fingers. Go to the Treasury of the United States Government at Washington, D. C., where she works as a counter of money, and see with what dexterity she counts paper money pile after pile, not only without committing a single error, which means some deduction from her salary, but also talking and laughing and merrymaking all the while. Go to any factory where there is a place for the American woman, and see, in whatever division of labour she is placed, how automatically she works the whole day, with only half an hour's leave for lunch, and yet without the slightest trace of disgust or unhappiness on her face. You do not think she is human ; you go away with the idea that she is a spirit on whom the worldly cares and anxieties, fatigues and troubles do not make any mark.

America is not only the Domain of Dollars and Democracy, she is also the World of Women and Wonders. The women shed lustre to whatever sphere they place themselves. When they take it into their minds to enter into the spheres of men, then also

they play their part remarkably well. I have seen girls in High Schools taking lessons in carpentry, in Colleges and Universities taking lessons in engineering, I have seen women run elevators in women's Colleges. I have seen all these and I have been dumfounded with wonder and admiration.

In America, the land of so-called democracy, it is the woman who forms the aristocracy; it is she who takes the lead and precedence in all social functions. In Asia, the wife follows the husband; in Europe they go together; in America she goes ahead. Asia treats her women patronisingly; Europe treats them on equal terms; America idolizes and worships them. If you want to find out the country which has made the greatest advancement in elevating the condition of woman, if not in all phases of life, at least physically and intellectually, the country where woman is not in the low state of a dead limb and a retarding factor, but in the grand position of a guiding spirit and an active co-worker, I should point to the United

States. If you ask me under what sky the gentler sex enjoy the greatest liberty, the greatest rights and privileges of all their sisters in the world, again I should point to the United States. I quite share the sentiments of Max O'Rell, who said, "If I had to be born again, and might choose my sex and my birthplace, I would shout to the Almighty at the top of my voice, 'Oh, please make me an American woman!'

CHAPTER IV.

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY-AT YALE (1905).

"We drink in the summer to make ourselves cool, and in the winter to make ourselves warm"-"So he drinks the whole d-business"—"We drink in moderation and never get drunk"-Oceans of knowledge"You know, Lady Curzon is an American lady"Connecticut Yankees-Rudyard Kipling-"Mandalay" -"Are Kipling's pictures of India true to life?"Victim of American journalism.

A few days after my arrival in the States, I called upon an American friend who was going to take the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Yale University in the course of a week. He offered me a drink, which I very politely refused. On questioning me he learnt that the students in India as a general rule are absolute teetotalers. This quite upset his philosophic mind, and he asked in astonishment, "How can you live in a country like

India without drinking? In our country we drink in the summer to make ourselves cool, and in the winter to make ourselves warm." He, however, contented himself with simply drinking my health without urging me any further. But all the while I was with him, he looked at me and thought that India must be a very funny country indeed; everything there must be strange and outlandish.

I had a more embarrassing experience in store for me in the Yale Graduate Club, which is composed of the University Faculty, the alumni, and the graduate students. I was in the midst of a small party who had gathered round me to ask questions about India, and add a little to their already unlimited stock of knowledge. The oldest gentleman in the party, who, in fact, was the one I came to know first, and who it was that introduced me to the rest, asked me if I would not have some drink. I did not want to be rude, but as I was not sure if there were any soft drinks I did not know what to answer. Noticing my hesitation, the gentleman began to enumerate some soft