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are the re-marriage of Hindu widows and the raising of the marriageable age of Hindu girls. With regard to the latter there is a practical unanimity of opinion; dissentient voices are seldom if ever heard at the conferences.

Far otherwise, however, is the case with the question of the re-marriage of Hindu widows. In this connexion, I am afraid, public opinion has not advanced to the stage that is necessary or desirable. A future Vidyasagar is needed to sound the death- knell of a usage that has darkened many a Hindu home and has blasted the life of many a Hindu widow. I well remember an animated discussion that took place at the Comilla Social Conference in 1914, when after a heated debate a division was taken and it was found that in a house of more than three thousand people there were only about half a dozen dissentients. Most of those who voted for the reform would not, I am afraid, have the courage to carry out the resolution that they supported. Between profession and practice there is still a wide gulf; but opinion is steadily veering round to the right standpoint; and when the moral transformation has taken place it will not be long before Hindu society abolishes the system of compulsory widowhood. The educated community are beginning to realize that the custom is one that is abjured by the rest of the civilized world, and perpetrates a monstrous injustice upon the weaker sex. We may not indeed live to see the change, but the signs and portents all point to its near approach, and, when a man of the social position and avowed orthodoxy of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjea championed the cause by having his own daughter re-married, we may be sure that we are within measurable distance of the consummation of this great reform.

I had occasion once or twice to advertise in the Bengalee news- paper for bridegrooms for the re-marriage of Brahmin widows; and the response that I received was surprising. I showed the replies to some of my orthodox friends, and they were even more amazed than myself. In one case I received more than 150 applications, and among them were some from pundits with titles that denoted their orthodox character. Great, silent forces are indeed working in the bosom of society, to us invisible and perhaps unperceived. They will work out their destined end in their own good time. Nabadwipa and Bhatpara and Bajrajogini may thunder forth their anathemas and quote all the Shastric texts of which they may have a plentiful supply in their armoury; but the march