needful."
The ring Of bitterness in old Khadjiya's
tones was explained by the fact that IL
was nigh the end Of the first ten days
fast Of MOhurrum-tide and she had not