THE COOLIE ORPHAN HOME. 253 



daiiiiius clustering' round liini who was indeed their father in 

 God ; who had delivered them from misery and loneliness, 

 and in the case of the girls too probably vice likewise ; 

 and drawn them, by love, to civilization and Christianity. 

 The children, as fast as they grow up, are put out to domestic 

 service, and the great majority of the boys at least turn 

 out well. The girls, I was told, are curiously inferior to 

 the boys in intellect and force of character ; an inferiority 

 wdiich is certainly not to be found in Negros, among w^hom 

 the two sexes are more on a par, not only intellectually, 

 but physically also, than among any race wdiich I have seen. 

 One iu stance, indeed, we saw of the success of the school. 

 A young creature, brought up there, and well married near 

 by, came in during our visit to show off her first baby to the 

 matron and the children ; as pretty a mother and babe as one 

 could well see. Only we regretted, that, in obedience to the 

 supposed demands of civilization, and of a rise in life, she 

 had discarded the graceful and modest Hindoo dress of her 

 ancestresses, for a French bonnet and all that accompanies 

 it. The transfiguration added, one must charitably suppose, 

 to her self-respect ; if so, it must be condoned on moral 

 grounds : but in an aesthetic view, she had made a great 

 mistake. 



In remembrance of our visit, a little brown child, some 

 three or four years old, who had been christened" that day, was 



