Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/51

 America was a call from God, and she believed that in thus taking a long voyage in order to show her sympathy with her cousin, she would be, in truth, acting for the welfare of her countrywomen at large.

She might, perhaps, have echoed the words of the poet Wordsworth—

At any rate, she felt it her duty to go; though, when leaving England, she fully intended to return after a few months and to resume her studies.

Once in the New World, however, the attraction which it seems to have so strongly for the oldest races of the world, began to work upon her. American manners and society, American institutions, and still more American schools, interested her greatly. New ways of helping her countrywomen presented themselves to her mind, and the Kindergarten system, in which the training of the hand was combined with that of the head, struck her as peculiarly suited to the wants of Indian women.

A correspondent of a Chicago paper, who after the manner of the country "interviewed" Pundita Ramabai, inquired of her the reason why she devoted so much time to the study of the Kindergarten system in Philadelphia. Her reply was as follows: "I wish all the educators would understand Froebel as I do. I see in his system the true means of re-