A story o f a girl who was married as a baby and why she is called
The Hope Woman
B y R u t h C a l d e r w o o d
A sha had just received a mar riage proposal. That in itself was good new s to E d ith Moore, p rin c ipa l of the girls’ school Asha attended in the Mar athi district of the central provinces of India. She knew that Samuel was a fine Christian, already in the ministry. But a thought began to haunt her — a fear that need trouble her only in a country like India. She hesitated before intruding with it upon the girl’s blissfully happy state. But she must speak of it and mentioned it as they sat on the bungalow Verandah one sultry afternoon. “ There’s just one possibility that might prevent your marrying Sam uel right away,” she said reluctant ly, noting at once the frightened look that sprang into Asha’s eyes. “You might have been married as a baby.” Asha stared at her incredulously. “ Auntie,” she said, “ that can’t be true. I have no such recollection.” “You know the Hindu custom, Asha. You could have been mar ried as a -mere infant. And Chris tians aren’t married to more than one husband, you know.” The girl’s memory of her early days was hazy. She was called Sar- ji, for an Indian goddess. After her mother died, she was stolen by a strange woman to be sold to a temple in Nagpur.
Abandoned in Akola, (the wo man probably fearing detection in her evil work) Sarji was taken into a Christian home to which she went begging for food. Later she was sent to the mission school in Khamgaon. There she was named Asha, the Hindu word for hope. She became a Christian and one of the most faithful workers in the school. Now Asha looked sober at the possibility of intrusion on her hap piness. “ But, Auntie, what can we do? How can we find out?” “We’ll have to put an ad in the Nagpur papers. We must try to get information.” Miss Moore looked sadly at the downcast face of the girl sitting at her feet. “ If no an swer comes, you can go ahead with wedding plans. I hope we’ll hear nothing — and doubt that we will. But we’ll have done what we could.” Miss Moore placed the ad in the Nagpur papers through a mission ary working near the city. In it she requested information about the father of Sarji. She also asked the other missionary to consult a Hindu Christian lawyer regarding the procedure to follow, should it develop that Asha had been mar ried as a baby. Was she doing the right thing? She had misgivings but concluded that they must try to learn the facts. She prayed and waited anx
iously several days. When no re sponse came from the ad, she began to feel with increased hopefulness that Asha’s plans would not be in terrupted after all. But one afternoon as she sat in her living room a strange voice was heard at the door. A Hindu prof fered her a note stating that a per son unknown to her wanted an appointment to see her. Instinc tively she knew the matter related to Asha, and she experienced for an instant a keen disappointment. The prayer that the ad would bring no results was answered in the negative. She composed herself enough to arrange the hour of meeting with the Hindu servant. During the in tervening time she spent many dis turbed hours wondering about the outcome. Then she began to re member. God was able to help in any situation. Could she forget His deliverance on the ocean trip to India after one of her furloughs? The cotton cargo in the hold of the ship had caught fire in mid-ocean and burned so furiously that the iron sides of the hold became red hot. The captain had asked the m is s io n a r ie s on board to pray. The ship had forged ahead full steam, and she knew it was divine intervention that had held the fire in check until the ship reached port, where fire extinguish ers were ready. Could she not also CONTINUED
15
J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 6
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter