A HINDOO MOTHER. 
83 
of mind under the control and direction of a woman, 
and how high a woman may rise in the scale of intel- 
lectual attainment merely by her own inherent prin- 
ciple, which is the secondary source of knowledge, and 
therefore, in accordance with Lord Bacon’s well known 
axiom, the germ of power. 
“ The mind alike, 
Vigorous or weak, is capable of culture. 
But still bears fruit according to its nature : 
’Tis not the teacher’s skill that rears the scholar. 
The sparkling gem gives back the glorious radiance 
It drinks from other light ; but the dull earth 
Absorbs the blaze, and yields no gleam again.”* 
With all their failings, nothing can exceed the in- 
tensity of affection which Hindoo mothers feel towards 
their offspring, of which I once happened to witness a 
remarkable instance. 
I was one morning riding upon the banks of the 
river that flows almost immediately under the walls 
of Poonah, in the Deccan, when I saw a very interest- 
ing Hindoo woman, with an infant in her arms about 
two years old, descend to the edge of the river to 
bathe. She laid her child upon the bank, which was 
here about three feet above the water, while she 
walked into the stream. The rains had not long 
ceased, and therefore the course of the river was at 
this time more than usually rapid, especially near the 
bank, where the water was deep. Here the channel 
curved ; and as the water was turned off from its di- 
rect course, the resistance of the bank increased its 
* Uttara Rama Cherita. 
