A Missionary Twig Part 8

"They must be very cruel to want to kill their own dear little babies.

Why, if anybody should hurt our little Nellie, we'd all fly at him and nearly tear him to pieces," and Daisy's face got very red and she doubled up her little fist at the very thought of such a thing.

"It isn't always, nor perhaps often, done in a spirit of cruelty.

Sometimes it is because the parents are poor and cannot afford to marry their daughters, for weddings cost a great deal, and according to the notions of the country everybody must be married. Often it ruins a man to get his daughters married, and he lives in poverty all the rest of his life. Then very ignorant and superst.i.tious parents sometimes sacrifice their children to please their G.o.ds, and as girls are not as much thought of as boys, it is frequently the girls who are killed. But, as I told you, the Government does not allow such doings, and when people are found breaking the law they are punished. Besides, as Christianity spreads these wicked things cease."

"I think that way they have of making little girls get married is awful," said Edith. "Just think of being dragged off to be married when you're only a little mite of a thing, and having to leave your own mamma and live with a cross old mother-in-law who abuses you!"

"Don't their fathers and mothers love them at all, Miss Agnes, that they send them off that way and allow them to be miserable?" asked Marty, who was ready to cry over the miseries of the poor little India girl.

"Of course there are many cruel parents--heathenism, you know, does not teach people to be kind and loving--but many love their children as much as your parents love you. In fact they are over-indulgent to them, and let them do just what they please when they are small. And you may imagine that the mother especially has a very sore heart when her little daughter is taken from her and when she hears of her being ill-treated in her new home. But it is considered a disgrace if girls are not married when mere children; and a loving mother wishes to keep her daughters from disgrace."

"And how if the little girl's husband dies?" Rosa Stevenson inquired.

"Oh, then the poor little widow leads a miserable life."

"Why, how?" Marty asked. "Can't she go back home then?"

"No," Miss Walsh answered. "She has to live on in the father-in-law's house, where she is treated shamefully, made to do hard work, is half starved, and not allowed clothes enough to keep her comfortable. She is not taken care of when sick, and is treated worse in every way than you have any idea of or ever can have."

"It's perfectly dreadful!" declared one of the girls.

"Didn't they use to burn the widows on their husbands' funeral pile?"

asked another.

"Yes, but the British Government put a stop to that."

"I believe I'd rather be burnt up and done with it than have to lead such a miserable life," said Mary Cresswell.

"Oh, no, it would be dreadful to be burnt," said Rosa.

"Seems to me it's dreadful all around," said Marty, sighing.

"You may be thankful you don't have to make the choice," said Miss Walsh.

"Then the poor children are not even made comfortable when they go to school," Rosa went on, "so dirty and forlorn!"

"How queerly they're dressed," said Hannah Morton.

"They seem to be dressed princ.i.p.ally in earrings and bracelets,"

remarked Marty.

"Miss Agnes," inquired Mary, "aren't there other kinds of schools besides these little day-schools?"

"Oh, yes. One of the first things that the missionaries try to do is to establish boarding-schools, so as to get the boys and girls altogether away from the influence of their heathen homes. This is the way many converts are made. There are now many such schools and much good has been done by them. You remember we sent the extra ten dollars we had last year to help build an addition to a boarding-school in China."

"Are Chinese little girls treated as badly as the ones in India?" Marty asked.

"Why, yes," said Hannah, before Miss Walsh could reply. "Don't you remember the 'Chinese Slave Girl,' that Miss Agnes read to us?--at least read some of it. And don't you know how they are tortured by binding their feet?"

"That isn't done on _purpose_ to torture them," said Mary. "That's a custom of the country."

"Most of their customs appear to be tortures," said Marty.

"Yes," said Miss Walsh, "the customs of barbarous and half-civilized nations are very hard on the women and girls."

"Well, it all makes me feel very sorrowful," Marty declared. "I never thought before, when I've had such good times all my life, that there are so many little girls who are not--a--"

"Not in the good times?" said Miss Walsh, helping her out.

"Yes, ma'am; and I do wish I could do something for some of them."

"So do I," said several of the others.

"I suppose," suggested Edith, "the faster we send the gospel to those countries the better it will be for the girls and everybody."

"Couldn't we raise more money this year, enough to support another school, or to pay for a girl or boy in a boarding-school somewhere?"

Rosa proposed.

"In that case we should have to double, or more than double, our usual amount," said Miss Walsh. "The question is, can we do that?"

"Oh, do let us try!" exclaimed several of the girls.

Then they began forthwith to make plans for raising more money.

"Of course the more members we have, the more money we'll raise," said Mary Cresswell, "so I think we'd better try again to get others to join our band. I have asked the Patterson girls two or three times, but I'm going to ask them again."

"Better not ask them _plump_ to join," suggested Bertie Lee. "Just get them somehow to come to one meeting, and then they'll be sure to want to belong."

"There's some wisdom in that," said Miss Walsh, laughing.

"Yes'm," said Bertie, "and I believe I'll try that way with Annie Kelley."

"I'm going to ask that new girl in our Sunday-school cla.s.s," said Hannah.

"I'm going to try to get _somebody_ to come," said Marty.

"So am I," "And I," cried the others.

"That's right," said Miss Walsh. "We want to get as many people as possible interested in missionary work, and, as Mary says, the more that are interested and belong to societies, the more money will be raised, and, of course, the more good will be done. So, don't you see, you are aiding the cause very much when you try to make our meetings attractive, and so induce others to join the band."

"I've thought of a way to make some missionary money, if it would be right to do it," said Edith.

"What is it?" asked Miss Walsh.

"Well--you know those prizes Dr. Edgar and Mr. Stevenson give at the Sunday-school anniversary for learning the Psalms and chapters--would it do to ask them to give us money instead of books or anything else, so that we might have it for missions?"

"We certainly might ask our pastor and superintendent what they think of the plan. I have no doubt they would be willing to adopt it when they know what the money is to be used for. I think myself, your idea is a very good one."

"Yes," said Rosa, "we should not only be studying the Bible for our own sakes, but be helping missions at the same time."