EVADING THE CONQUEROR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 223, 13 June 1908, Page 11

EVADING THE CONQUEROR.

Sooner or later, Death tho Conqueror. Even kings die. Theodore Hook once explained why:— "How monarchs die is easily explained, And thus upon tho tomb it might be chisel'd: As long as George tho Fourth could reign, ho reign'd, ' —And thon ho mizzled." If you would ovado Death for a reasonable timo, you must livo discreetly. Tannic acid kills. 'Wherefore, drink only tho purest and most perfect tea. Suratura "D," 2s. 6

WOMEN IN INDIA. WHAT IS BEING DONE FOR THEM. A woman who has spoilt the las+ ten and a half years working among .the 'saddest women in the world, the inhabitants of the Indian zenanas, is Miss Fulchcr, at present visiting New Zealand. She has had excellent opportunities for studying the conditions of feminine life in that great Empire, and she has made full use of her opportunities. Miss Fulcher is a busy lady, hut she foundtime yesterday to have a talk with "Dominica " about the progress of education and Christian thought among tho women who havo until recently been tho hopeless pri J souers of superstitious convention. Nowhere is a greater reverence shown for long-established custom than in India, and at every step tho reformer runs against some prejudico that seems to havo its' foundations laid deep.in many centuries, so firmly fixed that one cannot believe there was ever a time when that prejudico did not exist. Such a convention is> the law that widows , must not remarry. This is not now a statuto law; in the mission schools tho marrying of widows is encouraged, and beyond their walls such marriages occasionally take place, not often, for the bridegroom must face a storm of opposition and popular ill-will;. but still, Miss Fulcher stated that in one district last year there the marriage of 80 widows was recorded. There aro no old maids in India. A girl's parents tako care to find her a bridegroom, even if to secure one within their own caste they havo to marry her as a baby to an old, old man, with tho knowledge that practically the wholo of her life must be spent in widowhood. It' follows that in India the merry widow is almost unknown., One curious fact was mentioned by ' Miss , Fulcher that the average life of a Hindoo man is not more than 34 years, which, of course, makes the number of widows enormous. Tho Zenana Biblo and Medical Mission, to rrliich Miss Fulcher belongs, an undenominational mission, concerns itself largely with the education and tho medical treatment of women. Thoy havo hospitals and schools which are entirely stalled by women, and their women doctors and nurses visit tho women in their own homes. The need- for medical help is so great that every member of the mission band finds.it necessary to havo some knowledge of nursing. During tho, past few years they have been very busily engaged with plaguo patients, for it is m tho Bombay where Miss Fulcher works that the plague is most firmly seated, and it is from the crowded Native houses of Bombay that it has travelled to other parts of the Indian Empire. " Peoplo talk about the decrease of the plague," said Miss Fulcher, "but as a raattor of fact .it is, _if anything, on the increase. Thero was a theory that the plague would disappear in seven years.- It has had firm hold of'lndia, for nearly 13. But r , ~ the plague- has opened I. ■ the door of thousands of homes of the missionaries, who going to give the women medical aid, havo been allowed to go beyond the needs of the body. One entire town was opened to mission work through this ■ means. Tho mission devotes a great deal of atten-' tion to educating the women, and Miss Fulchar says that the spread of education among the women of India during tho last ten years has'been wonderful. Tho mission has over three thousand pupils in its school's. •Many of tho cleverest are refugees from the famine of .1900, and of somo of these it is hoped to make teachers, who,will continue in the schools, which are not yet fully staffed with Christian teachers. A great deal lias been written about the Hindoo man, who is sent to England to be educated, and who returns to India spoiled for his old surroundings, and unfitted for 1 Anglo-Indian society. The same things cannot bo said about the Hindoo worn an, who goes in for higher education. She is to be found all over India, in high schools, colleges,: universities, and especially in modical schools. Sho is not filled with revolutionary ideas, or bitterness, but it is generally her desire to bo of service to her sisters, and very often she becomes ,a doctor to t-nat ond. There aro positions open for her under Government, and only recently placo has been found for her in the postal department. , '

One family distinguished for the 1 mental attainments _ of its women is the well-known Sorabji family. Tho father, a Parsee, married a .woman of rare intellectual gifts, who was for 30 years head of a girls' high school. Of her. daughters, ono is a missionary, one a doctor at the Dufferin Hospital, Delhi,' two arc teachers, and the most distinguished of all, Cornelia Sorabji, has passed high legal examinations, 'and now holds an important Government position, acting practically as counsel for tho native women of her district; All these women passed through mission schools beforo completing tliear education in England and America. Mrs. Sorabji,' who is nearly eighty, drfissM like a European, but hor daughters keep to liativo costume.. There is an."lndian Ladies' Magazine," a highclass journal, published in India. It is edited by a woman, and the very interesting articles and stories are by wonien contributors. ' It is published in English, and has a wido circulation among the educated women of India.