The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-03-22
DOOM OF THE BURMAN.
He Is Dreaming Himself Away
Into Extinction.
Unenviable Lot Of tho Women of Burmah
Seeking Foreign Marriages-The Pure
Blood Disappearing-Men the Most
Conceited and Indolent.

The standard of nations greatness,
1t has been said, is the esteem in which
1t holds it's women, and there is doubt
less no small amount of justice in the
statement, adds the New York Trib.
une. Historians have pointed out that
the golden age of the far eastern
empires was when the women of India
were free, and ranked, socially and in
tellectually, at par with their BROTH
ers, and that the decadence of those
nations dates from the time when
they began to seclude their women
and esteem them inferior to men. The
present day, at any rate, offers one
striking example of nation, once one
of the most powerful and most splen-
did in Asia, actually passing out of ex.
istence, or being merged and lost in
alien races, directly because of the i'll
treatment given to its women under
its social and religious systems.
This nation is that of Burmah. OF
its old-time glories there is no need to
speak. The land is covered with mon
uments of high and powerful civili-
cation, and no land is better gifted to
be the home thereof. Nowhere are
the conditions of life easier. The
climate is genial, the soil is rich be-
yond description. The minimum of
toll gives the maximum of results.
The opportunities of achievement are
vast and innumerable. In former CEN
turies they were improved. But to-
day the Burman is the incarnation of
happy-go-lucly Incidence, and is
dreaming himself away into extinc-
ton. He still, it is true, possesses ele-
ments of distinction, both physical
and intellectual. Says a recent OBJ
server, G.. III. lie Maistre, in the Asiatic
Quarterly Review: "He is the prince
of easy-going fellows. Short in stat
ure, the Burman possesses a sinewy
and well-knit frame and carries him
self proudly. He inherits the chief
characteristics of his Mongolian ances-
try-eyes slightly oblique, yellow
brown complexion, a broad. fiat nose
and an almost beardless face. He is
gifted with considerable intelligence
and is often extremely witty. Like
most easy-going men, he is pleasant
companion and is troubled by no caste
to mar the harmony of in
tercourse between Europeans and Ash
atics He is of an extremely generous
and spends large sums of
money on pagodas, or other religious
edifices, the creation of which he hopes
will bring him a rich reward in a fu-
ture state. The cares of life sit lightly
on him, and he bears reverses of fortune
with the calmness and fortitude of a |
stole. In his person he is clean and |
neat, and, when he can afford it, is al |
ways smartly dressed. To his good |
qualities must be added that of sobrie- |
ty; drunkenness in Burman is quite |
exceptional, and, as the Burmese race
are inveterate smokers, some think |
this moderation all the more remark |
able. The Burman, however, has his |
faults-faults so great that when |
weighed against his good qualities the
balance unfortunately inclines to the
wrong side. He is the most conceited
md self-satisfied of men; and any at
empt to convince him that his pride
n himself was not altogether justify
lble would be mere waste of time. He
S intensely indolent, and quite un-
lble to appreciate the value or realize
he necessity of perseverance. Pain,
ind even death, he will face with great
'almness of courage; but he is intol-
rant of all discipline and so makes
,ut an Indifferent soldier. He is fond
If gambling, and spends his money
very freely, for of thrift he has but
he barest conception. Driven by the
greed and dishonesty of his own Off
,ials in the past to practice dishonesty
n all the ordinary affairs of life, ,>de-
,eit has become, to a certain extent,
iabit, and he retains but little genu-
ne love of truth for it's own sake. He
S superstitious, and often cruel in the
in spite of the humanizing
doctrines of the Buddhist creed
Woman he considers a mere slave,
BORN to minister to his wants, and as
uch he treats her. And because Of
his fact, and because the Burman
has begun to realize what it
means, the race seems doomed to dis.
appear.