The Pen of Brahma. By Beatrice M. Harland. (Oliphant, Anderson,
and Ferrier. 3s. 6d. net.)—These " Peeps into Hindu Hearts and Homes" do not make cheerful reading. That is not Miss Harland's fault, though she might, possibly, have arranged her material in a somewhat more attractive way. The first story turns upon that dark spot in Indian life, the treatment of widows. Mallakka, the eight-year-old daughter of Chandamma, herself a. widow, loses the husband whom she has never seen ; she has four years' respite, so to speak, but at twelve she is deprived of all that makes life bearable. In the eleventh tale, " Zynebai's Master," we have a picture almost as gloomy of woman's let among the Mohammedan population of India. Where the welfare of half riutntrind is ill cared for there cannot be true progress. It might be well if Indian reformers, of either creed, would begin at home.
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