JANUARY, 1861. B JUVENILE MESSENGER OF THE Presbyterian Church in England. WIDOW-BURNING IN INDIA. (See next page.) WIDOW-BURNING IN INDIA. Ir was at one time the custom, in India, when a man died, to burn his dead body, and also burn his poor widow in the same pile. be done, believing that received into heaven. A missionary gives the following account of one of these sad scenes, which he witnessed : She was willing that this should they would, in consequence, be One morning he saw a crowd of people assembling on the side of the river Ganges, and on asking the reason was informed there was going to be a "Suttee," that is, the burning of a widow. He went up to the crowd and tried to persuade them from such cruelty, but did not succeed, He next went up to the poor widow who was a young woman, about twenty-six years of age. She was near the dead body of her husband, which was lying by the river, with the feet in the water. Her feet were painted red, and also parts of her head. There were some Indian officers talking with her. She told them she was the wife of the dead man, she had prepared his food, and that it was of her own free will she desired to be burnt with him. The Missionary spoke to her, and tried to persuade her from doing this dreadful deed. He told her that it was self-murder, and that she would never go to heaven by such means. She, however, would not listen to him, and simply replied, "My good will be, my good will be." She arose, and was conducted by two persons to the river, where she dipped three times, and then repeated after the priest a form of prayer. She then stripped off her clothes, and covered herself with a new piece of cloth, after which she made an offering of some rice to an idol. Three new combs were then placed in her hair, and having bathed the dead body twice with the water of the |