Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1919 — ALL IN ONE GREAT FAMILY [ARTICLE]

ALL IN ONE GREAT FAMILY

Hindus Draw Relationship Close, Knowing No Word as Cold as "Cousins."

AH able-bodied members of the Hindu family must contribute their labor and esirnings. whether of personal skill or agriculture and trade, to the common stock, writes Bhupendranath Basu. Weaker members, widows, orphans, and destitute relations, all must be maintained and supported; sons, nephews, brothers, cousins, all must be treated equally, for any undue preference is apt to break up the family. We have no word for cousins—they an? either brothers or sisters—we donot know what are cousins two degrees removed. The children of the first cousin are young nephews and nieces just the same as the children of young brothers or sisters. The family affections, the family ties, are always very strong, and therefore the maintenance < f an equal standing among so many members Is not so difficult aS it may appear at first. Moreover, life is very simple. Until recently shoes were not in general use at home, but sandals without any leather-fastenings. I have known of a well-to-do middle class family of

several brothers and cousins who had two or three pairs of shoes between them, these shoes being only used when they had occasion to go out, and the same practice is still followed in the case of more expensive garments, like shawls, which last for generations, and w r ith their age are treated with loving care, as having been used by ancestors of reverend memory. The joint family remains together sometimes for several generations until It becomes too unwieldy, when it breaks up into smaller families, and you thus see whole villages peopled by members of the same clan.