Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/34

 Hindu are moved to pity rather than to anger. Tragic tales are told of the endurance and voluntary sufferings of some of the higher castes in the 'fat cooly famine.'

A Brahmin woman in moderately good circumstances lost her husband just before the famine set in. Gradually she and her children were brought to the verge of starvation. She parted with her jewels one by one until there remained only the thali, her marriage badge. This, too, had to be sold like the rest, and there was absolutely nothing else left upon which she could raise money to buy food. The proceeds of the thali were very small, and with the sum she purchased sufficient grain for one meal and some sweetmeat. Mixing opium with the sweet- stuff, she divided it between herself and her family, saying: What is the use of life to us who have no food?'

One of her children died, but she and the rest recovered. The matter reached the ears of the police and she was prosecuted for the murder of her baby. The eldest son, a lad of eleven, made a noble attempt to save his mother. He was examined by the magistrate, an Englishman.

'Did you know that the sweetstuff contained poison?'

'I knew it, sir,' replied the boy.

'Do you know that opium is a poison that kills?'

'Yes, sir.'

'And your mother gave you the sweetstuff to eat?'

The boy glanced at the silent despondent woman as though to reassure her, and answered :

'My mother did not give me the sweetstuff to eat. I took it with my own hand and ate it of my own free will.'

'Knowing that there was death in it?'

'Knowing that I should die,' lied the boy firmly and without hesitation in his gallant endeavour to save his