Wo wi e*\ - No. 134. OCT '{Oman's pinion jjfissiiwftrg Simein. A LONELY CHILD WIFE. By Miss Grace R. Ward. A MID the grand, picturesque mountains of India, nestles Naini Tal, a lovely spot far above the clouds. Broad, well-made government roads lead down the mountain side, and, pass- ing through a native bazaar, one looks at the pride and glory of the place — a beautiful lake at the foot of the mountains which surround it. Imposing buildings, erected to the memory of Sir Henry Ramsey, the able Commissioner for this district, stand out in bold relief, while English cottages — white, with red roofs — form a pretty picture, as seen through the green trees. But many a sad, dark home is to be found amid these scenes of beauty. One day, a pupil, who loves Jesus and has a heart touched by distress, told me of a little child wife, eleven years old, w T ho had been brought from a home full of brothers and sisters at Allahabad to her husband’s house at Naini Tal. This hus- band is over fifty years old, and far from kind or gentle, and he has a naughty little son of five years. My pupil said, “Miss Sahib, the child cries night and day, and I cannot rest while hearing her and thinking about her.” 2 I went to see the child wife, who clung to me and said she would like to have me teach her, if only her husband would allow. As she could read very easy sentences, which she had learned of a mission teacher in Allahabad, I left some books with her, promising to try and gain permission from her hus- band to teach her regularly. Early one morning, before the man left his home for the office, I called to see him. Having heard that Ke had beaten his little wife because she had allowed me to come into the house, I had faint hope of winning his consent. He answered my knock at the door, opening it only a few inches, so that I could see but half of his face. Stating my errand as I stood outside, he gruffly replied that he did not want a zenana teacher to visit his home, for when women learned to read, they did not want to cook, and when they could write, they might write im- proper letters. I told him that I would not teach the child to write, with- out his consent, and that I thought it better for women who were so shut in to be usefully employed. He spoke against zenana missions, because they sought to elevate women, when it was better to leave the homes as they are. I replied that I had no wish to break up homes, but described the misery which came from shutting up women and making them unhappy, and ended by saying, “ You can go to your office or elsewhere, but your little wife is very lonely.” When I complimented him on his English, the vain man 3 said, “Well, perhaps you would do no harm, and you may come and teach her.’’ Glad of even this ungracious permission, I called a few days later, when I knew the man would be at his office, but alas! the door w T as barred inside. A servant called out that she dared not open the door, as the Babu was angry and had forbidden it. No entreaty could open that door for me. I went to the opposite house, where my dear pupil lived, and her daughter called the little wife to the window. She came, but only to wave her hand to me not to visit her, and her despairing little face haunts me still. A year later Miss Lathrop talked with the little child wife, through the railing of her veranda. She answered the child’s questions about the neighbors in her old Allahabad home and the girls she had known in school, and found that she read and enjoyed the Peep of Day , which treasure it is doubtful if her husband knew about. The surroundings she found as for- bidding as possible, for, even in that crowded bazar, the child is literally a prisoner, and entirely alone and unprotected the whole day. I fear to make further advances, lest more trouble may come to her, so I am leaving this, as many other cases, with God, and praying for the child for whom my heart is grieved. Do you call this a sad story ? It is, alas! the tale of thous- ands of little girls in India, where national custom denies them 4 the joy of childhood. To reach this pitiable class, the Woman’s Union Missionary Society was formed in i860, after repeated appeals for the downtrodden zenana women. The facts pre- sented were so appalling, and the need so imperative, no doubt was felt that this was the Lord’s time for a definite organization for this object. The creed was simple: Win for Christ; the method at home, Voluntary Service ; the workers abroad, Single Women who could devote undivided time and thought to the cause. A generation has come into being since the Society started, and God has set His seal on the work — a proof that the need was great and was well met. Voluntary labor demands volun- tary gifts, and the work, wide and far-reaching, in many stations of India, needs your help Will you give it? Answer this question as you think of the sad, dwarfed lives of the child- wives of India. Donations may be sent to the Woman’s Union Missionary Society, 67 Bible House, New York, “THE MISSIONARY LINK” IS A MONTHLY RECORD OF WORK IN THIS SOCIETY. Price , Fifty Cents a Year. SEND FOR THE LEAFLETS OF THE SOCIETY.