held in contempt, and even her touch may be considered pollution. Her widowhood is regarded as an affliction brought upon her in punishment for heinous sin in a previous state of existence. If it come upon her in childhood she must grow to years of maturity with the painful consciousness of her isolation and unhappy ostracism shadowing the early years of her life. She is forever an object of suspicion, and is looked upon as capable of all evil. She is the victim of special temptations, and is often driven to a life of shame through sheer selfloathing and despair.

It should not be understood that all widows are invariably treated with the same degree of severity and contempt throughout India. The treatment shown them varies in different castes, and even in different families. It may, of course, be mitigated by the personal kindness and consideration of their immediate circle, and it may be, on the other hand, intensified by fanaticism. In the Punjab, and especially in Bengal, the worst features of the widow's sad lot are prevalent. In other parts of India she may be treated with far less personal contumely, but the main features of isolation, suspicion, distinctive dress, cruel restrictions, and prohibition of remarriage prevail everywhere. According to the census of 1881, there were in India at that time 20,938,626 widows. The census of 1891 reports 22,657,429, but as this report was given with reference only to 262,300,000 out of a total population of 287,223,431, if the same proportion holds, the total number in all India. would not be less than 25,000,000. Nearly every fifth woman in India is a widow. This large percentage may be traced directly to the custom of early marriages and the stringent prohibition of remarriage.1

The same shadow rests upon the widow in China and Korea, although the exactions of custom are by no means so inexorable as in India. If, however, she should remarry she loses her social position and is regarded as guilty of an unnatural and immodest act.

In connection with the subject of widowhood and its enforced hardships, mention may be made of the now happily extinct custom of sati,

1 "The distribution according to age of the total 22,657,429 widows is as follows:

"Four hundred and eighty out of 10,000 males are widowed, against 1760 out of every 10,000 females.

"For 8 widows in Europe, per population, there are 18 in India."—India's Women, January, 1895, p. 42.

or widow-burning. The usual form of the word in English is "suttee," but it is more correctly written sati, from a root signifying "good" or "pure," the significance of the word being that selfdestruction on the part of the widow is a preëminently virtuous act. The horrible custom was unknown among the early Aryans, nor is it inculcated

The abolition of sati.

in the Vedas. It is supposed that the Hindus adopted it from the Scythian tribes, who were accustomed to immolate "concubine and horse and slave on the tomb of the dead lord." Possibly the custom may have commended itself to the Hindus as one eminently fitting and in harmony with their ideas of what is becoming in a widow. At all events, it became prevalent to a fearful extent, and the relatives of the unhappy widow may have been all the more eager to insist upon it so that they might obtain her inheritance and be altogether relieved of the burden of supporting her. She was assured that untold happiness would follow this supreme sacrifice, and even those who aided in the act of burning would obtain for themselves extravagant merit. In numberless instances the unhappy victim would shrink from her terrible fate, and would be forced to it in a way which made it a most abominable species of murder.1 In the year 1817 it was found that, on an average, two widows were burned alive in Bengal every day. In some cases death was by burial while alive instead of by burning. This most awful crime was abolished by the British Government in 1829 by the decisive action of Lord William Bentinck. The Hindus objected most vigorously to the regulation placing the practice of sati among the crimes punishable by law. They presented memorials to the Government, in which they justified the act of immolation as a sacred duty and exalted privilege, and claimed that the action of the authorities was an unwarranted interference with the religious customs of India. The appeal was transmitted to the Privy Council in England, but Lord Bentinck's action in the matter was sustained. The prohibition applied only to British territory, but the Government has also used its best influence in restricting the custom in Native States, and at the present time, although rare instances are still reported, it has been practically suppressed everywhere. The agitation for its abolition was begun under missionary auspices by Dr. Carey in 1801.

5. DEFECTIVE FAMILY TRAINING.-The delicate and responsible offices of parental training, although everywhere in the non-Christian 1 "The Women of India," p. 122.

world more or less under the guiding instincts of natural feeling, are yet, through ignorance, passion, and thoughtlessness, sadly ineffective as a helpful discipline to the young. Family training can rise no higher in its temper and wisdom than the family character. Its aspirations may be the best, and its aims the highest that can be expected under the circumstances, yet they are not likely to transcend the family environment, except as Christian teachings give an uplifting impulse to parental desires.

in Japan and China.

The sketch of Japanese child life given by Miss Bacon, in her chapter on childhood in "Japanese Girls and Women," is a pleasing picture, and, owing to the kindness with which children The training of children are treated, Japan has been called a "paradise of babies." So far as gentleness and natural affection are concerned, the elements of happy family life seem to be present in Japan. The danger is rather in the lack of a wise self-restraint on the part of parents, modifying the tendency to an undue laxity which in the end may work injury. The absence of a high moral purpose and a deep sense of parental responsibility can hardly be atoned for by mere fondness. Later on in the life of a Japanese child comes the shadow of parental absolutism, which in many instances is guilty of inflicting grave wrongs upon confiding and obedient children, especially the daughters.

In China there is a somewhat severe and elaborate ethical code of training which, if put into practice with wisdom and kindliness, is by no means void of good results. Its influence, however, is largely neutralized by the force of example and the power of the imitative instinct in the young. The "Nu Erh Ching; or, Classic for Girls" has been translated into English by Professor Headland, of Peking,1 and is full of sage advice and excellent counsel. Moral maxims and conventional politeness, however, may be insisted upon with much carefulness; yet if a child's mind "is filled with ill-natured gossip, low jests, filthy sayings, and a thousand slavish superstitions" the result is sure to be disastrous. Even though the letter of the discipline may be free from serious defect, yet the fact that it is ignored in thousands of families, and in its place is substituted the foolish and idolizing weakness of fond parents, interspersed with bursts of furious brutality, quite transforms the ideal Chinese home into a school of selfishness, conceit, and disobedience.2 The ordinary training of Chinese children is characterized by grave moral lapses, and sometimes by shocking cruelty. Punishment 1 The Chinese Recorder, December, 1895, p. 554.

2 Williams, A New Thing," p. 27.

Kindergarten Boy.

Twin Children of a Japanese Clergyman.

A Kindergarten Class.

Entrance to "Glory Kindergarten," Kobe, Japan. A KINDERGARTEN PAGE FROM JAPAN (A. B. C. F. M.)