140 ESSAYS IN NATIONAL IDEALISM.

rather culture than learning; it is not recognised as educa-
tion, by the modern world. The education of Indian wo-
men in the past fitted them to satisfy all the demands
-of a beautiful social ideal. Moulded xipon the national
ideals of character enshrined in the heroic and romantic
literature familiar to Indian women, the beauty of
Indian womanhood is beyond the breath of criticism.
But the time has come when new demands are made
upon the Indian people; in the national and civic
synthesis in progress woman must play her part, as she
has done in other syntheses before. Hence the need for
-an education no longer so exclusively specialised in relation
to the home and to religion ; the need for a scientific, geo-
graphical, historical synthesis. Recognition of this need
has led to the desire' for i ^English Education.' Hesitation
.-as to the real aims of the education offered has kept many
from seeking it; it might have been well had it kept more,
for too often have those who asked for bread been given
& stone. Be that as it may, English education is now
•desired by many ; that which purports to be this thing is
•offered at low rates in missionary schools.

India is poor. The average income of individuals is
•estimated at from Isjd. (official) to |d. (Mr. Digby) per
head per cliem. Can India afford to erect in a day such
-educational institutions as those of Newnham or Girton ?
India is hard put to it to pay for the education of her
;sons; and has also to wage a desperate struggle for
national existence on any terms; and yet does find money
for such institutions as the Ladies' College in Mysore, the
.girls' school of the Arya Samaj at Jalandar, a.nd other
educational work. It is true that by now, Indians might,
had they been wise, have done more for the modern edu-
cation of Indian women; yet all things considered it ia