52 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



thorougUy believe it to be the only desirable life to lead, find tlie 

 innumerable restrictions imposed upon her not unwelcome, and 

 become contented with her contracted sphere ; and, if those about 

 her happen to be kind, be quite as happy as any girl in the world. 

 But the potentialities for misery involved in her surroundings are 

 enormous, and, where such is the case, to argue that misery is not 

 the frequent result would be to argue against human nature. At 

 all events, the purview of her life is limited to a degree which it is 

 difficult for us to realize. It resolves itself daily into this : the 

 strict performance of petty religious ceremonies, feeding, bathing, 

 dressing, cooking, and household drudgery, all so hedged round 

 with minute regulations as to make each a special occupation, and 

 to these must be added visiting and gossip during her afternoon 

 leisure. How petty that gossip must be can be inferred from the 

 facts already laid before you. Remember that the great majority 

 of these ladies are altogether uneducated, that ever since they 

 have been old enough to observe and think they have been shut 

 out from the world, that they have no knowledge of any person 

 or thing beyond those immediately around them except what they 

 can pick up from their menials, and then you will have no diffi- 

 culty in understanding that their interests are centered in their 

 jewels and ornaments, their food, their personal concerns and 

 troubles, the peculiarities of the members of their households, and, 

 lastly and chiefly, in what social ceremonies and feasts happen to 

 come their way, the widows being shut out from even thesa. jf a 

 marriage, a death, or a birth among their kindred were the only 

 landmarks in English ladies' lives, we should soon have these oc- 

 casions erected into as lengthy family ceremonies as they are in 

 India. If the observance of Ash- Wednesday, Shrove-Tuesday, 

 Candlemas, Michaelmas, Lady-day, May -day, and what not of our 

 standard religious and secular feasts were the main opportunities 

 for breaking the monotony of an imprisoned life, how carefully 

 they would be kept, and how anxiously looked forward to ! This 

 is why all the innumerable shankrdnts, ekddshis, aslithamis, ndu- 

 mis, and other queer fasts and feasts are so regularly attended to 

 in India. Indeed, female ingenuity has there long ago seized up- 

 on the many other opportunities for diversion afforded by occur- 

 rences incidental to human existence, and there are ceremonies to 

 be gone through on every possible excuse. No phase of life es- 

 capes — childhood, puberty, pregnancy, maternity, widowhood, all 

 come in for a share. The first tying of a rag round a boy's loins 

 occasions a family feast, and so does the first time his hair is cut 

 the first time he puts on the ja^iew, or sign of caste ; and so on all 

 through life. Before he is a man he has gone through sixteen sac- 

 raments, each a notable occasion in the eyes of his women- 

 folk. Babies are put through all sorts of ceremonies, on the 



