Page:Hindu widow re-marriage and other tracts.djvu/18

 of the pernicious custom. They also see that virgins are, as a rule, never consulted regarding their marriage. They are rather forced into matrimony. Similarly widows naturally want that they should also be forced into re-marriage.

Early marriage of girls would be greatly checked by the free introduction of widow re-marriage. As the state of the Hindu society now exists virgins are available both for bachelors and widowers. The latter naturally and generally desire to unite themselves with grown-up girls. Pew parents like to give the hands of their girls to widowers. They, therefore, naturally desire to secure bachelor matches as early as possible to obviate the emergency of having recourse to widower matches; and thus the early marriage is encouraged. It would also be a very salutary and equitable rule of practice if widowers were never to marry a maiden but always a widow. It will, perhaps, be better to notice here that some of the opponents