The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-04
PAND|TA
RAMABA|
CONTINUED from Page 81

only. that coarse and ugly in color.
| Every ornament (and to these children
ornaments are specially dear) has been
taken from them; their heads frequently
shorn and branded with hot irons, their
cheeks SCARED with cruel p.nchings.
their bodies attenuated for lack of food,
but one meal, and that of food the plain
est, being allowed them in twenty-four
hours. From earliest dawn and even be-
fore light, to late hours at night, they
have been set as slaves to mental tasks
| Instead of tender endearments they
have had cruel beatings. Instead of low
ing words, curses have been heaped up
on them. Social pleasures have been de-
MED them, they could not speak to man
or boy except those of nearest kinshlp
Even a mother shut the door in the face
of her homeless child, bidding her go
drown yourself in the we'll" One had
nearly been scalded by an effort to pour
hot porridge down her throat. because
overcome by hunger she had ventured to
help herself to little. Another had been
hung by her wrists to the rafters of the
roof, with a pile of prickly pear leaves
under her in case she freed herself and
| fell; at other times locked in a room,
/ where burning red peppers made a
smoke tormenting to the eyes. These as
| punishment for slight ofenses. One,
when a baby, had been thrown out into
the road to perish by a heartless Hindu
father. The sufferings of another had
been so great that her mother, not able
\ to longer bear the sight, had given her
opium to end her life.
Nine years from the establishment of
| the Sadan nearly five hundred girls had
been rescued from such dark homes. and
from homeless wanderings, and had tast-
ed the comforts and privileges of life
under Ramabafs training. In March of
the present year one hundred and sixty |
one were reported as pupils in the school !
he
have made it possible for to gather |
so many girls in this home must feel !
very happy at the thought that you have |
helped them out of darkness into light. I
Some of them do not know how to ex- !
press their gratitude in words, but they /
all thank God for bringing them into this !
home and giving them good friends. I
but thank Him every moment as L |
see them at school, bending over their
books, or doing their work with a will.
at play in the garden, their faces
beamins with happiness. : = When they
grow older and become efficient workers,
they will reach many thousands of wom-
en-; and their influence viii be felt all
over the land"
When this work of RamabaPs was be-
gun her thought was to carry 1t on a
secular one, fearing If she made it dis
tinctly religious she could not secure the
special class, the high-caste Hindu, that
she desired to reach. She therefore gave
a pledge to her countrymen to that ef-
feet. But she had her own cherished
Manorama, her Hearts JOY, and certain
girls, deserted wives or destitute orphans.
whom she was maintaining at her own
expense in the school. These she felt
to lead to the true light.
From five to six each morning she would
have them gather in her room to study
the Word of God. As the door of the
room was always left open, ether girls
passing by. from interest or curiosity,
stopped and entered. Here too, the Holy
Spirit entered and hearts were touched.
One after another they came to Christ,
and asked to be baptized. A storm of
bitter opposition on the part of the lead
ing Hindus of the Bombay presidency
beat upon the school when these facts
became known. Every effort was made
to crush the Sadan- But Ramabai was
brave OF heart and steadfast in her trust
in God. She claimed she had the same
freedom to practice Christianity that
Hindus had to practice their religion.
The opposition abated. and more than
ever success crowns the enterprise. In
her latest report she says: "Our plan
OF education is carried on. as before,
with the aim of giving the Sharada girls
a thorough education up to the high
school standard. Besides this, they are
taught to do all manner of work which =
will help them through life. They are
trained to be good housekee pers, cooks,
needle women, weavers. They
are kept busy all day. except for about
an hour of recreation" score of her
educated girls have been married to ed
ucated young men seeking them. Mano-
rama. having had several years of ad-
in a choice school in Western
New York. has returned to Poona and
as vice principal, is helping her mother
i'm the conduct Of the PoOn school The
Sharada Sadan is not Ramabais only
care. THIS little woman consumed with
lOy-p nit end -ad with inSf crf1+ I
tact. unfaltering in purpose unfailing in
resources, eXcelling in patience. undaunt-
ed by adversely" as one describes her.
cannot be limited by place. The gaunt
shadow of famine falls upon the central
provinces of India, and Ramabai. filed
would fly to the rescue of child wives
and widows in penury and ignorance in
filth and squalor, facing death She
snatches them from deaths worse than
by hunger and disease-from government
places and officials, from brutal men ana
unnatural mothers. She picks them up
from the streets, the waysde and in the
forests, where hungry wolves were on
their tracks" Fifty or more she sent
to the Sadan. But she had asked the
Lord to give her three hundred Where
should she put them?
Forty miles south of Poona is Ked-
gaum. Here some time previous to the
famine Ramabai had bought a farm OF
one hundred acres, where vegetables,
grains and fruits might be raised for the
sustenance of her pupils. The first year
after the purchase twenty-five hundred
orange trees were already planted under
her supervision. She had wished to put
up dOrmitories, but the government OBJ
jeCted and she replied: Il VIII build n
barn for bullocks and grain" With faith
and hope as her architects. she built
largely and firmly and by the time the
building was ready for occupancy. ''she
had permission TO put girls into it in
stead OF cattle" and two hundred famine
widows found shelter within its walls.
II also served for a chapel and school
house. In a ground plan OF the estab-
ishment at Kedgaum we see the grand
scale on which the work is devised-on
which the buildings are already erected
and are yet to be constructed when
means shall be forthcoming There is a
hospital for women. another for chill
iren; there are various dormitOries. fin
shed and unfinished. and school rooms |