New-York tribune., 1912-01-21
Native Officials and Mobiles
Are Helping to Better the
I Condition of Child
Wives.

other cities are there any speclal scnoo's
for widows or married girls. In the Fun.
lab many unmarried girls up to the ases
OF fifteen and sixteen are still pursu.ns
their studies and in few instances snn~
OF eighteen and nineteen. Professor harFes
| girls school at Poona, the Nldyaia' ooeS
| not admit students unless their parents
promise to allow them to remain uhHai
rled up to the age OF twenty.
Very few girls, however In ateenoahoe
| at most of the schools exceed len or eiese"
years. The CHEF exceptions are IN North-
ern India where the ages mount up 20
| fifteen and sixteen While visiting hino.
girls school In Lucknow MISS Ienhans
read this motto hanging over the arch-
way: Love your daughters as your sons
| and educate them equally" IT may Do
| feared the motto is not carried into prac-
tice. for in that very school there was NOT
to be found a girl over the age OF ten. IN
the girls schools of Baroda there are very
| few married students, and since compulsory
education has been found necessary there
the attendance has largely Increased. n
! speciai training school for widows ana mar"
ried women has been founded in Baroda
| by the Maharani
| The time is near at hand when modei
| high schools will be available for girls,
and besides the regular curricula they Will
| be taught needlework, drawing, paintins'
| music domestic economy, cooking ana tho
| care and medical treatment OF chiidren.
| Miss Tenant perceives a hopeful sign III
| the establishment OF girls schools In many
| cities More training schools and colleges
for married women are to be opened. Fe-
| male education in the state OF Mysore' as
! has been said, is advancing. His highness
the Maharaja Is highly commended for the
encouragement he has given In TINS direc-
ton, and her highness has evinced equa'
| interest The government schools Tor girls
and the Maheranis college have done ex-
| celent work. These schools VIII be greas
! factors In Indian civilization, because there
/ is now a demand for women in the profess
sions--as teachers, lecturers, editors au-
thors. lawyers, doctors, nurses. midwivess
managers of charitabe homes, and even
for official positions.
pENALiZINe MARRIED MEN.
What about the young men? They, too.
are affected by the tyranny OF this curse
| OF early marriage. with all its glamour or
barbaric display and os.entation. The boy
who marries or Is given in marriage by
/ his parents before he has finished his
academic career realizes more deeply than
! any one else the evils of early marriage.
! With the burden OF a family to support in
! debt for marriage expenses and perhaps
disappointed over the dowry. IL not over
! the wife as well, he, too often at tho
! threshold OF life yields to despair and nils
a suicides grave. Efforts are now being
made I'm the universities and colleges 10
dlssuade students from marrying during
the prosecution Of their studies. A few OF
these institutions charge a double fee TO
married students.
! As a further deterrent Ito the tempted
ones) the married students are debarred
from competing for scholarships, medals
and prizes The Central Hindu College OF
i Benares and the Ferguson College, or
/ Poona are two institutions where only un-
married boys are eligible to free tuition.
! The young men in the last named college
have refused to marry girls under the age
of sixteen, and they exact that their brides
shall be educated. Though several profess
sors have testified that mental degeneracy
is very prevalent In student life. due mainly
to early marriage, ii seems pity TO debar
young married men from these institutions
| or TO charge double fee when, often with
out their consent, parents have given them
in marriage.
In the Hindu boys schools and colleges
young men up TO the ages Of twenty-three
and twenty-four are numerous. on the
1 other hand. IL is not uncommon TO hrd stu
dents OF seventeen and eighteen who are
already fathers. and whose wives may be
mothers at twelve. To yoke children to-
gether before their schooling is hardly
begun is worse than folly-it is crime In
! the Baroda College OF 323 boys and the
! high school of 900 students, Miss Tennant
learned-by requesting the married boys to
stand-that out OF 2lO boys sixty-four are
| husbands.
| IL the boy widowers were subjected to
the same Ill treatment that is inflicted upon
the child and girl widows how long would
they endure II in grim silence? Another
hopeful sign is the fact that many students
of the present day take for their wives only
girls of mature years and are signing
| pledges to that effect. According TO the
| Hindu Shastras and the Brahmacharya
training, the marriageable age of the young
man should be twenty-five and that OF the
/ girl sixteen. That would seem very
| arbitrary rule in the United States, as to
! men. Many of the Indian parents are at
! last-partly through the teachings or Miss
| Tennant-convinced OF the evils resulting
| from early marriage, and it now lies almost
solely with the young men or India ana
! their sisters TO bring about this mucu
needed reform in the marriage system.
Miss Tenants two lectures IN the
Lakshmi Villas Palace, Baroda, were given
under the distinguished auspices or tnd
Maharani. who presided. Perhaps she IL
the most progressive and best educated
! of all the Indian princesses OF to-day
| The act passed a few years ago in Baroda
I prohibiting early marriage was highly
commended at the time by the press OF the
world Her highness's son is populas
student at Harvard University.
| PRAISED BY INDIAN REFoRMeR.
| At Bangalore It was pointed out by
great Indian reformer, NIadhava Rao, re.
tired Dewan OF Travancore and Mysore
who acted as chairman OF the meeting ada
dressed by Miss Tenant, that she was
working on lines which, so far from beint
in violation Of the Hindu Shastras, should
help to restore to native women the posi-
ton they held during the epic and Vedie
| times This compliment reminded Miss Tsos
nant that her dream was coming true.
Up TO the first Of last August she hAd
established branches Of the Hindu Mar
riage Reform League for men in the follow
ing cities Delhi, Meerut, Cawnpore, Mue
ira, Aligarh, Dehra. Dun. Amballa, Ludhk
ana, Jullundhar Amrltsar, Lahore, Feroze
pcre Saharanpore, AJmere, Bombay. Ba
roda Madras and Bangalore. Members
also had been listed in Allahabad. Luck