Evening star., 1938-06-05
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

American motor buses are breaking
down the rigid caste system in India
which for centuries has defied the
combined educational efforts of both
the British government and mis-
sionaries.
Our authority for this information
is Mrs. Isabel Scudder Harrington,
member of well-known missionary
family, who has just returned to her
post as regent of the Chevy Chase
Junior College for Girls after a two
month visit to her native India as
part of six-month trip around the
world.
The explanation Of this gradual VIC
tory of Henry Ford over an ancient
social system, especially in the larger
cities, according to Mrs. Harrington,
lies in the inherent curiosity of the
East Indian, whether he be Pariah
or Brahman.
From his western neighbors he is
catching the contagion for going
places and seeing things and since the
motor bus is no respector of social
position either in India or anywhere
else, all castles are obliged to sit side
by side or forego the ride.
Thus, she pointed out, an increasing
number of Indians are having tolera-
ton forced on them through an I'M
Willingness to let the bus go by.
Member of Famous Family.
AS her maiden name of Scudder
indicates, Mrs. Harrington is a mem
Der OF the famous medical missionary
Scudder family in India. The young
est child of DR.. Ezekiel C. Scudder
and Of his New England-born wife,
Ruth Tracy, she also is the grand
daughter of the internationally known
DR.. John Scudder, who in 1928 went
from Chicago to India, as its first
medical missionary.
Many Of her Indian treasures are
not only hundreds of years old. but
are in many instances gifts to her
from former pupils Of an older brother,
VINO lived and died as a preacher mis-
slonary in India, loved and revered
py the natives to whom he consecrated
MS life. Out Of his own meager salary
he sent 38 boys through their high
school courses and continued the four
most brilliant through Oxford Uni
versity.
On a window ledge, illumined by
the afternoon sun, was a miniature
marble copy done in exquisitely lace
IKE, pierced carving of one of the
screens around the sarcophagi in tie
Tai Mahal.
OF this great memorial to a lost
love. Mrs. harrington says in a sort
OF nushed revery of recollection. 1T
is absolutely unlike anything on earth
to be seen anywhere else. With all
OF India calling and family friends
to be visited, I visited the Tai Mahal
four successive days and would have
liked to have done so four successive
months"
Thrown over a nearby couch was
piece Of wonderously beautiful ruby
colored satin embroidery. Its almost
velvet-like luster' was of a quality 50
hne that it could be drawn through
q slender circlet with ease.
variety OF Marriage Robes.
Among other Indian treasures we
glimpsed a variety of antique mar
rlage ceremonial robes, their deep
claret-gray color an indication of their
great age. AS soon as an Indian girl
can hold needle she begins to work
on her marriage cloth. Often the
previous careful design ends in a sort
OF whirlwind finish whose irregular
tracery is indicative of her emotional
Instability when she learns that the
great moment of her life is approach
ing
A wedding scarf or sari, from
near Benares, is of the sheerest gauze
In an entrancing shade of blue. in
terwoven with a carefully repeated
design in silver suggesting stars gilt
tering in the armament on a clear
night.
Perhaps the rarest of all Mrs. Far
rington's Indian ceremonial wedding
sarls is the one which long ago be-
longed to a princess of India. Its
cashmere folds evoke the memory of
old Paisley shawls brought from far
away Cathay. Strikingly it depicts
the story Of the gods of India. There
Is Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the
preserver, and Kali, the destroyer, the
latter calling to mind the phrase, 1--WE
are sometimes destroyed by our gods"
OF particular interest is a pitcher
with cobra handle which is among
the earliest of Mrs. Farrington's rec
objections of her mother and of their
life in India. It seems reminiscent
of Wedgewood, but was the work of
an Indian potter. Nearby also are
fine examples of early New England
maple, heritage from the little New
England mother who foresook her YER
mont home and her kindred to 20
out to India with Mrs. Farrington's
medical missionary father.
Mrs. Farrington's own birthplace in
India was at Arni, near Madras. in