No. ro2. 
 
 Whoman’s Union Adissionary \ 
 ae Society. 
 
 \ 
 
 EL ELEESSARALA;: 
 By Miss Sarau F, GARDNER. 
 
 ITTLE footsteps patter through the 
 
 lbs house, the silver anklets with their 
 
 glitter and jingle adding to the 
 
 music of the sweet prattle and merry laughter 
 
 of babyhood. Now up, now down, holding 
 
 out tiny hands to be led, now falling, then 
 caught up to be petted and loved. 
 
 Little Sarala, the seventh child and only 
 daughter in a family where six large boys 
 make the happy parents believe that they 
 are favored of the gods, has received a 
 welcome and.is loved and caressed by all. 
 Had she been the first child, and had the 
 others been girls instead of boys, how differ- 
 ent her fate. But she is the seventh, and one 
 girl can be tolerated. Besides, a baby is a 
 baby, and so dear and smiling a baby as 
 this looks out of loving eyes, expecting to 
 
(2) 
 
 receive only love and tenderness. Alas for 
 those who look but do not have ! 2 
 
 Sarala’s babyhood is a very pleasant one. 
 The father tolerates, the boys look upon her 
 as a plaything, pet and spoil her, decking her 
 with jewels and feeding her with many more 
 sweetmeats than are good for her, and the 
 mother clasps her to her bosom as only a 
 mother can, and the tiny girl basks in the 
 sunshine of a loving, happy home, knowing 
 only smiles and caresses. 
 
 Another scene and our little Sarala is 
 twelve years old. She is merry and happy 
 still, but the laughing eyes have less fun in 
 them to-night and her lips have not the shadow 
 of a smile upon them. It would not be 
 proper for Sarala to be merry to-night, for it 
 is one of her wedding nights, as the cere- 
 monies have been going on for a long time. 
 For a girl to laugh and be merry at her 
 wedding is very improper indeed. The man, 
 three times her age, sitting opposite, is her 
 husband or will be when these weary days 
 are over. Poor Sarala has been through so 
 many days, has been dressed in her finery so 
 long, that she is quite worn out. They 
 seemed to her in the beginning only a series 
 
(3) 
 
 of pleasant enjoyments, into which she 
 entered with all the interest that a new 
 thing gives to childhood, not in the least 
 realizing that it meant separation from home 
 and all the dear loved ones and associations. 
 To-night she is tired and wishes she were in 
 bed where indeed she ought tobe. She has 
 been affianced to this man for some time, 
 but has been allowed until now to remain 
 with her parents. Now, however, she is old 
 enough according to law to take her place in 
 her husband’s house as his third wife, for he 
 has already lost two girl-wives. So the real 
 wedding ceremony is taking place and is 
 almost over, and to-morrow or next day she 
 will go into a totally strange household 
 presided over by her husband’s mother, a 
 stern old woman who has long ago forgotten 
 when she herself came into the family a 
 trembling, homesick young bride, and our 
 sweet, loving Sarala is again lost to our sight. 
 
 Another scene three years later—this time 
 we find ourselves in the wards of a hospital ; 
 screens are placed to keep the public gaze 
 from a young girl who is lying senseless on 
 acot. Doctorsstand about her with anxious 
 faces and the hurried use of the stomach- 
 
(4) 
 
 pump tells the story. The girl has poisoned 
 herself and every effort is being made to 
 bring her back to life but in vain, our Sarala, 
 for she it is, has by her own hand ended her 
 life. An hour later and the young girl of 
 fifteen is beyond human power to help. A 
 man stands by with indifferent, hardened 
 face watching the result of the means used 
 for her restoration. It is her father-in-law. 
 “What led her to this?”’ is asked of him. 
 With a shrug of the shoulders he replies, 
 “How can I tell? Mothers-in-law are, you 
 know, sometimes a little severe on young 
 wives, and who can interfere?”’ Yes, one 
 knows only too well. Out from a mother’s 
 love and care, out from one’s own home into 
 that of a stern mother-in-law, unsympathetic, 
 often cruelly unkind husband, teasing sister- 
 in-law, blows and harsh treatment taking the 
 place of kindness and love, the young wife 
 in a fit of despair swallows opium, (of which, 
 unfortunately, there is always enough at 
 hand), and so ends her misery and her life. 
 
 A fancy sketch? An overdrawn picture of 
 the imagination? Not at all. 
 
 I stood last week at the bedside of a young 
 girlsin the medical hospital, whose young 
 
(5) 
 
 life was rapidly ebbing away from the effect 
 of opium poison. I asked her father-in-law 
 _who stood by, “Why?” and received the 
 answer I have already woven into my story. 
 A uurse said to me, “ This is the third child- 
 wife that has been brought to the hospital 
 in the same condition during the last month.” 
 Three cases of suicide by child-wives in one 
 month, in one hospital only! And one 
 scarcely opens a newspaper that he does not 
 see the notice of this same thing happening 
 elsewhere. 
 
 What shall be done? What can be done? 
 What can the women and girls of America 
 do? We must have more missionaries whose 
 work shall be among the women and girls of 
 this country. These girls must be taught to 
 look beyond the present suffering, and take 
 their burdens to the Burden Bearer. Miser- 
 able in this life, with no hope for the one to 
 come, what is there better for them than to 
 put an end to it all, by swallowing poison? 
 When they have been taught about Him 
 who shall wipe away all tears, who will take 
 away all sorrow and crying, they will be 
 more willing to wait till He shall plead their 
 cause. But now they know little or nothing, 
 
(6) 
 
 and never having been taught habits of self- 
 control, they do what seems to them the 
 only thing to do, put an end to themselves. 
 Come and help them you who can. We 
 need at least four women immediately for 
 this work. Earnest women who will devote 
 themselves to the women and girls of this 
 country. 
 
 Who will come? And who will provide the 
 means to support them after they are here? 
 Please, you who read this, think about it. 
 Pray over it. 
 
 Miss GARDNER has devoted herself for 
 fifteen years to the women and children of 
 India under the auspices of the WOMAN’S 
 UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY, an undenom- 
 inational association organized in 1860; the 
 first formed in America for the special ob- 
 ject of elevating and Christianizing heathen 
 women. It has planted five stations in India, 
 as centres for zenana teaching, while schools 
 for girls, and a medical mission are important 
 features. Thousands of women and children 
 have been reached in the past, and wide 
 doors are opening, where forty-eight mis- 
 
(7) 
 
 sionaries are actively employed. As this 
 Society is dependent on voluntary contri- 
 butions, will you be one to aid it? 
 
 The Missionary Link, published monthly, 
 gives full accounts of zenana work. Price, 
 50 cents a year. 
 
 Officers of the Whoman’s Unton Missionary 
 
 Society: 
 President, ; . Mrs. HENRY JOHNSON, 
 Corresponding Secretary, Miss 5. D,. DOREMUS., 
 Assistant Treasurer . Miss ELIZABETH STONE 
 
 Mission Room: 
 
 G7 BIBLES OUSE, NE We VORKSCTILY: 
 
LEAFLETS ON WORK IN INDIA 
 
 (NOW IN PRINT) 
 
 oman’ {rio Hfssionar Society 
 
 Mission Room, 67 BispLtE Housk, NEw York. 
 
 100. 
 
 = 4 
 
 Each, Cts. 
 What a Pair of Slippers Did for 
 
 Indiatse. : : : 2 
 Befutti’s Doll. : : 2 
 Gift for a Little Bride : eat 
 Kasheba’s Plea . 3 
 Givers for Jesus . 3 
 Wayside Guests . 2 
 Saved . 2 
 Sad Weddings 2 
 Shall We Teach Them? 2 
 The Household Pet 4 
 
 Jessonda: A Hindu Widow 
 Story and Work 5 ; eeree 
 
 Desolate Widows : 4 
 
 -Karpoo: A STorY OF ZENANA 
 
 LIFE é ; ; , sO