ii2 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



through which gold- headed ornamental pins 

 are passed ; a necklace of large gold beads, a 

 nose ring formed of a good sized garnet set in 

 gold, gold earrings, silver armlets, bracelets, 

 and rings complete her costume. She is a 

 Roman Catholic, and has been educated by the 

 nuns at the Roman Catholic school for Tamil 

 girls at Kandy, where she is now about to send 

 her own little girl. For the sum of five rupees 

 a month, the children are boarded, taught 

 Sinhalese, Tamil and English, the "three Rs," 

 and to sew neatly. If they show any great 

 ability they are educated to be teachers, other- 

 wise when old enongh they are drafted off to 

 respectable situations as lady's or children's 

 ayahs. Anatchi lived in good situations until 

 she married, and speaks English particularly 

 well, with a refined gentle accent, very refresh- 

 ing for me to hear. She is now a widow 

 and lives with a married sister, until such 

 time as her baby boy is old enough for her to 

 leave him, to take another situation as ayah. 

 This is another instance of the strength of the 

 ties of family affection amongst the Tamils. 

 None of them would ever think of refusing an 

 asylum to an unfortunate near relation, and the 

 sons even take over the debts of a dead father 

 and mother, and make them their own, even 

 when the departed ones have left absolutely no 

 property to which the son might succeed. 



