shed tears; and Bhramar, far from finding any comfort from such lip sympathy as they showed, felt a great deal more miserable than she had ever done before. Their visits were simply an infliction, and their seemingly kind speech was gall and wormwood to her.
She was very very miserable. Not long before this she had been as gay and happy as a lark. The women of the village had envied her lot because she was the wife of the richest and handsomest young man for many miles round; because her husband bore an excellent character, and because, though in point of beauty she was nothing by his side, he loved her dearly. Now when they knew that her husband's affection had been suddenly alienated from her they laughed in their sleeve and enjoyed her trouble very much.
When she was alone she vented the anguish of her heart in bitter tears. Could she ever doubt her own dear husband? Yet why was this rumour? It seemed such a mystery that she wished he could come at once and solve it for her.
(To be continued)
Translated by D. C. Roy.
SOCIAL SERVICE[1]
SOCIAL Service is a pretty vast subject and can be regarded from many points of view. A historical survey of the growth and development of Social Service in this country, through various social conditions in different ages, would be almost as fascinating as a comparative study of its progress and activity in different countries at the present day; no less interesting would be a study of the determining factors in the social and political conditions, through the action and reaction of which, social work has been variously shaped and moulded; and equally illuminating would be a review of the contributions made to the cause of Social Service, as it has been understood at different times, by various philanthropists and social reformers and by numerous movements and organisations.
Apart from these and other academic and philosophical surveys of this subject such as its relation to religion and various social problems, we could derive more practical benefit from a detailed study of the various forms in which Social Service could be rendered in towns and villages and of the work and methods of the many present-day movements and institutions which are doing this work each in its own particular way. It might perhaps be better if we could take up each of the items in a programme of Social Service, e.g., co-operative work, mass education, village sanitation, work among the depressed classes, &c., and give full and practical consideration to each of them, in relation to our present-day environments and needs.
There is yet another most essential and intensely interesting aspect of Social Service, viz., a proper and systematic study of social conditions. This social study, I am afraid, is not receiving that amount of care and attention which it deserves, owing perhaps to pressure of actual service.
All these and various other social problems connected with this subject may well form a most interesting and instructive series of lectures from this platform of popular education. We may also include social exhibits and lantern shows which more than anything else graphically represent various social facts and conditions and make lasting impressions on the popular mind and stimulate our social conscience. I have decided, however, to make a few broad observations on Social Service generally.
I shall try briefly to deal with the subject as follows:
A. What is Social Service—its definition and its organic evolution in this country;
B. What is its present need; and
C. What should be our duty towards it.
The meaning of Social Service—a phrase
- ↑ Being an address delivered by Dr. D. N. Maitra, of the Bengal Social Service League, in connection with the Rammohun Library Saturday Evening Lectures on 24th February, 1917.
