Excerpt from Paper Read by Colonel Temple, on the Women of India, at the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington, on March 8th, 1899 An orthodox Indian woman's life in its ordinary course is divided into two clearly defined parts, which are quite distinct, though separated from each other only by the fateful day on which she first goes to take up her abode within her father-in Iaw's family. Note that it is not called in the Indian languages her husband's family, for that, under the Indian family system, it can seldom be in the case of a bride. Childhood rather than girlhood is the heyday of the Indian woman. Free to play as she pleases, with plenty of companions, for children galore can hardly ever be wanting in a family which all live together, from oldest to youngest; free to run in and out of the houses of friends, never bothered to learn anything except what she can pick up from the women about her, never worried with caste restrictions, never asked to do more in the way of labour than to help in the housework, petted by her parents, spoilt by her aunts and uncles, and beloved by her brothers, an Indian girl child is indeed happy - as children count happiness. And then' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.