The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-03
INDrA's MOST PECULIAR PEOPLE.
The BICYCLE Has Nearly Emancipatea
the Parst Women.
From fIarper's Magazine.

The most peculiar people of India are
the Parsis Tor "Parsees," meaning Per
sians'O, who feed their dead TO the vui-
lures upon the Towers of Silence. They
fed to India from Persia when that land
fell into the hands of the Arabs twelve
centuries aco. Their men are the first
very singular persons the traveller sees on
board the ship whi1h takes him to India,
their singula rity consisting in their long
sallow faces and large eyes, their shiny.
pa tent leather ooklng, tubular hats and
their long and glv coats. They are most
numerous in Bombay, but one meets them
in other cities on Bombay side" and in
Madras and CalcJfa i on the other shore.
They are the richest natives in India, and
have made and stili make, their money
in trade.
They are the only indians who, as
body, admire and cultivate West pro-
gressiVe ideas, who treat their woman
fairly well (acJOrding 10 our ideas), and
who permit their widows to marry again
Their first rule Of life is 10 practice be-
nevolence, and no people do this moe lib
orally They maintain nearly two-Score
charitable Institutions in Bombay alo ne.
They are the only people I'm the world ", 10
do not smoke, and this is because the Y
will not tride with fire, which is sacra
IN iQelF Dellcl. IHty never SPIT anu lilSS
viii not in any way contaminate the eartn
or water or dehle the trees ana flowers
That is why they destroy their dead with
out burn tag the bodies.
They have no beggars among them; they
are monos Namists; they are not caste-rid-
den Tor rot yed), like the Hindoos, for they
acknowletlg q but two classes-tFe priests
and the peol Ne. They keep New Year day,
not only as a religious feat day, but much
a we do, as day for general visiting.
Their women gre NOT imprisoned with their
servants or OF herwise degraded but may
be met anywh ere and everywhere to the
same extent as English women in India.
So often are those women comedy, and 50
beautifully are hey clad-in such soft and
exquisitely colore d silks-that, as one writ
er says they appear as houris fos ting
about the earth in silk balloons, with a
ballasting Of ank lets, necklaces, earrings
and jewelry" II is no more than fair of
the Parsi men 20 let this be as it is, for
they are the ugliest men that crawl upon
this globe.
An English lady advised me to go and
see the rich Parsi young women riding
bicycles on / he road beside the sea at 4
o. clock of any afternoon. What an idea
The bicycle has so revolutionfzed young
Womanhcod in England that men who re-
turn there after a short absence cannot
credit their senses as they note Inc change
in the maidens and their home, govern
ment What will it door not do-in In
dia? Truly that mOdest-looking toy has
worked as much of the change in this
swift-booted century as many of our most
important Inventions It has proved a
steed which leaps ,the highest bars OF
prejudice, runs away with the deepest
rooted conven tions-even outpaces the
! plans of women for their own emancipa-
| ton l try TO fancW what II may do in
India. but. after all il has only few
| thousands OF Parsis uDon whom TO work