The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (January 1902)

120 The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. Work with the Lantern in India. By MRS. BRANDER. W477; E have much pleasure in reprovA Ay ducing the following from the pen ‘ IG) of Mrs. Brander, in the Indian ne Vy, Magazine.—Ep AS oat About ten years ago, a friend in Ne the National Indian Association ee offered me a camera for my educational <% workin India. The offer was tempting, but I feared that I should spend too little, or too much time on photography, and most regretfully I declined the present. But my friend was not discouraged ; the next offer was one of an optical lantern, and that I unhesitatingly accepted, and have found most useful and helpful. My Indian head boy at once adopted what he called “ our lantern,” learned all its ways, and was never too tired, at the end of the longest day’s work, to set up the screen, light the lantern, and manage it for me. I found all my Hindu assistants, and many other kind friends, willing to translate into Indian languages and deliver the lectures and explanations which I wrote and obtained about the pictures, and many a happy and profitable hour have I spent with that lantern. My stock of slides has gradually increased, and now includes pictures of our late dear Queen and her palaces, several other members of the Royal Family, a large number of scenes, buildings, persons, etc., in India, Cashmere, China, Japan, England and America, and a series of laughable ones about an elephant, which invariably delighted the small Hindu. Many a show have I given in my own house to Indian ladies and children, and sometimes to English children. Other entertainments were given to teachers and scholars in colleges, schools, verandahs, and sometimes in the open air. The lantern almost always accompanied me on my tours up-country, and the wonder and delight it aroused in remote places were enjoyable and amusing. I remember, at the end of a show in a town far from any railway, a Brahmin boy exclaimed, ‘‘Oh, Madam! you must stay a week, and show us pictures every night!’ One of the first entertainments I gave was to some Hindu ladies, on a “A Trip to England,” illustrated by slides of a steamer, all the places that it would touch at between India and England, and views of London and England. This aroused so much interest that when, soon after, a man-of-war came into the harbour, mn | several of my audience persuaded their hus bands to take them on board, and one of the ladies wrote a good description of the man-ofwar for an Indian journal. The lecture about the Queen was very popular, and was given several times—once to purdah Mahomedan women, who assembled on my housetop after dark. I chose this place because it was strictly gosha and yet cool. On another occasion I was preparing to give a lecture to a number of Hindu women in a high school at Bellary. A Brahmin widow, all shaven and shorn, as is their custom, came to the door, looked at the crowd of women, and said to me, ‘‘ Are you going to teach them ?”’ ‘‘No,’’I said; ‘‘T am going to tell them about the Queen, the Empress of India, and show some pictures of her.’”’ ‘‘What !”’ said the widow ; ‘about the great white Queen across the water?” and in she came to see and hear. Another old Brahmin widow in Madras amused me. I was, with the help of some movable slides, explaining the solar system. The old widow had apparently come to the lecture with great reluctance, probably to bring some younger woman. She kept apart, and drew her cloth closely around her, as if she feared the touch of defilement. But, as the lecture went on, she grew interested, and forgot all about her caste; so much so, that when I had finished, she came up and laid her hand on my arm, and told me not to be angry if she asked me a favour. Of course, I said that she might ask what she pleased, and she entreated that I would let her ‘see that little moon running round the earth once more.” So I had to show that slide again to please her. The lectures with the lantern, on the solar system, were followed up by two visits by some seventy Hindu ladies to the Observatory, where they saw the moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc., through the big telescopes. It was sometimes difficult to arrange for Mahomedan purdah women and girls to see the lantern shows, without being seen themselves; but after a time this difficulty was solved by allowing them to sit on the farther side of the screen, where the picture was quite visible to them, and the screen itself acted as a purdah. On one occasion I was visiting a young Rani in the Godavery District—a mere girl, and a minor under the Court of Wards. As I had my lantern I arranged to take it with me in the evening, and showed her some pictures. She was especially interested in one of a polar bear, and I explained to her that his white coat was a protection to him, rendering him