86 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
er s ear like snow upon water — they were absorbed 
without leaving an impression. I quitted the scene,, 
giving the husband a few rupees to meet the expenses 
of the poor babe’s obsequies,, little thinking then that 
he would so soon have a second blank left upon his 
domestic hearth. The man was considerably affected, 
but the loss of his child smote him much more severe- 
ly than the death of his wife, towards whom, how- 
ever, I found he had the character of having proved 
at least a forbearing if not a tender husband ; which 
is much to say, since among the Hindoos tenderness 
does not commonly class with the conjugal virtues. 
It is really melancholy to witness the social mi- 
sery common to the domestic state in India. From 
the ill-judged indulgence of parents, their children 
usually grow up to be intractable and rebellious. If 
the least check is opposed to their forwardness, they 
resist with the vehemence of maniacs, and in defiance 
of all parental authority act according to the impulses 
of their unruly wills. We cannot be surprised, under 
such circumstances, at the filial atrocities so frequently 
witnessed on the banks of the Ganges, where almost 
daily parents are suffocated by their offspring with the 
mud of the sacred river. 
