Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/35

Rh Yet it never seems to strike parents whose daughters are fated to spend the best years of their life in India, that it would be to their advantage to know something of the languages of the country. The time and trouble necessary to master thoroughly any one common Indian dialect would be richly repaid by the possibilities of friendly social intercourse it would open out, and even those who may be inclined to doubt this assertion may, perhaps, be influenced by the consideration of the larger sphere of usefulness which would assuredly be theirs, if they were thus able to converse in the vernacular.

In the following pages will be found a short account of two Marathi ladies, two Bengali ladies, and one Parsi. It is to be regretted that no Mahometan lady can be included in the list. There are, indeed, in some parts of India, notably at Hyderabad, some Mahometan ladies who are desirous of sharing in the educational advantages now being offered to them, but the Mahometan community as a whole have been backward in availing themselves of educational advantages, and are even more conservative than the Hindus in their views respecting women.

A Mahometan gentleman holding a high official position in Calcutta, was lately asked whether any of the ladies of his family had learned English. He replied that they had not, and added that it was not