the
native Javanese temperament, which in its incipiency was simple and
disinclined to much exertion. Certain it is that the women of Java,
while apparently contented, look careworn and have deep lines in their
faces, and the perfect cultivation of the soil,[5] which is largely done
by women, shows that constant toil must be required of them. Added to
this is the care of a bevy of little ones--more infants to the square
yard than I had ever seen before.

[Illustration: _Landscape near Batavia_]

These true children of Nature are seemingly trusting and believing, and
they ask no better fate than they have. The question obtrudes itself,
Would life have been easier if the English had not again ceded Java to
Holland in 1816, after only a five years' tenure? This query regarding
the Orient in general also comes up: Is it better to leave the peoples
undisturbed in their ignorance of the broader life and higher
conditions, or to try to teach them ways foreign to their
nature,--efforts which might end in failure? This is the problem that
confronts the philanthropist at every turn, and were it not for the
possibility of alleviating the condition of womanhood, it might be well
to abandon all charitable effort. Scientists believe, nevertheless, that
while it will be a slow, laborious process, much can be done in time;
it behooves us who have our homes in a country where it is a pleasure to
live not to turn a deaf ear to appeals like that made by Ramabai, who at
Pina, near Bombay, is laboring to uplift the condition of child widows
in India. The great volume of missionary effort is also turned in the
same direction, and through schools and hospitals the social workers are
paving the way toward better conditions, in spite of the criticism of
some who derisively speak of the failure to "save souls," without
thinking that the first step is to emancipate the body.

When I regard the condition of the women of the Orient, I feel like
starting an immediate crusade--in Egypt they are slaves or toys; in
India, bound by the iron laws of custom and caste, sad and dejected; in
Burma, happy because independent on business and property lines, thanks
to the English Government; in Ceylon, cheerful but with no recognized
positions; in Java, children of toil; in Siam, fearless and intrepid in
temperament, but subject to the conditions of the Orient; in China,
Manchuria, and Korea, seemingly impassive but bound by traditional
customs, enforced fo