It must be confessed that it will be a very difficult task to lead a woman steeped in superstition from infancy to forsake idolatry for the worship of the Heaven-Father, the Dyaus-Pitar of the old Aryans; but it is worthy of the effort. Until India gives up her 33 crores of gods and goddesses, she must rank among the semieivilised countries of the earth.

Family Prayer.-Hindu women, as a rule, have no idea of the nature of true worship and prayer. Their religion consists only in doing puja to an idol or walking round the tulsi plant. The nature of prayer should be explained. In families that are truly Christian, God is worshipped morning and evening. A hymn is sung, a passage is read from the Bible, and all afterwards kneel in prayer. To give some readers a better idea of what is meant, an example will be given of family worship.

The following hymn may be sung:

Glory to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light;
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thy own Almighty wings.
Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die that so I may
Rise glorious at the awful day.

O let my soul on Thee repose,

And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
Sleep that shall me more vig'rous make
To serve my God when I awake.

If in the night I sleepless lie,

My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,

No powers of darkness me molest.

A passage is next read from the Bible. It may be the following: "And seeing the multitudes He (Jesus Christ) went up into a mountain; and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.

107

Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

NEW TESTAMENT, Matthew, V. 1-10.

A prayer like the following may then be offered, all kneeling:

Heavenly Father, by thy protecting care we are brought to the close of another day. Blessed by thy name for continued life and health, for richly supplying all our bodily wants.

But, above all, we thank thee for spiritual mercies. We bless thee Thanks be to God for thy great love in giving thy Son to die for us.

for this unspeakable gift. For the sake of Jesus Christ, pardon all the vain thoughts, the guilty words, the foolish and wicked actions by which we have sinned against thee. By his righteousness justify us; by his Spirit purify our hearts and make our lives holy.

God of the families of the whole earth, dwell under our roof. Make this house the abode of faith, of piety, and love. Strengthen the relations which bind us together by drawing us closer to thyself. Give us, as parents, all the grace which we need. Enable us to train our children in the way they should go; to teach them by example as well as precept. Bless the children. Gather them in thine arms; carry them in thy bosom; fill their hearts with love to thee and to one another. Keep

them from the evil that is in the world; spare their lives, if it be thy gracious will; make them holy and useful, and may we at last meet an undivided family in heaven. Bless the servants of this household; them thy servants, and fellow-heirs with us of thy kingdom.

make

We commend unto thee all our relatives and friends. May they seek thy face and enjoy thy favour. May we be helpful to one another, and let no root of bitterness springing up trouble us. Bless all men. Enlighten the ignorant; convert the sinful; comfort the sorrowing.

We now commit ourselves to thy care through this night. Let no evil befall us, nor any plague come nigh our dwelling. Whether we wake or sleep, may we be the Lord's. We ask all these blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.*

Families where God is thus worshipped in spirit and in truth are likely to grow up loving, happy, and prosperous. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

Christian mothers teach their young children short prayers like the following:

This night when I lie down to sleep,

I give the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,

I

pray the Lord my soul to take.

Now I wake and see the light;

God has kept me through the night;
Make me good, O Lord, I pray;

Keep and guard me through this day.

When Christian worship like the above is compared with Hindu customs, it must be seen to be preferable. "As is the god, so is the worshipper." The people of India can never be otherwise than degraded so long as they bow down to the work of their own hands instead of worshipping their great Creator and Father in heaven.

There are many religious questions which will arise in the mind of the thoughtful man,-can sin be forgiven? how can holiness be obtained? Space does not permit these all-important points to be considered. The reader is referred to The Brahma Samaj and other Modern Eclectic Systems of Religion.†

Women should be provided with interesting and useful reading, This is so important and so wide a subject that it will be noticed in a separate chapter.

LITERATURE FOR WOMEN.

The value of the ability to read depends upon the manner in which it is employed. The spread of education in England has not

From Prayers for Students and others, Anna. Sold by Mr. A. T. Scott, Tract Depôt, Madras.

Price 3 Annas; Post-free, 4 Annas. See wrapper.

been an unqualified success. A good deal of the literature read is unwholesome, if not positively immoral in its tone. In India the danger is very much greater from the character of many of the vernacular books. Pandit Sivanath Sastri delivered a lecture about two years ago on "National Literature as an Index of National Character." He said, "Amid much improvement, there is in the present literature of Bengal a strong under-current of impure literature, books not sent to the Bengal Library (the Registrar's Office) but sold by hundreds in the railway platforms. The Pandit exhibited a bundle of these-and read one or two titles to show that he was not exaggerating; but refrained from reading more for fear of advertising what he wished to condemn and destroy."

Difficulties.-There are three obstacles in the way of providing literature for women:

1. The Paucity of female Writers.-Out of 125 millions of Native women, only a mere handful can read and write. The wives of Missionaries and especially single ladies engaged in Zenana work are those from whom most help might be expected. Hitherto, however, very few have sought to supply the want. A. L. O. E. is a conspicuous exception, and two or three others might be named in each presidency, but that is all.

2. The Paucity of female Readers.-As a rule, books in India must meet their own cost, and the price is greatly increased by small editions. This is a great hindrance to publishing.

3. The difficulty of Circulation.-After books have been prepared, the seclusion of Hindu women renders it no easy matter to get them placed in their hands.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE?

Information under this head is incomplete, especially with regard to books. Details will be given as far as available.

Periodicals.

Thacker's Indian Directory gives a list of Newspapers and Periodicals, but it is imperfect, and retains the names of some which have ceased to exist. This is not surprising, for many of the native papers are very short-lived.

Bengal.-The Bamabodhini Patrika, "the first woman's journal in Bengali, was started in August, 1863." The name implies that it is devoted to the instruction of women. The editor is Babu Umesh Chunder Dutt, a leading member of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. It contains some contributions from the pens of Bengali ladies, chiefly in poetry. The Pancharika has a number of lady contri

butors on its staff.

The Khristio Mohila is edited by Miss Kamini Seal, a Bengali Christian Lady.

Pandit Sivanath Sastri says:

"But the attention of the educated portion of our females is not confined to these three ladies' journals; many of them are regular and careful readers of other monthly magazines of higher pretensions, whose columns also bear their occasional contributions. Foremost among this class of writers are some of the ladies of the Tagore family of Jorasanko, one of whom has won a name for herself as an authoress of considerable merit. These monthly and other publications are helping to create a stimulus in many female minds and steadily raising the level of their intelligence." The American Methodist Episcopal Mission raised a special fund to meet the cost of The Woman's Friend. One edition is in Bengali. The Calcutta Tract Society issued a Zenana Magazine for some years. At present it publishes a Monthly Leaflet for Women.

North India. The Woman's Friend, in Urdu and Hindi, is edited by Mrs. Badley, of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. Central India. The Sugrivani, is a monthly magazine published at Rutlam, and edited by a Native lady, commenced in 1888. Bombay. The Stri-Bodh, in Gujarati, established in 1857, seems to be the oldest magazine for women published in India. "The greater part of it is said to be usually written by Parsi ladies." Mysore.-A quarterly illustrated magazine for women is issued in Canarese by the Bangalore Tract and Book Society.

Madras.-The Maharani, in Tamil, edited and published by Mr. V. Krishnamachariar, is the most tastefully got up periodical for women published in India. It contains coloured illustrations and designs for fancy work, besides instructive matter. It is necessarily much more expensive than the other magazines, a single copy being 6 annas. The Woman's Friend, very neatly printed, is issued by the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. The Zenana Magazine-an illustrated quarterly, published by the Christian Vernacular Education Society, is printed and edited at Nagercoil.

The Sagunabodhini and Amirthavasani are the titles of other Tamil periodicals for women, but they now seem to be discontinued. When a separate magazine is not practicable at present, two or three pages in a general magazine may be set apart for female

readers.

Good illustrations add much to the interest of periodicals and books. In India they are often badly printed from want of skill in the workmen.

Many years must elapse before India can have its Graphic or Illustrated London News. Native gentlemen who can afford it

* Indian Magazine, 1882, p. 326.