able decorations. "We dusted the sand off their little feet
before we lifted them up." The babies said nothing, but looked
doubtfully up at us, as if not very sure of our intentions. But
Ponnamal's eyes were so appealing, and the little buff things in blue
with a trellis of pink flowers for background made such a pretty
picture, that we had not the heart to spoil it. Then the little faces
smiled gratefully upon us, and everybody smiled. The kitchen is a happy
place of innocent surprises.

CHAPTER XXVII

The Secret Traffic

"Sir, to leave things out of a book because they
will not be believed, is meanness."--DR. JOHNSON.

WHEN first, upon March 7, 1901, we heard from the lips of a little child
the story of her life in a Temple house, we were startled and
distressed, and penetrated with the conviction that such a story ought
to be impossible in a land ruled by a Christian Power. The subject was
new to us; we knew nothing of the magnitude of what may be called "The
Secret Traffic of India"--a traffic in little children, mere infants
oftentimes, for wrong purposes; and we did not appreciate, as we do now,
the delicacy and difficulty of the position from a Government point of
view, or the quiet might of the forces upon the other side. And though
with added knowledge comes an added sense of responsibility, and a fear
of all careless appeal to those whose burden is already so heavy, yet
with every fresh discovery the conviction deepens that something should
be done--and done, if possible, soon--to save at least this generation
of children, or some of them, from destruction.

"It is useless to move without a body of evidence at your back," said a
friend in the Civil Service to us at the close of a long conversation.
"If you can get the children, of course they themselves will furnish the
best evidence; but, anyhow, collect facts." And this was the beginning
of a Note-book, into which we entered whatever we could learn about the
Temple children, and in which we kept letters relating to them.

By Temple children throughout this book we mean children dedicated to
gods, or in danger of being so dedicated. Dedication to gods implies a
form of marriage which makes ordinary marriage impossible. The child is
regarded as belonging to the gods. In Southern India, where religious
feeling runs strong, and the great Temples are the centres of Hindu
influence, this that I have called "The Traffic" is worked