annot be wrong to give
it to the holy gods! This is our religion; and it may be wrong to you,
but it is not wrong to us.' So she refused to give us the baby, and
seems inclined to go away with it. It is like that constantly. The thing
cannot be wrong because it is religious!"

"I heard of two little orphan girls whose guardian, an uncle, had
married again, and did not want to have the marriage expenses of his two
little nieces to see to. So at the last great festival he brought the
children and dedicated them to the Saivite Temple, and the Temple women
heard about it before I did, and at once secured them. I went as soon as
I could to see if we could not get them, but she would not listen to us.
She said they were her sister's children, and that she had adopted them
out of love for her dead sister."

A lawyer was consulted as to this case, but it was impossible to trace
the uncle or to prove that the children were not related to the Temple
woman. Above all, it was impossible to prove that she meant to do
anything illegal. So nothing could be done.

As a rule the Temple woman receives little beyond bare sustenance from
the Temple itself. In some Temples when the little child is formally
dedicated, she (or her guardian) receives two pounds, and her funeral
expenses are promised. But though there is little stated remuneration,
the Temple woman is not poor. Poverty may come. If she breaks the law of
her caste, or offends against the etiquette of that caste, she is
immediately excommunicated, and then she may become very poor. Or if she
has spent her money freely, or not invested it wisely, her old age may
be cheerless enough. But we have not found any lack of money among the
Sisterhood. No offer of compensation for all expenses connected with a
child has ever drawn them to part with her. They offer large sums for
little ones who will be useful to them. We have several times known as
much as an offer of one hundred rupees made and accepted in cases where
the little child (in each case a mere infant) was one of special
promise. A letter, which incidentally mentions the easy circumstances in
which many are, may be of interest:--

"K. is a little girl in our mission school. Her mother is a favourite
Temple woman high up in the profession. She dances while the other women
sing, and sometimes she gets as much as three or four hundred rupees for
her dancing. She is well educated, can recite the 'Ramayana' (Indian
epic), and kn