The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-12

idea being that the more she Is tor
mented the greater will be the happi
ness Of her husband in heaven. She
must not allow her shadow to fall upon
the food or drink of the rest of the
family, and all told she is worse, than
leper. She will bring bad luck to
any one who meets her, and no man
will continue journey If he passes a
widow on starting.
Such is her condition at home and
she cannot get away. She is ostracised
everywhere. She cannot hire out as
servant, for no one will take her. If
she Is good looking she may be en-
ployed at the temples; but as a rule
her life is the most horrid slavery. This
is added to by the belief of her hus-
bands mother and sisters that in per-
scouting her they are helping the dead.
They do not dare to pity her, for the
superstition is that those who pity a
widow are likely soon to be widows
themselves. At the same time she is
dependent upon the rest of the family.
Women cannot inherit property among
the Hindoos, and all that is left by the
husband goes to the children.
What "a fate Is this for the woman
full grown or the old woman who as a
widow has but few years to live. 1t
is more terrible still for the babies and
children who become widows before
they know, what marriage means.
Their whole lives are continuous tor
ture. and. unsinning. they are punished
until death.
Twenty-Six Million Slaves
And how many human beings do you
think are now undergoing such tor
lures? can give you the figures from
the census of British India. as they
were gathered lase year. They put
the number Of widows at 100000, a
number equal to almost one-half of our
whole female population. India has one
widow for her every six women and
girls, and millions of these widows
have many years yet to live. AS to the
baby widows, there are 10000 of Ave
years and under, and more than 100000
of between Ave and ten years. There are
275,0O0 young girls, who range between
ten and fifteen years of age, undergo
ing the slavery Of widowhood, worse
slavery than has ever been imposed
upon any nation, white or black, IN any
other part of the world.
You have heard how In the past the
widows threw themselves on the fun
sral pyres Of their husbands and
burned themselves to death. In 1904
the British government kept count. and
its records showed that 800 women had
SO inundated themselves within thirty
miles of Calcutta in the space of six
months. In the next 25 years more
than 100000 were so burned, and It was
not until long thereafter that tho Gus
tom was stopped. The burning was
called "suttee," and 1t Is questionable
whether 1t was not preferable to con-
tinued widowhood which Is now known
as cold suttee. The widow 10 con-
demned to a living death. She burns
daily with want. disgrace and shame;
her predecessor was happy in that she
died but once.
The Temple Brides
I attended a wedding the other night
at which about 500 Hindoos were pres
ent. The groom was about years old.
He was a bright little fellow In a red
velvet coat tight velvet trousers and
cap of cloth of gold The bride was
not present, and whether she was a
baby or not do not know. The CHIEF
feature of the ceremony was the dano-
ing of some Nautch girls to the music
Of two drums and an Indian fiddle. The
girls went through the most surprising
contortions. They twisted themselves
this way and that; they bent back and
forth as though they were india rub
Der, the most of their dancing being
without lifting their feet from the
ground. Some of their motions were
beyond description indecent l am told
that the Nautch girls are professional
dancers. and that their profession IL
about the only one open to the young
women of India They are by no means
as good as they should be, but being
bad is a part of their business and tho
people respect them.
Allied to them Is a class of girls who
are bad for religions sake. They are
the temple brides who are bred to dance
at the shrines, to pander to the priests
and sing obscene songs to the gods.
They are obtained while yet children