WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
comers as 'my children's mother.' thus reflecting upon her his worship of motherhood."
The admiration, professed so sincerely by Miss Noble, for the marriage system of the Hindu religion is shared by an English lady known to me, who is the wife of a high-caste Hindu. She considers the unrest of the Western women who are battling so vigorously for rights, freedom, votes, and full equality with men, a tragic spectacle. English women seem to her to miss all that is best in life, all the precious things that lie within their grasp, in their eagerness to take a share in government. I cannot agree entirely with this lady. But there is a serene philosophy in her recommendation of "the sheltered life for women," which cannot be ignored.
In the West the sexes are at present torn almost to universal dissension with strife, distrust and recriminations. Apparently such antagonism is inconceivable to the mind of the loving, contented Hindu woman, who asks for nothing more than a perpetual deepening of her affection and solicitude for husband and children. She gains all by losing herself. It is nobler to serve than to lead, to heed than to teach, to obey than to command. Such is the highest ideal of the Eastern woman. "Vulgar equality" contrasted with this perfect happiness in the consciousness of the finer development of the emotions is a worthless toy.
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