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INTRODUCTION. 7 be made independent of their relations, from whose unkindness they suffer so much. At present, however, the result produced in this direction has been very small, and it is only by looking back and seeing how much has been accomplished for Indian women on other lines during the last few years that we can have courage to persevere in the face of the enormous difficulties still to be overcome. Of the scheme for helping young high-caste widows, which has been started by the Pundita Eamabai, we shall speak hereafter.

The movement for the education of Indian women was initiated by the missionaries, and to the Rev. H. Ward, a Baptist missionary, is due the honour of having first enlisted the sympathy of English-women in the degraded and neglected state of their Indian sisters. It was an appeal made by Mr. Ward in 1821 to the ladies of Liverpool which led to the embarkation of Miss Cooke, afterwards Mrs. Wilson, the first lady teacher, and to the formation of the Society for Promoting Native Female Education in the East.

In 1832 eight little schools for girls were established in Calcutta, the forerunners of hundreds now scattered over all parts of the country, where religious and secular knowledge is imparted to the children by lady teachers. In course of time other schools were established by private enterprise on a