Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-05-19
An Appeal 10 Christians in Behalf Of
Destitute Children
BY THE HINDU LAZY, RAMABAI
Description Of The Bsarirending Scenes
In Some OF the suffering
Districts.

went Out tneu III ~ mpAtbJ. @hS
human common sense said, "You had
better stop here, and Whatsoever thy
hand findth to do, do H. here. You have
no means and no strength to do what
you wish. Your powers are limited
and you will not be held responsible
for not doing anything to help those
famished people. Indeed, what can n
weak woman do to help the dying
thousandt? BesiIes, the government
OF India and other benevolent people
are doing what they can to relieve the
poor and needy. There is nothing for
you to do" 1 tried 20 quiet my
conscience In this manner, but
louder and louder spoke the voice OF
God from within my heart. "Remem-
Der the days of DID," "Thou shalt re-
member that thou vast bondsman
| in the land Of Egypt and the Lord thy
| Gnd reteemed thee"
| [Ramsbai had berself experienced
tho extremity OF distress in the fam
| inc OF 1877, which mlserably destroyed
both her parents, and her sister, and
almost herself.
| 1 could no longer keep still, and
about month ago, started off for the
| Central provinces. A miesionary lady
Mrs. DrynaD, Of Rsjputana, accom-
| panied me part OF the way, to gather
some children for mission orphanaRes
OF Poonn. We wentto Sohagpur fret,
| and began the work at once. We
found out from the good people there
that we could not get the orphan chill
Jren without the permission of the
government. So our first business
was to go and see the physician In
charge OF the hospital, and the Tahsilss
dar in charge of the poorhouse. We
went to the hospital too early, about
$3.50 in the morning; the doctor was
not there, but right before that hos
pItal were walking three little fam.
ished ekeleton.like forms, and this
fret sight OF their distress [ shall
never forget. The three children,
we found out, were those OF the
Chamsr caste, their father hal
died some time ago, and the mother
died only the day before. The eldest
was o girl OF about seven, the second
boy OF five, and the youngest a baby
hoy three years OF age. The girl was
protecting herself from the Intense
cold with covering OF rage, aud the
two boys had nothing on their bodice.
Their wrinkled faces and the ghRstly
ueath.like expression told the story OF
the terrible suffering they were In. All
OF them were crying Tor loOd. Aud as
we had no foUd with US, we could give
nothing to them. The youngest nad
sore eyes ana could scarcely open them.
The poor babe was suffering from dys.
EMERY, so much 30 that his intestines
had been exposed and were almost
ia ling out, and yet he was dragging
his miserable bouy through the streets
in search OF food. To add to hir
back, frightened at the sound Of the
bullock cart, and the loud call Of the
urlver. The blood flowed freely from
The injured part which was already 30
sore and painful, but there was NO
one to care for him. He was cry
ing, but toRrs were not to be
seen in his eyes. The children
were right before the hospital but no
one showed my sign of pity. As We
could do nothing, We had to harden
our hearts and turn our steps toward
the Poor house where we expected TO
find the Tahsildar. We did not get
the children, though We tried our best.
1t took US such long time to go and
see the officer in charge OF the Poor
HOUSE, and by the time we returned,
they had gone somewhere, and no one
could tell us where they were. l went
again to that place, made thorough
search all over the town and round
about 1t, but did not find them. Per.
hsps they tainted on their way to til @
town in quest Of food and fell down In
some ditch on the roadside and died
there OF hunger.
The Poor house we saw was no h oues
at all. 1t was a grove In the outskirts
Of the town. Groups Of famished peo.
pie were seen sitting all round the
grove. Some were lying down In
heaps. or sitting or lying In ashes
on the dirty ground. Some had
rags to cover their bodies, and
SINE had none. There were old anu
young men, and women and chill
uren, most OF them III, too weak tt
move about, and many suff ering from
IeproBy ana other unmenti0aab IL
diseases. Bad men, Immoral women
pure young girls, innocent children
and old people, good, bad and indif
ferent, were freely mixing and con
versIng with each other. They slept
In the open air or under the trees al
night, and ate the scRnty and coarse
food provided by the government
The food was nothing bus dry fioul
aud some salt.
Many OF the so.called poor houses
are open grounds with q sort OF fenc,
around them. Some poor houses are
nothing but Sheds temporarily erected
to shelter the people. The miserable
men, women and children, who fine
shelter In these places, are baked IL
the sun in the day and freeze in colt
at night. In some places these poo
houses or grounds are divided with I
thin fencing, where men and womer
arc placed separately. But this ar
rsngement IL not much OF protection
10 the women. The devil ia work
even In these poor house,
and relief camps, and they arr
not at places for young VIC
men and girls to be in. Til,
European and native officers EN-
ployed to look after the interests OF til,
dying thousands are hard at work, ant
/ try to do as much as they can. But 1
Is impossible for them TO find out wha
goes on behind their backs; they ar,
obliged to leave the work In the hand
Of the Mukauams, who can do what
ever they like; they use their stick
and tongues freely. Youpg men car
be seen everywhere talking to girl
and women ander the pretense OF do
ing the Mukadam's work.