5. Domestic Conditions

5. Domestic Conditions

Domestic Conditions Such, on the whole, are the social conditions in the United States. A few words must now be said about the domestic conditions in cities, towns, and villages.

All over the world, the housewife is generally regarded as the central ¤gure in the house; but in American houses the housewife is given special importance.

The American housewife is the veritable goddess of the house (although there are exceptions to this rule also). Since a housewife must have a house to live in, it would not be out of place to say a few words about the houses in this country, before describing her.

The internal design of the house is usually the same in cities and villages, though the external construction is different. City houses are usually built of stone and brick walls; the houses in villages and towns are built mostly of wooden planks. Because of the abundance of trees and the general use of coal for fuel everywhere, wood is the principal material utilized for building houses.

The foundation of the house is laid with stones or bricks, and the structure above is built of wooden planks, beams, and columns. From the outside the walls look like the panes of a stained-glass window; on the inside they are lined with thick planks or paper, plastered, and then decorated with paper of variegated colors. This wallpaper1 is very durable and allows no room for bugs, etc. The houses have several windows which let in ample light, and also fresh air which circulates all through. The windows are ¤tted with large glass panes so that the house does not become dark even when they are closed during the winter.2 During the summer there is an abundance of ®ies, mosquitoes, etc.; the windows are therefore ¤tted with screens of ¤ne wire mesh, so that they reduce the menace of ®ies without blocking the air. In order to decorate the windows and reduce the glare, they are hung with a variety of curtains made of lacy or plain cloth.

There is an excellent provision to pull them to one side when necessary. The entire ®oor and the stairs, except for the kitchen and the front steps, are covered with a carpet or mats. The ®oor underneath is made completely even with wooden planks. Once or twice a year the carpet and mats are removed and brushed clean.

Ordinarily a house has a parlor, a dining room, a kitchen, a guest room, and a separate bedroom for each person. There are several conveniences, such as wardrobes to hang clothes, shelves for books, tables, and chairs. Things like fuel, vegetables, and milk are kept in the basement. City houses have a bathroom

which contains a large and long vessel like a cistern, lined with enamel, which is called a bathtub. Attached to it are two water pipes, for hot and cold water. The hot-water pipe is connected to a boiler near the stove in the kitchen, which saves the trouble of carrying hot water upstairs or installing a separate stove to heat water. Most village houses do not have bathrooms, which causes a great deal of inconvenience to one used to having a bath every day. Usually the people here do not have a daily bath; they wipe their bodies with a wet towel dipped in a jugful of water poured into a washbasin, and bathe only occasionally. Villagers content themselves for months on end with a mere "towel-bath." In the winter a large brazier is lit in the basement and connected with iron pipes to all the rooms so as to carry the heat throughout the house. The pipes can be opened or closed at will with the help of "registers."

Most of the cities and even small towns have gas lights in houses and streets.

This country is rich in combustible mineral gas. In Pittsburgh and many other cities this combustible gas is used also for cooking, running machines, heating houses, lighting houses and streets, etc. Mineral oil is used in the smaller towns which do not have the plants to produce combustible gas. The newly settled cities in the West have mostly electric lighting. Electric lights are occasionally seen also in the old cities in the East.

The domestic arrangements for cooking and dining are like those of the Europeans. The white cloths spread on tables at mealtime; the white napkins for wiping the hands and mouth while eating; the towels for wiping hands, feet, and the body kept in each room for the use of its occupant; bedsheets and pillowcases, etc., are customarily washed at home. The cook or maid, and sometimes even the mistress of the house herself, serves as laundress, and washes and irons these clothes. The cook is usually Negro or Irish. Many poor American women also work as cooks in other people's houses. As is the case with us, there are very few people here who are blessed with good servants. An intelligent and thoughtful mistress learns to do all the housework herself, and also helps the maid in her work. But there are many thoughtless mistresses here. Many cannot cook, which is why cookery schools have been opened here.

It is very expensive to maintain a house in the city; many people therefore take lodgings. A single person can get reasonable lodgings for twenty-¤ve to thirty dollars a month (a dollar being worth about three rupees). The lodger has a separate room to himself and takes his meals with the members of the family.

Respectable persons can get lodgings with well-born and good-natured families.

Many good women who are reduced to poverty support themselves by taking in lodgers. It is customary also for well-to-do middle-class families to keep lodgers.

Hotels and inns are expensive; moreover, they do not provide any domestic comforts.

For almost two years I lived in Philadelphia as a lodger with a woman.3 She 106 The Peoples of the United States

is very good-natured. Not all women are so good-natured and such good cooks and housekeepers; even so, this woman's manner of housekeeping will give a general idea of the daily routine of most housewives. This woman gets up at ¤ve-thirty or six in the morning, has her bath (either a proper bath, or wiping the body), ¤nishes her toilette and comes down. (The city houses have three to four stories; the kitchen, dining room, and parlor are on the ground ®oor.) Then she goes to the kitchen and instructs the cook about what to make for breakfast; and also dusts the dining room and sets the table with knives, forks, spoons, napkins, plates, teacups, glasses, etc. She then puts on her bonnet and shawl, and goes to the market with a basket in hand, to buy fruit and vegetables for the day.

At seven o'clock either she herself or the cook sounds the gong. On hearing it, all the people in the house get out of bed, wash their faces and rinse their mouths, have a wash or bath, and get dressed. The gong is sounded again at seven-thirty, and everyone comes down to breakfast on hearing it. By eight breakfast is over, and the cook goes upstairs to dust all the bedrooms and make the beds. The women usually make their own beds and keep their rooms tidy. The men lodgers leave all this work to the maid, either because they have to rush off to work or because they are lazy. In the meanwhile the landlady washes the dirty (porcelain) plates,4 bowls, cups, glasses, spoons, knives, etc., with soap and hot water, and dries them. After cutting the vegetables for the midday meal, she checks the accounts. Then she reads the newspaper for a while, and ¤nishes other chores promptly. Afterwards she goes shopping if necessary. She also helps the cook, who does the laundry, sweeps and dusts the house, washes the dishes, scrubs the ®oors and front steps, heats the stoves and heaters, etc. The cook is paid sixteen dollars, that is, forty-eight rupees, as salary and maintenance. From Monday to Tuesday there is continuous washing. A large tub is placed in the backyard and ¤lled with boiling water and soap in which clothes are soaked for a while before they are washed. The clothes are not beaten on a stone here; they are spread on a wooden plank (which has parallel grooves a ¤nger's breadth apart and which is covered with a tin sheet) and rubbed with soap. They are then dipped in indigo water, wrung out, and dried. The clothes are not starched, just ironed and folded. Every house has a laundry of this type.

The midday meal is served at about one o'clock in the afternoon. At this time again a gong is sounded to call the diners. The food is quite good, after their own style. Boiled potatoes, cabbage, turnips, beetroot or whatever other vegetables are in season; meat or ¤sh; eggs; and salad made of chopped leaves called "lettuce," radishes, tomatoes, that is, European eggplant [sic], and sliced cucumbers in season—all these are placed on the dining table. These people do not know how to cook vegetables with seasoning, as we do. Salt, powdered pepper, and chili powder are kept on the table, as is a bottle of vinegar for the salad, which people can help themselves to. Sometimes eggplants or potatoes are fried in Domestic Conditions 107

cooking fat. In addition, there is a sweet dish called "cake" which, together with many types of puddings, is served at the end of the meal. Fruit is served in season. A person who is averse to ¤sh, meat, or dishes prepared with eggs and animal fat has a very hard time getting enough to eat, and is compelled to manage largely with milk, bread, and fruit.5

In the afternoon or after breakfast, the landlady repairs or patches up torn clothes, or stitches new ones. Every house usually has a sewing machine, which is very useful in this cold country. In the morning or afternoon, people pay social visits. After ¤nishing the housework, the landlady reads books and newspapers in her spare time and attends lectures. She also helps many charities. She works as a secretary for an organization which supports a rescue home for fallen women.

In addition, she also contributes to many other religious and charitable works with as much money and labor as she can. Sometimes she goes to the hospital to visit and inquire after the patients there.

In families with children, the mothers take excellent care of their children. An American home where the parents and children treat one another well and are eager to do their duty is a place of great happiness. After the evening meal the parents sit with their children in the parlor enjoying the warmth of the heater, and tell them happy, amusing stories and talk to them sweetly. This is a very happy time for them. The children address their parents as "dear Mother" or "dear Father"; the parents address their children sweetly as "my darling" or "baby." Love for their children is expressed in their speech at all times. Husband and wife never fail to address each other as "dear" or "my dear." In respectable families no one ever curses or uses bad language. Swearing, cursing, or rude, impertinent speech is considered a sin and a sign of vulgarity. Generally, if one wishes to ask a favor, one says courteously "Will you please do this?" or "Please do such and such"; similarly when someone has done a favor, conveyed a message, or brought something, or on similar occasions, one politely says "I thank you." One does not pass between two persons who are standing or sitting together, or in front of another person; should one be compelled to do so, one says

"Excuse me." If one is called upon to leave the table while others are eating, one asks the master or mistress of the house for permission. If a person has not heard what someone has said, he asks him to repeat himself by saying "Pardon me, what did you say?" Children are taught these manners from an early age, and they stand them in good stead later.

Respectable people treat men and women with due courtesy at home and in society in general. Men show courtesy to women in a variety of ways. While talking to a woman—whoever she may be—they doff their hats and address her as "Madam." At home or at meetings, women are offered seats ¤rst. In very crowded trains and streetcars, men give up their seats to women (though not all

108 The Peoples of the United States

men show such good manners); and strong young women show the same courtesy to old or weak persons.

Sensible and respectable women do not quarrel with anyone. Quarrels do take place here, because "Every village has its Untouchable quarter," as the saying goes;6 but they are not full of shouts, curses and bad language, as is the case with us. If a person is angry with someone, it is enough to avoid him. For an ordinary quarrel, it is suf¤cient to change the tone of voice. Instead of saying "Thank you" in a low, sweet voice, one says it in a somewhat harsh and angry tone. Vulgar and ignorant people make ample use of obscene words; they even come to blows at times.

When people meet, they take each other's right hand and shake it, and ask after each other's well-being with a question which is, literally, "How do you do?" but which means "How are you?" As it is customary to ask this question as soon as one meets someone, the appropriate answer is "I am ¤ne, I am quite well." This answer may not always be truthful, but so strange are the conventions of speech that they leave little time to think of truth and falsehood.

When one person meets another, he has to say something; so the people here start by commenting on the weather. A pleasant day and clear skies bring forth the compliment, "Oh, what a ¤ne day!" But few are the days which thus please everyone; not every day that passes is able to ¤nd favor with all. Some dislike rain; some cannot bear the cold and others detest the heat; some are eager for the rains, others are waiting for the snow and for the rivers to freeze so that they can go skating. In sum, the poor weather cannot please anyone. Although these people are accustomed to criticizing the weather, they have a true appreciation of the beauty of Nature. Not that each and every person is sensitive to it, but few are the people here who would fail to praise a thing of beauty.

It is but natural to ask a lot of questions on meeting a foreigner and a stranger.

These people ask questions very politely. When these and other Western women come to our country, we ask them many strange questions; similarly, these women also do so without fail.

Fashions The dress and toilette of the women here contain a great deal of arti¤ce.7

The women here are usually good-looking, and many are born very beautiful.

Their love of natural beauty is easily seen from the arrangement of their houses and homes. The ancient Hellenes had a natural love of beauty which was taken over by the Romans, who imitated them, and imparted to the English and other

Europeans. The people of this country have also copied it in everything, as can clearly be seen from the design of their cities, ordinary houses, large buildings,

Domestic Conditions 109

and churches. However, women's dresses, and many other things, show hardly any beauty; also, they change a lot from year to year. When France was a monarchy, the Empress of Paris [sic] used to set the standard for dress and toilette for all the women of Europe and America. It was customary to respect and emulate everything done by the Empress of Paris and by other wealthy, fashionable women.

Twenty-¤ve years ago, when my parents were traveling with the family from Kumta to Bombay by boat, they had to stay in Sadashivgad and wait for a couple of days for the next boat.8 We had put up at a place close to the newly built railroad, on the other side of which was the railroad station. On the day we arrived, three Englishwomen came and sat on a bench at the station in the afternoon. Their skirts were so wide and bulging that each of them would have covered an area of up to two yards in diameter, whether she was standing or sitting.

Never before had I set eyes on such a strange kind of dress or on such red-faced9 women wearing it, and I had already begun to feel afraid as soon as I saw them.

Just then a man brought them a small basket ¤lled with things, and one of the women quickly got up, pushed the basket under the bench on which she had been sitting, and sat down again. I was ¤lled with such dread at the sight, and had such a knot in my stomach! Now I laugh at the memory, but at the time I was quite convinced that they were women of some thieving tribe or demonesses who stole other people's children and also other things, and carried them away hidden in their bulging skirts; and that one day they might even pick me up and carry me off in the bag inside their skirts if I happened to be out of sight of my parents!

The bulging skirts which so frightened me in childhood were the creation of the Empress of Paris, and until some years ago all the women of Europe—big and small, rich and poor, educated and ignorant—thought them very beautiful and wore them. The Empress of Paris started to wear bulging skirts when she was pregnant, so that the changes in her ¤gure would not be noticed. All the fashionable women thought it was a new and attractive style, and started to wear it themselves without discovering its origin; what is worse, they even made similar skirts for their little daughters. How the Queen of Paris must have silently laughed at the sight! There was another beauty who was slightly short; she raised the heels of her shoes by a couple of ¤ngers' breadth in order to disguise her lack of height. Other women followed suit and got high heels for their shoes without discovering the reason for this style. This practice of wearing high-heeled shoes is still prevalent.

Those who wear gold and silver jewelry or other types of ornaments, or those who attire themselves in unusual clothes in an effort to enhance their beauty, often manage to spoil their natural good looks. This rule applies not only to our country, but also to England and the United States, which have reached the very

110 The Peoples of the United States

pinnacle of progress. The women here profess great sympathy for Chinese women because they have to endure the very painful custom of having their feet bound in order to make them small. Some say that this Chinese custom is a sign of the slavery of women; some see it as proof of the ill effects of Buddhism and Confucianism. They make many strange conjectures while criticizing the evil practices of other peoples. But, like the man with the double packsack in Aesop's fable, they see very clearly the contents of the sack in front, but naturally do not see the contents of the sack at the back. The women here regard a narrow waist as a great sign of beauty, and make their waists small by wearing a "corset," which is a sleeveless bodice made of thin strips of whalebone and steel, shaped so that it is narrow in the middle and quite loose above and below. Ordinarily, a well-built woman of medium height should have a natural waistline of thirtynine to forty ¤ngers' breadth; the women here tighten their waists and reduce them to between thirty and twenty-four ¤ngers' breadth. A girl is taught the habit of wearing a corset from the age of about twelve. This practice obstructs free breathing and affects the lungs of many women; the pressure of the corset upon the stomach causes the spleen and the abdomen to press upon the uterus.

This obstructs digestion and deep breathing, and leads to disorders of the spleen and the lungs; during childbirth it causes far more agony than is normal; and God alone knows what other suffering and trouble it causes!10

There is another article intended to beautify the ¤gure and the dress; it is called a "bustle." The bustle is made by weaving thick wires together. It comes in two or three shapes. If it is tied to the waist and hung at the back under the skirt, the skirt bulges at the back below the waist. No one but Goddess Satwai11 knows the beauty of the bustle. Probably she has created it herself because it did not occur to Mother Nature to attach a natural bustle to the backs of European and American women at birth! Two or three thick petticoats are worn over the bustle under the skirt; the combined weight of the petticoats, skirt, and bustle, about six to seven pounds,12 presses upon the abdomen and, needless to say, causes ill effects.

It is right to protect the feet with shoes in this cold country, but fashionable women wish to have small feet and wear very tight shoes which deform the feet and cause big calluses. Also, as a result of high heels, the weight of the body does not fall equally on the whole foot while walking, but falls mainly on the front part, which damages all the toenails. These fashions are more popular in cities than in small towns. Poor women emulate the styles of rich ones, and both rich and poor women spend lavishly on items of clothing. The leather gloves to be worn on the hands are so tight that they take a long time to put on, and they make women's hands look like fat rolls. These women feel compelled to wear gloves when they go out to dinner, for an outing, or to pay a visit, even during the hot summer, when the whole body is perspiring.

Domestic Conditions 111

Nowadays "dress reform" has started here.13 Many sensible women with a knowledge of anatomy have begun to improve the style of their dress. This reformed dress is made scienti¤cally and is comfortable and healthy; moreover, it allows the wearer to do any kind of work and does not obstruct any activity.

These dress reformers are engaged in earnest efforts to prevent women in their own and in other countries from wearing harmful fashionable dresses and ruining their natural ¤gure as well as health. The progressive inhabitants of Japan have started to rapidly emulate the bad qualities of Europeans along with the good. The women there have discarded their clumsy clothes and begun to dress like European women. When I called on Miss Frances Willard14 to bid her farewell, she said to me, "Tell the women wherever you go, especially in Japan, that they must not ruin their health by wearing silly, fashionable clothes. These are my parting words to you. If we wish to do something for the good of the people, all of us must reform our dress."

Most of the women here have forgotten the real use of bonnets, which is to protect the head against the cold and against bright sunshine. Bonnets have now become veritable head ornaments. They are decorated with colored silks, ribbons of silk and velvet, arti¤cial cloth ®owers, etc. In addition, it is customary to attach beautiful feathers, or even whole stuffed bodies of dead birds, to bonnets. A few years ago a woman of ill repute in Paris went to the theater wearing a whole bird on her bonnet in order to attract attention; even respectable women imagined this to be a new style, and set the trend of attaching lovely birds to their bonnets, without bothering to discover the origin of this style. Millions of lovely birds are massacred because of this cruel custom; heartless bird hunters make their living on this trade; and respectable women unthinkingly encourage it. As a result, not only do the poor birds lose their lives, but they are also made to suffer terrible agonies. They are skinned while still half-alive, so that their lovely feathers do not fade. Who can adequately describe such cruelty, and the agony of the poor birds? Two years ago, a shop in London sold, in three months, the skins of 404,464 birds from the West Indies and Brazil, and the dead bodies of 356,389 lovely birds from our own India. There are thousands of such shops in Europe and America. Who can estimate how many untold millions of dead birds are bought and sold there? Besides, there is the wanton destruction of innumerable baby birds. The parents are killed by some wicked person when they are out gathering food, and the hungry little ones in the nest pathetically call out to their mother with their beaks wide open. But the mother is not alive to answer them, and they cannot go in search of food and feed themselves because their wings are not yet developed. After screeching for a day or two, they die of hunger. Alas! If there be a stone-hearted person who fails to shed tears at the thought of their plight, he is verily a blot on the human race! If the women wearing bonnets decorated with birds had any knowledge of the suffering of the birds or the 112 The Peoples of the United States

harm done to the world because of this practice, they would certainly have given it up. Now in Western countries there are societies known as "Audubon," which have the protection of birds as their objective.15 We pray to God to crown their efforts with the success they hope for.

It is a part of fashion to wear white powder on the face and to rub pink color on cheeks and nails to beautify them. It is a common practice everywhere to beautify the head by wearing wigs and switches when one's hair begins to fall out in old age, or even in youth due to some disorder. Hair is made to appear curly by wetting it, winding it around bone sticks or paper rollers, and pressing it with hot tongs before going to bed at night. Some use oil and spirits to ¤x strips of hair on the forehead like inverted Turkish arches.

The custom of wearing false teeth when real teeth start to fall off in middle age is prevalent in some places even in our country. Here, wearing false teeth is like the case of "a man who discards torn clothes and dons new ones."16 The skilled craftsmen here make dentures which look as good as real teeth. A pretty young woman with crooked teeth goes to the dentist to have them extracted, and beauti¤es her mouth by wearing nice false teeth. Quite a few people asked me whether my teeth were real. An elderly woman in Philadelphia refused to be convinced that my teeth were real until she opened my mouth and inspected the palate and everything else. Perhaps because these people eat a lot of meat, their teeth lack natural strength, and fall out easily. False teeth are very useful to them; they not only make the mouth prettier, but also help in chewing hard and tough food.

Men are also seen to follow fashions as women do, but they try to appear plain and simple. The fashionable men are usually the very young, or sons of rich families. Boys from poor families also imitate the fashions and clothes of rich and spendthrift men, in great style. Men's fashions involve changing clothes three or four times a day, wearing suits of different cuts, wearing a hat at an angle, stroking the mustache, carrying a slim cane, walking with a dashing gait, and talking smartly. Men's clothes are of a single color (usually black or gray, with a hat to match) and simple, in the European style. Wearing them does not hamper movement while working; they are very convenient for a man who works hard all day at all kinds of things. The clothes of the clergy are different in style; that is, they wear robes reaching down to their knees. Men's formal clothes worn at banquets, etc., are made of high-quality material; some look attractive and some ugly.

Two vices are widespread among the menfolk in the United States: drinking and smoking. The Anglo-Saxons from whom most Americans are descended were accustomed from ancient times to drinking a liquor known as "beer." Later, many more types of liquor began to be manufactured, and at the same time the vice of drinking also increased. From the time that the United States became an Domestic Conditions 113

independent nation to the present, all peoples of Europe have been coming to settle down here. Hundreds of thousands of people arrive daily to settle down in the United States; preponderant among them are Germans, Italians, and the Irish, all of whom are notorious for drinking. Their large numbers in the United

States have led to an increase in the vice of drinking among the original people of America. The vice of smoking has similarly increased greatly. The extent of these two vices can be easily seen from the size of the annual national expenditure given below. The people spend annually as follows:

US $ Charity 5,500,000 Salaries of the Clergy 12,000,000 Education 96,000,000 Tea and Coffee 145,000,000 Sweets 155,000,000 Shoes, Socks, etc.

197,000,000 Metals, incl. Iron 263,000,000 Meat 303,000,000 Tobacco 490,000,000 Bread 538,000,000 Liquor 900,000,000 The harm caused by drink to public health and to the nation has led hundreds of thousands of American men and women to oppose drinking. All kinds of immorality which are prevalent among the Americans today can undoubtedly be attributed to the two vices mentioned above.

Racial17 Discrimination and Prejudice People are the same everywhere.18 Human beings have the same good and bad qualities wherever and in whatever condition they may be. The United

States of America is famous for its wealth, education, and advancement; and with reason. But racial discrimination and prejudice, which are most inimical to all progress and civility, are not altogether absent in this country.

When the ancestors of these people left England and came here, they brought all their outmoded English customs with them. When their country became independent, they had to greatly modify the ancient English class distinctions, in keeping with the motto of their philosophy of freedom, "All men are created equal." However, until 1861 this motto was not applicable to all. Their tradition of buying and selling Negro slaves like cattle led to the belief that the Negro race was inferior to the White race by birth. It was totally forbidden to eat with the 114 The Peoples of the United States

Negroes at the same table or to intermarry with them, while they lived in slavery; this still remains unchanged. The Negro has been freed from slavery, but the hatred for his race harbored by the Whites still persists. I have dined in hundreds of different places so far, but nowhere have I seen a Negro eating at the same table as the Whites. Moreover, I have rarely seen a Negro seated next to a White person at a service in the most holy temple of God. The Negroes have their own churches; their clergy also belong to the same race and are not seen much in White society.

People of the Negro race have been freed from slavery for barely twenty-¤ve years, but the progress they have achieved for their race during this short time through sheer hard work cannot but invite praise for their ceaseless industry and self-reliance. Twenty-¤ve years ago Negroes were forbidden to read and write.

They were born and grew up like cattle; like cattle they served the man who bought them, with all their might; and ¤nally they died like cattle. A Negro was not a human being in law, and had no rights as a human being. He did not even have the legal right to enter into holy matrimony, which strengthens social bonds in human society. But praise be to William Lloyd Garrison,19 Elizabeth Heyrick,20

Lucretia Mott,21 Wendell Phillips,22 and other good people like them! After enduring the agonies of hard work, adversity, and public opposition, they created a public opinion favorable to the emancipation of the Negro race in the United

States, and placed all of humanity under an obligation which can never be repaid. Since the end of the American Civil War and abolition of slavery in 1865 to the present, the American Negro has emerged from his animal state and attained the human state with the help of good people and through his own achievements. People of his race have now become teachers, preachers, lawyers, doctors, traders, and even Senators in the United States Congress. Not a single right which is available to the White citizen of the United States is now denied to the Black; and there are favorable signs that the obstacles to social intercourse between the Black and White people which exist today will soon disappear.

Ordinary American people feel a strong hatred also for the Red Indians, the original inhabitants of America. After making treaties with different Indian tribes pertaining to their lands, the United States Government violated the clauses of those treaties and wrested the lands from them; it then turned very respectable and branded the Indians as rogues. Now some good Americans are exerting themselves strongly for the advancement of their Red countrymen. For fear of public censure the United States Government has opened a few industrial schools for Indian children, out of the Indian people's money deposited in its treasury. Of these industrial schools, the Hampton Institute in the State of Virginia, the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, and the Lincoln Institute in Philadelphia are being run very successfully.

The Indian people have no rights as American citizens; moreover, they do not Domestic Conditions 115

even have the right to ¤le a suit against anybody in an ordinary court of law in the United States. The United States Government has granted designated lands for the settlement of different Indian tribes, which are called "Indian reservations." Any Indian who ventures outside the bounds of the reservation either loses his life to the bullet of an American hunter, or is sentenced by a judge for having left the reservation without permission. On every reservation lives an agent, called the "Indian agent," appointed by the United States Government to keep an eye on the Indians. This agent is an all-powerful autocrat, ruling over the Indians. The United States Government entrusts to him the responsibility of supplying foodstuffs to the Indians on the reservation. His is the last word on everything. Very few of the Indian agents are honest, and the poor Indians suffer a great deal at their hands.

The Indians are a very long-suffering people, either because of ignorance or by nature. They are careful that no complaint reaches the Government as far as possible; and even if it does, there is little chance of their receiving justice.

Whenever the efforts of kind people succeed in creating public opinion in favor of the Indians, the Government is shamed into appointing "commissions" to investigate their true condition. These commissions include good and nonpartisan men and women. They have exerted themselves to bring the oppression of the Indians to the notice of the American citizens; and their efforts have also been successful to an extent. Many kind men and women have established a society for the welfare of the Indians, with branches in many places in the United States.

Foremost among the true benefactors of the Indians must be counted a woman named Helen Hunt.23 Until she presented information to the American citizens about the true condition of the Indians, based on historical evidence and her own experience, no one had a clear idea of the matter. Helen Hunt was appointed to an Indian commission by the United States Government. She spent

¤ve or six years in a dense jungle in the company of these savages, and wrote a book entitled A Century of Dishonor, describing their true state, which opened the eyes of the people of the United States. She also wrote a novel entitled Ramona, describing the sad plight of the Indians. The numerous efforts she made for the welfare of the Indian people are now bearing some fruit. Another woman of similar stature, named Alice Fletcher,24 is now working ceaselessly for the welfare of the Winnebago and Omaha Indian tribes. Her own efforts, and those of her friends, have borne fruit, and the United States Government has granted these two tribes the right to cultivate the land in their reservations. These people are now farming the land successfully, and have begun to learn other trades as well. A resolution has been passed to the effect that they should be granted all the rights of American citizens in a few years' time, when they are able to read and write, manage common trades, and understand social customs and conventions. There is a tribe called Cherokee Indians in the area known as the Indian

116 The Peoples of the United States

Territory, which has achieved a surprising degree of advancement on the strength of its intelligence and industry. They have established a government in their reservation on the model of the United States Government, and made their little state comparable to one of the United States of America. A man of this Indian tribe even thought of an alphabet for his language and invented a script. These progressive Cherokee Indians have totally abolished slavery in their tribe. They have given up all savage customs and concentrated attention on spreading education among their own people. If other Indian tribes make the effort to uplift themselves like the Cherokees, their condition will improve very soon.

The Americans do not mind if the Japanese people come and settle down in their country and become American citizens, but they have a great dislike for the Chinese.25 The Americans hate the Chinese for petty reasons, for example that the Chinese in America do not discard their native dress as the Japanese do and dress in the American style, that they do not cut off their queues, discard their wooden clogs in favor of American leather shoes, etc. This is a stigma on this so-called respectable, freedom-loving people. The Chinese are very hardworking by nature and travel to far-off countries for work. They are very moderate in their conduct and spending habits. They are not accustomed to lavish spending like the Europeans, and do not charge exorbitant rates for their labor. That is why the narrow-minded Westerners dislike them. They claim that the Chinese lower the price of labor; that they are of inferior character, dirty, immoral, and likely to ruin the morals of the Americans. Many Westerners feel that the Chinese people have no good qualities but are the repositories of faults, and that their very touch or their company would ruin their own morals. Therefore many wicked people feel an intense hatred for the Chinese. They harass them as much as possible; some loot their houses, some massacre them, some are busy spreading prejudices about them among the people of the country. Two years ago many shortsighted people reduced the Chinese inhabitants of the Northern States to dire straits, and even killed many of them. Even so, this does not mean that there are no sensible people here. They champion the weak, harmless Chinese and secure their good as much as possible. Many writers experienced in conducting research have written books and essays to prove that the Chinese are not all that bad, but possess some good qualities also. Some have established societies for the welfare of the Chinese.

People of the Irish, German, Scandinavian, Italian, Russian, and other races come here to escape the ruling power, oppression, or poverty in their own countries. They are also hated by most, but not considered utterly worthless like the Chinese, because their skin color and facial features are similar to the color and features of the red-faced English. They also have the habit of ¤nding fault with each other. If there is a disturbance in their State, some say that the Irish are the root cause. If their State has an excess of liquor and intoxicants, some say it is

Domestic Conditions 117

because of the Germans, who are naturally addicted to drink! If immorality prevails, the poor Chinese receive all the blame. If mean-spirited of¤cials are elected, it is rumored that the Negroes have accepted bribes and voted for them, which is why such of¤cials have come to power. Thus many different kinds of racial prejudices can be seen everywhere, the reason being none other than mutual ignorance and wicked beliefs arising from ignorance.

There are many sensible people who believe that such racial discrimination and prejudice, which are prevalent among the common people in the United

States, are very detrimental to the unity and prosperity of the country; and strive to remove them. Many good people consider the much-hated Negroes, Indians,

Chinese, and others to be people like themselves; moreover, they are convinced that, under favorable circumstances, they would equal them in all things. But it is not easy to change old customs. The belief in the inferiority of the non-White races, such as the Negro race, has been deeply ingrained. Even so, there is no fear whatsoever that racial discrimination and prejudice here would reach the level of the caste discrimination and prejudice in India. Day by day, with increasing progress and increasing knowledge among the people, racial prejudice stemming from ignorance is on the decline. Those who impart religion, morality, and knowledge, and are desirous of the country's welfare, preach by word and deed to small children in schools and to adults in religious assemblies, so as to impress upon them that mutual civility and equal treatment alone will be bene¤cial to themselves and to the country. As a result, racial discrimination and prejudice have declined day by day; and mutual love, civility, and respect have increased.

Customs and beliefs are changing with the changing times even in the Southern States, where the common people once regarded the Negro as a donkey, or an even more inferior animal. Twenty-¤ve years ago a Black and a White man would not dine at the same table; moreover, a Negro was not allowed to travel in the same railroad car or streetcar as a White man. Now the Negro has started to travel in the same streetcar and railroad car as the White man. A well-bred

White man does not consider it demeaning to get up and offer his seat to a Negro woman in a crowded streetcar. Occasionally, if the dining hall of a railroad station is very crowded and there is no vacant seat anywhere else, a Black man even gets seated at the same table as a White.

Personal Characteristics The characteristics usually found among the Americans are very good and worth emulating. On the whole, these people are truthful and respectful of religion, but not excessively religious or obsessively truthful. They have great affection for their children, and also dearly love their parents. Parents take great care and trouble to ensure the welfare and advancement of their children. They

118 The Peoples of the United States

do not hesitate to spend any amount of money and effort on giving their children a useful education. They do not deprive their children of freedom by wielding too much power over them. Nor do the children fail to extend due respect to their parents. Sons, and especially daughters, are eager to serve their parents and earn their love. I have seen many cases of girls who have refused to marry, even after receiving offers from suitable men who were rich and educated, for fear of having to leave their parents alone and unattended in old age. Many have refused good positions with high salaries. Such cases of self-sacri¤ce are seen mostly among women. Men do not refuse to leave their parents and go away for work; nor do American parents think it fair to detain their sons and hinder their advancement. (Parents in India who refuse to let their sons go to England for higher studies or for work would do well to keep this in mind. The excessive attachment which makes them wish that their children would never go away and which thus hinders their children's advancement is not love; it is a form of sel¤shness.) American parents raise their children well, educate them, and get them some work. But the parents do not unduly pamper the children once they are able to start working. Twenty years ago, the American system of dividing inheritance among the children was somewhat similar to that of savages; daughters received a very small share of their parents' property. But now the U.S. laws of inheritance are undergoing great improvement. The practice of bequeathing property equally to sons and daughters is becoming prevalent. The responsibility of parents toward their children usually extends only to educating them well and getting them work. Once the children are grown up and able to earn a living, the parents do not worry too much about them.

These days respect for women is on the increase among the people of the United States. Proof of this is the fact that, in earlier times, men would treat women as quite ignorant and un¤t. Men would, at the time of death, appoint some man as the legal guardian and trustee of their property and young children to ensure that they would be well protected. But now many rich and middle-class people have begun to appoint their wives or sisters as guardians of their children and property. Many experienced and knowledgeable Americans say that their women are more upright than their men. Women are generally modest, virtuous, and devoted to their husbands. But one hears that most men are not as devoted to their wives as they should be. My considered opinion is that, on the whole,

Americans are compassionate, civil, generous, upright, industrious, and progressive.

Seasons In keeping with the Anglo-Saxon custom, the Americans divide the year into only four seasons.26 The spring extends over March, April, and May; the Domestic Conditions 119

summer spans June, July, and August; the fall comprises September, October, and November; and the winter extends over December, January, and February.

The state of the ground and climatic factors, such as heat and cold, undergo a complete transformation during these four seasons; likewise there is a corresponding change in the people's attire, festivities, the furniture in their houses, and their diet. At the beginning of each season, stores keep a large stock of things which are appropriate to and essential for the season. Newspapers, dilapidated walls of old houses, street corners, and some shop windows are covered with advertisements of various kinds; and railroads, railroad stations, and the portion above the windows in railroad cars are crowded with advertisements. These people are very skilled in the arts of advertising and extracting money from people's purses. In order to attract people's attention to a particular item, they publish verses about it, write excellent stories, or inscribe only its name in large, stylish, colorful letters on a sheet of paper and paste it on a wall. They write its name on fence posts, rocks, rooftops, or trees. Although advertisements cost an enormous amount, they are also very pro¤table. I ¤rst saw a specimen of the advertisements here on the night I arrived in Philadelphia. While traveling in a public streetcar, I saw a sheet pasted above the widow in front of me, with writing in large letters. I read the ¤rst line, "God helps those who help themselves," and thought to myself, "Oh, how moral the people of this country must be! It seems that they write such moral aphorisms and place them everywhere in order to turn people's thoughts in the right direction, and to cultivate in them a taste for morality." But on reading the second line on the sheet, I began to entertain doubts as to the accuracy of this. It said, "Soppolio (a soap of that name) is the best means of helping oneself!" The advertisements in newspapers and magazines contain many catchy verses, lovers' conversations, and other amusing stories about hundreds of things like Soppolio.i At the onset of every season, there is a great rush to change over to a new style of dress, and to turn around everything in the house and rearrange it. All big and small stores are crowded with women making their purchases. It is the women who make household purchases here. It is not customary to bargain in the stores; most articles are sold at ¤xed prices. Instead of the problem of bargaining, the storekeepers here are faced with another similar dif¤culty: that of customers making a choice. Although nothing should be bought without proper scrutiny, it does not help if the customer visits several stores, or makes the storekeeper go back and forth several times, and unroll bales of material, when only a small purchase is to be made. Neither party gains anything from this; moreover, it is tiresome and wastes a great deal of time. Besides it is harmful to people.

In this country, the storekeepers and their salesmen or -women do not conduct their business while sitting comfortably [on a mattress on the ®oor], leaning against a bolster or a wall. They have to stand behind tall counters in front of 120 The Peoples of the United States

cupboards and shelves where the goods are stocked. There are many women who work in stores here; sometimes they are unable to sit down for ten hours at a stretch. To make these women walk back and forth several times for small items is very bad and troublesome; but there are many who do not realize this. It is customary to give gifts to friends and relatives on holidays and birthdays. All the stores are ¤lled with splendid wares on holidays.

Summer The spring is considered to be the best of all seasons (and is described brie®y at another place below).27 When I arrived in the United States of America in March 1886, the winter was on the wane and the spring had started, so I could not see the winter in its true manifestation. It rained several times and snowed occasionally during the last part of March and in April. It is very hot here from May to September. Sometimes the mercury rises even to a hundred and ten degrees, but such days are few and far between. Normally the summer temperatures reach eighty to eighty-¤ve degrees. The houses here, and their interiors, are designed for the winter, so that it is more dif¤cult to endure the summer here than in our country. Moreover, the customs of these people are different from ours, which causes us a great deal of inconvenience.

An amusing incident occurred in the house of the lady with whom I stayed as a lodger in Philadelphia. Although no one stopped me from doing anything

I wanted in my room on the third ®oor, I had to be very cautious when I went downstairs and was in the company of others at mealtime. One particular day in June happened to be very hot, with hardly any breeze. In the afternoon the whole house was quiet, so, instead of being cautious as usual, I went down to the kitchen barefoot to fetch a glass of water. As ill luck would have it, the very thing that should not have happened, did happen. I was about to go upstairs with the water, when I ran into old Dr. B.! Who knows what the old man thought at the sight of my bare feet, but his face fell and his expression showed chagrin and surprise as though at some shameless conduct. I just rushed off to my room without looking at his face too long! A couple of hours later I was reading in my room and had almost forgotten the incident, when there was a knock on my door. As soon as I said, "Please come in," a twelve-year-old boy, grandson of old

Dr. B., entered and left me a short note which I opened and read as follows:

"I know that it is the custom of your country to walk about barefoot without shoes and stockings; but it is considered immodest in our country. The members of my family are shocked to see you walking barefoot. Be kind enough to wear your shoes and stockings when you come down.

"Your friend, "Mrs. B."ii Domestic Conditions 121

After this incident I vowed never to commit the offense of walking barefoot in anyone's presence as long as I was in this country.

During the summer there are visitations from ®ies, gnats, and other insects here, just as in our country. The mosquitoes in the State of New Jersey are not inferior in the least to our mosquitoes in Mirzapur or Calcutta. I had occasion to spend three or four nights at the summer resort (a place visited by people in the summer for rest or a change of weather) of Lake Bluff on the banks of Lake

Michigan near Chicago. During the day and most of the night, it was excessively hot, with no breeze at all. Moreover, the place had an abundance of mosquitoes.

After I left Assam28 in 1882, I had not set eye upon the "Dark Hell"; but I did so on the banks of Lake Michigan in 1887. In the ¤fth section of the Shrimad Bhagavata, this Hell has been described thus: "He who destroys insects, such as ®ies, is dispatched to the Dark Hell. He is in total darkness there, but can never sleep or rest. Mosquitoes, lice, ®ies, bugs, and whatever other insects he might have destroyed, bite him incessantly in revenge." Whoever wishes to catch a glimpse of this Hell should visit Mirzapur, Calcutta, Assam, and such parts. Not that our

Maharashtra is inferior to other parts of India in this regard. When I met these old and close friends in a foreign country like America, I realized their true worth. Never before had I understood so clearly the meaning of the verse "Besides extracting blood, a mosquito af®icts one by humming in the ear."29 Although ®ies and other insects create such havoc in this country, the clever people of America protect themselves by employing several methods of killing them and by using other stratagems. As the summer approaches, they put wire screens on windows and doors, which keep out the insects to a large extent. Around May there is a general rush to remove and clean the carpets and mats on the ®oors and staircases, to put fresh paper on the walls, and do other similar chores.

All the people connected with education get a vacation in June, July, and August. Many government employees get a vacation for a few days in the summer.

Other working people also take rest for a few days in this season. The rich and the idle have holidays throughout the year; but even they feel the desire to leave home and visit a summer resort. Anyone who has a little money spends a few days' vacation at a summer resort nearby or far away for recreation, either with or without his family. The main purpose of visiting a summer resort is to leave work and household cares behind for a few days, and enjoy rest. But, like many other customs started with a good intention, this custom also becomes oppressive. There is no sign of rest in these resorts. They may more aptly be called large fairs. During the three summer months, the famous, scenic places like Saratoga,

Cape May, Niagara, Chautauqua, and Lake Bluff are very crowded. There is a round of balls, music, plays, and banquets. All these places have large and small hotels for the accommodation of visitors.

One cannot but be amazed at the magni¤cence of American hotels.30 The ho122 The Peoples of the United States

tels in cities like Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston are like paradise.31 The famous hotel in Chicago, called Palmer House, is worth more than

$2,000,000, if its building is taken together with the gold, silver, and other valuable decorations inside.32 Fifteen to sixteen hundred people take rooms there, with another ¤ve to six hundred men and women servants to wait on them. The hotel has adjoining stables which house four to ¤ve hundred horses, about two hundred and ¤fty carriages and buggies, and also coachmen, grooms, and attendants whose numbers and salaries are astounding. There are many such hotels in this country. Rich people, and even many middle-class people, stay at these hotels. Staying there for any length of time does not ensure enjoyment or rest at all. But many people spend beyond their means to stay at a famous hotel at least for a week, only in order to get their names mentioned in the newspapers. Praise be to human ambition! The kind of hotel mentioned above costs a minimum of three to four dollars a day per person. A medium-grade room costs four to six dollars, and the very best room over ten dollars. The cost of laundry, carriages, etc., and other expenses are extra.

A friend of mine from Chicago warmly invited me to spend a week with her in Saratoga, so I went there with her in August 1887.33 Saratoga is a truly lovely place, with very scenic environs. It has several mansions of wealthy people, and lovely gardens. Bands play in parks every afternoon for the entertainment of the visitors. Thousands of men, women, and pretty children dress up in their ¤nery and go out to take the air and enjoy the scene. There are a number of marvelous springs in Saratoga; their mineral water has an extraordinary taste like soda water. This spring water is said to possess great curative powers; there is no illness or disease—constipation, consumption, asthma, or any other—which it does not cure! It is rumored that a rich countryman of ours had vowed to drink nothing but Ganges water34 every day. He is said to have employed a number of Brahmins in his service, to bring the Ganges water from a distance of hundreds of miles. The rich and fashionable people in America use spring water from places like Saratoga, brought from a distance of hundreds of miles. But, just as a person living on the banks of the Ganges regards it as lowly and goes on a long pilgrimage to bathe in another holy river, so do the fashionable people living near Saratoga consider the water of its springs as nothing special, and drink instead water brought from distant countries like Germany. It is not at all true that a person who drinks the Saratoga water does not suffer from constipation, consumption, or disorders of the blood; but people have a habit of exaggerating. In sum, the habit of blindly following others exists everywhere.

While in Saratoga, my friend from Chicago took me along to the park to take the air one morning before breakfast. It was a very calm and pleasant day, and the morning was cool, so that everyone in the park was happy. Our stroll brought us to the edge of a spring. It was bounded by a brick wall, a foot or more

Domestic Conditions 123

in height; and the gate was manned by a lad. He charged us a fee of six cents each and let us in. A number of men, women, and children were eagerly drinking their ¤ll of the spring water at four cents a glass. My friend drank two glassfuls, and asked me to drink it too. When I refused, she said in great surprise, "Why do you not drink this medicinal water? It will purify your blood and cure dysentery and other problems at once." I said, "Yes, Madam, that is true. But hundreds of people have put these glasses to their mouths and sancti¤ed them with their saliva; others are drinking out of them without rinsing them properly. And this is the kind of holy water which I will be offered. The very thought of it has cured me of dysentery.35 Now there is no need to drink this holy water."

Fall The United States is such a lovely country that its beauty does not diminish in any season. Each season has its speci¤c attributes which decorate Nature with distinctive ornamentation. But the fall has neither the intense cold of the winter, nor the excessive heat of the summer, and is pleasing to all mankind. Its arrival infuses the golden land of the United States with very appealing and ethereal beauty. Leaves change color everywhere. A Nature-lover would realize the truth of my words if he wandered through the woods and forests of the United States at the tail end of the fall, prior to the onset of the winter, when trees shed their leaves. There are many varieties here of the tree called maple; one of them, the silver maple, turns bright red in the fall. There are many other similar trees whose names I do not know. There are various types of oaks also, which turn many lovely colors. The forests of the Adirondack range in New York

State and the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania are indescribably beautiful in the fall. Many enthusiasts make a point of traveling in these mountains just to enjoy the fall scenery.

I, too, had occasion to travel by railroad through these lovely parts. A river called Susquehanna winds its way like a snake through the Allegheny Mountains, and is lined with maples and other similar trees on both banks. The beauty of Nature reaches its zenith between Mauch Chunk and Watergap (which are two railroad stations), and a few miles beyond. Had there been a mechanism to capture the colors of the sky and the woods, like the photograph which reproduces the human ¤gure, it would have been possible at least in some measure to convey an idea of the beauty of these parts in the fall, to those who have not been there. Just imagine that you are traveling slowly through this region in a palatial railroad car, seated on lovely chairs upholstered in velvet. The day is pleasant, the sky clear, with just a cloud or two moving about in the heavens.

Very tall mountains, with their peaks touching the sky, are seen in all directions, as far as the eye can see. A wide variety of pine trees have draped the moun124 The Peoples of the United States

tains with their sapphire foliage, as if covering them with blue clouds. Scattered among them like so many gems are birches, maples, oaks and many other trees, different types of creepers, and small bushes coloring the forests with their leaves of red, yellow, green, violet, brown, and myriad other hues. Along the foot of the hills in the mountain range ripples a crystal-clear river; its water re®ects the rays of the sun and appears in places like molten silver. The sight of such a landscape spontaneously suggests the fancy that one has arrived in the Nandan or Chitrarath forest on Mount Meru,36 described in the Puranas. All the inhabitants of the United States, young and old, are very eager to watch the beauty of this season.

This season brings something else, besides the forest scenery, to add to the general cheer: harvest and fruit picking. This is an occasion of great joy to farmers everywhere. Children cannot contain their enthusiasm as apples and other fruit pile up all around. At the end of November the holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated. On that day, churches are decorated all over with ears of corn, vegetables, fruit, and ®owers; and all the people, young and old, praise God in sweet songs and thank Him devoutly for their plentiful harvest. This scene is delightful and well worth seeing. November, the last month of the fall, and December, the ¤rst month of the winter, are the two months when it rains most heavily in the United States. This can be called their rainy season. In addition, there are occasional showers during the winter, spring, and summer.

Winter Brrr! Brrr! The limbs are cramped from cold, teeth chatter and speech is slurred. People have started walking freely on river water; a great deal of effort is required to cut through butter even with a very sharp knife; at times it becomes necessary to stop drinking milk and start eating its solidi¤ed pieces instead. Such is the power of the cold! Everything is great in a great country like the United States. During the summer, one is utterly distressed by the heat, the body is almost on ¤re, at times one perspires so profusely that the whole body seems to melt. But let the winter arrive and it seems as if the summer is a totally unheard-of phenomenon. The simple, thin, white cotton garments disappear like an illusion in a dream; in their place appear thick woolen coats and jackets, shawls, thick double-lined boots, warm caps with ear-®aps, stockings, gloves, and similar items of winter clothing. One who has never experienced the force of the winter in the north of this country cannot even begin to imagine the cold here. Sometimes in the winter the mercury in the thermometer dips to ten or twenty degrees below zero; rivers, streams, and lakes freeze over, and their water becomes hard like rock.

It is dif¤cult to estimate the extent to which the city folk and even villagers Domestic Conditions 125

make use of ice instead of drinking water. When rivers and lakes freeze in the winter, ice is stored for use in the summer. Ice-houses are built at isolated spots on the banks of every large river and lake. These ice-houses are shaped like square houses but have no doors. At the top of their wooden walls, near the roof, are a few small windows to which ladders are raised. Blocks of ice, about two feet in length and breadth, and a little less in thickness, are cut out of the frozen river water at an appropriate time and skillfully carried and stored in the icehouses. The blocks are well covered with sawdust and protected from heat and air in order to prevent the ice from melting. During the summer, ice is taken out of the ice-houses in hundreds and thousands of carts, and sold in cities. Every morning the ice vendors go from door to door in their carts, selling ice. Some buy one slab, others two or more; some buy half a slab, others a quarter or less.

Every house has a large vessel of drinking water which is half ¤lled with clean tap water to which are added large pieces of ice; this ensures that cold drinking water is available to all in the summer. Although this water tastes very good, it is very harmful if not drunk in moderation and with caution. A person who comes in from the heat outside is driven by thirst to drink his ¤ll; it does cool him down and slake his thirst, but the extremely cold ice water has an adverse effect on the heated intestines. Therefore, it is best as much as possible not to drink ice water. And if that is dif¤cult, one should at least keep the water in the mouth for a while and swallow it after its iciness has diminished. This will avoid any harm.

During the two months of January and February it becomes dif¤cult to walk in the streets. Someone who is unaware of this fact leaves home feeling pleased with the clean and shiny sidewalks, and takes barely a stride or two before he comes crashing down. Anyone who happens to be around inquires sympathetically whether he is hurt. But the person concerned, even though aching all over from his fall on the hard pavement, says in a confused manner that nothing is amiss. Many such strange scenes are witnessed in the streets in the winter. Some people have the strange tendency to feel ashamed at having slipped and fallen— although it is nothing to be embarrassed about. But habits are strong. The moment they fall, they get up fearing that some one is laughing at them, and rush off without even glancing around, with a strange expression on their faces.

In March of this year (1888), I traveled from Philadelphia to New York City.

The sky was clear, the sun shone brightly, and the weather was quite hot. The weather changed the day before I left, and it started to drizzle. That afternoon I delivered an address at the invitation of the Rev. Dr. Heber Newton37 in their large church, which was terribly crowded with men and women. I had planned to deliver two more speeches in the same city and establish two circles (in aid of my cause38), and then go on to Boston on Wednesday morning for some urgent work. When I woke up the next morning, my windowpanes looked very

126 The Peoples of the United States

strange. They seemed to be thickly coated with a whitish substance in which someone seemed to have traced a very beautiful and intricate design. When I went to take a closer look at this marvel, I saw the street, rooftops, windows, and doors covered with snow which was whiter than moonlight. The New York I had seen the previous day was totally transformed now; it was dif¤cult to believe that the two cities were one and the same. Lovely, broad streets like Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue were covered with snow, and appeared quite narrow. As if to accelerate the snowfall, a strong wind was blowing that day, and the mercury had dipped to four degrees. The cold was overpowering; water in the taps was on the point of freezing. At breakfast time the cook brought me a glass of milk as usual; before swallowing it I had to crush each mouthful as if it were a lump of sugar! Even the ¤re had lost its warmth because of the cold. The snowfall had prevented people from going out into the streets. No stores were open in the city.

It seemed doubtful whether any unfortunate man or beast caught in that dreadful snowfall would reach home alive. The tramway, buggies, overhead railroad, all of which plied regularly, had come to a complete standstill. The snow falls soundlessly. When ¤ne ®our is being sieved, it falls lightly to the ®oor without a sound; snow falls just as silently. When snow®akes come down from the sky, they look beautiful, like minuscule, happy fairies, dancing and frolicking like delicate jasmine petals, ®ying and falling in confusion, and rushing about at great speed. Snow®akes caught on a black or dark cloth display very beautiful and strange patterns. The beauty and strangeness of snowclad earth, trees and vegetation, open grounds, streets and housetops cannot be conveyed adequately in words to one who has not seen them. The beautiful scene can be adequately described only by a Kalidasa39 or a Shakespeare, or by Goddess Saraswati herself.

It would be folly for a person like myself, possessed only of a modest intellect, to even begin to describe it.

Although snow is so white and lovely, and arrives on the earth silently and wordlessly like an excessively shy woman, its might is so terrible that no one who has witnessed it can ever forget it. Should a snow®ake fall on the hand, it is seen to be no larger than a tiny lentil, and no thicker than a fourth part of a thin petal of a mustard ®ower. The ®ake melts away the moment it touches the hand, because of body heat; there is no need to even lift a ¤nger to crush it. What a light and delicate substance it is!40 But let these atomlike ®akes shower down, and it would not take long to understand what can be achieved by a number of negligible small ®akes together. They created total havoc in New York City and its vicinity. They fell all over the streets in drifts like sand dunes in a desert. They outwitted the smart American who had harnessed to his service Fire, Water,

Lightning, Wind, and other elements. They brought to a standstill the extraordinarily speedy, ¤ery horses of railroads; they fell onto people in the streets and onto animals, and smothered them to death; they devastated railroads and Domestic Conditions 127

bridges. It is not possible to estimate what else they did. There was such an excessive amount of snow in the city that even the most essential commodities like milk and coal were impossible to obtain. The railroad track between Boston and New York was closed. The telegraph poles fell, their wires snapped, and no one could ¤nd out what was happening in the two cities. The news that this kind of snowfall had occurred in New York on Monday was sent to England through oceanic telegraph, and was cabled back to Boston to reach it in this roundabout fashion! The ¤fty-odd railroad trains running between Boston and New York were stranded on the way for two or three days, because the engines could not make headway through the drifts of snow covering the iron tracks. Many of these trains had derailed, killing a lot of people. Several people paid ¤fty dollars

(about Rs. 150) per carriage to travel from the railroad station called "Pennsylvania" to the center of New York City. I had to attend a meeting on Wednesday at a place about a quarter of a mile from my lodgings; I had to pay ten dollars

(about Rs. 30) to hire a carriage for that distance. On Wednesday I went to a railroad station called the "Grand Central" to make inquiries, and learned that the route to Boston was not yet open. I had to go urgently that day to meet the organizers of our Association.41 Because the railroad was out of the question, I inquired whether ships were still sailing along the coast; but that route was also closed, and I decided to return to Philadelphia.

The distance between New York and Philadelphia is a hundred miles, and can be covered in two and a quarter hours by the fast train. But the snowfall from Monday to Wednesday morning had closed that route also, and caused several accidents. Our train left New York at 11 a.m., but did not reach Philadelphia until

8 p.m. The entire route and the area around was covered with snow, and sunlight falling on it dazzled the eyes of all the passengers. The train encountered several obstacles. Thousands of men were shoveling snow to clear the tracks. Two large engines had been attached to our train. At least thirty delayed trains passed us on their way to New York, each with two or three engines attached to it; even so it was not easy to pull the train through that vast desertlike stretch of snow. The tracks were lined with tall heaps of snow on either side. While pushing through the snow which covered the tracks, our train would at times half disappear in the drifts of snow. The area where a strong wind was blowing had ten-foot-tall drifts of snow which covered houses, ¤elds, orchards, etc.

A couple of days after the incident, when I had reached Philadelphia, a letter arrived from a friend. She had written that this type of snowstorm was very rare on the East Coast, but it was nothing compared to the snowstorms of the West and the North! There the mercury descends to sixty degrees below zero, and the snowdrifts reach a height of twenty-¤ve to thirty feet. For lack of shelter during such a disaster, millions42 of cattle on the Great Plains of the West succumb to the dreadful cold and die. Last year and the year before, over eight million head

128 The Peoples of the United States

of cattle died of such severe cold. One shudders even to imagine the agony of the poor creatures. No one knows how many thousands of people, and also animals and birds, die of cold there every year.

Although the winter here is so dreadful, people can derive some bene¤t from it. When the rivers freeze over, some people store the ice and sell it. Also, hundreds of thousands of men and women enjoy sports such as "skating" and "tobogganing." iii In many severely cold areas, especially in Canada, fun-loving people cut huge blocks and bricks of ice and build large castles with them. When walls are built with ice bricks at a suitable spot on the bank of a river or lake, water is used instead of lime. When ice bricks are placed one on top of the other, and water is poured on them, it freezes in the cold and makes the ice walls very strong. Large ice castles are built in this fashion and are beautifully illuminated.

Then some people pretend to be soldiers of two warring factions and ¤ght a mock battle. Brilliant ¤reworks are used instead of gunpowder in this battle.

The illuminated ice castles and the ¤reworks above them look indescribably beautiful at night. Thousands of men, women, and children come from afar to enjoy the spectacle. The cities of St. Paul and Montreal are famous for their ice castles.

At the end of January 1888 I traveled from Philadelphia to Indianapolis, capital of the State of Indiana. The city lies about twelve to thirteen hundred miles to the west of Philadelphia. The route is very scenic. After leaving Philadelphia one has to travel for hundreds of miles through the mountain range called the Alleghenies. The Allegheny Mountains are extremely beautiful and imposing, like the foothills of the Himalayas. Pines, oaks, birches, and many other trees grow there. Everywhere woods and forests are seen in the youthful bloom of their natural beauty. The great Susquehanna River snakes its way through these mountains. The railroad keeps to the riverbank for the most part, so that the traveler on this route can watch the entire beauty of the Earth. I traveled on this route two or three times. Once I traveled during the winter when snow had turned the peaks and the area near the foot of the Allegheny Mountains a bright white. The enchanting scene of the snow-clad mountains, whiter than moonlight and shining bright in the sunlight, made one feel that one's faculty of vision had reached its ultimate ful¤llment.

At the beginning of February I had gone to a village called Farmington, near the city of Hartford in Connecticut, to visit a girls' school. The village is quite far from the railroad, and was reached not by a four-wheeled carriage but by a vehicle known as the "sleigh" which has no wheels. It was in a sleigh that I went to Farmington with a woman friend. Snow on the ground is like the desert sand on which it is dif¤cult for horses to pull wheeled carriages; but sleighs are much easier to pull. It is a great pleasure to ride in a sleigh. The people here, young and old alike, are eager for sleigh rides. On the way to Farmington we saw the entire

Domestic Conditions 129

surrounding area covered with snow. The mountains around, the trees, rooftops—all seemed to be snugly asleep under the white blanket of snow to keep out the cold.

National Holidays New Year's Day, Washington's Birthday, Christ's Death Anniversary, Decoration Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christ's Birth Anniversary are considered to be national holidays in the United States. All stores, of¤ces, factories, schools, etc., are closed on these days and everyone gets a holiday. New

Year's Day means the ¤rst of January. This is a very old public holiday which these people have taken over from their ancestors. Christ's Death Anniversary, that is, Easter, and Christ's Birth Anniversary, that is, Christmas, are considered holy days in honor of the founder of Christianity. The twenty-second of February is George Washington's Birthday. During the last century, the Americans declared their independence and severed their ties with England. That naturally led to war between them and the English, in which George Washington defeated the English and led his country to victory. This pleased the American people so much that they made him their President and began to regard him as the Father of the Nation. In his honor people celebrate his birthday in any way they like; and meetings are held to deliver speeches praising him. Decoration Day is the day for decorating graves; it is described later in this book.43

Independence Day falls on the fourth of July. On the fourth of July 1776, thirteen old colonies of America became thirteen independent States, and severed their connection with English rule. They not only declared themselves an independent nation from this day on, but also fought a powerful country like England and won their freedom. This national holiday is very important, and is celebrated by all the people in every city, town, and village of this country. The glory of national independence and the country's success are lauded in public meeting halls, and patriotic speeches are made. The Star-Spangled Banner of the United States is raised everywhere. There are illuminations and ¤reworks in public places like markets. Children are indulged with sweets and ¤reworks. The Fourth of July may be said to be the "Diwali" of this country.44 In our country the real signi¤cance of Diwali is as good as forgotten. It was regarded as a political holiday because Krishna killed the demon Narakasura on the fourteenth day of the waning lunar fortnight in the month of Kartika, and conquered and occupied the kingdom of Pragjyotishapur. These days Diwali is regarded as a religious holiday. Even if Diwali is assumed to be a political holiday, it is poles apart from the Fourth of July. On Diwali day, a sovereign king was killed and his son deprived of his independence. On the Fourth of July a small nation decided that it would no longer be subjected to an oppressive and greedy nation,

130 The Peoples of the United States

and won its freedom; and vowed—at least in words—to confer that freedom on anyone who came to live there.

While I was staying in Philadelphia, I was able to witness the excitement of this holiday. The Independence Hall there is the birthplace of the Goddess of Liberty. Many great speakers made excellent patriotic speeches. The Star-Spangled Banners were ®ying everywhere in the city. The doors of large stores and the porches of buildings in the central market were decorated with wreaths and red, white and blue cloth banners. There were illuminations everywhere at night, and there were excellent ¤reworks on the bridge over the Schuylkill River. Men and women, along with their children, had come from afar to the large public park known as Fairmont Park to see the spectacle. Joy, expectation, and pleasure were in evidence everywhere in that crowd of thousands of people.

In November comes Thanksgiving Day, or the day for expressing gratitude.

All crops are harvested in this month, and there is an abundance of fruit, vegetables, and grain. The President of this country selects a suitable day in November and conveys a written "message" (not order!) to his fellow citizens to the effect that that particular day should be celebrated as Thanksgiving Day, and that they should join him in prayer to humbly thank the Lord for His blessings upon the country and for the plentiful crops harvested during the year. Then all stores, of¤ces, etc., are kept closed on the day appointed by the President. All men and women, young and old, go to church and prayer-houses to offer prayers. A lot of alms and charity are given to the poor on that day.

It is not customary to invite people home to a meal on these holidays. Sometimes relatives and friends are invited to dinner. The manner of celebrating a holiday is for each family to eat especially well, go out to see some entertainment, and enjoy the day.

There are many other holidays in addition to these public holidays. People of different religious denominations observe holy days in accordance with their beliefs. Roman Catholics consider the birth and death anniversaries of a number of saints to be holy. Hundreds of thousands of Irish people have left their country because of oppression by the English, and come to this free country; they have great celebrations on the special days of their community and religious denomination. On the birth anniversary of their patron saint, St. Patrick, they hoist green ®ags on their houses. Similarly, the diverse peoples of Europe—German, Scandinavian, Italian, French, Russian, etc.—who have settled down here celebrate their own holidays.

Just as we make special sweetmeats on holidays, so do these people busily engage in making sweetmeats in their own style. But their holidays are marked by a great deal of killing of animals. Just as we plant vegetables in gardens and ¤elds, and save them for special days, so do these people "farm" turkeys and hens. They consider turkey meat to be very tasty. When a guest arrives, he is

Domestic Conditions 131

treated to a real feast with a whole cooked turkey.iv An excessive number of animals are killed in this country because of the general practice of eating meat. In the Middle West, that is, to the west of the States of Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri, lie the Great Plains, which have only a sparse population. Some up-and-coming traders there cultivate large "farms" and "orchards" of cattle and pigs, and supply these living and moving "vegetables" to cities thousands of miles away. These heartless butchers are too concerned with ¤lling their purses to care about the well-being of these creatures. Hundreds of thousands of cattle on the Great

Plains are scorched by the sun, drenched in the rain, frozen in the snow; and die in agony. They are not even provided with shelters under which to stand or lie down. The principal branches of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the States of New York and Massachusetts are trying hard in their own way to reduce the oppression of these creatures. The statistical information published by them shows that during the last two years more than 8,000,000 head of cattle, kept in the open, shivered to death in agony in the winter snow of the Great Plains.

I still shudder at the very memory of the distress suffered by the cattle which I saw while touring through the States of Iowa and Nebraska during the summer.

Hundreds of head of cattle grazing in the treeless plains, the sun beating down mercilessly at midday, and no shade anywhere for the poor creatures to rest in.

Any small pool ¤lled with rain water would have cattle standing in it. Little, tender calves, unable to bear the heat of the sun, would be crouched near a fence, their heads pushed into the meager patches of shade from its two-inch-wide boards. The occasional small bush would be surrounded by a dozen cattle, shoving their heads under its inadequate shade. In places lacking a fence, bushes, or pools of water, the helpless creatures would be lying in the grass, utterly distressed by the heat of the sun. But compared to the dire fate in store for them, this distress cannot but seem like the pleasures of heaven. These hundreds, thousands, millions of cattle grazing in the pastures are intended only for the satisfaction of man's hunger! These pastures are the vegetable gardens of the Americans. Cattle, sheep, and pigs are bred here, and at the speci¤ed time these living and moving vegetables are loaded into railroad wagons and sent across thousands of miles. Sometimes these incarcerated creatures do not get fodder or water for ¤ve or six days at a stretch. When they are unloaded, they are fed a little and handed over to the butcher. I have never seen their slaughterhouses, nor do

I wish to. But, from the descriptions I have read, they seem to be Hell itself, and the butchers and traders living off this cruel trade not just human demons, but a species of whom one can say "We know not who they may be."45

On the whole, the people of this country are very kind and compassionate; but they seem not to care for the well-being of creatures other than humans, either because of their habit of eating meat, or for some other reason. A couple

132 The Peoples of the United States

of years ago, I remember having read an excellent essay in the monthly magazine called Balabodha Meva,46 published by the American Mission in Bombay. The essay had an illustration showing a woman and her children patting and feeding a cow. The author of the essay had proudly penned a sentence purporting that the people of India torment cattle and other animals, but that Americans treat them with great kindness. This contains a degree of truth, but its accuracy cannot be universally proven. It is true that poor oxen and horses have to suffer a great deal in our country; but it is not as if they receive no kindness. In villages, and sometimes even in cities, there are families which keep milk cows; the women and children of these families love the cows and calves as if they were family members. It is terrible that traders, milkmen, and butchers ill-treat cattle; and all must strive to put a stop to this ill-treatment. But it is not true that such ill-treatment does not exist in America. Anyone who has been to the city markets and factory towns and seen the state in which heartless carriage drivers keep their horses would be inclined to disbelieve that it is not customary to ill-treat animals in this country.

Twenty-¤ve years ago a compassionate man named Henry Bergh47 started to address the people of the city of New York, espousing the cause of these dumb animals. It would be impossible to describe the way the people tormented dumb animals in those days. Most people ridiculed Henry Bergh when he began to champion the cause of animals. Some said he was insane. Some pious people said that the heterodox fellow was speaking against the Scriptures, because the Scriptures say that God has given Man mastery over all animals, which means that they are created solely for the use of Man. Supported by such scriptural evidence, all people began to harass Henry, the champion of animals. They defended their belief by pelting him with stones, and throwing garbage at him, hundreds of times as he walked about the streets of New York. But Henry Bergh was a very sincere and determined man, and did not abandon his humane cause even in the face of thousands of obstacles. After a few years' effort, he succeeded in getting a law passed to forbid the ill-treatment of animals. One evening it was as if New York city woke up from its sleep. Someone stopped ¤ve hundred carriages plying in the streets of New York, and examined the horses harnessed to them. The horses found to be sick, lame, or very weak were unharnessed and led away without their owners' permission. This made everyone comprehend who Henry Bergh was, and also understand that the owner does not have the right to ill-treat dumb animals at will. Henry Bergh's efforts were crowned with success.

Nowadays public opinion is favorably disposed toward animals. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Massachusetts is engaged in strong efforts in this cause. Its president, George T. Angell,48 is aged, but exerts himself day and night for the welfare of dumb animals purely out of charity. His efforts,

Domestic Conditions 133

and those of many other good men and women, have led to the establishment of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the principal cities of this country. A number of laws have been passed to prevent ill-treatment of animals and birds. "Bands of Mercy" have been formed in order to propagate kindness to animals among children. More than six thousand such bands have come into existence to date, and are actively engaged in propagating kindness to animals. Our country has a great need for such societies. It is essential to teach children benevolence, kindness to animals, and the proper use of all things, from an early age.

Although such efforts for promoting the welfare of dumb animals are being made everywhere, there is still a great deal of cruelty to creatures other than human beings. Fashionable women lead to the sacri¤ce of countless lovely birds every year, for decorating their bonnets. One can ¤nd many people in this country who cite scriptural evidence and say, "Animals and birds are created for the use of Man; why then should we not use them as we wish?" It seems that the people who buy a live hen to put in a stew, and carry it upside down by its tiedup legs with its head dangling below, do not have an inkling of the agony suffered by the creature. One day, while waiting for a streetcar in a Philadelphia street, I saw a boy of about thirteen or fourteen holding a hen by its legs, with its head dangling below, standing at a distance. I approached him and said,

"Brother, why do you not hold the hen with its head up?" He smiled and said, "It is more convenient to hold it by the legs." "Oh, is that so? I thought you might not like it if someone carried you upside down. Am I right?" The boy laughed at this and held the hen with its head up for a few minutes, out of regard for me.

When I went home that evening and narrated the incident, a young female teacher said that it was the accepted custom to hang hens upside down, and that it was quite right to do so. But I had my doubts about this, because we have not inquired and ascertained the opinion of hens as to whether it is good or bad to hang them upside down. (Needless to say, the cruel custom of hanging hens upside down exists in our country also.)

Sometimes dining room walls are hung not with pictures but with dead and stuffed peacocks or pigeons, upside down. It is also customary to hang on the walls paintings of freshly caught, bloodied ¤sh dangling from a peg, or hares killed in a hunt. Needless to say, it is not a good custom. Such cruel pictures harden the hearts of children. Some of the sports of children, and even grownups, are very cruel. Lovely young ladies, tender children, young men, and even middle-aged scholars go ¤shing to amuse themselves. A long slender rod is tied with a long string at the end of which is an iron hook. Pieces of meat are attached to the hook and dropped into the water. The poor hungry ¤sh are lured by the meat, and when they try to swallow it, the hook pierces their throats and kills

134 The Peoples of the United States

them. These cruel people then say, "Ah! I have caught a ¤sh!," take it out of water, and feel delighted at the sight of the ¤sh in the throes of death. These customs cannot but make one feel that it would be a good thing if missionaries of some compassionate Buddha came to this country and converted the people here.v The Americans have various types of amusements. These people are largely industrious and diligent, so that it is appropriate for them to have some amusement after their work is done. A game called "lawn tennis" is very popular among the native men and women. On winter49 and spring days this game provides a good deal of exercise. Men play a game called "baseball," do boxing, and row boats. Women also row boats sometimes in the summer. In the winter it is customary to skate on frozen rivers and lakes. In addition it is also customary for men and women to sing and dance together during festivals and holidays. It is excellent that men and women should make good use of the priceless God-given gift of music and enjoy it, but their manner of dancing is not proper. There are theaters everywhere in cities and even in small towns. These people are very fond of seeing plays. Sometimes concerts are held in music halls. The arrangements there are very good, and numerous respectable men and women go there to listen to vocal and instrumental music. In the evening or during spare time men and women of all ages go to public parks and enjoy the fresh air. It is true that the Americans are fond of seeing plays and watching sports. But they do not waste their money and their life only in seeing plays, as so many idle people in our country do. They play sports for amusement during their leisure hours after the day's work is done; and during working hours they exert themselves to the utmost to do their work.

Notes in the Original Text i. It is worth remembering in this context that no one is allowed to advertise questionable or objectionable goods in newspapers or at public places in this country. It is regrettable that there is no such restriction in our country. Everyone should feel ashamed that our newspapers are ¤lled with many vulgar advertisements (see, for example, the advertisements for potency pills).50 It is shocking that respectable gentlemen who publish great and famous newspapers allot space in them to such bad advertisements. These newspapers are seen and read by respectable women and tender children; even pure-minded men have occasion to read them. It is dif¤cult to assess the extent to which this saddens the minds of good men and sullies the minds of children. Why do the upright gentlemen of our country not put a stop to this? Why do our great big societies for the propagation of morals not do so? It is shameful indeed that the gentlemen

Domestic Conditions 135

who belong to the profession of newspaper editors, which is devoted to public welfare—and especially the editors who call themselves respectable and highly religious—should allot space for such advertisements in their newspapers and thereby impress immoral ideas upon the minds of immature children and pave the way for the ruination of our future generations by allowing them to hear, think, and ponder over immoral things! It would be better if they themselves decide not to give space to immoral advertisements and vulgar words, and act accordingly, before the Government enacts a law and imposes it on them. This would at least justify their advice to people not to appeal to the Government to enact laws for everything. ii. After my return to India, I received a letter from Mrs. B. in which she has asked me whether or not I wear shoes now. iii. "Skating" is a sport in which one goes sliding over the frozen surface of a river or lake, wearing clogs called "skates," and moving in different patterns. The skating clogs are ¤tted with thin and sharp iron strips on the soles, stretching from the middle of the heel to the middle toe. It is not possible to stand still when wearing skates. "Tobogganing" was originally a sport of the Indians here.

It is very amusing to come sliding down a slope after a heavy snowfall, and this sport is called the "toboggan slide." The toboggan is a wooden vehicle without wheels, like a ®at-bottomed boat. iv. About two thousand years ago, even Brahmins ate meat in our country. It was customary to kill a healthy young fatted cow or calf if one received a visit from a Shrotriya Brahmin, a son-in-law, or a king. There are sayings in sacred books to the effect that the ancestral spirits are satis¤ed for a speci¤ed number of years if Brahmins are fed with ¤sh and other types of meat during funeral ceremonies. In North India the Panchagaud Brahmins usually honor their guests by killing a goat. Bengali Brahmins eat ¤sh, lamb, and other meats which are not prohibited. The killing of animals decreased considerably in our country because of the teachings of the Buddha; even so, there are still many who do not hesitate to eat meat if they get an opportunity. v. India and America are located on opposite sides of the earth; therefore it is natural for the American people to think that we walk upside down, and for us to think that the Americans walk upside down. Our method of showing kindness to living creatures is the opposite of the American method. They torment creatures other than humans. We open cow pens and asylums for animals; we very compassionately supply human blood to bedbugs, lice, mosquitoes, and ants, and nourish them; we feed snakes with milk and worship them; but we care nothing for human life. If there is a death in a neighbor's house, we shut our doors. If our neighbors contract cholera or some other epidemic disease, we ¤nd it dif¤cult to visit them to inquire after their health. Our women die of numerous diseases, but we do not open hospitals for women unless the British compel

136 The Peoples of the United States

us to. We venerate the cow like a mother and prostrate ourselves before it, but we beat to death our wives, the mothers of our children. Our princes spend millions of rupees to entertain English of¤cers and boys from af®uent English homes; but they can never conceive the idea of opening orphanages for the country's destitute children, or industrial schools for the country's poor! Truly, the Americans do possess a higher degree of kindness to living creatures!!

Domestic Conditions 137

↑ Back to top