_Her_ ear is not pure enough to hear the sacred word, they say. They were kept secluded from sight in ill-furnished apartments; really, they were kept prisoners in the zenanas, as their apartments were called. Only recently has the condition of the women of India been exposed. Missionary ladies, by taking the occasion of teaching women how to knit and embroider, managed to secure an entrance to the zenanas. Tale after tale was told of the pitiful condition of the Hindu women. These were doubted, questioned and examined; but investigation confirmed their truth. What is the picture that is drawn by these faithful pens of the Hindu woman’s life from the cradle to the grave? Girls are never welcomed in India. Formerly a large number were destroyed at birth, but now the British government prevents that. But they are as badly off, in many cases worse, than if dead. Their very existence is almost unnoticed by their father. Ask a Hindu how many children he has--supposing that he have three sons and four daughters--he will reply, “I have three children,” not thinking it worth while to count his daughters. Formerly at least seventy-five out of every hundred female infants were destroyed. These infants were generally cast to the crocodiles in the Ganges, and, strange to say, the mother thought she was serving Heaven in doing this unnatural deed. The great linguist, Dr. John Leyden, has written: “To glut the shark and crocodile A mother brought her infant here; She saw its tender, playful smile, She shed not one maternal tear. She threw it on a watery bier; With grinding teeth sea-monsters tore The smiling infant that she bore. She shrunk not once its cries to hear!” From childhood they are taught to worship the idols, especially Ganesha, the god of wisdom, and so the stone bulls.