LKCTURE ON THE CONDITION OF WOMEN IN PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES, BY CALEB WRIGHT, "lecturer on tee manners, habits, and superstitions of the HINDOOS." BT£RBOTYPB EDITION. TROY, NEW YORK. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, By CALEB WRIGHT, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Oourt of Massachusetts. Women of Hindoostan. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/lectureonconditiOOwrig LECTURE. Woman, by Heaven’s appointment, is man’s help-meet. For this was she created, and for this furnished with her peculiar endowments. “ It is not good that man should be alone.” Soli- tude is ill adapted to the development either of his physical energies, or of his intellectual and moral powers. His nature demands companionship ; without it,, the world is a blank, and human existence a cheerless night. W Oman, in her original state, (to use the language of another,) “ was all that is lovely in form, all that is graceful in manner, all that is exalted in mind, all that is pure in thought, all that is delicate in sentiment, all that is enchanting in conversation.” She was God’s most finished workmanship. Has she lost her original purity and loveliness? Butman has fallen too; and relatively they are to each other still what they were before they took and ate of the forbidden fruit. It is now, as ever. Heaven’s will that woman receive all “duo benevolence” from man, — that he regard her as his equal, and entitled to his warmest love : that he throw his arm around her for protection, and combine with the gentlest care the most respectful deference to her honor and her happiness. “A man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” “Hus- bands, love your wives,” is God’s command and nature’s law, for they are bone of each other’s bone and flesh of each other’s flesh. Such is the genius of Christianity. And the result of obedience to this eternal law of God and nature, is the lofty ele- vation of the female character, the thorough cultivation of her mind, the rich endowment of her heart, and the augmented strength of all her capabilities of usefulness and enjoyment ; while the result of disobedience is fraught with all that is degrading to intellect, vitiating to social principle, corrupting to moral habits, and hostile to every upward movement of the immortal powers. And what is the spirit of heathenism, and of false religion in its varied forms, let the impartial pen of history tell. Times, 6 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN ancient and modern, — witnesses, Pagan, Mahometan, and Chris- tian, may be mdiscrinynately cited on this point. Their testi- mony is one, — trutliful, melancholy, and decisive. A daughter is born. ’T is a grievous calamity. The Hindoo father becomes dejected, and his neighbors gather around him to mingle their grief with his. The Chinese parent thus afflicted denominates the little innocent a woe, a hated thing. Even the Moorish mother repines, and though she had rejoiced greatly at the birth of her son, and blackened her face forty days in token of her joy, yet when a daughter comes into the world, she ill conceals her mortification, by blackening half her face, for half the period only. It was not long since, that the lady of a missionary in the East, having become the mother of a lovely daughter, a native friend of the husband called on him the following day with a counte- nance unusually sad. The missionary kindly inquired the cause of his sadness. His friend, with most lugubrious face, replied, “I have heard that your new-born infant is a daughter, and I have come to condole with you, on your hard fate.” So little valued is the life of female infants, within the domains of Paganism, that great numbers are put to death, solely to avoid the trouble and expense of feeding and clothing them. The singular custom formerly prevailed in the northern part of Hindoostan, whenever a female child was born, of carrying her to the market-place, and there, holding up the child in one hand, and a knife in the other, proclaiming, that if any person wanted to rear her for a wife, they might then take her ; if none appeared to accept of her, she was immediately destroyed. The consequence of this course, was, that the men of the tribe became much more numerous than the women; and hence arose the custom of appropriating several husbands to one wife, — a custom that still prevails in some of the southern as well as the northern tribes of Hindoostan. Among the Rajpoot tribes in the north-west part of that country nearly all the female children are put to death immediately after birth ; consequently the men are obliged to pro- cure their wives from other tribes. And among some, at least, of the Indian tribes of our own land, the case is no better. Said a Chippewa Indian, (in a recent address before a missionary society in London,) — “ When a boy is born in the tribe it is a day of rejoicing, because it is considered that he will make a fine warrior ; but when a female is born, it is a time of sorrow, and it is said, ‘ a good-for-nothing girl is born.’ The poor mother, knowing that the news is not good, kisses the poor child, and PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 7 says, ‘ Father does not love you, but I do and then, taking the infant by the legs, dashes out its brains, exclaiming, ‘Would to God, my mother had done so with me when I was born, — I should not then have been such a slave.’ On one occasion the helpless babe was rescued from its mother, by her sisters, who said, ‘ It is better that your child should be a slave than to kill it in this way.’ That babe is now grown up ; when fourteen years of age, she was converted, and has now become a Sabbath school teacher, and a useful member of society.” The education of heathen females is entirely neglected. While, throughout the Eastern world, schools are maintained for the instruction of boys, and they are sufficiently taught to qualify them for the common business of life, girls are left to utter igno- rance of letters, and systematically refused all intellectual culture, as useless to themselves and injurious to society. To a European gentleman, (who endeavored to persuade the natives of a Hin- doo village that the education of their females in reading, writing, and arithmetic, would be of advantage to their husbands, and would render them their equals and companions, as well as helpers,) it was replied, — “ All this. Sahib, may be very true with your people, but it will never do for us. It would be impossible lor Hindoos to keep their wives in subjection, if they were educated.” Shrewd reasoning this ! — based on the preposterous assumption, that man is created to be a master, and woman a slave. In vain were these villagers assured that women of the most refined education and extensive knowledge are the most affectionate and faithful Avives in the world, because governed by reason, judgment, and common sense, they regard the interest of their husbands as their own, and yield a systematic and cheer- ful obedience in those things in which the husband’s will ought to have the preference, Avhile, at the same time,' he might enjoy the advantages of her better judgment in matters which pertain to her own sphere. Their only reply to such arguments is, “ Our women are not like yours, — if educated they Avoiild be refractory, and would no longer carry burdens, and collect cow’s ordure for fuel.” On grounds like these, is the whole mass of female mind throughout Hindoostan, China, Burmah, Persia, Turkey, &c., doomed to perpetual darkness and gloom, instead of sharing the light of science, and rejoicing in the radiance of the sun of righteousness. They are not at their own disposal in marriage. Of all the relationships of life, this is the basis. Of all affinities, it is the closest and most tender. Of earthly bliss, it is the purest foim- 8 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN tain, — the brightest crown,— the loveliest image of heaven’s blest communion. “ True bliss (if man may reach it) is composed Of hearts in union mutually disclosed; And farewell else, all hope of pure delight.” “In marriage,” (says Jeremy Taylor,) “kindness is spread abroad, and love is united, and made firm as a centre ; it is the nursery of heaven, — it fills up the number of the elect. It is the mother of the world, and preserves the kingdoms, and fill^ the cities, and the churches, and heaven itself. Like the useful bee, it builds a house, and gathers sweetness from every flower, and labors, and unites into societies and republics, and sends out colonies, and feeds the world with delicacies, and keeps order, and promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things, to which God has designed the present constitution of the world.” But all this supposes confidence and esteem, growing out of acquaintance between the parties,- — affection, inspiring a mutual desire to please, and the immerging of individual interests in the common stock of domestic enjoyments. And of this, Paganism knows nothing. It holds females as articles of merchandise, to be disposed of to those who will pay for them the highest price. Girls of six or eight years are bought and sold by their fathers as calves of the stall, to be taken, at twelve or fourteen, (whether willing or unwilling,) from the home of their childhood, and put into the hands of the man for whom they were pur- chased. In Hindoostan, females, who remain unmarried till they are fifteen or sixteen years of age, (however correct in ^heir con- duct,) are regarded as infamous, and (like widows) are never sought for in marriage ; and widowers (even if sixty or seventy years old) invariably marry girls of ten or twelve. Among the poorer classes in China, when a man dies, his relatives (to regain the money originally paid for his bride) are allowed to sell his widow to become the wife of another man. The arrangement is made without her knowledge, and (regardless of her wishes) she is forced into a palenkeen, and carried to the house of her pur- chaser. The price of a bride varies much in different countries. In some parts of Africa ten or fifteen bullocks are paid as an equivalent, while a handsome red-haired Circassian or Georgian girl cannot be bought for less than six or seven thousand piasters. In the kingdom of Dahomey, all unmarried women are held as the property of the king. Once a year they assemble at the PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 9 palace, when he selects the handsomest for himself, and sells the remainder to his subjects. The purchaser is allowed no choice, but receives the wife selected for him by the king. But the whole story of man’s regard for woman in unevangelized lands, is told in the simple language of the Modean of Siberia, who, at the close of the marriage ceremony, places the bride on a mat, and conveys her to the bridegroom, saying, “ There, wolf, take thy lamb.” It is not in all heathen countries, however, that wives are obtained by money or its equivalent. In some tribes more roman- tic customs prevail. The New Hollander fixes his eye upon some female of a tribe at enmity with his own. He steals upon her at some moment when no protector is near, and deals out blows with his club, upon her head, neck, back, indeed every part of her body, till she becomes insensible ; and then drags her by one of her arms, (the blood streaming from her wounds,) over rocks, hills, stones and logs, with all the violence and ferocity of a savage, till he reaches his tribe. The scene that follows, admits not of description. Suffice it to say, the poor violated woman becomes the wife of her ravisher, — is admitted to his tribe, — and (notwithstanding the singularity of the courtship) is contented with her lot, and rarely leaves her husband and her home. I That genuine love may exist, even among these rude barba- rians, and sometimes be exhibited in the purest forms, admits not of doubt. Mr. Barrington (who had long resided in Parametta) mentions an instance that fell under his own observation, pleas- antly illustrating this fact. “A brother of twenty-three, and two sisters of twenty and fourteen respectively, dwelt together affec- tionately in a cave near the city. On returning one day from hunting the kangaroo, just as the darkness of night mantled the heavens, and while the forked lightning played vividly around him, at the mouth of the cave, his eye caught the form of his younger sister, bleeding on the ground. Troubled before at the warring of the elements, his soul was now in agony. He endeavored to raise her up, but she was senseless. At length, however, his efforts were successful, and, with returning anima- tion, she exclaimed, ‘ Dear brother ! our sister is torn from us, — a wretch came to the cave, beat her cruelly with his club, and caught up one arm to drag her away, — I laid hold of the other to prevent him, but the moment he saw it, with a single blow, he knocked me to the ground, where you have now found me.’ The night was passed in the anguish of grief and amid harrow- 10 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN ing purposes of revenge. Morning came, 'rogether they sought the tribe of the olTender. A little before reaching it, they met the sister of the very man who had committed the outrage, gath- ering sticks for a fire. A fine opportunity was thus presented for revenge. The brother (bidding his sister to hide herself) flew upon the young woman, wifii club in hand, and with all the ferocity of a savage in his heart. The victim trembled ; but knowing his power, she stood firmly, and looked him in the eye, when, (like the lion of the forest, meeting the eye of intelligent man,) he paused, — he gazed, — enchantment was on him : she saw it, — dropped on her knees and implored his compassion. Re- venge softened into love ; throwing down his club, he clasped her in his arms, and vowed eternal constancy. This nobleness won her heart. He called his sister, who thirsted still for the stranger’s blood, and said to her, ‘ She is now my wife.’ ” “ Nor force nor interest joined unwilling hands, But love consenting tied the blissful bands.” All three now love each other tenderly, and (under the instruc- tion of a Christian friend) read the oracles of God, and cherish the spirit that breathes from the bosom of Jesus. Polygamy prevents the enjoyment of the husband’s affection. Conjugal love may be disturbed, — or it may be diminished, — or it may be maddened into phrensy, — or it may be annihilated, — but it cannot be divided. Abraham may become the husband of Hagar, but his heart is with Sarah. Jacob may be the protector of Leah, but he loves Rachel. Elkanah may deal kindly with Peninnah, but his affections are with Hannah. Good meu these, and faithful to their marriage-vows, though borne away into the transgression of the original law of Heaven, by the strong current of the popular sentiment of the age in which they lived. Then, though Heaven interfered not to prevent the practice, it never sanctioned it by law ; and if it were not condemned by statutes and penalties, it was powerfully rebuked by its effects and consequences. Never did it fail, in the most auspicious cir- cumstances for its indulgence, to produce domestic discord and wretchedness. Jealousy, bitterness, and strife, are its inva- riable attendants, even when associated with faith as strong as that of the patriarchs, and piety as ardent as that of the sweet singer of Israel. Its inconsistency with the spirit of the gospel has expelled the practice from every Christian land ; and its incongruity with reason and expediency, has stamped it with infamy. But it still prevails among the higher classes, in nearly every part of tlie unevangelized world. PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 11 Besides four queens, the king of Binnah has thirty wives, and five hundred other women at his disposal. The emperor of Tur- key swells his harem, usually, with more than a thousand wives, — the sultan Achmet I. is said to have had three thousand. The king of Ashantee has three thousand three hundred and thirty-three, — a mystical number, on the integrity of which the prosperity of his kingdom is supposed to depend. And the king of Yarriba boasted to Capt. Clapperton, that his wives, linked hand in hand, would reach entirely across his kingdom. Not only kings, but nobles, and men of wealth and station, and indeed men of all classes, who have the ability to sustain a plurality of wives, are eager to possess them, — not as objects of affection, but as honorable appendages to their establishments, or as ministering to their pride and sensuality. Love is not known “ where pleasure is adored, That ruling goddess, with a zoneless waist And wandering eyes, still leaning on the arm Of novelty.” but its place is supplied by envy, and raficor, and hate, bursting forth, often, in words of wrath and deeds of cruelty, and the wanton murder of the innocent. Says Lady Montague, during her residence in Constantinople, “ The body of a young woman of surpassing beauty was found one morning near my house. She had received two wounds, one in her side, and the other in her breast, and was not quite cold. Many came to admire her beauty ; but no one could tell who she was, — no woman’s face being known out of her family. She was buried privately, and little inquiry made for the wretch who had imbrued his hands in her blood.” The Pacha of Acre, in Palestine, a few years since, put to death seven of his wives, at one time, with his oAvn hands. And even where cruelties like these are not perpetrated, the wife is kept a prisoner m the house of her lord, and her face is never seen beyond it. She is thus entirely in the irresponsible power of her husband, nor is one earthly ear but his, open to the tale of her wrongs, how terrible soever they may be. That she endures such wrongs, is no more to be questioned than the exist- ence of caprice in man’s proud heart, or of contempt for the whole sex, which he regards as infinitely inferior to his own. The Pagan or Mahometan wife is liable to divorce, and con- sequent poverty and shame, at any moment when her husband wills it. For one cause, and only one, Christianity permits the disruption of the conjugal tie. And it is this inviolability of the 12 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN relation that operates so kindly in the restraint of unseemly pas- sions, and in perpetuating “ Domestic happiness, the only bliss / Of Paradise that has survived the fall.” But false religions allow to man unbounded license. Might and right, in their vocabulary, are but synonymous terms ; and woman (dishonored without her own fault) is, at her husband’s pleas- ure, turned an outcast from her home. Let the Arab’s wife be taken sick, and forthwith she is returned to her parents with the message, “ I paid for a healthy woman, and cannot afford the support of a sickly one.” Let the Siberian become dissatisfied with his wife, for any cause, and he has but to tear her cap from her head, and the marriage contract is dissolved. Let the husband of Sumatra but break a bamboo, in the presence of his wife and their relatives, and tfie divorce is effected. Or, let the Greenlander leave his home in apparent anger, and not return for a few days ; the wife understands his meaning, picks up her clothes, and returns to her friends. Or let the South Sea Islandei but speak the word, anif the relation is dissolved, though no dis- like of the Avife to the husband can produce a separation without his consent. But a divorce is ruin to the female, — it dooms her irrevocably to scorn and universal contempt, and (Avith scarcely less certainty) to a life of vice and infamy. But the degradation of Avoman under the fell influence of false religions is not yet fully seen. She is her husband’s slave, and with unquestioning servility, must yield to his behest, on penalty of torture, separation, or death. Nor is this a mere accident of her condition. The religion of her country decrees it, — the sacred books demand it. The Koran, and the Hindoo Shasters, AA’-hose doctrines SAvay the mind, and determine the practice, of more than tAvo hundred millions of the human family, make woman infinitely man’s inferior, — the mere pander to his passions, — the abject drudge, OAving him unconditional submission. Says the Shaster of the Hindoo, — “ The supreme duty of a Avife, is, to obey the mandate of her husband. Let the Avife Avho Avishes to perform sacred ablution, Avash the feet of her lord, and drink the Avater, for the .husband is to the Avife greater than Vishnoo. If a man goes on a journey his Avife shall not divert herself by play, nor shall see any public shoAv, nor shall laugh, nor shall dress herself in jewels and fine clothes, nor shall see dancing, nor hear music, nor shall sit at the AvindoAv, nor shall ride out, nor shall behold anything choice and rare, but shall fasten Avell the house door, and remain private, and shall not eat any dainty food, and PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 13 shall not blacken her eyes with powder, and shall not view her face in a mirror, — she sliall never exercise herself in any snch agreeable employment during the absence of her husband.” Again, "A woman shall never go out of the hoirse without the consent of her husband, and shall act according to the orders of her husband, and shall not eat until she has served him,” — though, “ if it be physic, she may take it before he eat.” Not only in Hindoostan, but in almost every unevangelized country, the wife is obliged to stand and wait upon her husband while he eats, and to be content with such food as is left after bis wants are satisfied. In the Society Islands, while Paganism reigned, women were not only thus compelled to wait upon their husband’s table, but were not allowed, on pain of death, to eat at all of those kinds of food -which were most highly esteemed. The cocoa-nut, the plantain, the fowl, the turtle, the swine, the shark, and various kinds of fish, were tabued to them. Nor were they allowed to eat in the same house with the men, nor to cook their food at the same fire, nor to put it into the same ves- sels. The transgression of these rules involved immediate drowning or strangulation. •• The females of Raratonga,” (says the Rev. Mr. Williams.) Avere denied those kinds of food reserved for the men and the gods, — compelled to eat their scanty meals by themselves, and forbidden to dwell under the same roof with their tyrannical masters.” » Till Riho Riho became ruler of the Sandwich Islands, similar customs prevailed there. About the time when he caused the idols to be destroyed, a dinner party was made, to Avhich the prin- cipal chiefs and other persons of distinction were invited. When the company were seated around the table spread in an open bower, the king took his seat between two of his queens, — pre- sented them with some of the forbidden food, and ate from the same dish with them. The whole company were astonished at such an innovation on ancient usages ; so great, indeed, was the excitement produced, that it threatened a revolution in the gov- ernment. The authority of the monarch, howeA'er, sustained by the incipient influences of Christianity, pre\'ailed. In 1787, the emperor of China issued the following decree; “All persons of the female sex, of whatever quality or condition, are forbidden, upon any pretext whatever, to enter a temple or quit their houses, except in cases of absolute necessity. Fathers, husbands, brothers, sons or relatives, are commanded to keep them at home, upon pain of bemg themselves severely pun- ished. After this, any rvoman who shall enter a temple shall be 14 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN apprehended and imprisoned, till some one shall appear to claim her, and to undergo the punishment due to his negligence,” — thus cutting off at a stroke the whole female population of the empire from all the rites of religion, and all the pleasures of social intercourse. In some parts of Siberia the marriage ceremony is no sooner performed, than the wife pulls off her husband’s boots, in token of submission, lii other parts of the same country, the morning after a wedding, a man representing the father of the bride, delivers to the husband a whip, which, whenever the wife offends, is to be used freely. In the interior of Java the bride washes the bridegroom’s feet in token of subjection. In Bambouk, Africa, she takes off her sandals, kneels before the bridegroom, pours water upon his feet, and wipes them with her mantle. In Madagascar, Avhen a husband returns from war, his wife gives him the customary salutation of passing her tongue over his feet most respectfully. In New Holland, the slightest offence given to the husband brings down the club upon the wife, which never fails to draw forth a stream of blood and often fractures the skull. Among the Mandingoes, the terrible personage called Mumbo Jumbo, is called forth to frighten the refractory wife into submission. This demon form, assumed either by the husband himself or some one instructed by him, gives notice of his approach from the neighboring woods, near sunset, by the most frightful yells. At dark the men go out to meet him. He has a rod in his hand, a hideous mask on his head, and is fantastically decorated with the bark of trees. He is conducted to the village, where all the married women are assembled. The ceremonies commence. Songs and dances continue till a late hour. Mumbo Jumbo himself sings a song peculiar to the occasion. Then the Avomen are required to arrange themseh'^es in a circle. After a long pause and profound silence, Mumbo points but those that have been disobedient to their husbands, or otherwise have behaved improperly, and they are immediately seized, stripped, tied to a post, and severely beaten Avith Mumbo’s rod, amid the shouts and deridings of the Avhole assembly. And to such humiliation of Avoman, are boys, in some instan- ces at least, systematically trained. The Hottentot mother, who has brought up her boy Avith tenderness till he has reached the period Avhen custom demands his initiation by certain cere- monies into the society of men, is the first to feel the Aveight of his arm on his return home from the scene of his transition ; for, to show that he is noAv a man and has the spirit of a man. he. PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 15 beats her soundly ; nor does censure follow the barbarous act, but he is applauded for his contempt of the society and authority of woman. For aught I know, the mother herself applauds it, — but how deep her degradation, when prepared to submit to insult like this on maternal dignity and honor ! How unlike is the spirit of Christianity, prompting the son, in the perfection of his under- standing, in the plenitude of his power, and amid the self-gratu- lations of his independence, to submit to the mild reason of his mother, — to acknowledge her unassuming sway, and admit that though independent of all things else, he cannot do without the smiles of maternal approbation, the admonitions of maternal soli- citude, and the reproofs of maternal tenderness and integrity. Woman, in unevangelized lands, is forced to perform the most perilous and menial services of the state and the family. The three thousand wives of the king of Dahomey are enrolled in the army, formed into regiments, armed with all the accoutrements of war, and a part of them serve as the king’s body-guard. These numerous queens, and the other thousands belonging to the kings of Ashautee and Varriba, are but servants, maintained for ostentation, — to display the wealth and power of their royal masters ; and when not engaged in fighting the battles or guard- ing the persons of their lords, they are doomed to labor in the fields and submit to all the drudgery that pertains to the wife of the meanest subject of the realm. Nor is this all. At the death of an African king, his wives are slaughtered by scores and by hundreds, from an idea that their attendance will be needed m another world. Go with me to Van Dieman’s Land, and see the weaker sex charged with the Avhole burden of supporting their families, — husbands, children and all. Is the rough soil to be cultivated 'I In their hands are the implements of labor. Is the sea to be searched for the sea-carp or the lobster ? They are found plunging from the projecting rocks into the briny flood, remain- ing on the rocky bottom, beneath the waves, twice as long (says a naval officer) as the most expert of our dh^ers, — filling their baskets, — returning ashore, — drying themselves a few minutes by the fire, and warming their chilled limbs, and then resuming their perilous toils, while their husbands, through the whole, are seated comfortably around the fire, feasting on the choicest of the fish, and the most delicate of the broiled fern-roots. Nor need I carry you to the other side of the globe, to witness the unseemly toils and bitter sufferings of benighted woman. Our own continent supplies us practical illustrations without end. 16 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN Let a fact or two suffice. Father Joseph (a missionary on the banks of the Oronoco) ventured to reprove an Indian female, for destroying her infant daughter. She replied, “ O that my mother had thus prevented the manifold sufferings I have endured ! Consider, father, our deplorable condition. Our hus- bands go out to hunt ; we are dragged along with one infant at the breast and another in a basket. Though tired with long Avalking, we are not allowed to sleep when we return, but must labor the whole night in grinding maize to make chica for them. They get drunk and beat us; they drag us by the hair of the [lead and tread us under foot. And after such a slavery of twenty years, what have we to comfort us? A young wife is brought home and permitted to abuse us and our children. What kind- ness can we show our daughters, equal to putting them to death? Would to God my mother had put me under ground the moment 1 was born ! ” One case more only for the sake of contrast. “ Soon after my acquaintance with these Indians,” (says a missionary to the Choctaws,) “ I one day saw a chief travelling on horseback, quite at his ease, followed by his poor wife, who was not only on foot, but carried his infant child, his rifle, and a quantity of pro- visions in a large basket at her back, supported by a strap drawn across her forehead. At a subsequent season, I met the same family again on their travels; the chief was now on foot, laden with his own arms, and he had kindly placed his wife on the saddle. The child, too, now much larger than before, was sweetly sleeping in the arms of its father, who himself seemed cheerful and happy amid the fatigues of the way.” The language of the poet to his wife he practically adopted as his own : “ On all her days let health and peace attend, May she ne’er want nor lose a friend ; May some new pleasure every hour employ, But let her husband be her highest joy.” And what think you was the cause of this wonderful trans- formation? The Choctaw Chief had become a follower of Christ. But the widowhood of the Pagan wife and mother is, if pos- sible, more wretched than her married life. As if Satan could not bear that the daughters of the first victim of his seduction should find peace in any condition, he first torments them as daughters in the house of their fathers, then as wives in the dwellings of their husbands, and then as widows, cast out from PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COrNTP.LES. 17 every charity of human life. Under the dark covert of Pagan superstition and Mahometan delusion, unopposed by the sword of the Spirit, he accomplishes with ease his fiendish purposes, and adds the wormwood and gall of universal malice and con- tempt to all the bitterness ^of the dregs that had filled her cup of woe, from the cradle to the death of her husband. Formerly', the Caffre widow, on the decease of her husband, whatever was the season of the year, and whatever her condition, was compelled to fly to the forest, and houseless, hungry, and alone, mourn her loss day'" after day'. During her absence her dwelling was plundered by her relatives of everything valuable, set on fire, and consumed, and the only dowry allotted her from her husband’s property was a new garment, made from the hide of one of his oxen. On returning from the wildernesss, she built a new hut with her own hands, and subsisted on the avails of her own labor. Missionary enterprise has succeeded in abolishing this cruel custom, and Mr. Shaw, the missionary who was instru- mental in accomplishing it, received the name of Umkinets Um- fazie, (the woman’s shield,) by which he is now generally known in Caffraria. In Greenland, when the husband dies, the widow, if unprotected by friends, is usually robbed of a considerable por- tion of her property by those Avho come to sympathize with her by an affepted condolence, and can obtain no redress. If aged and infirm, she is not unfrequently buried alive by her own children. As the legitimate consequences of their servile and wretched condition, females of every unevangelized land are devoid of those sentiments of delicacy, and that refined taste and acute dis- crimination between the loA'ely and the disgusting in manners and customs, which distinguish the sex in lands enlightened by the gospel. Before Christianity commenced its reign in the Soci- ety Islands, wrestling Avas a favorite amusement of females, and one in Avhich those of the highest rank engaged, not only Avith each other, but also Avith the men, in the presence of thousands of spectators of both sexes. Immediately after marriage, every female provided herself Avith an instrument set with rows of shark’s teeth, with which, on the death of any of the family, she fearfully cut and lacerated herself, beating the head, temples, cheeks, and breast, till blood floAved profusely, while she uttered the most deafening and agonizing cries. Filthy in their persons, indecent in their apparel, fantastic in their ornaments, and famil- iar beyond endurance in their approaches to the other sex, their character stands forth an enduring but sad monument of that 18 CONDITION' OF WOMEN IN intellectual and moral degradation which Paganism and Mahom- etanism have spread far and wide. Here their bodies are rubbed with bears grease, and there with fish oil, or some oftensive compound of vegetable and animal matter. The sheep-skin, or the bullock's hide, — the tattered handkerchief, or the entrails of slain beasts, serve for partial protection from the frosts of winter, or the burning summer’s sun ; and scarcely answering the purpose of fig-leaves in the fallen first pair, are not unfrequently laid aside as needless incumbrances, while the whole person is exposed to the observation of every passer-by. In Arabia, they stain their fingers and toes red ; their eye-brows black, and their lips blue. In Persia, they paint a black streak around the eyes, color their eye-brows and hair, and stain the face and neck with figures of beasts, birds, flowers, &c. The Hottentot women paint the entire body in compartmetits of red and black. Hin- doo females, when they wish to appear particularly lovely, paint the body with saffron and tumeric mixed with grease. In nearly all the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans, and in many other parts of the world, like the men, they tattoo the body, with an instrument resembling somewhat a fine- toothed comb, whose shai'p teeth, dipped into a solution of indigo or soot, are thrust into the flesh, introducing the coloring matter to remain forever, and im- printing a great variety of fanciful figures on the faccf, the lips, the tongue, the limbs, the whole body. The process is painful, though not more so than that of the female Greenlander, who first saturates threads with soot, and then inserts them beneath tlie skin, and draws them through. In New Holland, the women cut themselves with shells, and by keeping open the wounds a long time, form wales or seams on the flesh, whicli they deem highly ornamental. And another singular addition is made to their beauty by taking off the little finger of the left hand, at the second joint, — a process performed in infancy by tying a hair around it so tight as to produce mortification. In some parts of Hindoostan, at the time of marriage, a like portion of the third and little finger is removed. A similar custom prevails among the Hottentots. Among some of the savage tribes of America, and also in Sumatra and Arracan, continual pressure is applied to the skull to flatten it, and add to the beauty of its form. In nearly all the South Sea Islands, custom requires an incision to be made in the lobe of each ear, into which rolls of leaves, or long pieces of wood or ivory are inserted, and from these, shells or fish teeth are suspended, to such an amount that their weight PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 19 draws down the ear nearly to the shoulder, and not unl'requently tears it asunder. The mother of Sumatra carefully flattens the nose of her daughter ; and in New Guinea, the nose is perforated, and a large piece of wood or bone inserted, making it difficult to breathe. On the north-west coast of ximerica, an incision more than two inches in length is made in the lower lip, and filled with a wooden plug. In Guiana, the lip is pierced with thorns, the heads being inside the mouth and the points resting on the chin. And in Java, Borneo, and Celebes, they file their teeth to a point, and color them black, considering it disgraceful to let them remain “ white like the teeth of dogs.” In some countries corpulency is esteemed essential to beauty ; and the wives of kings and chiefs are beloved in proportion to the sleek fatness and gross weight of their persons The Tunisian Avoman, of moderate pretensions to beauty, needs a slave under each arm to support her when she walks, and a perfect belle car- ries flesh enough to load down a camel. So anxious are mothers that their daughters should attain this miAvieldy size, that they compel them to eat enormous quantities of fattening food and drink several bowls of camel’s milk every day. Mungo Park describes a poor girl as crying for more than an hour, with a bowl at her lips, while her mother stood over her with a rod, and beat her cruelly, if she failed to swallow fast enough. And Capt. Clapperton found himself in not a little difficulty at Houssa, through the importunity of an Arab widow, whose wealth and rank, enforced by the charms of a huge person, black-dyed eye- brows, blue hair, red stained hands and feet, all adorned with necklaces, girdles and bracelets, seemed to fit her for the station of a queen, whither her aspirations tended, and to which, with Clap- perton for a husband, she doubted not she might attain. But lie happened not (0 cruel !) to fancy “ a walking tun-butt” for a wife, and preferred the loss of the honors of African royalty to the life- companionship of five hundred pounds of Arab flesh. The beauty of a Chinese lady is in her feet, which in childhood are so compressed by bandages as effectually to prevent any fur- ther increase in size. The four smaller toes are turned under the foot, to the sole of which they firmly adhere. The poor girl not only endures much pain, but becomes a cripple for life. Another mark of beauty and distinction lies in the length to which the finger nails are allowed to grow, — a length that requires them to be shielded from accident by casings of bamboo. The ambitious beauties of Siam, not content with protecting carefully these ever-growing excrescences of nature, provide themselves with artificial nail.s four inches lonv. 20 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN Allow that, agreeably to the proverb, “ there is no disputing of tastes,” and that no nation or individual is responsible to another for peculiar customs, will it be questioned that the wear- ing of cumbrous and unwieldy ornaments, and the disfiguring of the body, and forcing it into uncouth forms at the expense of so much suffering, are customs offensive to nature, and to nature’s God, — the legitimate progeny of Paganism ? — and so far as ever grafted upon the slock of Christianity, are they more incongruous with its simplicity and at variance with its spirit, than repulsive to reason and common sense'? Foolish and unseemly customs are not confined to Pagan and Mahometan females, it is true, — they exist in more enlightened lands; but in these lands, they are one after another assailed, changed and banished by the mild genius of Christianity ; while, in the darker portions of the earth, they enter into the very constitution of society, and know no change or modification, more than the elements of nature, or the imme- morial rites of a bloody superstition. Deplorable, then, are the delusions under which the god of this world hath bound down the nations that yield unresistingly to his sway, — severe the bond- age under which they wear out hated life, and melancholy the barbarous customs, which through conscience, fancy, or caprice, his tyrant arm imposes on successive generations. To all this may be added their unbounded superstition. Their servile fear of the gods amounts to a terror which quenches the kindlings of natural affection, and drives them on to deeds of darkest inhumanity. Ignorant of the God of love, and conceiving of their divinities as capricious, malignant and revengeful, they are easily impelled to sacrifices at which nature shudders, and every sentiment of true piety stands aghast. Unenlightened by education, and enslaved by the spirit of idolatry, they become the victims of priestly craft, without resistance, and the dupes of their own vain imaginings, as if reason and conscience entered not at all into their moral constitution. The African female ventures not to commence a journey, nor to undertake important business of any kind, till well furnished with protective charms, consisting chiefly of bits of paper, which contain a written sen- tence, or fragment of a sentence, carefully deposited within a bag fastened to her person. The women of Houssa, seeing Major Denham using a pen. came to him in crowds, to obtain a scrawl that should serve as an amulet to restore their beauty, to preserve the affections of their lovers, or to destroy a rival. If a child be born in Madagascar, on a day reputed unlucky, its evil destiny must be averted, by the destruction of its life, under the hands PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COL'NTKIES. 21 of its parents. The only alternative is, to leave it in a narrow path, over which a herd of cattle is furiously driven, while the parents stand looking on from a distance; and if it chance to escape unhurt, they run to embrace it, convinced that the malig- nant influence is removed. Sometimes the child is drowned in a vessel of water prepared for the purpose, or thrown into a pit, with its face downward, or suftbcated by stuffing a cloth into its mouth ; but the parents themselves are commonly the execution- ers, under the impression that there is no other way of saving the child from the misfortunes that await its future years. From time immemorial, Hindoo mothers have thrown their infant children into the Ganges, to be devoured b}'' alligators ; not because they Avere destitute of maternal affection, but because a mother’s love was overpowered by her fears of the wrath of some offended deity. The Hindoo widow burns on the funeral pile of her husband. Thus she escapes the obloquy of widowhood, and becomes entitled, as she believes, to a residence with her husband and their relatives in heaven. Thanks to the gospel of Christ, this horrid superstition has relaxed its gra.sp on Indian mind ; but, till Avithin a few years, thousands of widows became annually its Auctims ; and at the death ot princes and other men of elevated rank, possessed of many Avives, the dreadful sacri- fice has been all that Abaddon himself could desire. Twelve Avidows in one instance, eighteen in another, thirty-seven in another, and on the death of Ajie, prince of Malwar, fifty-eight threw themselves on the funeral piles of their husbands and per- ished. As late as 1844 tAventy-four Avomen Avere burnt in Pun- jab. There can be no doubt that this dreadful sacrifice is some- times voluntary on the part of the victim, but it is by no means universally so. Not only is all the earthly glory of the deed, and the happiness of a Pagan heaven promised on the one hand, and all the terrors of contempt and persecution through life, with ever- lasting infamy, arrayed on the other, but force is applied, with fiend-like perseverance, to compel the unhappy Avife to mount the blazing altar of Moloch. FolloAvme to the immolation of a Brahmin’s Avidow in Northern Hindoostan. The unfortunate woman, of her own accord, has ascended the burning pile. The torture of the fire is more than she can endure, and by a violent struggle she throAvs herself beyond the reach of the flames, and tottering to a river near by, is kindly plunged into it by some English gentlemen present, to assuage her torments. She retains her senses perfectly, shrinks Avith dread from another encounter Avith the flames, and refuses so to die. Her 1 22 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN inhuman relatives then take her by the head and feet, and throw her upon the pile, and hold her there till driven away by the heat. They endeavor too, to stun her with blows, — but again she escapes and makes to the river. Her relatives then try to drown her, but one of the English gentlemen mentioned interferes, and she throws herself into his arms, begging him to save her. “ I can- not describe to you,” says one present at the scene, the horror I felt at seeing her mangled condition : almost every inch of skin on her body had been burnt otf, — her legs and thighs, her arms and back, were completely raw, — her breasts dreadfully torn, and the skin dangling from them in threads, — the skin and nails of her fingers had peeled wholly ofi’, and were hanging to the back of her hands. In fact, I never saw and never read of so entire a picture of misery as this poor woman displayed. She still dread- ed being again committed to the fire, and called to us to save her. Her friends at length desisted from their efibrts. We sent her to the hospital. Every medical assistance was given, but, after lingering twenty hours, in excruciating pain, her spirit departed.” Such is the superstition of heathen lands. Its forms are vari- ous, but its spirit is everywhere the same. It leads its vota- ries to defile themselves with the mud of the streets, to measure the distance from their homes to their temples, by the length of their bodies prostrated every six feet of the way, — to swing in the air, suspended by hooks thrust through the muscles of the back, and to submit to a thousand other tortures, in honor of some cruel but imaginary deity. It teaches the brother to betray the sister, — the mother to imbrue her hands in the blood of her own offspring, — and the son to light the pile which consumes the mother that gave him life. It glories in deeds like these, as more pleasing to the gods than any alleviation of human woe that kindness can effect, and more intrinsically meritorious than all the moral virtues commended by the philosophy of Seneca, or the precepts of Christ. But it is time to close. We have now cursorily glanced at the character of woman, as unaffected by the refining and elevating influences of Christianity. We have seen her trodden down as the mire of the streets by him whom Heaven created to be her protector and comforter. We have seen unevangelized man everywhere, like the fabled generation of warriors springing from the serpent’s teeth armed for the work of destruction, direct- ing his chief malignities against woman, — his best friend, his safest counsellor, — his most unfailing solace, — because her native timidity and weakness invite the yiolence and insult of a coward- PAGAN AND MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 23 arm ! VVe have seen her lost to self-respect, dead to instinctive affection, ignorant of the rights with Avhich her Maker has invested her, unacquainted with her relations to eternity, indulgent to the wildest passions of depraved nature, and plunged far down the abyss of unnatural crime. We have marked her wanderings, listened to her complaints, and seen her scalding tears. And have we no sympathy in her sufferings'] — no arm that Avill extend to her relief 7 — no voice that will call her to Calvary, and direct her eye to woman’s friend and Saviour, and thence to a world of unmingled purity and love'^ Measures are in pro- gress (thank God !) for restoring woman to her true dignity, and re-establishing her just relations to man as her hu.sband, guar- dian, and unfailing friend. The same measures will restore ^e Avorld to the dominion of Christ, and man, in all his tribes, to the. sway of reason and revelation. Then shall it no more be said that “ his ambition is to sink, To reach a depth profounder still, and still Profounder, in the fathomless abyss Of folly, plunging in pursuit of death but he shall rise to “ glory, honor, and immortality,” and share it with the helper of his faith and love, the mother of his chil- dren, the softener of his dying pillow, — the kind angel that hovers over him as his soaring spirit takes its flight. Not far distant is the day, unless we quite mistake the “ signs of the times,” when, throughout all nations, woman shall resume the station Heaven first assigned her, and form again the loveliest ornament of humanity, — man’s coadjutor in works of faith and labors of love, and childhood’s most persuasive teacher of all that is vif.Cq- ous, lovely, and of good report, in human disposition and action. Soon let that day of brightness dawn, — that glorious era be fully ushered in ; for it shall prove the termination of earth’s bitterest woes, and the consummation of Heaven’s most earnest labors. END OF THE LECTURE. MR. WRIGHT, The author of the foregoing Lecture, has travelled extensively in India, and is now engaged in lecturing on the Manners^ Habits^ and Superstitions of the Hindoos. THE LECTURES ARE ILLUSTRATED BY BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED IN OIL COLOURS ON CANVASS. They represent the Hindoos engaged in their domestic occu- pations and religious rites ; also Landscapes, Cities, Palaces, Temples, Remarkable Personages, and many other objects of interest seen by the Lecturer in the course of his travels. The Paintings * and Lectures have been prepared at an expense of more than SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS, and are highly recommended by a great number of persons in eminent stations, among whom are EIGHTEEN PRESIDENTS OF COLLEGES AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. President Day, of Yale College, says, “ Mr. Wright has recently lectured in seven of the churches in this city, to large and highly gratified audiences. I believe his lectures are doing much good, and hope they will continue to receive the patronage they deserve.” President North, of Hamilton College, says, “The paintings are not only interesting as finished works of art, but they convey to the mind, in a very impressive manner, much valuable information, which, without such aid, could not be communicated. I doubt whether a careful perusal of many • The Paintings are not exhibited by a magic lantern. 25 volumes would give so clear and comprehensive a view of the natives of India in their domestic occupations, and of their habi- tations, temples, deities, and degrading superstitions, as can be obtained by attending these lectures.” President Bates, formerly of Middlebury College, says, “The paintings used by Mr. Wright, in illustrating the sub- jects of his lectures, are skilfully and beautifully executed ; — speaking powerfully and impressively to the eye; while he ad- dresses the ear in language at once chaste, graphic, and appro- priate.” Pres. Babcock, formerly of Waterville College, says, “Mr. Wright’s lectures contain a large amount of valuable information, and it is communicated in an interesting, unexcep- tionable, and impressive manner.” President Edwards, formerly of the Theological Insti- tution St Andover, says, “ I have listened with deep interest to the lectures of Mr. Wright. They furnish much valuable information respecting a large portion of our race. The paintings, which are executed with great skill, happily illustrate the subject of which he treats, and atld much to the interest and profit of the lectures.’’ President Sears, of the Theological Institution at New’- ton, says, “Having attended the lectures of Mr. Wright, I take pleasure m saying that I regard them as highly useful, as well as enter- taining. ^The interest of the lectures is greatly enhanced, not only by the consciousness the hearer feels that the speaker has Avitnessed what he describes, but by the numerous and expensive paintings which are used for illustration, the view of which alone would richly compensate for the time and expense of attending.” Rev. Dr. .Irmstroiig, of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Dr. fonc, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Jlew York, and Rev. Dr. Janes, a Bishop of the llcthodist Episcopal Churcli, say, '''' 5^Ao■:^e w/io attend d&tiiiedj ■leceive raoze idan ide /deti a/> tize t/i {r/ic Uide^to/ (M^oi'Zziatcon camzzztc/ucaiedj diet tdiey encciita^ di/T/i 191 a ziMZzd dcTievo/ezzce. zd^e Aa-) adezzdy ^ve9i tuzo tAoiiziand ei.c Aio/zdied and ^zt?^=^^i/zje dedazz) to va/uouo ■dcnew/cn-t iziatitiotiono d 26 CONDITION OF WOMEN IN THE VILLAGE GOSSIPS. “ From time immemorial, in every clime and every country, the village gossips are all alike, more busy about the affairs of others than their own. The scandalous tattle of a village in India is perhaps unequalled in any other part of the globe. If reputation experiences a wound in other countries, there it is absolutely massacred, where malice and jealousy, supported by the most unblushing falsehood, plants a barb of the most cruel slur in the reputation of many an innocent neighbor. “ It frequently happens that some tell-tale repeats the scandal to the parties injured, which generally occasions a great uproar in the village ; the slandered person «Tushes like a fury from her hut and pours forth a volley of the most virulent and indecent railings that ever were heard, cracking her fingers and uttering horrible curses on the infamous slanderer : this does not fail to bring out the guilty party, who will either deny the whole wdth the most barefaced falsehood, or openly maintain her scandal and throw back curses ou her injured neighbor's head; this produces a most furious exchange of abuses, which continues for some time with the most wonderful rapidity and loquacity, uttered in screams, somewhat resembling the cries of a jackal, till they become exhausted ; still eying each other, however, with looks of rage and defiance, and unable to separate, theysit them- selves down a little distance opposite each other, when one begins, her eyes sparkling with rage, the muscles of her face displaying all the malice of her heart, while the smile of irony and contempt is seen playing on her lips : she exposes to the spectators, that crowd round to enjoy the quarrel, every failing, and every scandalous tale she has either invented herself or heard of against her antagonist, heightening them with color- ing of the most malignant wit and cutting sarcasm, which generally causes laughter among the bystanders. The other, thus outraged, endeavors to keep her fury within bounds, and joining in the laugh with a demoniac look, she claps her hands and begins to sing a sort of wild air or chant, the words of which she extemporizes for the purpose ; these are a combination of more abominable railings, similes, etc., etc., against her antagonist and her ancestors, than ever were heard of in any other part of the world. The other quickly replies in the same PAGAN ANO MAHOMETAN COUNTRIES. 27 tune, and if her brain prove more fertile in malice and wicked- ness, and her sarcasms more acute, she is sure to bring her neighbor to such a pitch of fury that she springs from her seat within a few steps of her, when she proceeds to all the wild extravagancies of a maniac, using the most horrible language and the most shameless and indecent gestures, till the other, darting forward, grapples with her antagonist, and a most furious battle ensues, pulling of hair, scratching and blows : this continues with most wonderful obstinacy and courage, both sides preferring to die sooner than give ground, till they are forcibly separated by their husbands or friends. Sometimes these quarrels become almost general in the village, especially' if there are several relatives of the party injured in the neigh- borhood.” Women of IVew Holland. “ Although addicted to infanticide, they displays in other instances, an extraordinar; Vgree of affection for their dead off- spring, evidenced by'’ an act that almost exceeds credibility, had it not so often been witnessed among the tribes in the interior of the colony. 1 allude to the fact of deceased children, from the earliest age to even six or seven y'ears, being placed in a bag made of kangaroo skins, and slung upon the back of the mother, who, besides this additional burthen, carries her usual cnJy^ or bag for provisions. &c. They' carry them thus for ten or twelve months, sleeping upon the mass of mortal remains, which serves them for a pillow, apparently unmindful of the horrid fetor which emanates from such a putrefydng substance. When the body becomes dry. or only the bones left, the remains are burnt, buried, or placed in a hollow trunk or limb of a tree : in the latter instance covering the opening carefully with stones, &c. All the information that could be procured from them respecting this disgusting custom, was, ‘ that they were afraid, if they buried them, the Buckee. or devil, would take them away'.’ Infanticide in the Society Islandiii. ‘‘Infanticide was carried,” say's the Rev. J. Williams, “to an almost incredible extent in the Tahitian and Society' Islands.;” and this he illustrates by the following statement : — “During the visit of the deputation, our respected friend, G. Rennet, Esq., was our guest for three or four months ; and * Wanderings in New South Wales, dec., by G. Bennett, Esq., Vol. I., p. 125. 28 CONDITION OF WOMEN. on one occasion, while conversing on the subject, he expressed a wish to obtain accurate knowledge of the extent to which this cruel system had prevailed. Three women were sitting in the room at the time, making European garments, under Mrs. W.’s direction ; and, after replying to Mr. Sennet’s inquiries, I said, ‘ I have no doubt but that each of these women has destroyed ^ some of her children.’ Looking at them with an expression of surprise and incredulity, Mr. B. exclaimed, ‘ Impossible ! such motherly, respectable women could never have been guilty of so great an atrocity.’ ‘ Well,’ I added, ‘ we’ll ask them.’ Address- ing the first, I said to her, ‘ Friend, how many children have you destroyed ] ’ She was startled at my question, and at first charged me with unkindness, in harrowing up her feelings, by bringing the destruction of her babes to her remembrance ; but, upon hearing the object of my inquiry, she replied, with a falter- ing voice, ‘ I have destroyed nine ! ’ The second, with eyes suflused with tears, said, ‘ I have destroyed seven ;’ and the third informed us that she had destroyed Jive. Thus three indi- viduals, casually selected, had killed one-and-iwentxj children ! but I am happy to add that these mothers were, at the time of this conversation, and continued to be so long as I knew them, consistent members of my church. ‘•On another occasion, I was called to visit the wife of a chief in dying circumstances. She had professed Christianity for many years, had learned to read when nearly sixty, and was a very active teacher iu our adult school. In the prospect of death, she sent a pressing request that I would visit her imme- diately ; and, on entering her apartments, she exclaimed, ‘ O servant of God, come and tell me what I must do ! ’ Perceiving that she was suffering great mental distress, I inquired the cause of it ; when she replied, ‘ I am about to die ! ’ ‘ Well,’ I rejoined, • if it be so, what creates this agony of mind ? ’ ‘ Oh, my sins, my sins ! ’ she cried ; ‘ I am about to die ! ’ I then inquired what the particular sins were which so greatly distressed her, when she exclaimed, ‘ Oh, my children, my murdered children ! I am about to die, and I shall meet them all at the judgment seat of Christ.’ Upon this I inquired how many children she had destroyed ; afid, to my astonishment, she repilied, ‘ I have destroyed sixteen ! and now I am about to die ! ’ ”