El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-11

was a 10 year old boy OF a gingerbread
color, and the bride a little brown baby
OF 2. The boy wore gold cap and 4
suit embroidered in gold He had heavy
! gold rings on his ankles and wrists.
Around the girls neck was a gold chain.
and she had gold bracelets and anklets.
As L looked in the groom smiled and
waved his hand at me, but the baby
bride did not open her eyes. and [ am
told she had been drugged to keep her
quiet during the ceremony. Since | have
been IN India l have seen a score of
wedding professions, and in every case
the brides have been children, although
the grOoms may have been full-proyyn
men. Some of the brides were 6 and
8 years OF age, and I have seen, two of
O. This is my first sight of a bride who
Is really baby.
Child Wives by the Millions.
You have all heard of the child mar
T1ages OF India. They take place every
day, and number millions a wear. They
are cnefly among the HindOos, who
form two-thlrds OF the population of
Hindustan. | have before me the flo
tTes of the last census taken nv the
British. They show that India has now
more than 100000 wives under 10. and
ZoO,OOO OF i've years and under. It has
6,0OO,OUO married women of from 10 TO
10 and 5000. 900 more who are between
10 and ~ There are altogether 68. OOO.-
OUO wives in the country, and one-fourth
OF them are under the average AGE at
which our girls marry.
mere are also millions OF child widows
whose tate Is lar worse than that of the
married babies whose husbands are Iiv
ing. shall write Of them farther on in
this letter
Marriages in. India are ALWAYS ar
ranged by the parents. They are a mat
ter OF bargain and sale, and the father
OF the boy gets the money. 1t present
the price has risen, and one OF the ma
tive newspapers is demanding that the
parents of boys come down on the dow
RES they ask for their sons. They saw
that the parents of the brides cannot
stand the charges, and that the extOr-
tlons are disgrace to the country. Ev
cry Indian father is anxious to marry
OH his daughter and, according to the
HlndOo religion, he will be punished If
'he does not. A man whose daughter be-
comes an old maid must expect to spend
million years in hell for that crime
He will be disgTaced while he lives and
sneered at by his fellows. As a result
of this belief girls are often betrothed
in their cradles. They are married as
soon as they are able to walk. and are
old women at the. ages our girls become
wives. Indeed, there are but few fe-
males in India who are not wives OF
widows by the time they reach II years
of age.
One OF the native states recently pass
ed a law prohibiting the marriage of
girls under eight and forbidding men of
over so to wed girls under IA The baby
marriages are usually little more than
engagements or contracts which cannot
be broken. When the wedding ceremony
is over the little bride is taken back
home and she stays there until she is
eight, ten or twelve years OF age, when
she must live with her husband.
No Race Suicide.
There IS little race suicide in India.
The people want children. They marry
for that purpose, and the more they
have the better they like it. A woman
who has no children is curse to the
family, and she who does not bear
son is considered a failure. The mar
riages are at such an age that there are
thousands of mothers of y and Is. and
there are some little mothers of II or
10. There are 25yearold grandmothers,
and I have heard of great-great grand
mOthers at 4S years of age. The coun-
try is thicllly inhabited Tt grows great
er every year and there are 10000. 600
more people here now than there were