The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-04-28

handlooms are In this way kept in opera.
tion. Thus. what is known as the
Government Famine Code is now Civ.
ing employment to five million people.
4 As many as possible Of the remaining
forty dge million famine sufferers must
bs cared for by other nations than Eng
land. And the work of distributing food
purchased with the money sent from
these other nations, which practically
means only America, devJlyes upon
missionaries.
The missionaries in charge Of the re-
lief measures, are earnest workers who
take a delight in relieving the destitute
aud, having had long experience in
India, know how to do 1t. All are
Americans save one rich native woman
known as Ramlbai, who has built a
relief house in one Of the districts
/ containing q great lumber Of famine
sufferers
Correspondents In the heart Of the
famine districts, write that they are
daily witnesses Of distress and suffering
that are absolutely indescribable. Three
weeks ago a company numbering two
thousand passed through certain
town, having sought help in another
district They had been disappointed,
for they found famine everywhere, ano
they were returning in dispair to their
own villages They said that hun
dreds had died If exhaustion and star.
vation by the roadside.
For the children, especially, all
American hearts ache. The Hlndoo
mother is In no way behind American
mothers in her bifoction for her Cff-
spring She will deny herself. os they
would that her babes may eat but what
Is she 10 do when she has absolutely
nothing for herself nor fJr them One see,
women 30 week foT lack Of food that they
cannot stand and the children around
them are mere skeletons covered with
skin. \ mother 50 situated il helpless
II she keeps them with her they will
die Some Mohammedan will give her
a rupee (thirty three cents) for her
daughter. She shudders as she thinks
# the girls fate but the child will, at
any rate, be fed aud the price Of her
wall provide meal for the others
What wonder that, with a breaking
heart, the bargain is made, and the
child goes away into her horrible cap
tivity.
Sometimes the mother will abandon
the child by the roadside. hoping that
some charitable person may take pity
on it or il not that death may speedily
end its sufferiugs
N1t oil the sufferers from the present
scarcity Of food are recruited from the
lower castes, or from what would be
known in this country as the masses
AuNu'hhuS va tuoeo WIN ufc htaINluB
a1d at deaths door are high caste pee.
pie. who few months ago owned their
own houses, lands cattle and tools, or
farming implements. and were compare.
lively well-to.do. These people. since
the beginning of the famine, have sold
first one thing. then another, till to day
everything they owned is gone. and
they are simply farers on the highway
drifting to the portals of another land,
naked, starving, outraged, disess>
1t is grievous to witness the struggle
that is being made even by people who,
short time ago, were in cont, table cir.
cumstances 1t is no uncommon thing to
see a man and his wife working hard
with any implement they can get, cut.
ting grass, which after long days la.
Dor they sell for the price Of one mesgre
meal.
There are places not far from Bombay
where whole companies Of women, who
not long ago were living in plenty. will
gather, almost naked. around stranger
to beg for food and clothing. The other
day q woman twas trying to sell her
niece. The best offer she could set was