As long as the people of India keep their women in ignorance and seclusion, England need have no fear of holding the country in subjection. Liberty, patriotism and the higher moral traits of the human race were never born of men, but of women. Was it not the mother of the Gracchi who bade her sons go forth and conquer in battle or be brought home dead on their spears? That was also the spirit and patriotism of the Spartan mothers that made a place in history for their nation. Was there ever a great people, but had its grand women, its noble wives and mothers? The people of India think they know a great deal, but they are far from having learned this first great principle, the great secret of a nation’s freedom and civilization, the education and elevation of women. I may be mistaken in this as I am in so many things, yet I see no reason why I should not say the best I think on the subject. I do not know when I acquired this regard and reverence for women. I think they must have been implanted by Mr. Percy to grow with my years. I know of so many traits in my thoughts and life, that in after years I saw I got from him unconsciously, not that he taught me directly, but rather that he impressed upon me by his conversation and example. It was an education to walk and move beside or in the company of such a man, to absorb something of his character and goodness. Ah! that grand man, so pure and good! What would he have been without that noble mother of his! He fairly worshiped women as God’s best gift to men, and he could no more have harmed a woman than he could have blasphemed his Maker. I have often thought that a man who respects and reverences women can scarcely go wrong in a moral sense. I was greatly pleased with the position the village women had taken, and with their spirit of inquiry. They were my best hope in the permanent prosperity of these people. I was allotted the place of honor at the chibutra. There was no one to move that I take the chair, or to ask for a vote of thanks at the close of the meetings. They had not come to imitate the babus in aping the customs of the English. There were more questions put than ever dreamed of in Parliament, but with this difference, none were asked to gain time, or to waste time, or to perplex the Ministry or the chair. They applied their inquisitive pumps to me, as if I was a never-failing well of knowledge. The women, too, had their questions, mostly about the women in Wilayat, how they lived and did, a very good sign. During all these evenings I gave talks on all sorts of subjects, making them practical, as well as interesting. Once I talked on gossip and slander. I suspected that there were several women whose tongues hung as loosely as a clapper in a bell.