t take part in any enjoyments or festivities
whatever, but must run away and hide from every man, even her nearest
of kin. But she is not only barred from every pleasure, but from all
affection, as well. Her lord's death is laid at her door, and his
family take every occasion to load her with reproaches, because if she
had not been wicked in some other existence he would not have been lost
to her now. It is not much wonder that the poor things used to be
ready to die with him on the funeral pyre, for when they decided to do
that, they were loaded with jewels and praises, everybody flattered
them and told them that, because of their devotion, not only the
husband, but all his relatives, would have better places in Paradise,
and reign forever. So, intoxicated with all this notice, and delighted
with her splendid attire, the benighted little creature, who never gets
beyond childhood in intellect, felt she would rather have a short life
and a merry one, and so often committed Suttee."

"And don't they do so now?" asked Hope.

"No, it is abolished by law--British law.

"But they burn their dead yet, don't they?" was Faith's question, as
she listened with sympathetic shivers.

"Yes. Some day, when I get time we will go to the Ganges and see some
of their strange burial ceremonies--that is, if you can stand it,
daughter."

"Oh yes, but I do think there are some dreadful things in this world,
papa!"

"True, darling, and there would have been more dreadful, if the blessed
Son of God had not come to teach us better ways. Man, left to himself,
is always a savage. God and good women, both, have helped him to be
better."

He spoke reverently, touching the visor of his cap involuntarily. When
he thought of good women, memory always recalled the wife he had loved,
and his soul blessed her memory.

They had now left the new town far behind them, and were slowly passing
between expressionless house walls, with soiled awnings stretched above
the lane-like street. The whole population seemed to live out of
doors, and the cooking, hammering, tailoring, baby-tending, and
lounging, was all done at so close range that the horses could scarcely
keep from stepping on the merchants, and the carriage was in danger of
making a wreck of his stock of goods. The houses, which seemed only to
serve as backgrounds to all this teeming life, were of all colors--red,
green, orange, and blue--and between the queer, many-shaped roof-tops