“What was I to do?” asked Padre Ware.
All the four answered as with one breath,—“Get out of that village as fast as your honour could.”
Then Padre Ware opened his Bible, and slowly read: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
There was a great silence, and then the missionary went on:—“O my friends! ye know that God hath commanded, Thou shalt not kill; and His Word hath shown us that this command reaches even to the thoughts of the heart. Ye call yourselves servants of that Saviour who loved His enemies, prayed for His enemies, died for His enemies; but oh! remember that they who come to Him for pardon and life, must also follow Him in holiness and love,—for is it not written in the Scriptures of truth, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His”? (Rom. viii. 9).
Again there was a deep silence. Then Nihal arose from the ground, and going up to Tara Chund, offered his hookah;[54] and Tara Chund accepted it with a smile. The four Christians embraced one another; and before the evening closed in, those who had been bitter enemies ate together as friends and brethren in Christ.[55]
VII.—THE BEAUTIFUL PARDAH.
It is quite necessary to give a few words of introduction to the following little story, as without it the meaning and drift of it would be quite unintelligible to many British readers. Not all are aware that it is the custom of Mohammedans of the upper classes to seclude their women from sight; so that to allow the face to be seen by any man except a husband or very near relative is accounted a shame and disgrace. This custom is called “pardah,” and it has spread beyond the Mohammedans to some of the Hindus, &c. A. L. O. E. has seen an old lady start from her seat as if in great alarm, and hide herself behind a chair, because an aged gentleman had chanced to come in sight. Sometimes sufferers are shut out from receiving medical aid on account of pardah. At this moment pardah is one of the greatest obstacles to baptism being received by one whom we believe to be quite convinced of the truth of Christianity, and whose husband is a noble-hearted Christian. Sometimes pardah is actually kept up by native converts; and this is a grievous hindrance to them, and besets their path with needless difficulties. There is in our mission church a little pardah room, indeed, in which women can, if they wish it, hear unseen; but how can a woman in pardah ever share the Holy Communion—how can she be actively useful amongst the heathen around her! Pardah is the napkin under which a few native converts would hide their talent, and one cannot but regard it rather as a kind of fashion, a piece of Oriental worldliness, than a token of superior delicacy of mind. A woman actually in the act of hiding her face will sometimes shock our feelings of refinement in some other way.
Another little explanation is necessary. The word “pardah”[56] has two meanings: one the state of seclusion which has been described; the other, the curtain which is the emblem of seclusion. Any curtain in an English lady’s dwelling is a pardah, though she is never “in pardah” herself.