Page:Shubala - a child-mother (IA shubalachildmoth00soraiala).pdf/21

 The things they suffer in silence—who shall ever know the sum of these!

But to go back again now to our typical Baby. Opportunities for neglect march side by side with the years.

I recall one lonely Estate in a district in Eastern Bengal. I had reached it by river sitting in the boat known as a 'dug-out,' after long Railway and Steamer journeys.

The country was lovely, bamboos grew in feathery groups down to the river's edge: the vegetation was dank, the region malarious. At night the fireflies were like myriads of stars alight on every leaf of the dew-wet trees.

At my Rajbari I heard that the demons were paying a visit to the children. There were three girls aged 5, 8, 11. These were not to be found in the house. The fever-fiend had clutched them so tightly, that the mother and grandmother and great-aunt, who loved them (it is necessary to remember that fact), had