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

records showed that 900 women had so
inundated themselves within 80 miles
Of Calcutta in the space of six months.
In the next % years more than 10000
were so burned, and IL was not until
long thereafter that the custom was
stopped. This burning was called
"suttee," and it is questionable wheth-
er it was not preferable to continued
widowhood, which Is now known as cold
suttee.- The widow is condemned 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 six years
old. He was & bright little fellow in
a red velvet coat, tight velvet trousers
and a cap of cloth of gold. The bride
was not present, and whether she was
a baby or not 1 do not know. The
chief feature of the ceremony was the
dancing of some Nautch girls to the
music of two drums and an Indian
fiddle. The girls went through the
most surprising contortions. They twist
ed themselves this way and that; they
bent back and forth as though they
were india rubber, the most of their
dancing being without lifting their feet
from the ground. Some of their mo-
tions were beyond description indecent.
am told that the Nautch girls are Tro-
fessionaT dancers, and that their pro-
fession is about the only one open TO
young women of India. They are by no
means as good as they should be. but
being bad is part Of their business,
and the people respect them.
Allied to them is a class of girls who
are bad for religions sake. They al e
the temple brides who are bred to DANCE
at the shrines, to pander to the prie$s
and sing obscene songs TO. the gods.
They are obtained while yet children by
the temples through purchase or as
gifts from the parents, and are educat-
ed for the purpose. Sometimes a man
who has recovered from illness buys a
girl and presents her thus as a gift to
the gods, or if one has a stroke Of good
luck he may make the priests such a
present. If the temple brides have
daughters they are brought up as dane
ing girls, being taught to read and sing
and instructed in all the arts of seduc-
ton. These girls are licensed by law,
but of late years their excuses have
become such that even the natives have
begun to object. Three years ago a
number of HindOost asked the Bombay
government to suppress the custom in
that state and there was n attempt
to do so. It failed because the masses
of the people looked upon thu instica-
ton as having been sanctified by reli-
gion, and because the British make il
a principle to do nothing that affects
the faith of their subjects. Just now
similar action has been taEsn Ey Ny
sore, one of the naive states, and it
may be that Il viii succeed.
Education for Women.
The awakening of India, now going
on, cannot but better these conditions.
The women could not possibly be worse
off than they are, and any change must
be an Improvement. 1 am told that
the native leaders realize this, and that
even the Mohammedans are holding
conventions in the interest of female
education. India has about so million
Mohammedans, and this means that
there are half that number Of women
and girls AS it is now only 1000 such
girls are in school. The Mohammedans
feel that the educational standard of
the followers of the prophet must be
raised and that this can be best done
by educating the girls. 1t is much the
same with the Hindoos, some of whose