Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/144

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
132
SOME DISTINGUISHED INDIAN WOMEN.

the sex by certain members of it," she made up her mind to go.

It was a formidable undertaking, and one which required no small amount of moral courage. It had been hard enough to find herself the only girl at the Dekkan College; but then she had her home to go back to every day, and the sympathy of her parents and sisters to help and encourage her.

Now she had to leave home altogether, and alone to appear before a large body of young men, not as their fellow- student, but as their teacher. It was an ordeal which few girls of twenty-one would have sustained with equanimity, but she came through it unscathed. She writes of it thus: "I do not like to recall my first lecture; but the men behaved well. One rather dreaded contest was all I have to record, and a little sarcasm cured the men. I found them docile and very appreciative."

Her work was to lecture to a class of men on English Literature and Language, her pupils being candidates preparing both for the Previous Examination and the two examinations for the B.A. degree; and she soon won her way by her quiet decision of character and ready tact. It was a great victory; for it demonstrated to all who were willing to be convinced, that an Indian woman may not only possess marked intellectual abilities, but also those qualities of character which are of greater importance and