THE MEETING OF EAST & WEST

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2452, 4 May 1915, Page 3

THE MEETING OF EAST & WEST

Miss Russell, who is on the staff of Queen Mary's High School for Girls in Bombay (India), is visiting New Zealand and at 'the present time is in Wellington. Her mission ill the Dominion and also in Australia is to rouse such an interest in the educational work which is being carried on in Inda by 'the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission !55* ciety, that more graduates will come forward to offer their services in tho schools and colleges which are under this society, • for the work is growing apace and there is a great scarcity of 'teachers. Miss Ilussell is the arts mistress at the St. Mary's liigh School, and she speaks very highly ; of the- great thirst for knowledgo which is displayed by the girls, and of their marked abilities m practically every direction. One of the groat problems which the Government in India has to face at the present time is that which has been caused by the advanced European education of a large section of the male population of India, many of the boys and young men of the well-to-do Hindoo and Mohammedan families being sent to English schools and.universities to complete their education','while practically nothing is done for the girls of India. When these young men return from England they are often married to young Indian girls who are worlds apart from them in everything that makes for common interests and meetingground. They are mero toys or babies, and can in no way be companions to their husbands, owing to their want of education. The only other alternative which lies before these men is in a mixed marriage, and the unspeakable misery that results from the union of the white and the brown races has been proved over and over -again.' It is in nearly every caso the death-knell of happiness, for the white, woman is left severely alono by the English people about ner, and as a rule the relatives 011 her husband's side are displeased with the marriage. No one now is more eager for the spread of Western education among the womanhood of India than these men who have themselves undergone its influence, and it is really the only conceivable remedy for doing away with these mixed marriages and for the uplifting of the Indian women. The Government has shown its appreciation of the work which has been donein this connection by the Queen Mary's High School, in granting it aCOO rupees a year, and so pleased was the Government inspector with the work that was done during tho last year that the grant has been increased to 6000 rupees, provided that the standard of work nowset is adhered to.-

Until these colleges and schools were started Indian girl students were debarred from entering several of tho professions, particularly that of medicine, owing to the fact that there were no schools at which they could study and sit for matriculation. That has now been altered, and from schools like the one already mentioned they can, if entering the medical profession, • pass on to tie Ludheanna Wotaeji's Medical College in North India, of which the head is Dr. Edith Browne. When Queen Mary was visiting India at the time of the Great Durbar she visited this Women's Medical College, and so delighted was she with what she saw of the work that she invited Dr. Browne to be her guesti for the Durbar. In many oases where practical experience has tested the value of their work in medicine, Miss Russell states that nothing but praise has been the result. For sureness and delicacy of touch, aud for steadiness of uorvo in regard to operations, the ludian medical woman has met with much praise from those well qualified to speak. As nurse, too, she has done admirable work, and, in fact, where ever the, way has been opened up to her she has proved her abilities. - There is a very great field for lier to work in, for thorp is much to bo dono in the zenanas which only women can do. •

Through this higher of women the distinctions between castes and crocus are being slowly done away with. At the Queeu Mary's School there aro to be found Mohammedans, Hindoos, and Parsees, and tihere is effen the greatest friendship between them. From the school the girls when they leave go into the different towns nnd districts and work und teaeli among the people, and so gradually the); are leavening the masses with other ideas and aims, and aro breaking down the old ideas of child marriages, of the groat seclusion of women, and, above all, aro opening out a freer life for the child widows of India, and so- making it- possible for thorn to marry again.