their busy life in the
institution, would make excellent wives for the educated Hindus. But
the power of custom is so overwhelming in India that, in spite of the
obvious advantages to be derived from the arrangement, the probability
is that the remarriage of a Hindu widow will for a long time continue
to be a most unusual event.

Caste here also, as well as everywhere else, is a barrier to progress.
I once suggested to a delightful and accomplished young Hindu, of good
position but not a Brahmin, who would have liked an intellectual and
companionable wife, that he should marry one of the widows from the
Home. But he assured me that such a thing was absolutely impossible on
account of his caste, and that not a widow in the Home would have him,
in spite of all that he had to offer her.

There has also been a great deal of exaggeration, in books about
Indian customs, concerning the position of the young daughter-in-law,
as if of necessity it must be one of great bondage. The mother-in-law
no doubt rules her daughter-in-law from the time she takes up
residence in the household, because she is usually still quite a child
and has to be taught her duties, and especially how to cook. But, for
the most part, the mother-in-law appears to be very devoted to her
daughter-in-law, and if she sometimes corrects her it is in her
anxiety that she should excel in domestic affairs, so that she may be
a good housewife.

One of the farmers' wives brought her youngest son's little wife to
the village Mission bungalow to ask us to show her the lad's
photograph, which had been taken some time back. There did not appear
to be any restraint or mystery in speaking of her husband, which we
are sometimes told in books is a characteristic of Hindu matrimonial
life. The young wife, who was a pretty child of about thirteen years,
was pleasantly shy; but her cheerful mother-in-law showed her the
photograph and discussed it, together with that of another group of
villagers, in which she picked out her own husband, with much animated
talk, and pleasant smiles and laughter. Except for the difference in
the setting of the picture it might have stood for a scene in a
country parsonage in England.

CHAPTER XXXI

WRONGDOING IN INDIA

The High Courts. The petty courts. Disappearance of the
school clock. Methods of Indian police; indignation of the
villagers; conduct of the police complained of; an inquiry
instituted; unsatisf