Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/390

 THE LADY OF QUALITY This section of Every Woman's Encyclopedia will deal with all phases and aspects of Court and social life. It will contain authoritative articles upon : Presefttatiom and other Func- tions Court Balls The Art of Entertaining Dinner Parties^ etc. Card Parties Dances At Homes Garden Parties^ etc.. et(. The Fashionable Resorts of Europe Great Social Positions Occupied by Women Etiquette for all Occasions, etc. WOMEN IN GREAT SOCIAL POSITIONS Contimied from fa^f Ji6, Payf i THE VICEREINE OF INDIA By SARAH A. TOOLEY B RiTisH women have played an important part in the history of our Government in India. We recall the wives of officers and civilian officials who, at lonely outposts, have bravely faced the risks of murder and captivity in troublous times. There rises before us the heroic figure of Mrs. Cortlandt, standing in the midst of the rebellion which followed the murder of the British officers at Moultan, and urging the native officers to do their duty, and of Mrs. Henry Lawrence nobly applauding her husband's heroism in offering "to return to captivity in Kabul as a substitute for his brother. The Mutiny furnished numberless instances of the bravery with which delicately nurtured ladies faced the untold horrors of that time. The Hardships of the Life The wives of the Governors-General and Viceroys of India have, like those of lesser degree, faced danger and hardships, and have discharged the duties of their position with courage and a high sense of duty. Some, indeed, have given their lives for India. We think of Lady Dalhousie, a gentle, home-loving woman, who nerved herself to heroic endurance in sharing the fatigues of her husband in his extended tours through the provinces of India. The hardships which she encountered during a six months' tour in the Punjab, then only lately come under British rule, laid the seeds of her fatal illness. That was fifty-seven years ago. when telegraphs, railways, trunk roads, bridges, and rest houses were almost unknown in the district. The weather was mclement, the season unhealthy, and the outward march led through fever-stricken places. Before the time of Lady Dalhousie It was not usual for the wife of the Governor- General to tour with her husband in the provinces. Lady Dalhousie, however, went, and returned to Calcutta, broken in health, and during the voyage home died, almost within sight of the shores of England, where the children from whom she had so long been separated were awaiting her. We think, too, of that gracious anc beautiful woman. Lady Canning, who in- augurated the Viceregal Court of India^ when, after the Mutiny, her husband, thei Governor-General, was appointed hy the^ Crown to the additional dignity of Viceroy. Lady Canning rendered invaluable service through the terrible days of the Mutiny in organising collections of clothing for the destitute wives of officers and officials who!? arrived in Calcutta, and in visiting theKJ wounded in the hospitals. Her tact and' gracious manner did much to win the loyalty of the native princes and their ladies after the suppression of the Mutiny, and it 'waSj during a visit which she paid alone to Darjee- ling that she took fever, of which she died] soon after her return to Government House. Great Opportunities Afforded The noble part played by the first Vicereine of India is commemorated in the monument' to Lady Canning, erected over her grave in the grounds at Barrackpore, the country home which she loved so well. She had suggested the motto, "Heaven's Light our Guide," for the newly instituted Order of the Star of India, and in such spirit had her own work been done. ■ Yet another beautiful woman in the hey- ; day of life paid the last debt in performing ] the onerous duties of India's Vicereine, for, though Lady Curzon's fatal illness was contracted at Walmer Castle during a visit home, there is little doubt that her constitu- tion had been undermined by her efforts to fill worthily her position at a time when the