Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/96

 if nectar be not within easy reach." As to the particular community concerned; when deprived of the prestige of music, its hope will lie chiefly in two healthy changes:-(l) the allotment of temple-service (of course, wholly for sacred purposes) as the accompaniment only of chastity, married life being no disqualification; and (2) the education and improvement of the male members of the community—now mostly drones or parasites. No doubt, with many an unhappy woman the change will for a time be a "vision of Mirza" bridge, through which she will drop into the gulf below. But should the present wealth and influence of the community be wisely utilised, the meed of immorality might happily serve as the price of redemption. A caste, chartered to a vicious life, would cease to be; and though some frail creatures might deplorably go astray, not a few of the daughters now heedlessly prodigal would be restored to the longing bosom of the Divine Mother.