Doren - Lighted to Lighten the Hope of India; A Study of Conditions Among Women in Indi

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Title: Lighted to Lighten: The Hope of India

Author: Alice B. Van Doren

Release Date: April 16, 2004 [EBook #12062]

Language: English

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[Illustration: Regina Thumboo
College, Lucknow
The First M.A. from Isabella Thoburu]

Lighted to Lighten

The Hope of India

A Study of Conditionsamong Women in India

By ALICE B. VAN DOREN

1922

The Central Committee sends out this book on Indian girlhood to meetthe young women of America with their high privilege of education, thatoften unrealized and unacknowledged gift of Christ.

Miss Van Doren has given emphasis in the book to the privileged youngwoman of India; she shows the possibilities, and yet you will see in itsomething of the black shadow cast by that religion which holds no placefor the redemption of woman. If you could see it in its hideousnesswhich the author can only hint at, you would say as two American collegegirls said after a tour through India, "We cannot endure it. Don't takeus to another temple. We never dreamed that anything under the guise ofreligion could be so vile." And somehow there has seemed to them since anote of insincerity in poetic phrasings of Hindu writers who pass overentirely gross forms of idolatrous faith to indulge in noble sentimentswhich suggest plagiarism. A distinguished author said recently, "I cannever read Tagore again after seeing the women of India." From sacredtemple slums of South India to shambles of Kalighat it is revolting,sickening, shameful. It is pleasanter to dwell on the beauties ofHinduism and ignore the unprintable actualities, but if we are to helpwe must feel how terrible and immediate the need is. No one can reallymeet that need but the educated Indian Christian women whom God ispreparing in this day for service. They are the ones who are Lighted toLighten. They are the Hope of the future. Fifty years ago, after theCivil war, the light began in the organization of Woman's MissionarySocieties. Through all the years women have gone, never very many,sometimes not very strong, limited in various ways, but with one sterndetermination, at any cost "to save some."

Now at the close of your war, young women of America, a new era isbeginning in which you are called to take your part. You will not be thepioneers. The trail is blazed. It has been proven that Indian girls canbe educated, their minds are keen and eager, they are Christian, many ofthem, in a sense which girls of America cannot comprehend. Their task isinfinitely greater than yours. If they fail, the redemption of Indianwomanhood will not be realized, and so we see them taking as the collegeemblem, not the beautiful, decorated brass lamp of the palace, but thecommon, little clay lamp of the poorest home and going out with theflickering flame to lighten the deep darkness of their land. Collegegirls in America sometimes wear their degree as a decoration. To thesegirls it is equipment, armor, weapons, for the tearing down ofstrongholds. These girls must be leaders. They cannot escape thechallenge.

Until now the undertaking has seemed hopeless. What could a few foreignwomen do among those millions? But the great, silent revolution hasbegun Eastern women are seeking self-determination as nations seek it.They are asserting rights to soul and mind and body. They refuse to bechattels, and going out to release these millions come these littlegroups of Christian college girls who are to furnish leadership. Havewe no part? Yes, as allies we are needed as never before. Unless fromthe faculties of our colleges, as well as from our student volunteersadequate aid is sent at once these little groups may fail. This is your"moral equivalent of war." To go and help them in this Day which istheir Day of Decision requires vision, devotion, a glorious giving oflife which will count just in proportion as the need is immediate, thebattle in doubt, failure possible. Mission Boards must go haltingly forlack of women and of funds until groups of women from colleges inAmerica hear the call of Christ and follow Him, for God Himself will notdo this work alone. He has chosen that it shall be done through you.From our colleges and medical schools recruits and funds must be sentuntil those who are in the new colleges over there are trained and readyto win India for their Master. To bring them over here for training isnot altogether good. There are dangers in this our age of jazz. It isnot good to send out very young girls to a far country during theformative years lest a strange language and customs and a newcivilization should unfit them to go back to their "Main Street" andadjust themselves. The Indian Colleges are best for the undergraduateIndian girl and are the only ones for the great majority. We must makethese the best possible, truly Christian in their teaching andstandards, in impressions on the lives of students as well as in theirmission to the people of India.

This book is for study in our church societies of older girls and ofwomen, and very especially for girls in the colleges, who shouldconsider this as one of the greatest fields for service in the worldto-day. We preach internationalism. Let our churches and collegespractice it.

Mrs. HENRY W. PEABODY
Miss ALICE M. KYLE
Mrs. FRANK MASON NORTH
Miss GERTRUDE SCHULTZ
Miss O.H. LAWRENCE
MRS. A.V. POHLMAN
Miss EMILY TILLOTSON

NOTE: The Central Committee recommends Dr. Fleming's book, "Buildingwith India", for advanced study classes and groups who wish really tostudy. For Women's societies wishing programs for meetings we thinkMiss Van Doren's book better as it is less difficult and more concrete.

Regina Thuniboo
What Will Life Bring to Her?
Meenachi of Madura
Married to the God
Will Life Be Kind to Her?
A Temple in South India
The Sort of Home that Arul Knew
Priests of the Hindu Temple
Tamil Girls Preparing for College
The Village of the Seven Palms
Basketball at Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow
Biology Class at Lucknow College
A Social Service Group-Lucknow College
Village People
Girls of All Castes Meet on Common Ground
Shelomith Vincent
Street Scenes in Madras
Scenes at Madras College
At Work and Play
The New Dormitory at Madras College
The Old India
Contrasts
First Building at New Medical School, Vellore
Dr. Scudder and the Medical Students at Vellore
Where God is a Stone ImageWhere God is Love
A Medical Student in Vellore
Better Babies
Freshman Class at Vellore-Latest Arrivals at Vellore
Dora Mohini Maya Das
Mrs. Paul Appasamy
Putting Spices in Baby's Milk
Baby on Scales
A Representative of India's Womanhood

These chapters are written with no claim to their being an accuraterepresentation of life in all India. That India is a continent ratherthan a country is a statement so often repeated that it has becometrite. To understand the details of girl-life in all parts of thiscontinent would require a variety of experience which the presentwriter cannot claim. This book is written frankly from the standpoint ofone who has spent fifteen years in the South, and known the North onlyfrom brief tours and the acquaintance which reading can give.