‘^oiiiaii’s liiiioit '^issimiatg 
 
 WHIT I PtIR OF SLIPPERS DID FOR IRDIl. 
 
 A TRUE STORY. 
 
 I T is a sultry afternoon in India. The wife of a missionary sits 
 quietly plying her needle with busy fingers, gradually bring- 
 ing to completion a pair of slippers she is working for her 
 husband. Although the pattern is so intricate and the execution 
 so skillful that they would seem to demand all her attention, her 
 mind is rather occupied with thoughts about the multitude of 
 highborn women in that land of roses whose condition is worse 
 than that of convicts in our own State prisons. Many and many 
 a time has she endeavored to do something for them, but as often 
 has she been repulsed. She has hoped that when the young men 
 who had been educated in the mission schools grew up, she 
 might have influence with them, and through them gain her end. 
 She had labored with them faithfully, but all in vain. The force 
 of what she argued upon them they acknowledged. They felt 
 that it was desirable for their wives to be educated, but they 
 were powerless to helpthem. The iron chains of ancient custom, 
 the grinding tyranny of religious superstition, the machinery of 
 a domestic red-tapism, thwarted their efforts and destroyed their 
 hopes. And now, almost despairing of ever accomplishing her 
 noble desire, she has committed their interests to the God she 
 loved and served, praying Him to open a door for the relief of 
 these domestic captives. And so she sits busily working, fast 
 completing the gift she designs for him she loves; rejoicing and 
 
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 thanking God that her lot has been so blessed that she is en- 
 abled to aid her husband in his work — that she is permitted to 
 stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free, 
 untrammeled by false religion and social propriety. 
 
 The last stitch is taken, and she is resting with a quiet con- 
 tentment in regard to her own condition, and in fancy dwelling 
 on the comfort her little gift will afford her husband, when the 
 door opens and in walks a Babu, or native gentleman, one of 
 her former pupils. He picks up tl^e slippers, and is lost in ad- 
 miration. Their bright colors attract him; the skill manifested 
 in their execution is something surpassing. He had never seen 
 their like before. And a woman made them, worked them out 
 stitch by stitch, and did it with that marvelous magical instru- 
 ment, the needle ! 
 
 “ Babu, would you not like your wife to learn how to make 
 you a pair of slippers ? ” The thought flashes through her mind 
 like an inspiration from on high. “If you will let me, I will 
 come and teach her.” 
 
 The idea takes him. She lends him the slippers, and he 
 hurries away to his home. The slippers are shown from one to 
 another. The story is told of their being made by a woman, and 
 by means of a little instrument they have never seen, and of 
 whose virtues they were utterly ignorant. Curiosity gets the 
 better of the superstition ; ambition, of custom. “Could they 
 learn ? Was it possible for them to make anything so beauti- 
 ful ? Why not let the despised Christian woman come to them ? 
 The pollution they could efface by the appropriate ceremonies, 
 and how pleasant it would be for them to have something to 
 occupy their time, something beautiful in itself!” 
 
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 So they talk it over, this one’s mother-in-law with that one’s 
 mother-in-law, and so until the consent of all has been gained, 
 even of the wife of the old patriarch of the family, whose will is 
 the ultimate law respecting everything that transpires in the 
 zenana, or woman’s apartment. The missionary lady is invited 
 to come and teach the ladies in that house, and soon they have 
 solved the mysteries and become familiar with the powers of the 
 inscrutable needle. Quick to learn, they soon have achieved 
 results which do credit to their teaching and their skill. 
 
 Babu So-and-So takes the pair of slippers his wife had em- 
 broidered and shows them, with justifiable pride, to Babu Thus- 
 and-So. He in turn shows them to the ladies in his house, and 
 they know they can learn just as well as the ladies in Babu So- 
 and-So’s zenana; so why not let the missionary lady come and 
 teach them ? She is invited ; she comes ; they learn quickly ; and 
 so the work spreads. A pair of slippers has opened the doors 
 upon the most heart-grinding captivity practiced in the world! 
 A pair of slippers has been the instrument of letting in a ray of 
 light upon thousands who forages have been sitting in the dark- 
 ness of the shadow of death! 
 
 Considered merely in the light of a social reform, it com- 
 mends itself to our sympathy and interest. To give some little 
 occupation higher than the menial duties which have hitherto 
 engrossed all their time to those who naturally are the peers in 
 mental power and physical beauty of the most favored ladies in 
 the world is of itself enough to enlist the zeal and aid of all. 
 But that is the least that is accomplished. Along with the fancy 
 work, the missionary teaches these poor women how to read, 
 and tells them the attractive stories and the cheering promises of 
 
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 the Bible. The truth of God has made its power felt in the midst 
 of these old superstitions, and the desire to know how to work a 
 pair of slippers has in some cases not been fully satisfied till the 
 feet of the scholar have been taught to walk in the way of holiness. 
 
 The wretched condition of women in heathen countries is 
 well known, however little it is appreciated. Among them there 
 is one class to which attention has lately been called, which seems 
 to be particularly wretched and unfortunate. Three-fourths of 
 
 THE WOMEN IN InDIA ARE PRISONERS FOR LIFE in the homeS Of 
 their husbands, whence they are never allowed to go forth ex- 
 cept occasionally to worship some idol, or, under certain circum- 
 stances, to visit their father's home, but always under strict 
 guard, and so shut up as never to see anything outside of 
 their own miserable apartments. What little freedom they 
 possess originally is lost entirely as soon as they are married; 
 and as it is a disgrace for any girl not to be married before 
 she is ten years old (and they are frequently married when 
 only four or five), most of them grow up without any memory 
 of anything before that period. A tree or a flower is a wonder 
 to many of them. 
 
 Nor are there an)^ alleviations in their lot in respect to edu- 
 cation or culture. They are ignorant of almost everthing, and 
 have no interest beyond the preparation of their daily meals. 
 Their clothing is scanty and forlorn. Their apartments have 
 almost no furniture, and nothing whatever in the way of orna- 
 ments or even conveniences. The climax of misery is reached, 
 however, in their widows — unfortunate creatures, who are doomed 
 to hopelessness in this life and that to come, according to their 
 practice and creed. Mere little girls four or five years old, 
 
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 betrothed and married before they have outgrown their baby 
 playthings, if they have seen their husbands but once, are widows 
 for life should he die, and have only the fearful experience of a 
 comfortless life and a hopeless death. Language is inadequate 
 to describe the forlornness of their condition. It is their sin 
 which is supposed to have caused their husband’s death, and the 
 only way of showing a proper respect to his memory on the part 
 of all the inhabitants of any house is to neglect or heap indigni- 
 ties and cruelties upon the unfortunate widow. 
 
 But if women are thus despised, it would be a very false 
 conclusion to suppose that they possess little or no influence. On 
 the contrary, among them reside the practical present and future 
 strength of heathenism. Bigotry is the handmaid of ignorance. 
 The ignorance must be dispelled before attachment to their false 
 religion can be broken. Moreover, so long as they remain faith- 
 ful teachers of Hinduism, and instill into the minds of the young 
 their own narrow and false notions, so long must every other 
 means of Christianizing the nation be retarded. The most prac- 
 tical means of reaching any people is to train up the members of 
 the rising generation, as has been evidenced everywhere in the 
 history of missions. How important then becomes every effort 
 put forth to reach those who naturally and successfully exercise 
 the greatest influence over the young! As long, however, as 
 women are secluded, debarred from places where instruction is 
 given, and forcibly held back from learning, and that by such 
 means as to render all approach impossible, missionary effort is 
 obliged to go over and over again the same tract, training boys 
 and young men to be Christians after they have been made Pagans 
 by their ignorant and bigoted mothers. 
 
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 To reach the women is the object of “The Woman’s Union 
 Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands,” organized 
 in i860. Its labors cover stations in China and Japan, but 
 a peculiar interest attaches to its efforts in the zenanas of India. 
 
 In Calcutta alone this Society — the first American one 
 ever engaged in zenana teaching — has thousands of these se- 
 cluded women under instruction. Stations have been opened in 
 other portions of India, where the work is progressing with equal 
 rapidity. 
 
 Orphanages for homeless girls are maintained in Calcutta 
 and Cawnpore. The oldest members are now commencing 
 their work as native Christian teachers, giving entire satisfac- 
 tion to the missionaries. 
 
 The Society, without paid officers or agents, has grown 
 yearly in influence and ability, widening its circle of friends and 
 supporters, commending itself by the Christian union which 
 pervades it (several denominations being represented among its 
 managers and missionaries) and by its appeal to the heart of 
 every true woman to do what she can to aid her sisters whom 
 idolatry crushes. 
 
 Mrs. henry JOHNSON, President. 
 
 Miss S. D. DOREMUS, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 Miss M.S. STONE, ) 
 
 Miss E. B. STONE, ( 
 
 Checks payable to the Woman’s Union Missionary Society, 
 Mission Rooms, 67 Bible House, New York. 
 
 The “Missionary Link” is the monthly periodical of the 
 Society. Price, 50 cents, yearly.