Show THE PEOPLE mr Na garbar lecture at the congregational gregat ional church march 30 80 was wag one oce ol of the most interesting addresses heard beard in this city for a long time and merited a much larger audience than was present the subject was the social and domestic manners and customs of 0 the hindmo people IQ in beginning his lecture which lasted nearly two hours mr kar said that india was about miles from where he then stood aud that it covered an area of about one third of the united states and contained a population of soak aud 00 races of mankind ma these varied in color from the coal black negro to the ruddy complexioned indian with all the intermediate shades and la in fact india was a vast of nations associated with all the vagaries and fantastic dreamland notions of arabian night I fiction but it had bad its ita own history ni story antecedents sad civilization and all were interesting the people ot of america he be said were separated from them by geographical bou religion caste creed and all that was kindred te tween man and man ninety nine per cent ot the hindmo people were of aryan ancestry but today they were rub cub divided into innumerable class acland and communities entirely dissimilar from each other that diversified condition has developed different sentiments emotions and modes of living social exclusion wallo was one neof of the most striking peculiarities to the foreigner one hindmo may know another during his bis natural life but no matter how bow good a friend he might be would never ask him to dine or accept au an invitation to do so if there was any difference in their cute caste the speaker wanted it understood that he did not belong to that clime which never exchanged social amenities natives of india on an account of political tribulations and religious caste had become decidedly suspicious of foreigners who almost invariably misinterpreted their motives and cou conduct duct travelers gen orally passed through india at a whirlwind speed learDi rg little or nothing of the people a id u then stigmatized them as exclusive the second distinct peculiarity was that of female demalt seclusion la the greater part of that country a women woman must stay continually within the four walls of her own home it in not possible for women to go into the he open streets in bombay where the speaker lived jived they were not so strict yet there was no such freedom possible as an in this and european countries in the tern temples ples theaters and churches the sexes sare are entirely separated and are never allowed to intermingle the condition of caste today was due to mohammedan influence and tyranny which en an grafted the cruel and fatal institutions of caste on indian social life A third peculiarity was the united or composite family system where the sons son married or single remained in the same household bouee bold until the death of the parents or themselves oftentimes there were as many as fifty members in one family thus the true patri archal system had bad been perpetuated and preserved there was the greatest reverence and respect among the younger members of the emily for the older ons and no child unless in an extremely rare ease case would do anything any thin to bring sorrow borrow or trouble to oll old age the undutiful child is regarded as an outcast and receives the keenest criticism and obloquy from those who were once his or her friends in the united family system there were to be sure domestic disturbances at times but they were not nearly so frequent as many people supposed it had its advantages which were many and its disadvantages few it was with a feeling of extreme sadness that the lecturer observed an utter and censurable want wane of reverence and respect for old age among the youth of this country and europe the shameful ua treatment of aged persons that he be had seen in his recent travels could never be witnessed in his native land the fourth distinctive feature was that of caste which was a great puzzle to the average ze western mind caste was a social classification based on birth and breeding and sanctioned by religion it was thus divided 1 the priest 2 the soldier 3 the merchant and 4 the servant there is no intermarriage possible between these elements of society caste was a delicate though powerful institution in indian social life it la is not created nor can it babut be but comes into existence of its owa accord in the course of social evolution mr kar then took his bis hearers onan on an imaginative trip to lo his hie native land and ave them a peep into the hindmo home this ThI part spart of his remarks were extremely interesting but space will not permit their reproduction |