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003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

KOTAL. 515 KRUBCHHAGI. The following statement shows the number and distribution of Kotals in 1881. The figures for 1872 are included with those of Chanddls. Kotalipara, a samqj or local group of the Bharadwdja gotra of Pdschdtya Baidik Brahmans in Bengal. Kothadomar, a section of Sonars in Behar. Kothipal, a section of the Karan sub-caste of Kayasths in Behar. Kotolia, probably a corruption of Kotu-dl, a title of a class of rural policemen who hold allot- ments of land for keeping watch and ward in the town of Dar- bhanga, in Behar. Kotri, a small deer, a totemis- tic sept of Chiks in Chota Nagpur. Kotsa or Korsd, a mul or sec- tion of the Chhamulia Madhesia and Bhojpuria sub-castes of Halwais in Behar. Kotsobhni, a mul or section of the Naomulia or Majraut sub- caste of Goalas in Behar. Kotwal, Kotdl, a pangat or section of Bansphor Doms and Dosadhs in Behar ; a title of the Bagdi, Chandal, Hari, and other castes in Bengal employed as i chaukidars. Kotudl, a synonym for Dami. Kotwar, a title of Khanddits and Rautids and a sept of Kharwars in Chota Nagpur. Kowriar, a sept of Chiks and Kharwars in Chota Nagpur. Koya, the wild dog, a totem- istic section of Rautias in Chota Nagpur. Kraunchdwipi, a division of Brahmans in Behar including Jaisi, Jotkhi or Jotsi, Dakutid, Bhadaria or Bhareri, Jadwd, Sagunid, Sanichera. Krishak, Krishan, Krishi, a title of those who work in the fields, whether as day-labourers or as cultivators of their own land. Krishnakandari, a title of Patnis, q.v. Krishnatreya, a gotra or sec- tion of the Brahman, Baidya, Kayasth, and Gandhabanik castes in Bengal, and the Jhoras in Chota Nagpur. Kritanya, a group of Gaura Brahmans in Behar. Krong Khyungtsa, a sept of Maghs in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Krubchhagi, a thar or sept of Mangars in Darjiling. 2k2 Distbict. 1881. Bardwan .. Bankura ... Birbhum ... Vlidnapur ... «ughli ll-Parganas Vadiya Fessore Vlurshedabad 10,324 225 673 16 61 69 260 11 1,708 Distbict. 1881. Rajshahye Dacca Chittagong Purniah Maldah Santal Parganas ... Manbhum Tributary States ... 4 93 3 113 19 680 67 1,469

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

SHAM. 516 KULDEN Ksham, a title of Dakshin- Rdrhi and Bangaja Kdyasths in Bengal. a totemistio sept of Oraons; a section of Goraits. Kuka, a 6ept of Rajputs in Behar. Kshatri-Sankoch, a synonym for Kochh. Kukar, a group of the Aoghar sect of Saiva ascetics founded in Guzerat by a Dasnami mendi cant named Brahmagiri. See Aoghar. Kshatriya, the warrior caste in the traditional Hindu system. The word is now used mainly as a synonym for Rajput. Kshem, a title of Dakshin- Rdrhi and Bangaja Kdyasths. Kukkuti, a gain of the Bdtsya gotra of Barendra Brahmans in Bengal. Kshetragr&mi, a gain of the Bharadwdja gotra of Barendra Brahmans in Bengal. Kukrar, a mul or section of the Kanaujia sub-caste of Sondrs in Behar. Kshir, a sub-caste of Tdntis in Bengal. Kuktaiare, a sept of the Agnid sub-tribe of Meches in the Darjil ing Terai. Kshom, a title of Dakshin- Rarhi and Bangaja Kdyasths in Bengal. Kukur, Kukura, dog, a totem istic sept of Mundas in Chota Nagpur. Ksh uri, razor, a title of Bhan ddris in Orissa. Kukurbandha, a pur or section of Sakadwipi Brahmans in Behar. Kuar, a hypergamous divi sion of the Maghaya sub-caste of Barhis in Behar. Kukurbans, a sept of Rajputs in Behar. Kuardar, a sept of Kharwars in Chota Nagpur. Kukuria, a sept of Pans in Chota Nagpur. Kuasanchha, a thar or sept of Khambus in Darjiling. Kukurjhampar, a section of Kanaujia Lohdrs in Behar. Kuchal, a section ofthe Bahdn najati sub-caste of Khatris in Bengal. Kui, a group of the Barendra sub-caste of Sunris in Eastern Bengal. Kuchhaina, a sept of Rajputs in Behar. Kulabh i , a gain of the Sdndilya gotra of Rarhi Brahmans in Bengal. Kujharia, a section of Awadhid Hajjams in Behar. Kujri, a fruit, from which oil is made ; a sept of Mundas ; a section of Goraits iu Chota Nagpur. Kuld/, a synonym for Kumhdr. Kulchul id, a sept of the Surya bansi sub-tribe of Rajputs in Behar. Kujur, a fruit, the oil of which is used in anointing horus of cattle at the Sohorai festival ; Kulden, a section of Murmis in Darjiling.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

KTJLHA. 517 KUMHAR. Kui ha, a section of Bdbhans in Behar. Kulsreshta, a sub-caste of Kdyasths in Behar. Kulhai, a tiger, a totemistic sept of Chiks in Chota Nagpur. Kulsunri, a sub-caste of Sun ris in Behar. Kulhari&, a sept of the Surya bansi sub-tribe of Rajputs in Behar. Kulthari Mallik, a section of Kanaujia Lohdrs in Behar. Kulu or Kachchhud, a section of Kharias in Chota Nagpur. Kulhasia, a sept of Pdns in Chota Nagpur. Kulung, a thar or sept of Khambus in Darjiling. Kulin, (i) a hypergamous divi sion of Rarhi Brahmans in Bengal attributed to Rdja Ballal Sen, who is said to have insti tuted similar divisions among the Baidyas and Kdyasths. Other Hindu castes below the latter in rank have adopted the same system as they have done in the case of gotras or sections ; (ii) a hypergamous division of the Paschim Kuliya Sadgops, includ ing Bhdlki, Kankse, Prahara j, and Siur, and of the Purbba Kuliya Sadgops in Midnapur, including Biswas, Neogi, and Sur; (iii) a hypergamous group of Chasa dhobas and Subarnabaniks in Bengal; of Karans in Orissa; (iv) a hypergamous group of Jugis comprising four families — Raghu, Mddhab, Nimai, and Paginal. For a fuller treatment of the subject, see the article on Brahman. Kulusurhi, a section of Gorid Gowar or Dahiar Godlds in Behar. Kulwant or Kulwat, a sub caste of Malldhs in Behar. Kulya Rishi, a section of Tantis in Bengal. Kum, a seotion of Rautias in Chota Nagpur. Kumair, a section of Awadhid Hajjams in Behar. Kumar, a section of the Par gah caste in Behar, and of Rautias in Chota Nagpur ; a sub sept of the Hemrom sept of Santdls. Kumar or Komar-Bhdg, a sub tribe of Mal Pahariyds. Kumara, a subrcaste of Koiris and a title of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kulin-r&si, a section of Mdlos in Eastern Bengal. Kumbhakdr, Kumar, a syn onym for Kumhdr in Bengal. Ku.lisa or Kulkuli, a gain of the Sandilya gotra of Rdrhi Brahmans in Bengal. Kumedwar, a section of Bab hans in Behar. Kumhar, a sept of Mundas in Chota Nagpur. Kulkhwar, a mul or section of the Naiya caste in Behar. Ijttltthir, Kumar, Kumbhakdr, the potter caste of Bengal, . . Behar, and Orissa. Concerning their tradi- Traditions of origin. parentage there 8eems t? be a wide difference of opinion among the recognised authorities on that subject. Thus the Brahmavaivartta Purana says that the Kum bhakdr, or maker of water jms (kumbha), is born of a V^ya

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

518 KUMHAR woman by a Brahman father; the Parasara Sanhitd makes the father a Malakar (gardener) and tbe mother a Chamar ; while the Parasara Padhati holds that the ancestor of the caste was begotten of a Tili woman by a Pattikdr, or weaver of silk cloth. Sir Monier Williams, again, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, describes them as the offspring of a Kshatriya woman by a Brahman. Conjectures of this kind do not pretend to have any historical basis, and their only object is to reconcile the fact that there are many castes with the Brahmanical theory that there are only four. All beyond the canonical number are therefore supposed to have arisen from a complicated series of courses between the original four and their descendants; and if a new caste is formed, it is some one's business to find a mythical pedigree for it. Such pedigrees, however, are not taken very seriously, even by the people most concerned, and stories ascribing the origin of a caste to an act of special creation seem to be quite as popular as traditions of mixed descent. The Kumhars, for example, say that at the marriage of Siva a water jar (ghat) was wanted, but no one knew how to make one. The god therefore took a bead from his necklace and with it created a potter ; while with a second he made a woman, who became the potter's wife. This man was the father of all those who work in pottery, and in memory of their creator all potters bear the title Rudra Pal. The endogamous subdivisions of the caste are very numerous, and vary a good deal from district to district. In Dacca, for instance, we find the five sub divisions Bara Bhagiya, Chhota Bhagiya, Rajmahalia, Khatya, and Magi. The Bard Bhagiya Kumhars have separated into two divisions. The first, descended from Tilak Pal, only make black utensils; the second, sprung from Madhava Pal, like the Chhota Bhagiya, only manufacture red. In both sub- castes, again, there is a further grouping into Lai and Sada, so called from the custom of wearing red or white clothes at the marriage ceremony. The Rajmahalia potters are quite distinct from the Khatya Kumhars on the one hand and the Bengali Kumhdr on the other. They originally came from Rajmahal with a member of the Banga Adhlkdrf family, and having tarried in Dacca for several generations lost caste, while those who subsequently arrived from Hindustan were in their turn likewise degraded. There are about two hundred houses belonging to these potters in Ja'farganj, Sultanganj, Rdi Bazar, and Karwdn, suburbs of Dacca, and the caste still speaks a language made up of Hindi and Bengali. Having been settled in Bengal for many years, the clean Ssidra castes drink from their water-vessels, while the Sudra Brahman and other servants work for them. Tho sraddha, moreover, is celebrated after thirty days, as with the Nava-sdkha. The Khatya, or debased Kumhars of Dacca, claim to belong to the Maghaiyd potter family of Patna. They drink water from the vessels of the other Kumhars, and may give water to them, but hold no communication with the Rajmahalia Kumhars. None of the other Bengali Sudras, however, admit their equality. In Dacca they are all Nanak Sbahis in creed, the Mahant of the Shujd'atpiir

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

519 KUMHAR, Akhdra being the Guru. Unlike the other sub-oastes, they work throughout the month of Baisakh, and on the Dashara make oblations of rice, wheat-flour, clay, and red lead to Mahddeo, their patron deity. Khatya Kumhdrs only work with chikni-matti, or potter's earth, manufacturing with the chdk, or horizontal wheel, long necked flasks (surdhi), lotahs, pipes, water-spouts, balusters (garddid), and toys, but never idols. On the tenth day after death the Kantaha Brahman performs a religious service, at which he tastes the oblation rice. On the following day the sraddha is celebrated as among Chandals and Ekadasf Jogfs. The Magi subdivision is outcasted, having a purohit of its own. Their debasement is referred to the days when the Maghs harried Eastern Bengal, and, entering houses, defiled the inmates. There seems no reason, however, for concluding that these degraded potters are the offspring of Maghs by Kumhar women, as they resemble in every feature the genuine stock of potters. One of my correspondents in Dacca describes an entirely different arrangement of sub-castes, thus: — Chhota Bhagiya, Bikrampuriya, Jahangirnagaria, Faitabajia, Bhagaldaspuria. The last four names have a purely local significance. Jahangirnagar is the old name of Dacca, and its derivative is applied to the potters of the city ; Faitabaj is the name of a pargana, and Bhdgalddspur is a village in Bhowdl. It appears, however, that these groups are not invariably endogamous, and that intermarriages between them are not absolutely prohibited. At present, then, they cannot certainly be ranked as sub-castes ; and it is possible that they are merely organizations for trade purposes. Dr. Wise mentions that in the city of Dacca the Kumhars have two dais, or trade unions — one known as Islampiir, the other as Bhagalpur, after two quarters of the city where the potters chiefly reside; while outside the city every four or five villages have a dal to promote the interests of the trade. The headman is styled Pardmanik, who, on account of the increase in the size of the caste, is obliged to employ assistants, Ndiks or Gumashtas. They are treated with little deference, and merely execute the orders of their master. The four sub-castes found iu Noakhali — Bhulaiya, Saralia, Chatgainya, and Sandwipa — appear to be based on differences of original habitat. In Pabna five sub-castes have been formed— Siras than, Majhasthan, Chandansara, Chaurasi, and Daspara. The first are believed to have come from the North-Western Provinces, and are said to be descended from Premananda, third son of the original potter, Rudra Pal. Their habits are supposed to be unclean, and Brahmans will not take water from their hands. The Daspara are said to be descended from Kulavanda, the eldest of Rudra Pal's sons. The Chaurdsi, according to local tradition, were originally a branch of the Chandansara sub-caste, who settled among the Daspdrd, but were not admitted by them to equal social rights. The immigrants waited their time, and took the first opportunity which offered of righting themselves. When the Nawab of Murshed abad chanced to be travelling in that part of the country, they

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

520 KUMHAR. presented to him a number of artificial flowers and fruits made of pottery. The imitation was so exact that in reward for their skill the Nawdb gave the settlers eighty- four villages, and permitted them to call themselves by the title Chaurasi. From that time their social supremacy was secured, and they were able to impose upon the Daspara sub-caste the condition that only those who admitted the superiority of the Chaurasi should hold the title Paramanik; that those who served them with pan at marriage and social ceremonies should be called Panpatra ; and that those who still insisted on holding aloof should be degraded to the lowest rank under the designation Mujgarni. In Murshedabad and Hughli the sub-castes Barendra and Rarhi are met with, the theory being that the original settlements of each group were in the large tracts of country whose name it bears. Some, however, say that the Barendra Kumhars are descend- ed from one of the sons of Rudra Pal, who had forcible intercourse with his own sister. The Daspard sub-caste is also known in Murshedabad, where it is believed to be the offspring of one of Rudra Pdl's sons by a maid-servant. Its special function is supposed to be the manufacture of the shell bracelets which are worn by married women. The Jessore sub-castes appear to be only local. In Behar, Chota Nagpur, and the Santdl Parganas a wholly different set of sub-castes is met with. The Maghaiya, Kanaujia, and Tirhutia are named after large tracts of country ; the Ayodhia- bdsi claim to be immigrants from Oudh; the Bangali or Rarhi are Bengal Kumhdrs who have settled in Behar; and the Turk-Kumhar are Mahomedans. Of the rest, the Biahut forbid widows to marry again, and the Chapua take their name from a particular kind of earthen vessel which they make. The Kumhdrs of Orissa are divided into two endogamous sub- castes — Jagannath i or Uriya Kumhars, who work standing and make lagre earthen pots, and Khatya Kumhars, who turn the wheel sitting and make small earthen pots, cups, toys, etc The latter are immi- grants from Upper India, whose number is comparatively insignificant. In the matter of exogamy the practice of Kumhdrs differs widely in different parts of the country. In Eastern Bengal, where the influence of Maho- medan usage is strong, only one or two sections are known to the caste, and marriage within the section is permitted. The Maghaiyd Kumhdrs, on the other hand, and probably most of the Behar sub-castes, have a long array of seotions, mainly of the titular type, but referring in some instances to local and territorial areas. A man may not marry a woman of his own seotion or of the sections to which his mother, paternal grandmother, or maternal grandmother belonged. The Jaganndthi Kumhdrs of Orissa, who hold a tolerably high social position in that province, are subdivided for matrimonial purposes into the following exogamous sections : — Kaundinya, tiger; Sarpa, snake; Neul.weazel; Goru.cow; Mudir, frog; Bhad-bhadria, sparrow ; Kurma, tortoise. The members of each section express their respect for the animal whose name the

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

521 KUMHAE* section bears by refraining from killing or injuring it, and by bowing when they meet it. The entire caste also abstain from eating, and even go so far as to worship, the sal fish, because the rings on its scales resemble the wheel, which is the symbol of their craft. The Khatya Kumhar8 in Orissa have only one section (Kasyapa), and thus, like the Rdjbansis of Rangpur, are really endogamous in spite of themselves. The reason probably is that there are too few of them in Orissa to fit up a proper exogamous system, and they content themselves with the pretence of one. Both sub-castes appear to be conscious that the names of their sections are open to misconception, and explain that they are really the names of certain saints, who being present at Daksha's horse sacrifice transformed themselves into animals to escape the wrath of Siva, whom Daksha, like Peleus in the Greek myth, had neglected to invite. It may well be that we owe the preservation of these interesting totemistio groups to the ingenuity of the person who devised this respectable means of accounting for a series of names go likely to compromise the reputation of tbe caste. In the case of the Khatya Kumhars, the fact that their single section bears the name of Kasyapa, while they venerate the tortoise (kach hap), and tell an odd story by way of apology for the practice, may perhaps lend weight to the con jecture, in itself a fairly plausible one, that many of the lower castes in Bengal who are beginning to set up as pure Hindus have taken advantage of the resemblance in sound between kachhap and kasyap (chh and s both become sh in colloquial Bengali) to convert a totemistic title into an eponymous one, and have gone on to borrow such other Brahmanical gotras as seemed to them desirable. If, for example, we analyse the matrimonial arrangements of the Bhars of Manbhum, many of whom are the hereditary personal servants of the pseudo-Rajput Rdjd of Pachete, we find the foregoing conjecture borne out by the faot that two out of the seven sections which they recognise are called after the peacock and the bel fruit, while the rest are eponymous. But this is an exceptionally clear case of survival, and I fear it is hardly possible to simplify the diagnosis of non-Aryan castes by laying down a general rule that all castes with a section bearing the name Kasyapa, who have not demonstrably borrowed that appellation from the Brahmans, are probably offshoots from some non-Aryan tribe. In Behar, Orissa, and Chota Nagpur Kumhdrs still permit girls to be married as adults, though they hold infant-marriage to be more respectable. In Singbhum and the Tributary States of Orissa adult-marriage is the rule. The Kumhdrs of Bengal, on the other hand, have long conformed to the usage of the higher castes, aud marry their daughters before the age of puberty. Everywhere a bride-price (pan) is paid to the father of the bride, and in determining the amount of this the comparative social position of the parties is not usually taken into consideration. " It is considered," says Dr. Wise, " a dishonouring act for a Kumhar to accept a wife without paying money to the father. Of late years the price has risen so much that the poorer young men find it

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

522 KUMHAE. difficult to procure wives at all." One of my correspondents says, indeed, that it ranges from Rs. 300 to Rs. 1,000, but I am inclined to suspect some exaggeration here. There are, however, signs of the development of a system of hypergamy, modelled on the Kulinism of the higher castes, which may lead in time to the conversion of the bride-price into a bridegroom-price. The Paramanik, Panpdtra, and Mujgarni groups mentioned above seem on the way to become hypergamous ; and I am informed that a Kumhdr of Bikrampur in Dacca would, within that district at any rate, be able to obtain a higher price for his daughter than would be paid to a member of another group. The marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type ; the essential and binding portion of the ritual is usually sindurddn, or smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead and the parting of her hair. The Jagannathi Kumhdrs of Orissa regard the knotting together of the clothes of the married couple as the most important feature in the ceremony. This is done by a Brahman after the offering of horn has been made. The Khatya Kumhars follow much the same ceremony, but substitute for horn the worship of the goddess Bindubasini. Polygamy is permitted to the limited extent that a man may take a second wife if his first wife has not borne him a son. Some say that he can only do so if the wife gives permission. It is certain, however, that polygamy is not much in vogue. Widow-marriage and divorce are not recognised by the Kumhdrs of Bengal, who adhere strictly to the customs of the higher castes on these points. In Behar, Chota Nagpur, and Orissa a widow of any but the Biahut sub-caste may marry again by the sagai or chumaund form, and is not ordinarily1 restricted in her choice by any positive obliga tion to marry her deceased husband's younger brother should such a relative exist. Divorce is permitted on the ground of unchastity, with the sanction of the panvhdyat of the caste. In Orissa the finding of the panchayat is usually recorded on a palm-leaf, and the woman is allowed maintenance for six months. Divorced women are looked upon as degraded, but are permitted to marry again by the same ritual as widows. Notwithstanding their alleged descent from the god Siva, j. .. . Vaishnavism seems to be the favourite religion of the ca.ste. In Eastern Bengal, Dr. Wise states that Kumhdrs still worship the ancient Vedio deities Agni, Brahma, Indra, and Pavana, and on the first of Jaishtha (May- June), at the termination of the idle month, special services are held in their honour, at the same time as the festival of Viswa-Karmd is celebrated. With this exception, their religious observances in Bengal and Behar do not appear to differ materially from those of other Hindu castes of similar social standing. In Orissa Rddhd, Krishna, and Jaganndth are the deities most revered by the Uria Kumhdrs. The Khatya Kumhdrs, on the other hand, in Cuttack, as in Dacca, profess to follow the precepts of Guru Nanak, while at the same time they worship Durga under the name 1 In Singbhum she is expected to marry her deceased husband's younger brother.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

523 KUMHAE. of Bindubasini. Among the Uria Kumhdrs, Rudra Pdl, the mythical ancestor of the caste, is worshipped as a sort of patron saint. His image is placed between the images of Rddha and Krishna in the Bhagwat gadi, or room set apart for the reading of the sacred books of the Vaishnava sect, and on the Sukla Sasti, the sixth day of the new moon of the month of Aghran, fried paddy, plantains, cocoanuts, and similar offerings are presented to him. A Brahman recites mantras, or mystic invocations, and receives as his perquisite the articles offered to Rudra Pal. This festival is called Ohran Sasti. The Khatya Kumhars pay a similar tribute to Kunwar, whom they regard as their ancestor, in the month of Sraban. Sitala, the goddess of small-pox, is worshipped in the same month, and Chaitra is regarded as sacred to the tutelary goddess Bindubasini. Kunwar is revered in Behar as the chief of the Gaian, or spirits of departed Kumhdrs, who exercise some vague sort of influence over human affairs, and have to be appeased by periodical sacrifices of goats and sweetmeats, which are afterwards divided among the members of the caste who attend at the ceremony. The snake goddess Bisohari, Sckha, Sambhunath, Bandi, Goraiyd, and the Panch Pir, also rank among the minor deities of the caste, and are worshipped four times a year, in the months of Magh, Phdlgun, Baisakh, and Srdwan. In Chota Nagpur the religion of the caste seems to be of a more primitive type. Although professing Hinduism and worshipping in a general way all the gods of the regular pantheon, thev also offer goats, molasses, ghi, and milk to the mountain gods Kana Buru, Matha Buru, and Kanki Buru, who are reverenced by the non- Aryan tribes. On the occasions of this worship Brahmans officiate as priests and take the offerings. It might perhaps be argued that the cult is a genuine survival, indicating that the Kumhars of that part of the country are merely an offshoot from a non-Aryan tribe ; but I think it equally possible that we have to deal with mere imitation, encouraged by the desire to appease the local gods. On the first of Baisakh the Bengal Kumhars put an image of the god Siva on their wheel (chdk), and leave the wheel unturned during the whole month. On the thirtieth day Siva is formally worshipped, and his effigy is thrown into a river or tank. The wheel is then again brought into use. Viswakarma, the artificer of the gods, is worshipped on the last day of Paus. All the implements of the potter's craft are laid before him, and offerings of fruits, sweetmeats, and the hke are presented. For the service of the greater gods Kumhars, like other mem- bers of the Nava-Sakha group, employ Brahmans, who are for the most part received on equal terms by other members of the sacred order, although less esteemed than those Brahmans who themselves serve Brahmans only. The dead are burned by all except the very poor, who cannot afford the wood for the funeral pyre. The Dlspos Kumhars of Bengal and Orissa perform the ceremony of srdddh on the thirtieth day after death, in much the same fashion as the higher castes. Among the Kumhdrs of Behar and Chota Nagpur and the Khatya Kumhdrs of Bengal and Orissa,

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

524 KUMHAE. the Kantha Brahman celebrates a religious service and tastes the oblation rice on the tenth day after death, and the regular srdddh is performed ou the eleventh day. Some, however, say the thirteenth, and it is possible that the practice may differ in different parts of the country. Libations (tarpan) for the benefit of ancestors in general are poured forth in the month of Aswin every year. The social standing of the caste is respectable. In Bengal they are recognised as members of the Navasakha group, and in Behar and Orissa Brahmans take water from their hands. The Jaganndthi Kumhars of Orissa, though professing Vaishnavism and deeming it praiseworthy to abstain from the flesh of any living creature, nevertheless eat goats which have been sacrificed to the gods, deer, wild boars, and all fish except the sal. They also partake of the leavings of Brahmans, and at the mahotsab, or sacred feast of the Vaishnava sect, they will eat cooked food with Khanddyats. Orh-Chdsds, Gurids, Chhutdrs, Kdmdrs, Goalas, Telis, Napits, and Tantis. On no other occasion will they eat with, or take water from, a man of a caste lower than Teli. Smoking from a hookah is governed by the rule about water, but cigars may be taken from any one. Khatya Kumhars eat goats and all kinds of scaly fish, and also the leavings of Nanak Shdhi priests. Neither sub-caste permits the use of strong drink. In Bengal the Kumhdrs eat sacrificial animals — deer, ducks, geese, and pigeons. Boiled rice they take only from Brahmans; water and sweetmeats from members of the Nava-Sakha group. The Kumhdrs of Behar eat cooked food and smoke only with their own caste, but take sweetmeats and water from Koiris, Gangotas, and the large group of castes from whom a Brahman may take water. Goat flesh and mutton, and all kinds of fish except the bagdr, are lawful food. Strong drink is also indulged in, but it is thought more respectable to abstain. In Dacca, says Dr. Wise, the manufacture of pottery is still in its infancy, and no improvement can be .cupa i n. looked for so long as the obligation of breaking all cooking utensils after a death, or any sort of ceremonial polu tion, limits Hindus to the use of the cheapest kinds of pottery. The wheel in use is the Roman rota, a circular table of baked clay weighted along the rim, revolving rapidly on a pivot cut from the heart of a tamarind tree. The neck and shoulders of all globular vessels are made with the wheel (chdk), but the body is fashioned by hand, often by women. A round ball of hardened clay (boild) is held inside, while with a wooden mallet (pitnd) the material is beaten from the outside into the requisite shape and thinness. Two kinds of earth are used by the Dacca Kumhdrs : one called bdli, the other kdla matti; and one part of the former mixed with two of the latter are employed in the production of the strongest pottery. For making the common red earthenware vessels red laterite earth from Bhowal is used, the colour of the rim being deepened by coating it with a mixture of catechu (kath) and fuller's earth. The cheap red and black earthenware are both prepared with the same clay, the latter being blackened by covering up the kiln at a certain stage and adding oil-cake to the fire. Bengali potters cannot glaze or fix the

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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525 KUMHAE. colours on the ware, but are content to paint the vessel after it has been baked. Their colours are always mixed with mucilage, obtained from bela or tamarind seeds. Red paints are prepared with red lead ; yellow with arsenic (hartal) ; green by mixing yellow arsenic and indigo ; and black with lamp-black, charred rice, or nai reeds. A gloss is often imparted with the white of duck's eggs, but as this washes off before long, garjan oil is more generally used. Idols, toys, and tobacco-bowls are also painted with these colours, and the images of deities are further embellished by having powdered mica sprinkled over them while the paint is still wet. The Dacca Kumhars manufacture bricks, tiles, earthenware of all shapes and sizes, idols, and toys ; the two last being moulded if of small size. The manufactory of the Kumhdr well repays a visit. Beneath the same thatched roof are the kiln, storehouse, and dwelling-house, while at the door the clay is prepared. The kiln is called the pan, from the Sansk rit Pavana, that which purifies, and the hut the panghar. The kiln is divided into compartments, in which the newly-made vessels are arranged, earth being heaped over all. Wood is never used to heat it, but grass, reeds, or bamboo stems are the ordinary combustibles. Although Kumhars are prohibited from using the chdk during the month of Baisakh, because Viswakarmd, the great artificer, rested from his labours during that month, they are permitted to dig and store clay. A potter never cultivates the soil or serves as a domestic servant, but he has no objections to become a trader, a cloth merchant, a writer, or a servant to a shopkeeper. The village potter occasionally holds chakaran land, on the condition that he supplies the vessels required at all festivals observed by the zaminddr or the village community. Hindu households generally contract for their annual supply of earthenware, while a few pay the market rate for what is wanted. The pottery made at Rai Bazar, in Dacca, bears a great name throughout Eastern Bengal, and in the cold season boats laden with cocoanuts arrive from Sondip, Noakhali, and Bdrganj, returning full of pots and pans from this mart. Vijayapur, in Tipperah, is another bazar famous for the excellence of its pottery. Rajmahalia Kumhdrs have a curious custom, which is a source of much wit among Bengalis. They thatch the drying houses with green grass, merely fastening it down with weights, but never tying it, and when dry the thatch is used for lighting the kiin fire. They manufac ture cooking pots for vegetables, milk-pans (ras-dohana) , and salvers on which sweetmeats and other delicacies are handed round at weddings, but will not make idols or platters used in offerings to deities. Like the Bengali Kumhars, they do no work during the month of Baisakh, and on the first Saturday of that month celebrate the worship of Viswakarmd. They work double during the previous month Chaitra, and it is lawful to bake the pottery in Baisakh. At the time of worship their trade implements and manufactures are arranged on the top of the kiln and ornamented with bel leaves, while the usual oblations are presented. The purohit, meanwhile, mutters a few incantations, soliciting the favour of the divine work man. Once a year, when the kiln is filled, the caste Brahman

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526 KUNOHBANDHWA. KUMHAE. officiates at the Agni Pujd. Offerings are made of rice, plantains, cocoanut, sweetmeats, and a piece of cloth. The wives of these Kumhars assist their husbands, fashioning the globular part of the vessels, while the men make the necks and rims. Kumhdrs are singular in placing over their wells an earthenware rim or chdk, admirably suited for preventing the ingress of filth. It is made by themselves, but has not been adopted by any other class. The foregoing description of the occupation of the potter caste is substantially correct at the present day. Kumhars, however, are not so exclusively devoted to their characteristic profession as Dr. Wise makes them out to be. In Orissa some of them follow the trade of carpenters and bricklayers, and everywhere a certain proportion of the caste is engaged in agriculture. This, however, is a comparatively recent departure, and few of them have risen above the status of tenure-holders or occupancy raiyats. Cultivating Kumhars still regard the chdk as the symbol of their caste, and brand their cattle with a rude representation of it. In Chota Nagpur the Maghaiya Kumhdrs are looked down upon by the Kanaujia sub-caste because they castrate bullocks. The following statement shows the number and distribution of Kumhdrs in 1872 aud 1881 :— Kumharia, a section of the Banodhid and Jaiswar Kalwars in Behar; a sept of Chiks in Chota Nagpur. Kuna, a stone quarry, a title of the Karangd caste in Sing bhum. Kunb&hong, a sept of Lim bus in D.arjiling. Kuiibi, a synonym for Kurmi Kunchbandhwa, a maker of the kas-kas brushes (kunch), used by weavers to smooth the threads of the warp before it is put into the loom. The occupation is usually followed by Nats aud by Mahomedans, who combine with it the castration of cattle. District. 1872. 1881. District. 1872. 1881. Bardwan Bankura Birbhum Midnapur Hughli Howrah 24-Parganas ... Nadiya Khulna Jessore Murshedabad Dinajpur Rajshahye Rangpur Bogra Pabna Darjiling Jalpigori Kuch Behar ... Dacca Faridpur Bakarganj Maimansinh ... J 19,917 4,518 7,583 29,122 14,872 16,474 20,420 88,022 11,278 6,408 7,856 6,709 3,748 10,202 342 8,215 13,020 7,992 8,892 30,650 f 9,688 ( 5,712 12,036 15,855 9,332 19,335 10,487 5,319 6,999 6,063 8,710 9,841 687 1,892 1,101 17,373 10,783 9,540 18,618 Tipperah Chittagong Noakhali Patna Gya Shahabad Tirhnt ( Mozufferpur llrnut I Darbhanga Saran Champaran Monghyr Bhagalpur Purniah Maldah Santal Parganas Cuttack Puri Balasore Tributary States ... Hazaribagh Lohardaga Singbhum Manbhum Tributary States ... 10,915 8,826 3,518 20,581 25,868 18,931 } 48,030 21,911 17,151 20,361 25,069 11,912 S,8H4 14,765 16,812 9,666 10,589 16.559 14.058 15.5S9 7,145 24,891 4,508 9,705 6,428 4,640 24,069 22,282 23,814 ( 33,408 I 25,241 24,594 18,807 31,007 35,9.39 18,782 5,908 21,419 22,268 13,135 12,681 26,558 21,966 19,579 6,882 82,814 9,099 14,835 8,196 13,748 19,328

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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KUND AIL. 527 KUEAL. Kundail, a sept of Rajputs in Kunjilwar-Sater, a mul of the Kdtydyan section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Behar. Kundalal, a gain oi the Sdbarna gotra of Rdrhi Brahmans in Bengal. Kunjilwar-Ullu, a mul of the Kdtydyan section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kund&rk, a pur or section of Sakadwipi Brahmans in Behar. Kunjilwar-Bhakrain, a mul of the Kdtydyan section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kundi, a section of Awadhia Hajjams in Behar. Kunjjlwar-Digaun, a mul of the Katydj an section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kundi ar, a section of Kurmis in Chota Nagpur and Orissa ; a section of Mahilis in Western Bengal. Kunjilwar-Bhakhrauli, a mul of the Kdtydyan section of Maithil Brahman3 in Behar. Kundil, a section of Rautias in Chota Nagpur. Kundkar, a turner, denoting more particularly workers in horn, who are always Mahomedans. The Kundkar makes combs, pegs for shoes, small boxes (dibiya) for keeping medicines and various odds and ends. They despise the Kasai and the Kuti and decline to intermarry with them. Kunjra, a greengrocer who sells tarkdri and sabji — an occu pation usually, but not exclusive ly, followed hy Mahomedans in Behar. In Dacca, according to Dr. Wise, Kunjra is used as a term of abuse, and the fruit sellers call themselves Mewa farosh, Sabzi-farosh or Bepari. Kunkal, a title of Kumhars. Kundri, a vegetable used in making curry, a totemistic sept of Oraons in Chota Nagpur. Kunot, a sub-caste of Gronrhis in Behar. Kundu, Kunda, a title of Aguris, Gandhabaniks, Kaibart tas, Kdyasths, Tantis, Telis, Sankharis, Sutradhars, and cer tain other castes in Bengal. Kuns, a section of Binjhias in Chota Nagpur. Kunti a, a sept of Hos in Singbhum. Kundula, a sept of Mundas in Chota Nagpur. Kunwar, a section of Bhats. Kunwardar, a section of Cheros in Chota Nagpur. Kunjakuli, a section of Pans in Chota Nagpur. Kura, a sept of Chakmas in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Kunjalwar, a section of Babhans in Behar. Kurai- a pur or section of Sdkadwipi Brahmans in Behar; a sept of Pans in Chota Nag pur. Kunjasiri, a section of Pdns in Chota Nagpur. Kunji Iwar-Malangia, a mul of the Kdtydyan section of Maithil Brahmans in Bengal. Kural, a title of Kaibarttas in Bengal.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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KUEAMBI 528 KUEMI, Kurambi, a synonym for Kurmi. Kurji, a section of Godlds in Behar. Kurga, a sub-caste of Karan gas in Western Bengal who are employed in making bamboo baskets. Kurjya, a sept of Chakmas in the Hiii Tracts of Chittagong. Kuri, a sub-caste of Dosddhs who make their living as bird catchers, and occasionally as ped lars. A synonym for Mayard, Madhukuri, or Madhunapit, q.v. Kurkuti, red ant, a totemis tic sept of Mundas in Chota Nagpur. Kurki Dholiar, a thar or sept of Ddmis in Darjiling, the members of which are drummers by profession. Kurin, a sub-caste of Dosadhs and Gonrhis in Behar ; of Mallahs in Behar, usually employed as boatmen. Kurisarjan, a subdivision of the Meches, also called Mechkuri, who sell oil. Kurma, tortoise, a totemistio section of Jaganndthi Kumhars in Orissa. flUtnU, Kunbi, Kurambi, a very large cultivating caste of „ ,. . Upper India, Behar, Chota Nagpur, and Traditions or origin. s. ■ niu • ... , j si ■ Orissa. Their origin is obscure, aud their meagre traditions throw no light upon the subject, being for the most part mythological tales of a trivial character, or legends relating to recent migrations of comparatively small sections of the caste. Writing of the Kurmis of Behar, Buchanan classes them among the " aboriginal Hindu nations that were not of sufficient consequence to be admitted into the order of Kshatris, but too powerful to be thrust into the dregs of impurity."1 In another place he mentions as not wholly untenable the opinion that the Kurmis of Gorakhpur are the same as the Thdrus, adding, how ever, that the Kurmis strenuously deny the connexion, they being nearly as pure as the Ahirs.2 The only evidence in support of this view seems to be the fact that the title Dhelphor, or ' clod breaker,' given by Buchanan as the name of a Kurmi ' tribe,' is found also among the Thdrus. This, however, proves nothing, as the term might obviously be applied to any class of regular cultiva tors. On the other hand, it is perfectly possible that a branch of the Thdrus on taking to settled cultivation may have sought to connect themselves, under the name of Dhelphor Kurmis, with the leading agricultural caste of the Ganges Valley. Sir Heury Elliot,5 Mr. Sherring,* and Mr. Nesfield5 treat the caste as an accom plished fart, and venture on no conjecture regarding its prob able origin. Sir George Campbell, speaking of the Kurmis of Hindustan, says they are on an average darker and less good-looking 1 Eastern India, i, 166. 3 Ibid, ii, 469. 3 Races of the North-Western Provinces, p. 155. * Hindu Tribes and Castes, i, 323. 6 Brief View of the Caste System, p. 14.

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Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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529 KUEMI. than Brahmans and Rajputs, but still quite Aryan in their features, institutions, and manners.1 Colonel Dalton regards them as the descendants of some of the earliest of the Aryan colonists of Bengal — "a brown, tawny-coloured people, of average height, well-proportioned, rather lightly framed, and with a fair amount of good looks. They show well-shaped heads and high features, less refined than Brahmans, less martial than Rajputs, of humbler mien even than the Goalas ; but, except when they have obviously intermixed with aborigines, they are unquestionably Aryan in looks. Grey eyes and brownish hair are sometimes met with amongst them. The women have usually small and well- formed hands and feet."2 The foregoing description clearly refers only to the Kurmis of Behar, who are on the whole a fine-looking race, though perhaps hardly so Aryan in appearance as Colonel Dalton seeks to make out. The caste bearing the same name in Chota Nagpur and Orissa belongs to an entirely different type. Short, sturdy, and of very dark complexion, these Kurmis closely resemble in feature the Dravidian tribes around them. In Manbhum and the north of Orissa it is difficult to distinguish a Kurmi from a Bhumij or a Santal, and the latter tribe, who are more particular about food than is commonly supposed, will eat boiled rice prepared by Kurmis ; and according to one tradition regard them as half- brethren of their own, sprung from the same father, who begot the Kurmis on the elder and the Santals on the younger of two sisters. The distinct and well-preserved totemism of the caste is noticed at length below. The question then arises— Are these Kurmis a degraded branch of the Kurmis of Behar and Upper India, or should they be treated as a separate caste formed out of Dravidian elements and owing their name to the accident of their having devoted themselves exclusively to culti- vation ? Colonel Dalton does not distinctly commit himself to either view ; but it is clear from his account of the caste that he was conscious of the difficulty, and was inclined on the whole to dispose of it by the hypothesis of degradation. This theory, however, fails entirely to account either for the remarkably uniform type of the Chota Nagpur Kurmis or for their totemistic usages. The latter point, however, appears to have been unknown to Colonel Dalton, and might possibly have induced him to change his opinion. Three hypotheses seem to be more or less tenable : — (1) that the class Kurmi is made up of two distinct stocks, the one Aryan and the other Dravidian ; (2) that the entire group comes of an Aryan stock, the type of which has been modified to a varying extent by mixture of blood and vicissitudes of occupation ; (3) that the entire group was originally Dravidian, but that those portions of it which lay in the track of the Aryan invasion were refined by intercourse with the immigrants, while those who settled in remote parts of the country preserved their primitive type. 1 Ethnology of India, p. 92, in J. A. S. B., vol. xxxv, part II. 1 Ethnology of Bengal, p. 320. 2 L

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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530 KUEMI The internal structure of the Kurmi caste is shown in a tabular form in Appendix I. In Behar the chief Internal structure. sub.castes are the following :—Ayodhiya OT Awadhiya, Chanaur, Ghamela, Jaiswar, Kachaisa, Ramaiya, Sanswar. The Ayodhiya claim to be of the highest dignity and purest blood, coming, as their name indicates, from Oudh, where they are usually cultivators, while in Bengal they often enlist inthe native army or serve as constables. The Jaiswar, less punctilious than the Ayodhiya, are husbandmen, proverbial for industry and skill, who, from indulging in spirits and permitting their widows to marry, are held to be degraded. In Manbhum we finds our endogamous groups,— Ku rum, Adh-Kurml or Madhyam-Kurmi, Sikharia or Chhota-Kurmi, and Nich-Kurmi. The Kurum aver that they are the original nucleus of the entire caste, and explain that the other groups were degraded for eating fowls and drinking spirituous liquor. To these ceremonial offences the Nich-Kurmi add great sexual laxity, and pay little regard to the chastity of young girls before marriage. In the north of Chota Nagpur two sub-castes appear to exist, Magahia, who are supposed to be immigrants from Behar and con form on the whole to Hindu practices, and Bagsaria or Bagsaria, whose usages are more of an aboriginal type. The latter group is popularly supposed to derive its name from Buxar, in Shahabad ; but the traditional reverence with which its members regard the tiger, and the occurrence of the same name as a section among wilder cognate castes, incline me to look upon it as totemistic. There is no evidence whatever in favour of the opinion that this sub-caste came from Buxar, and this notion is merely another instance of the common striving to find a rational explanation of terms the meaning of which has been forgotten. In Orissa we have Gaysari, Maisasari, Bagsari, and Gadasari.1 The first two are more Hinduised than the others, and are said to have given up eating pork, fowls, etc. The two lower divisions have no objection to marry into the upper divisions, but such marriages are extremely rare, and entail degradation of the members of the higher groups. The sections in use among the Kurmis of Chota Nagpur and Orissa are purely totemistic, and it will be seen from Appendix I that a large proportion of the totems are capable of being identified. In Behar, on the other hand, the section-names are titular, and the tendency is to discard the primitive rule of exogamy in favour of the more modern system of reckoning prohibited degrees by the formula quoted in the article on Bais. Where the section rule is in force, it is usually held that a man may not marry a woman of his own section, or of the sections to which his mother and his paternal and maternal grandmothers belonged. These facts tell in favour of the theory that all Kurmis are derived from a Dravidian stock : for, if the Behar Kurmis had been originally Aryans, they could have had no motive for discarding their original section-names ; whereas a Dravidian tribe intimately associated with Aryans and 1 Some interpret these names as having reference to the cow, the buffalo, the crane, and a pit or hollow in the ground (gadd). I mention the explana tion for what it may be worth.

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

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531 KUEMI subjected to Aryan influences would certainly be anxious to cast off totemistio designations which would serve only as a badge of social inferiority. It should be observed, moreover, that even in Behar the Kurmis have not risen high enough to establish a claim to use the Brahmanical gotras, and have had to content themselves with a titular series of names ; while in Bengal they are excluded, on the ground of their Dravidian descent, from the group of castes from whose hands a Brahman can take water. Among Behar Kurmis the general practice is that girls are „ . married as infants, adult-marriage being resorted to only in those cases where the girl's parents are too poor to conform to the fashion which requires that she should have been provided with a husband before reach ing the age of puberty. The ceremony is of the orthodox type, and was formerly followed by an elaborate entertainment given by the bridegroom. In course of time, however, the rivalry of neighbouring families made this a source of such heavy expense that the Kurmis determined to abolish the custom, and now refuse to ask for or to give money on such occasions. In Chota Nagpur and Orissa, though the tendency is on the whole towards infant-marriage, adult-marriage is still in full force, and sexual intercourse between unmarried people is tacitly recognised, it being understood that if the giri becomes pregnant her lover will come forward to marry her before her child is born. In such intrigues the law of exogamy must be strictly observed, and intercourse between members of the same totem is reckoned as incest and punished by expulsion from the caste. The marriage ceremony is of a highly primitive character, and comprises several usages of special interest. After the preliminary negotiations have been completed and a bride-price (pan), varying from Rs. 3 to Rs. 9, has been paid to the parents of a girl, an auspicious day for the marriage is fixed on the basis of certain astrological data, which are usually arrived at by consulting a Brahman skilled in such matters. Early on the wedding morning the betrothed pair, each in their own homes, are separately married to trees— the bride to a mahua (Bassia latifolia), and the bridegroom to a mango (mangifera Indicd). This curious rite merits full description. Wearing on the right wrist a bracelet of the leaves of the mahua, the bride walks round the tree seven times, and then sits in her mother's lap on an earthen platform built close to the trunk. While sitting in this position her right hand and right ear are tied to the tree with thread by her elder sister's husband or by some male member of the household, and she is made to chew mahua leaves, which are afterwards eaten by her mother. Last of all, lights are lit round the tree, and it is solemnly worshipped by all present. The same ritual is separately performed by the bridegroom, with the difference that in his case the tree is a mango, and is circled nine times instead of seven. The people who practise this singular ceremony believe that by it all misfortunes of the bride and bridegroom are somehow forestalled and transferred to the tree, which thus acts as a sort of scapegoat. Instances of similar superstitions are given by Tylor and Peschel.1 It occurs to me, 1 Primitive Culture, ii, 149: Volkerkunde, 26'S.

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532 KUEMI. however, as possible that we may have here a survival of a still more ancient idea— the notion that a virgin, before being married, must be dedicated to some god, who exercises the right to her person, which, int he first beginnings of communal life, is supposed to have been claimed by the tribe. On the completion of the rite by the bridegroom (the bride, as I have stated, goes through it separately in her own home), his friends form a procession and escort him to the bride's house, the time of starting being arranged so that the party shall arrive in the evening. On reaching the house the bride's people come out to meet the bridegroom, and daub sandal wood paste on his forehead, using the point of an areca nut for this purpose. He is then taken to a wedding canopy made of sal branches, where the bride joins him, and both march seven times round a sacred fire represented by an earthen vessel with a lamp burning inside it. Meanwhile the maternal uncles of the bride and bridegroom exchange plates of rice in token of friendship and social intercourse. After circling the fire the wedded pair sit down together on a platform of dried clay built under the canopy, and the bridegroom touches the bride between the breasts with a drop of his own blood, drawn by cutting through the nail of his little finger and mixed with lac-dye. This symbolical transfusion of blood marks the transfer of the bride from her own to her husband's section, and is evidently the original form of the widespread custom of sindurddn. Oddly enough, the next stage of the ritual is sindurddn, performed in the ordinary way by smearing vermilion on the bride's forehead and the parting of her hair. At the same time an iron bracelet (khdrn) is put on the bride's left wrist. This double observance of sindurddn, in its original and its derivative form, may probably be accounted for by supposing the latter to have been adopted from the Hindus after its connexion with the former and less civilised practice had been lost sight of. It gives an excellent illustration of the facility with which customs, like myths, pass from tribe to tribe and are adopted by men as the fancy strikes them, without any one taking the trouble to inquire into their original meaning. The Kurmis of Behar usually employ Brahmans to preside at their marriages and to recite sacred texts (mantras) at certain stages of the ceremony. In Chota Nagpur and Orissa Brahmans are not called in : the eldest male of the household, the Layd of the village, or in some cases the brothers-in-law of the bride and bridegroom, take the leading part in the ritual. In the matter of polygamy the Behar Kurmis profess to hold that a man may only take a second wife in the event of the first being barren ; but this rule is frequently transgressed in practice by those who can afford to maintain several wives. In Orissa, again, polygamy appears to be regarded with disfavour, and it is deemed more respectable for a man to have but one wife. Tho Kurmis of Chota Nagpur, on the other hand, recognise no restrictions at all except those imposed by the standard of living common in the oaste. All Kurmis except the Ayodhid sub-caste in Behar allow a widow to marry again, and require her to marry her husband's

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The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

533 KUEMI, younger brother or younger cousin, even though be be already married, on pain of forfeiting not merely all claims to a share in her husband's property, but also the custody of all children whom she may have had by him. The idea seems to be that she has been bought at a price, and belongs to the family that bought her. If she is perverse enough to fall in love with an outsider, no active measures are taken to prevent her from marrying him, but she may take nothing with her— not even the children begotten on her by her late husband. In some cases she is allowed to retain temporary charge of female children or of infants at the breast ; but she is bound to make them over before they attain a marriageable age, in order that her late husband's family may not be deprived of the bride-price payable for the girls. The ceremony in use at the marriage of a widow is comparatively simple, consisting merely of putting on bracelets and applying vermilion, which is touched by the bridegroom and then smeared on the bride's forehead by some of the married women of her own or the bridegroom's family. Others, again, say that this must be done by widows ; and in parts of Manbhum the widow has to undergo the indignity of receiving nindur from the bridegroom's great toe. Divorce is permitted, with the sanction of the panchdy at, on the ground of the wife's adultery or barrenness, or if the couple cannot get on together. The husband pours some water on the ground or tears a leaf in two to symbolise separation, while the wife must give up the iron ring (kharu) which was placed on her wrist at her marriage. Three months' alimony is usually given to the wife. Divorced women may marry again by the same ceremony as widows. The Midnapur Kurmis profess not to allow divorce, and there are symptoms among them of a tendency to abandon widow marriage. In the matter of inheritance Behar Kurmis follow the standard . , „ Hindu law ; while in Chota Nagpur and Inheritance. r. , » Tj.-T.ir Orissa traces ot an earlier tribal custom may etill be discerned, under which the eldest son gets twice the share of his brothers, and a son by a bihdi wife, married as a virgin by the full ceremony, has a similar advantage over sons by sagai wives. An actual instance will illustrate the working of the rule. A Kurmi dies leaving three sons and three khdris of land; the eldest gets a khari and a half, the two younger three-fourths of a khari apiece. If there were two sons— one by a bihdi and the other by a sagai wife, the former would get two khdris and the latter one. Daughters and daughters' sons are excluded by male agnates, such as cousins; but in Orissa an only daughter may claim something on account of her marriage expenses. The religion of the Behar Kurmis differs little from that of . other Hindu castes of similar social standing. Maithil or Tirhutia Brahmans usually serve them as priests, and are received on terms of equality by other members of the sacred order. By preference they appear to incline rather to Vaishnavism, but votaries of Siva and the Saktis are also found among them. Besides the minor gods ordinarily

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

534 KUEMI worshipped in Behar, the members of the Sanswdr sub-caste have a special deity of their own, called Mokini Mahato, who is said to have been a Kurmi. I have been unable to ascertain on what grounds he was deified. He-kids are sacrificed to him occasionally, and various kinds of sweetmeats offered, but there appear to be no fixed days for his worship. In Eastern Bengal members ofthe Ayodhya sub-caste employ Sakadwipi Brahmans for religious and ceremonial purposes, and have Atit or Yaishnava mendicants for their Gurus. The majority are followers of Kabir, Darya Das, or Ramanand. In the same parts of the country the Jaiswar Kurmis favour the Panch Piriya, creed, eating any animal offered in sacrifice to a Hindu deity, and at the Bame time keeping the Muharam and fasting during the Ramazan, while a few are followers of Nanak Shah and Kabir. In Chota Nagpur and Orissa the Kurmis are in a still earlier stage of religious development. The animistic beliefs characteristic of the Dravidian races are overlaid by the thinnest veneer of conventional Hinduism, and the vague shapes of ghosts or demons who haunt the jungle and the rock are the real powers to whom the average Kurmi looks for the ordering of his moral and physical welfare. Chief among these is Bar-Pahar, the mountain deity of the Santals; Gosain Rai, perhaps a variant of Gosain Era ; Ghat, any striking hill pass, such as the Dhangara Pass, near Chatra, which figures in the early traditions of the caste; Garoar, who watches over cows ; Grameswari, the patron goddess of the village ; Kinchekeswari; Boram-devi; Sat-bahani; Dakum Buri, and Mati amai. The functions and attributes of these deities are not susceptible of close definition, and the worshippers seem to be conscious of little more than a vague notion that by sacrificing goats, sheep, fowls, etc., and offering libations of rice-beer, certain material calamities, such as disease and bad harvests, may be warded off. In this worship Brahmans usually take no part, and either the head of the household officiates or a professional hedge- priest (dehari or Idyd) is called in ; but to this rule there is a curious exception in the Bamanghati pargana of Moharbhanj, where Brahman priests offer fowls to the goddess Kinchekeswari on behalf of her Kurmi votaries. Jitibahan, again, a deity whose attributes I cannot ascertain, is said to be worshipped only by women, assisted by degraded Brahmans. In respect of the employment of Brahmans, the practice of the Kurmis of Chota Nagpur and Orissa is by no means uniform. In Midnapur they call in the assistance of Brahmans on all religious and ceremonial occasions, but these priests are held to be degraded by rendering this service, and are not received on equal terms by other members of their own order. In Manbhum, Lohardaga, and Moharbhanj Brahmans assist only in the funeral ceremonies of the caste, and all other religious functions, including marriage, are discharged by the eldest Kurmi who is present at the time. The Moharbhanj Kurmis affect to get their Brahmans from Sikharbhum, and some of these claim to be of the Rarhi sub-caste, though such pretensions would of course not be recognised by the Brahmans of Bengal.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

535 KUEMI Besides the B&ndhnci Parab, which is common to them and the Santdls, the Akhan Jatra, or cake festival, deserves notice as being peculiar to the Kurmis. " On the last day of the month of Piis (in the middle of January), when the granaries are full, the people make cakes in the shape of a double cone, called gargaria pithd, put on their best attire, and assemble on a green outside their village, and the young men and women form circles and dance and sing. This is followed by a joust of archery: a cock is thrown up in the air, and this is con tinued till one of the young men manages to shoot the bird with an arrow. The successful archer is then treated as the hero of the day." * As a general rule all Kurmis, except the very poor, burn their „ , , , adult dead, and perform obsequies resembling Disposal or the dead. ., , , j,s 1 i 1 i r the regular sraddh more or less closely accord ing to the standard of ceremonial purity recognised in the caste. Thus the Jaiswar Kurmis celebrate the srdddh on the thirty-first day after death, following herein the traditional period of mourning ordained for the Sudras; the Ayodhia, claiming higher rank and greater purity of blood, mourn for twelve days only, and perform the srdddh on the thirteenth ; while the Kurmis of Chota Nagpur and Orissa, like most Dravidians working up to Hinduism, observe the term of mourning laid down for Brahmans, and hold obsequies on the eleventh day. In Gya unmarried persons of either sex are buried, but this appears to be merely an extension of the common practice of burying children, which is probably traceable to the desire to avoid the expense of cremation. Burial is also resorted to in Chota Nagpur and Orissa in cases where death has been caused by cholera or small-pox, and the body is laid in the grave face down wards, the idea being that the spirits of those who die by a rapid and fatal disease, arising from the malice of a special demon, can be prevented by this device from returning after death and spreading infection among the living. A Kurmi woman is unclean until three ceremonies have been performed. On the sixth day after birth the Gulhatti Chhathi is observed, at which the mother is obliged to drink rice-grueL On the twelfth day the Bdrahi is kept, and a feast provided for ten or twelve children. Lastly, on the Bisdi, or twentieth day, the mother paints the well with red lead, draws water, and is deemed dean. In Behar the social rank of the caste is respectable, and Brah- mans will take water from their hands ; while they themselves profess to follow the rule3 of diet which are binding on all respectable Hindus. The Jaiswar sub-caste, however, are supposed in some districts to eat fowls and field-rats. In Chota Nagpur and Orissa their practice is far more lax. By abstaining from beef and pork2 they have raised themselves a step higher than the Santdls, Oraons, and other non- Hinduised tribes; but the fact that they eat fowls and field-rats, both abominable in the eyes of the orthodox, and indulge freely in spirituous liquors, excludes them from the circle of castes 1 Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal, p. 320. 2 In Orissa this reform has been adopted quite recently.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

536 KUEMI. from whose hands a Brahman can take water. Their standing in these districts, though not very clearly defined, is sufficiently indicated by the circumstance that in the north of Orissa Magahiya Kumhdrs, Bhuiyas, and Rajwdrs are the highest castes who will admit that they can take water and sweetmeats from Kurmis. On the other hand, the Kurmis themselves have some curious prejudices in the matter of food, in which perhaps we may discern traces of the traditional antipathy to Brahmans which distinguishes the Santal. A Kurmi, for example, will not touch food cooked by any Brahman except his own guru ; while a Kurmi woman will not eat food prepared by her husband's guru. Santdls will eat food cooked by a Kurmi, but the Kurmis will not return the compliment, though they will smoke from the same hookah as a Santal, and will take water from his hands. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, Kayasths, but not Brahmans, will drink from a Kurmi's water- vessel and smoke from his hookah. Agriculture is regarded by the Kurmis as their original and characteristic profession, and no marked ccupa ion. tendency to engage in other occupations seems to be traceable among them, although of late years a few have taken to trading in grain. In Behar Kurmis are sometimes employed as personal servants in the households of the higher castes; and this practice, which seems to have been more widely prevalent in Buchanan's time,1 must have played an important part in the refinement of their physical type. The great majority of the caste are occupancy or non-occupancy raiyats ; some have acquired substantial tenures. In Orissa many are pradhdns, or village headmen, holding service lands ; a small proportion make a livelihood as landless day-labourers ; while, at the other end of the scale, the few who have risen to be considerable zamindars have managed to transform themselves into Rajputs, and cannot now be recognised as Kurmis. Two instances of this have come to notice. The zamindar of Khelar, in Nayabasan pargana of the Midnapur district, is said to have been a Kurmi, who attempted to reform his brethren by urging them to abandon the custom of widow-marriage, and to give up yoking cows to the plough. His efforts, however, were unsuccessful, and the Kheldr family now call themselves Kshatriyas, and strenu- ously disown all connexion with the Kurmis. Another case is that of the well-known house of Paohet in Eastern Manbhum. The Pachet Raja claims to be a Go-bansi Rajput, and traces back his ancestry fii'ty-two generations to a child discovered in the woods by the Kurmis being suckled by a cow. The Kurmis of those parts say they have been there just the same number of generations, and Colonel Dalton seems to have thought that the Paohet people were probably of Kurmi extraction, basing his opinion partly on the coincidence in the number of generations, and partly on the fact that the family cannot rationally traoe back their origin out of the district, while there is no particular reason for supposing them to be Bhumij or Munda. Any attempt, however, to account for 1 Eastern India, i, 166.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

537 KUEMI, the fact that hardly any Kurmi zamindars are to be found at the present day must, from the nature of the case, be purely conjectural. The settlement of the caste on the land must have taken place in very early times, and in Manbhum many Kurmis claim even now to hold their lands at a moiety of the current rates of rent, on the ground that they were the original clearers of the soil. Some of these pioneers of cultivation must in the nature of things have developed into zamindars or local Rajas; but on attaining this position they would undoubtedly set up as Rajputs, and in the course of a generation or two would be accepted locally as members of that very heterogeneous group. Kurmis are excellent cultivators, and a large proportion of the raiyats who grow opium in Behar are drawn from their ranks. They are said, however, to be less painstaking and less skilful in the management of special crops than the Koiris, who show a remark able talent for spade husbandry and all forms of gardening. Kurmis, on the other hand, are noted for their industry in the management of the staple food-crops, and are particularly successful wheat-growers. To render thanks for the harvest already reaped and garnered, as well as to ensure an abundant crop next season, the Ayodhya sub caste annually celebrate a harvest home in the following manner. In the centre of a piece of ground, levelled and plastered for the purpose, a lofty pole is erected, to which the cattle are tethered and made to tread out a portion of the new wheat crop. This being finished, the pole is removed and the hole filled with water, and sweetmeats (laddu) consecrated to Mahddeva and Paramesvara, after which a feast of parched barley and various kinds of confectionery is given to the Brahmans of the village. All Kurmis worship the plough at the time of the Dasahard festival. The following statement shows the number and distribution of the Kurmis in 1872 and 1881 :— 2 M DlBTBICT. 1872. 1881. Distbict. 1872. 1881. Bardwan Bankura Birbhum Midnapur Hughli Howrah ... 24-Parganas ... Nadiya Khulna Jessore Murshedabad Dinajpur Rajshahye Rangpur Bogra Pabna Darjiling Jalpigori Kuch Behar ... Dacca Faridpur Bakarganj ... Maimansinh ... Tipperah 890 622 864 40,410 I 696 4,275 1,654 883 8,222 400 1,480 1,360 262 449 260 142 2,561 11,810 1,591 45,290 C 634 1 702 3,469 2,861 493 644 4,515 2,245 2,798 4,283 66 2,333 689 868 3,683 2,831 781 187 1,723 872 Chittagong Noakhali Hill Tracts Patna Gya Shahabad Tirhut fMozuflerpur lirhut | DarbhaBga Saran Champaran Monghyr Bhagalpur Purniah Maldah Santal Parganas ... Cuttack Puri Balasore Tributary States ... Hazaribagh Lohardaga- Singbhum Manbhum Tributary States ... 47 13 1 165,463 40,826 58,540 \ 142,303 101,015 77,611 33,029 16,827 6,418 1,592 9,777 191 45 222 11,051 45,538 35,688 19,667 187,981 1,647 105 3 27 194,222 43,838 66,284 f 115,117 I 61,060 112,570 87,736 88,610 30,423 14,678 8,995 13,240 865 69 5,912 19,810 62,144 43,630 9,708 168,880 14,472 608 828 20 659 221

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

English

003109315

1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

538 KUSHIHAE. KUEMINIA. Kurminia, Karminia, a sept of Rajputs in Behar. Kurno Beheri, a thar or sept of Ddmis in Darjiling, the members of which are musicians by profession. Kurmuri, a gain of the Batsya gotra of Barendra Brahmans in Bengal. Kurram, a sub-caste of Tdm bulis in Behar- Kurnat, a section of Awadhia Hajjams in Behar. Kursi, fruit, a totemistic sept of Mundas in Chota Nagpur. Kuru, the local and popular name of as ragment of the Pardhia, a hunting sub-tribe of Savars, who are found in the south of pargana Biru in Lohardaga. Tho Kuru speak a dialect of Mundari, but do not eat or intermarry with Mundas, Kharias or Oraons ; marriage is both infant and adult, and the practice of marrying one or both of the parties to a mango tree is in vogue. The Sarhul and Kuram festivals are observed in spring and autumn. Kurus eat beef and pork, and it is doubtful whether they can be classed as Hindus at all, though the fact that they will take water, sweetmeats, etc., only from the hands of Brahmans, Rajputs, Rautias, Kharwars, Jhoras and Khandaits, seems to indicate a desire on their part to rise in the scale of social distinction. For the most part they earn a miserable livelihood by collecting jungle products and watching the crops of their more civilised neighbours. Some, however, have taken to cultivation, and a few are recognised as having acquired Korkar rights. Kurum, a sub-caste of, and a synonym for, Kurmi in Western India, occasionally used in Behar. Kusa I, a thar or sept of Newars ; a section of Brahmans. Kusala, a gain or sub-section of Saptasati Brahmans in Ben gal. Kurumdnik, a synonym for Kurmi. Kurumbar, a sept of the Suryabansi sub-tribe of Rajputs in Behar. Kusari, again of the Sandilya gotra of Rarhi Brahmans in Bengal. Kurumbhong, the divider of the village, a sept of the Chhothar sub-tribe of Limbus. The found er of this thar is said, for reasons not stated, to have divided his village into two parts by draw ing a line down the middle. Kusarpakri, a mul or section of the Chhamulia Madhesia sub caste of Halwais in Behar. KusbhabSni, a sept of Rajputs in Behar. Kurunkh, a synonym for Oraon. Kusbhansi, a sept of the Chandrabansi division of Rajputs in Behar; a title of Bagdis in Bengal. Kurur, a sub-caste of Muchis in Bengal. Kusadai or Saptagrdini, a sub-caste of Tambulis in Bengal. Kushihar, a synonym for Arkasiya, q v.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

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1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

KUSIET. 539 KU'TI. Kusiet, a mul or section of the Ghosin sub-caste of Goalas in Behar. Kusumbaha, kussum flower, a sept of Mundas in Chota Nag pur. Kusik, a section of Kayasths in Bengal. Kusumkali, a gain of the Sandilya gotra of Rarhi Brah mans in Bengal. Kusmare-Sabas, a mul of the Kasyapa section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kusumni, a tree or its fruit; a sept of Chiks in Chota Nagpur. Kusmare-Dhanauli, a mul of the Kdsyap section of Maithil Brahmans in Behar. Kusuwa, fish, a totemistic sept of Oraons in Chota Nagpur. Kutabkhani, a pathi or hyper gamous sub-group of Barendra Brahmans in Bengal. Kusmetia, Kusmdtid, or Kus putra, a sub-caste of Bagdis in Western Bengal, said to be named after the kusa grass, and apparently totemistic. Kutabpur, a sub* caste of Kotals in Chota Nagpur. Kutabpuri, a sub-caste of Telis in Bengal. Kusro, a sept of Gonds in Chota Nagpur. Kutar, a section of Godlds in Behar. Kussum, a fruit, a totemistic sept of Bhuiyas and Kharwars in Chota Nagpur. Kutari, Kdthurd (Kuthar, an axe), a degraded sub-caste of Sutradhars who work as carpen ters and also deal in lime. Kusuar, fish, a totemistic sept of Lohdrs in Chota Nagpur. Kutba, a mul or section of the Ayodhia sub-caste of Sonars in Behar. Kusum, a sept of Pans in Chota Nagpur. Kutf, a subdivision of Mahomedans in Eastern Bengal, deriving their name from the Hindustani Kutna, to pound or beat. They are regarded as a most degraded class, it being the popular belief that they joined the ranks of Islam only a few generations ago, while, like all new converts, they are most intolerant, affecting to be more orthodox than their neighbours and regarding foreigners with extreme suspicion. They are either followers of Dudhu Mfyan, or of Maulavi Kardmat Alf_; and, although punctilious in their religious duties out of doors, cling to many Hindu supersti tions. In October they worship the Dhenki used for husking grain, at the same time making offerings to Lakshmi, the goddess of plenty, and every morning bowing thrice before it ; while nothing, according to them, is more ominous of evil than for a stranger to sit down or to rest his foot on it. When small-pox attacks their

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

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1891

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal ... Ethnographic glossary. (Official edition, circulated for criticism.)

Calcutta

540 KYAUKPIATSA- Kim. families the Sitala pujah is observed, the Same offerings being made to the goddess as among Hindus. Kutis are divided into the three following classes, who inter- marry and hold social intercourse with each other— Pdon Kuti, Hath Kuti, Chutki Kuti. The Pdon Kuti, by far the most numer- ous, are masons, thatchers, goldsmiths, boatmen, water-carriers, but their principal occupation is husking rice. Bepdri is their ordinary title, while those who are expert at weighing grain are called Kayydl, the equivalent of Ddndi-ddr, or weighman. The wives of the Kiitf alone among Mussulman women appear unveiled in public, making purchases in the bazdr, fetching water from the river, and boiling and husking rice in the open air. Among the richer families the women are expert workers of Kashida cloth, and often take service as wet-nurses. The Pdon Kuti have a panchdyat of their own, like any Hindu .caste, and a headman called Sarddr. The Hath Kiitf pound bricks for road metal with an iron pestle or mallet, and makes surkhi for mortar. This subdivision is a small one, and is being gradually absorbed by the first. According to Buchanan, the Chutki probably take their name from carrying about samples or a pinch (chutki) of rice to show the quality of the whole, and as all Kutis deal in rice, the designation was applied to them collectively. At the present day the usual occupation of the Chutki is extracting the kernel of the cocoanut for the manufacture of oil, and polishing the shells to make hookahs. No respectable Mahomedan will marry, eat, or associate with the Kiitf, although they are admitted into the public mosques and buried in the public graveyard. It is a plausible conjecture that the entire Kuti class may be made up of Chandals converted to Islam, and this view gains some support from the fact that in Eastern Bengal Kutis and Chanddls annually compete in boat races on the popular Shashthi Pujah — a circumstance which would account for their low rank among Mahomedans. Kutua, a sept of Chakmas in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Kyagchhagi, a thar or sept of Mangars in Darjiling. Kutunjia, a section of Pdns in Chota Nagpur. Kyaukmatsa, a sept of Maghs in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Kwinjusa, a sept of Maghs in the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Kyaukpiatsa, a sept of Maghs in the Hill Tracts of Chitta gong. Kyabohcha, a thar or sept of Sunuwars in Darjiling. W. J.— Eeg. No. 4044J— 120— 3-12-91.

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e

Risley, Herbert Hope, Sir, k.c.i.e [person]

2 volumes (8°)

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000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CEEWE A NOVEL BY HELEN M. BOULTON For the P.nst is all holy to us ; the Dead are all holy, even they that were bnse and wicked while alive. Their baseness and wickedness was not They, was but the heavy and unmanageable Environment that lay round them, with which they fought unprevailing Their life-long Battle, go how it might, is all ended, with many wounds or with fewer; they have been recalled from it, and the once harsh-jarring battle-field has become a silent awe-inspiring Golgotha. — Carlyle. LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1895

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

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300 pages (8°)

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000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Buncay.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

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England

300 pages (8°)

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000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE I " The needle that will lead the thread through all." Oliver Cromwell. It was a golden river that was flowing past, broad and stately, and glowing with the light of the setting sun. Boats and barges lay darkly on its bosom, and the houses near at hand stood up, tall and black, against the fast-deepening colours of the evening sky. The sun was sinking towards the lurid couch of billowy clouds, that was waiting to receive and hide him, and the great City, and the great Thames were made strangely beautiful by the last rays of his dying splendour. We were playing, we children, on a flight of steps that led from a narrow street down to the water's edge, and if I and my little hunchback friend noticed the beauty of the river, we were assuredly the only two who did. To the rest it was but " the river," and golden or leaden grey it mattered little to them. u

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

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300 pages (8°)

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000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

2 JOSEPHINE CREWE It was their playfellow, and they splashed and sported with it as they ran down the steps and as far into the water as their little legs would allow, or jumped to the narrow margin of mud at the edge, and waded in and out of the dirty scum collected there. The evening was sultry, and the muddy water was cool and pleasant to the bare feet of these little street-arabs, but as for the river's golden beauty, what was that to them ? As little, too, did it interest the idlers lounging behind us, pipe in mouth, against a low wall at the steps' head. This bit of wall formed a favourite resort on a summer's evening, and there the men would lounge and smoke, sometimes sunk in an indolent silence, sometimes indulging in conversation flavoured with a wit that was none too keen and ofttimes none too wholesome, for this was a low locality. They found satisfaction in abusing their circumstances, or in recalling the sins and follies of many a one who sought shelter among the closely packed and crowded houses around them : these were the topics that interested them most. The little children at play; the shining river; the picturesque, slow-floating barges and the busy steamers ; the sunshine and the shadows ; the clear sky overhead, and the glorious pageant in the west, these things were of no account to them. If they heeded the sunshine, it was because it warmed them ; if they noticed the brightness of the light that

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 3 caught the water, it was because it dazzled their eyes ; if they looked down at the children, it was only to laugh and egg them on when they quarrelled and imitated the language of their elders. There were some half-dozen of us there that evening, dirty, ragged, little souls, yet happy enough in our way, and bubbling over with intelligence and animation. Miniature men and women ? Yes, at times, yet children at bottom, thorough children, full of strange dreams and fancies about the world that lay beyond the experience of the few years we had numbered, crowded as those years of little London waifs usually are. Such as we were, we formed an object of interest to a well-dressed, elderly gentleman who walked briskly up to the loungers by the wall as if to ask some question, and then, catching sight of us, paused to watch with the kindly light that the sight of a child brings to the eyes of a lover of children. I was seated on the lowest step above the water's edge with my feet resting on a yet lower beneath the water; my elbows were on my knees, my chin in my hands, and I gazed across the river while I listened to an impossible story of floating away to the sea told me by the little hunchback girl who crouched beside me. I heard the gentleman's step on the rough paving of the lane, and turned with quick eyes to investigate the new-comer. With keenness of perception sharpened by want and pre-

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

4 JOSEPHINE CREWE carious living I read his face, and had I encountered him for the second time months later, I should at once have recalled the scene by the river-side, the loungers, the water-babies, the summer sky and sunshine, and all the setting for that kindly face, and had the time been more propitious, I should have begged, and probably not in vain. He was the kind of man who gives to a child beggar. I read his character then, and in after years my reading was verified. A kinder-hearted man never breathed, nor a more gentle and refined, and perhaps seldom a more indolent. He was too indolently kind to say no to a demand on his generosity. Yet I did not beg that evening ; the fates were not pro- pitious, for had I attempted it " Bloke Billy " aud his pals by the wall would have been down on me by way of a jest, and I should have been discomfited. So I avoided attempt rather than risk failure, and gain being thus out of sight, I courted pleasure, and forgot the stranger. Town children seldom play in solitude, watchers do not disconcert them, and "showing off" is too much trouble. There was a quarrel in our ranks, but that was nothing new; we were always quarrelling, and as was not unusually the case, a treasure in the scum at the water's edge formed the bone of contention. To right and to left of the steps buildings jutted out into the water and formed a little harbour where the scum collected and was an endless source of

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

5 JOSEPHINE CREWE pleasure to us. Not only did it delight us as it oozed through our muddy toes, or was kicked out in frothy lumps to be fished for with eager hands, and not without difficulty and danger, but it was to us a source of infinite possibilities. Among the corks and straws and scraps of vegetables that mingled with it might be found bits of firewood, old boots, and tins, and many things good for play, if not for use. Other possibilities, too, presented themselves when evening came and the light waned. We saw strange and fearsome things in our little harbour then that only children's eyes can see. Often when we played down there at dusk, when all was shrouded and uncertain in the mist, and the red lights on the boats showed like dull red eyes through the gloom, when the boats themselves sent the water lazily lapping on the little muddy strand and against the slimy stones, then we would creep with tremulous awe and half-shrinking excitement to the steps' head, and peer down to the heard, but scarce seen water. We would look, and look, till we fancied we could distinguish its sway, and a something it was rocking slowly to and fro. To me such a misty evening brought indescribable sensations, terrors, dreams, a wordless fascination. My little world was, and yet was not; all was there, yet changed ; no line kept its own direction, no point its place, no size its own dimensions. I would crouch alone there, the river lights passing dimly before me,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

6 JOSEPHINE CREWE the voices of tho boatmen coming strangely through the mist, while I sat on, motionless, and dreamed dreams. On moonlight evenings the little hunchback would join me. She liked the moonlight best, but it was not so with me; it drove away my dreams, and I could only watch reality. On this particular summer evening the world was a pleasant, sunny, matter-of-fact place, and no fear some discovery disturbed our play. The subject of quarrel was nothing more than a piece of rotten driftwood, which when dried would be good for firing. It lay against the building that jutted out on our right, and dangers had to be encountered for its recovery. The boys of the party had, with much pushing and jeering, tried and failed, and the last unsuccessful competitor, dripping from head to foot, was now challenging the red-haired urchin who had tripped him up, to single combat. I rose and advanced to take my turn at the perilous enterprise. "Get out wi' you, Carrots," I cried, elbowing my way past the biggest of the combatants. "You're a blazing idiot to stand by and let a girl get it when you can't ! " " I'd like to see you get it ! You'll tumble and be drownded, and I'll not fish yer out, see if I do ! " I laughed derisively, and splashed gaily into the water, but I had not taken more than two or three steps on the sticky mud and greasy stones of our

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 7 little harbour before I sat down precipitately with a splash and bump. " Ha, ha, ha ! Good old Jos'phine ! Jos'phine Crewe's gone and done it ! There's mud for you ! There's a pictur of a gurl ! " cried Carrots, and the men by the wall guffawed. I arose scarlet and tingling with rage, and with mind made up to succeed : I would drown rather than come back without the little log. I crept along by the wall, feeling my way cautiously on the uncertain foothold of stones and mud, and clinging with fingers, pale from their pressure, to the rough stones which yet afforded so little to grasp. At every step the water rose higher. It caught the edge of my tattered petticoats and floated them a moment, then soaked them, and they sank, clinging round my legs. I did not turn my head, but I was conscious of the silent interest of the audience on shore, and this braced my nerves. Each step brought greater difficulties, and my hold on the wall was precarious. Once a bit of stone and mortar gave way; I tottered, and one of the men swore, and then laughed ; once I slipped sideways, and my arm sank to the shoulder, but each time I righted myself, and when I reached out a trembling hand to the wood, a feeble little cheer rose from the watching children. Proud and elated, I struggled desperately through the difficult return with my load, and raised a hot, triumphant face towards the

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

8 JOSEPHINE CREWE men, who applauded me indolently with highly seasoned epithets. The gentleman only looked at me curiously. So far I was victor, but as yet it was only half a victory, for Carrots was big and more than my match, and he would certainly not stand patiently a beating by a girl. I darted past him to the head of the steps, but he was close behind me. I knew I could not retain my prize, but neither should it be his. There was not an instant to lose. I turned at bay, a dripping little rat with insolent, exultant, derisive face, and at the very moment he would have seized the treasure, I raised my arms above my head, and flung the bit of wood, flung it with all my force, out to the very harbour mouth ; then turned and fled to the shelter of applauding Billy and his pals. " Ah, you're an imperent little piece of goods ! You're your mother all over and more so ! " said Billy, not unkindly. Again the strange gentleman looked at me curiously. " Can you tell me," he asked Billy, " if a woman of the name of Amelia Hamilton, or Amelia Crewe, lives anywhere in this neighbourhood ? " " I shouldn't be surprised if Joseph 'ere could tell you if she chose," he answered, pulling my hair so that my eyes watered ; but that did not prevent my keenly observing the stranger. The colour mounted to his cheek as the farthest off of the roughs made

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

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1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 9 some joke which immensely pleased the rest, but which I did not catch. Then all began to give evidence, mainly in the form of broad innuendo, much of it founded on hearsay, much of it coloured, or altogether untrue, about one, Amelia Crewe, and I deemed it best to slip quickly away, and seek and warn one, Amelia Crewe, that a stranger who knew she was born Hamilton had dogged her to these parts. I darted round street corners, down a dirty alley, and up the stairs which led to our eyry at the top of a tall and populous house. I ran into a woman coming down, and nearly tripped her up, and some of the beer she was carrying was upset on my head and trickled down the back of my neck. " Get along with you ! Where are you going, you dirty brat ? " she cried, striking at me. " Where are I going ? Why, to heaven, to be sure ! Don't you see I'm mounting step by step up the steep and narrer way ? " I cried, with the ready wit of the street child whose bread-and-butter is often dependent on her sharpness; and I darted past the woman and up the attic stairs. " It's you as must look where you're going," I called, " galloping down the broad and easy road on a pint pot." I grimaced at her, and disappeared into my mother's room. " Oh, Josephine, Josephine, there you are again ! You are a wicked girl, and your wild ways and your pert tongue will bring you to harm one of these days. What mischief have you been in now, all

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

10 JOSEPHINE CREWE dripping wet like that ? It won't be my fault, for I've done my best, but whatever is to become of you I am sure I don't know." A careless, saucy retort had risen to my lips at the querulous tone of my mother's voice, but something almost of anguish in her last remark arrested my words. I looked at her curiously as she sat idly by the table with her hands in her lap. " Mother, you are sober, so listen to what I have got to tell you. A gentleman down by the river steps was asking for you. Amelia Crewe, or Amelia Hamilton, he called you. They will tell him where to find you ? " She did not move, but her hands trembled, and the colour rose to her face. "A gentleman? What was he like? Had you ever seen him before ? " " No, never. He is tall, with grey hair, and he is thin, and he stoops a little, and has a long nose. He is well off and gives away a lot, I bet, for he looks a soft-hearted sort." She asked no more, but I could see she was uneasy, and that she was listening to the sounds in the house. I, too, listened for a step on the stairs, for I was curious as to who the stranger might be, but I asked no questions, for where was the use of questioning when I felt sure time would bring the best answer ? Yet time lingered with the reply that night, and I almost forgot tbe matter.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 11 I made the tea, for neither Mother nor I had had any. I got out the loaf and butter, and set them on the table, and we dawdled through a silent meal. Mother was often silent, but there was always plenty to think about, and I didn't mind. Then I fell to studying my mother as she sat there, sipping and stirring her tea, with her eyes on the ground. I got my hair from her, hair like silk, so fine and light and wavy, and we had the same small-featured faces, the same clear eyes of a light blue or grey. Yes, we were very alike ; I was just a childish miniature of her. But though Mother's face was still young, it looked hard and miserable, and sin and disease had hollowed her cheek and given her a strange, false, unnatural look, a sort of gaslight appearance that was pitiful by day. She was a slight, spare woman, and tidy for that neighbourhood. Often I thought her dear and beautiful, yet at times she filled me with a shuddering horror and loathing, and I shrank away from her with dread. Even then I could not forget she was my mother, and my love for her struggled frantically with my aversion, and always came off victorious. She wore a lilac print that evening, and looked almost girlish as she sat with her small listless hands and delicate wrists, her bent head concealing her face and showing only her soft fair hair. She and that meagre room constituted all I knew of home, yet kneeling there on my rickety chair, kicking my heels idly, and with my elbows on the table, I

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

12 JOSEPHINE CREWE could look from her round the bare room, at the scanty food on the dirty table, at the unmade bed, at the poor furniture, and the grey colour of the unwashed floor, with a heart of perfect content with itself and all the world. I knew of no uneasy longings as I knelt there ; I wished for nothing better ; I wished for nothing different ; but I gave my mind to the making of grey bread-pills from the crumbs on the table, or let my thoughts wander to the little events of the day and the little events of the morrow. "Josephine," said my mother presently, "read to me for a bit." I jumped up with alacrity, and running to a small box at the foot of the bed, selected a large volume from the few it contained. Remnants of my grand father's little library, they had been pawned and redeemed not once, nor twice, for my mother clung persistently through all her poverty to these few books, perhaps in part as almost the last token she possessed of a past respectability. To me they were a mine of wealth, a miser's much-loved hoard, sooner than part with which I would have starved. Now, before I touched them, I carefully wiped my dirty hands on the counterpane of the bed, then tenderly and lovingly bore my favourite — Don Quixote — to the table. Difficult and often coarse reading for a little brat of twelve ? Perhaps so, yet I was sharp for my

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 13 years; and as for the coarseness, why, I had not been delicately nurtured, and fed with a silver spoon on soft pap suitable for youthful digestion. Rather they had put a knife and fork in my hands, and I had sat down with men and women to their rough fare of meat and strong drink. Nay, at times they had served up to me foul things not good for food, and from very hunger I had been forced to take and eat. Perhaps this had corrupted my digestive organs, perhaps it had strengthened them ; anyway, the marvellous pathos and humour of that wonderful creation of the mad knight touched my dark little heart ; I loved Don Quixote as one of my chiefest friends, and the broadness and coarseness of many of the jokes no more destroyed for me their mirth creating power than I suppose they did for the con temporaries of the great author. I recollect, years after, hearing a cultivated man and woman discuss Tom Jones. She said its horrible vulgarity and coarseness were so revolting as to destroy all its humour for her or any nice-minded woman ; she was only sensible of outraged modesty. Se, on the other hand, maintained that this was a fault in her mind; that humour was always humour, and no amount of coarseness could destroy it, but rather it destroyed the coarseness. I listened to them, and my mind flew back to my childish days, and I thought of Sancho Panza and my friends. My freedom of discrimin ation was gone, for a thousand external trammels

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

14 JOSEPHINE CREWE bounded my appreciation of almost every detail of life; the jokes were no longer the same to me, but was I the more modest, the purer for that ? I did not consult the disputants, for in those maturer days a veil had fallen over my childhood, and I never raised it to allow any eye to pierce back to what was hidden behind ; my past was silent, save as it could find voice in my life and character. Outside, a dull red still suffused the sky, but the waning light was dim in the low-ceiled attic, and I could not see to read without a candle. The tallow guttered down, and the flame flickered and cast strange waving shadows on the walls and ceiling as the soft summer air blew in through the open window, and brought up to our high-perched home the ceaseless hum of city life, and the sharp noises of the street below. But it was light enough and quiet enough for reading, and I crouched on my chair, and fingered the corner of the book while I read on and on, absorbed and enthralled by the strange adventures of that most true gentleman. Now I believed in the poor knight and his mission as firmly as ever did Sancho, now I saw the ridiculous side, and paused to laugh with whole-hearted enjoy ment, and all the while I was almost unconsciously conscious of the pathos of the story. Don Quixote was alive whenever I opened that book, quite as much so as my mother sitting before me. Only once did I read the closing scene, and then I never

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

15 JOSEPHINE CREWE looked at it again, and never forgave Cervantes for not allowing the poor knight to die happy in his folly, and in the belief that he was about to join his Dulcinea. I browsed here and there in the book, calling on my mother at intervals to express her interest and appreciation, but scarcely waiting for her laconic "Yes, yes;" "quite true;" "ah, yes!" before I dashed forward with the story. How much did she really hear, I wonder ? Now and again she certainly listened, for she would correct my pronunciation, or tell me to mind my stops; but at other times I think the words passed by her as little heeded as the sighing of the wind, or the silent flight of time. They served but as a misty background to her thoughts as she sat, moody and dejected, a shadow of youthful fairness. The stars came out, and the evening air grew chill. Once and again a cinder fell from the dying fire, and I looked up, to notice that Mother was restless and uneasy. She would raise her head as if to listen, and then look round apprehensively at the waving lights and shadows on the walls, and when her head again drooped, I heard her sigh from time to time. Once I caught a stealthy glance directed towards me from under the waves of fair hair that fell round her bent face, and I recollected the stranger, and knew my account of him was what disturbed her.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

16 JOSEPHINE CREWE Mother, who was he — that man by the steps ? " "Mind your own business, and attend to your book," she answered; but I did not read again. I idly turned the pages till I came to the fly-leaf, and there I stopped and read my grandfather's name, John James Hamilton, and further that it was a prize won by him at school. I knew he had been a country clergyman, but I knew no more ; nor did I ever know how those few school prizes of his had fallen into his daughter's hands, but I divined that it was mostly for his sake she valued and retained them. There were noises enough without, but the attic was quiet within. There was no sound but the flutter of the leaves of my book, till my mother suddenly tilted back her chair, yawned, and began to sing, rocking herself to and fro on the back legs of the chair, while she maintained her balance by a hand on the table. I believe her voice was not unpleasant, though a little thick, but I hated and still hate music, and I looked angrily at her thin, flushed face, then stuffed my fingers into my ears, and bent my attention on my book. Thus it was that we neither of us heard the step for which we had listened, nor even the repeated knock at the door. It was a sudden silence in the room that penetrated the closed doors of my ears and made me look up. My mother had ceased her singing, and was silent.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 17 Her chair was still tilted back, as if its rocking had been suddenly arrested, her hand held the table, her one foot in its small shoe was raised, and her head still maintained its careless, half-backward toss. Her lips were parted with the last word she had sung, and her face was turned partly sideways towards me and the open door on which her eyes were fixed. As I looked at her she let her chair fall forward with a bump, and stood up awkwardly. I turned towards the door, and saw the stranger standing there, hat in hand. "Excuse my intrusion," he said, with a courtly bow towards my mother ; " I knocked three times, but failed to make you hear, so I ventured to enter. I was told that Amelia Crewe, or Hamilton, lived here." "Yes, Amelia Crewe," said my mother, with a strange laugh, while she looked down and kicked a fork that had fallen from the table. " Is jt so ? You relieve my mind of a great weight, Mrs. Crewe." "You are easily relieved," she said, as she struck the fork with her toe. "Come in and shut the door. You are Edward Crewe, aren't you ? We are both altered since we parted; time has let neither of us alone." She looked at him and laughed. " Get up, Josephine, and give your uncle that chair." I climbed to the table, and sat down by the candle and unwashed tea-things, while Edward Crewe took c

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

18 JOSEPHINE CREWE my chair. My mother also sat down, planted her elbows on the table, and with her cheek on one hand, looked at the stranger with a bold, mocking glance. " What have you come for ? " she asked. " Mrs. Crewe, I have come on a painful errand. I have come at the request, the last request, of your husband. He died six months ago, but I could not find you sooner." " Oh, he's gone, is he ? " and she laughed a flighty, rather nervous laugh. "Look here, Edward Crewe, you can drop the ' Mrs.' and that sort of thing. I am Amelia Crewe because I choose to be, and for her sake " (pointing to me). " He was Joseph Crewe, she is Josephine Crewe, and I meant to make him own her one day. Now it is too late." " Yes, too late," he repeated, looking very kindly at the poor woman. " But, Amelia, I am his brother, and I feel the burden of his child should fall on me. I should like to make what little reparation is possible for his evil doing." " How Quixotic we are ' " she scoffed. " Amelia, you know your father is dead ? " "Ay," she said bitterly, "I know it. As long as he lived I could never go to that part of the country to make Jo Crewe own his child, and when he died, — well, perhaps I was ashamed, for I put it off and put it off, till now it is too late." " Your father was an old man from that morning

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

19 JOSEPHINE CREWE when he woke to find you gone. Where did you go, Amelia ? " She bowed her head, and the hand she still rested it on hid her face from us. " I was a fool," she said, and I fancied there were tears in her voice. " It was dull at the old Rectory, and Father was strict ; I am sure I had excuse enough." She was silent for a moment, perhaps thinking of the old Rectory, the old garden, and the old father she would never see again. Then she looked into the man's pitiful eyes with a hard stare. " Do you think I was likely to stay there to meet my shame ? No, I was not such a fool as to try. I came to London, that refuse hole deep enough and wide enough to hide us all, and there I sank with many another, and there I am still, and there I shall die, Edward Crewe." And she looked at him with a bull look that made me shrink from her. " Poor soul ! " he said. I dropped the warm candle-grease on to my hands, and peeled it off as it hardened, and rolled it into grey pills, but all the while I watched my mother and uncle, and listened to what they said. "If you only came to tell me he's dead, your errand is done," she said rather wearily, and I noticed that her cheeks were more than usually flushed. " Your little girl ? " he questioned, looking at me. I met his glance directly and fearlessly.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

20 JOSEPHINE CREWE " Edward Crewe," she cried, starting up with sudden energy, " I'm not altogether evil. I was a bad daughter, and I've led an evil life, but so far as I was able, I've been a good mother. She has had a rough bringing-up, but the Lord only knows how I have thought of, and cared for that child." Putting her arm round me, she drew me towards her and held me tightly. " Perhaps she is not much to look at, not more than a beggar child, but she's as sharp as a needle, and she knows how to speak and behave well, though she is rough among the little ruffians in the street. But what can you expect ? You needn't look at me like that ; I know what you mean, but since she is here, I have done my best for her. True, she knows what sin means ; how could she help but know when she lives in the midst of it ? But, Edward Crewe, she knows it only by hearsay, for oh ! I have cared for the child, and loved her, that I have." I put my arms round her neck and kissed her passionately, but she took no notice. " Give her to me," said Edward Crewe ; " give her to me while she is still a child, and I will take her from her evil, impure surroundings, and bring her up in my own home. She is my brother's child, and I will be a father to her. With his last breath he spoke of you and his child." " Do you mean it? "she said, while she held me closely to her.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 21 "Ay, before God, I am ready to be a father to her to the best of my ability." I felt a tremor pass through my mother's body, and she threw out one arm with a mocking wave, while she held her head high. "And Mrs. Edward Crewe, charming Mrs. Edward Crewe — I have not forgotten your wife— is she ready 'before God' to be a mother to my poor little brat ? " He flushed a dull red, but gravely bowed. " She will do her duty," he said. Then my mother laughed the harshest, most derisive laugh I ever heard pass her often-jeering lips. " A lady ! Oh, yes, a refined, cultivated lady, an intelligent, cultivated lady ! That is exactly what she is — eh, Edward Crewe ? Just the sort of gentle, tender woman to reform my little Jo ! And will she reform me too? What are you going to do with me ? Ay, there's the rub ! " "Amelia, if you would come with me, I could not take you to my home. My duty to my family forbids such a step. But I would see that your circum stances were such that you should be enabled to lead a decent life." " Oh, the goodness of a Christian man ! " she cried. " Oh, the loving-kindness, the brotherly love ! Oh ! to think of the dear saint's holy abode, into which he is ready to receive a little sinner but not a big one !

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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22 JOSEPHINE CREWE Ha, ha, ha, ha ! And the dear saintly matron at its head ! " Then she threw me roughly from her, and flew like a wild thing at my uncle. Grasping his arm she cried — " To the devil with you and your wife ! Would you take her from me, my little one, the only thing I have on this earth besides my vile self? Oh, shame on you, Edward Crewe, shame on you ! " Her voice had risen to a shrill scream, and she burst into hysterical tears, and shook him by the arm. ■ " Silence ! it is of your child you must think." But she was beyond thinking reasonably of any thing. I am sure she hardly knew what she did as she stormed and raved at the quiet, grey-haired gentleman, who took it all so calmly, with a look of more pain than disgust, though I felt he was not without something of the latter feeling. I forbear to repeat her words, remembering, and with infinite pity still loving, the lips that spoke them. " She is your child," he said at length, " and with you I must leave her." " Yes, old man," I cried, placing myself in front of him and speaking through clenched teeth, "she is my mother, and I would die rather than leave her. So there ! " He looked round the wretched room, and taking out his card, laid it on the table. I saw there was a

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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23 JOSEPHINE CREWE piece of gold under the card, and I saw that my mother saw it too. "If you change your mind, or if you need anything, there is my address," he said. She continued her torrent of abuse, but she let the gold lie on the table, though I watched for her to throw it in his face rather than retain it. A wild sense of revolt rose within me when I saw her baseness, and no sooner had the door closed behind him than I seized her hand, and stamping with passionate indignation, called on her to throw the money after him. She laughed harshly at me, and, beside myself with that same passion she had shown but a minute before, I called her many an ill name in my impotent soreness of heart. She laughed at me the while, till with sudden inspiration, I seized and flung the money in the grate. On that she shook me off and sent me staggering against the bed, while she knelt on the hearth and raked through the nearly extinct ashes, first with a bit of stick and next with her fingers. When she recovered the coin she carefully wiped it, wrapped it up, and put it in her pocket. I did not attempt to stop her, but stood shaken by my wild sobbing, and watched her put on her hat, get the door-key, and with a last angry look at me, leave the room and lock me in. That lock ing up she did every night, and I never rebelled against it. I stood motionless in the dimly-lighted attic and

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

24 JOSEPHINE CREWE looked at the candle through my tears, while I listened to her retreating footstep on the stairs. Oh, how wildly, passionately angry I felt with her and all the world ! I clenched my little hands and teeth, and trembled with all the premature bitterness of such a life as mine. How I hated her, oh how I hated her that moment, little recking that it was the good in her that had taught me to hate the evil. " Oh, I hate her, I hate her, I wish she was dead ! " I cried, and then with a sense of lonely misery I added : " I wish I was dead, too — we were both dead together!" I flung myself on the bed, and cried aloud, sobbing till I was almost choked by my tears. " I wish I was dead," I moaned, " drowned by the river steps." This was a tangible idea, something outside my impotent misery, this idea of drowning by our favourite playground. In an instant my mother and the attic were no more ; instead I was floating in the little harbour on a misty night with the children peering awestruck through the darkness. It was a thrilling idea, and one fancy led on to another. Unconsciously my tears ceased, and my depression was at an end. I was only a child, and I awoke from my childish fancies to lie and contentedly watch a fat spider that came out and went a-hunting among the cobwebs that hung from the sloping, smoky rafters above the bed. Mother would not be back for hours, and when she came it would be

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

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300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 25 neither to talk nor scold, but to throw herself heavily down beside me and sleep. I should rise then and cover her from the night air, and afterwards, creeping closely to the wall, curl myself up, and sleep as snugly as a little dormouse. Now I lay on my back, kicking my feet about idly, toying with my curls or with the pillow above my head, and watching the quiet stars that looked in through the open window. The ragged curtain fluttered in the breeze, the cobwebs swung to and fro, and the candle flickered and sent strange lights and shadows, now creeping slowly in and out of the holes and corners, now chasing each other madly across the room. Two mice I had often watched came out and nibbled the crumbs on the table, and strange noises rose from the street and rooms below, noises I neither could nor tried to account for. I lay there on the coarse dirty sheets in that miserable little room, the queen of a limitless territory of fancies and vague musings, with the whole fairyland of childhood before me. I was poor, dirty, and forlorn, but I was a child, and happy as a child need be.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

26 II " 0 vast and well-veiled Death ! 0 the beautiful touch of Death, soothing and benumbing a few moments, for reasons ! " — Walt Whitman. Mother slept long next morning, the dull, heavy sleep in which I was accustomed to see her lie when the sunshine of a new day waked me. She breathed heavily and uneasily ; her face was pale with a waxen whiteness, her eyelids and lips were swollen, and her limbs lay just as she had thrown herself last night. I tried in vain to rouse her; once she swore at being disturbed, and once she opened her eyes, and laughed a silly, foolish laugh; then slept again. I helped myself to what scanty breakfast the room afforded, and went my way, knowing that when I returned at some later hour of the day, I should find that my mother had slept her sleep out, and, if still sober, would be sitting, morose and dejected, yet really watching and waiting for me. It was a lovely day, with brilliant sunshine and a soft balmy air. My spirits rose with a bound, and as I danced along, even those poor streets and lanes seemed beautiful in the fresh joyousness of the summer morning. There should be no school for

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 27 me that day ; I would play truant, for I did not love the Board School when the sun shone, and such a breeze as that was blowing. There could be no place like the river on such a day, and straight to the steps I went. I danced down them, and kicked and splashed in the water, and laughed and clapped my hands, laughing all the more when I saw how the drops of muddy water that yet sparkled in the sunshine flew all over the little hunchback who already occupied the steps. Splashing and dashing in the water, how cool it was ! how bright the sun shine ! how fresh the breeze that caught my hair aud dress ! I was wildly, utterly happy and free. I felt ready to fly like a bird through the air, or to skim the surface of the water, but as wings were denied me, I capered and splashed, and shouted to the bargemen as they passed our harbour mouth, calling saucily to them, and laughing as they disap peared from sight. Then I knelt and dabbled my hands in the water till, catching sight of the little hunchback's face, I sat down by her and put my arms round her neck. "What is it, Bessie?" I asked. "You look awful down and miserable." But Bessie tried to wriggle herself free from my arms, and turned her face pettishly away; it was only after much coaxing that she grumbled that she couldn't see anything to dance for and make that "beastly noise " about. I understood her, poor little

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

28 JOSEPHINE CREWE sickly soul, whose sad life, maybe, was mercifully ended long ago ; but I said nothing, only stayed by her, and presently when she rose to go, still kept by her side. She understood me, too, and soon we were strolling idly along with our arms round each other, a day or a lifetime of freedom and sunshine before us, it mattered not which, for time and space were obliterated for us; we were going nowhither, and were conscious of no bounds to our steps or day. We talked of many things, forgotten now like Bessie. We looked in the shops, we quizzed the passers-by as we dawdled westward, but only a few memories of that walk remain with me. I remember we grew hungry and begged, and some kind lady pitied us. " Poor little souls ! " she said, and gave us sixpence. We were as merry as crickets. Some face in the street recalled that of Edward Crewe, and I thought of the talk last night. " Bessie," I said, " s'pose I was a lady, I'd give you lots and lots o' money." " I'd hate you," said Bessie ; " yes, I'd hate you. I hate ladies: I hates all gentlefolks." " No, you wouldn't; you wouldn't ever hate me." "I tell you I'd hate you just as hard as ever I could hate," she answered obstinately. " Do you hate folks so because of your back ? Do you think it'd have been straight if you'd been a lady ? " For answer she struck me passionately in the face

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 29 with her fist, and then ran on ahead. I followed her, and saw she was crying bitterly, but it was long before she would look at me and speak again. The breeze died away, the sun was fierce, and the pavements scorched our bare feet. We had wan dered far, and were both weary and hungry, so we made up our quarrel and invested our sixpence in food. We were not accustomed to either quantity or quality, and that sixpence bought us an ample and tempting meal. Then once more, friends and happy, we made our way, rather by instinct than knowledge, to a convenient dining-place by the water side. Slipping into a yard, we climbed a wall and crawled along its top on hands and knees till we were out over the water, and quite content to be by the river once more. We sat blinking in the sun shine and glare from the water, shoulder to shoulder, half propped against each other, our legs hanging down, our mouths full of stale jam tart, and a delicious sense of tired content stealing over us with the slight breeze from the river. " Ain't it nice ? " said Bessie, as she finished her tart, and leaned her sleepy head against me. " I wish I'd never got to go home, that I do ! " I knew she suffered far more at home than I had ever done. "Aye," I said, "I wish you and me could live together." And then we fell to dreaming childish dreams of the life we would like to live. " Only you and me," said Bessie decidedly. " Folks

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

30 JOSEPHINE CREWE brings such a lot of troubles, and if there was only you and me, we'd keep clear of 'em." " If folks make troubles, them as think of making them for me had better be wide awake, or they'll get tit for tat, see if they don't ! " I drew up my legs, rolled over on my stomach with my heels in the air, and looked down in the water, while Bessie remarked philosophically — " Mind you don't make 'em for yourself, and other folks too, that's all. 'Tain't difficult work by no means." I turned my head on one side, and looked lazily up the river, which seen thus obliquely seemed to stretch on and on, miles of dancing, dazzling light, and then on and on again beneath the dark bridge that spanned it. Boats stood out hard and black on the brightness, and, after the manner of children, I called one Mother and one Uncle Crewe. I watched how the one I had named Mother floated away and away, and the light round it so dazzled my eyes, that I could hardly see it as it disappeared through the bridge, but the one I had called Uncle Crewe came past us. It was a neat little craft, and three boys on board looked up and laughed. I called to them and waved my hand, then curled myself up by Bessie, and dreamed idle summer dreams. Bessie had been silent a long time when she suddenly leaned over me, and put her arms round my neck and kissed me. There were tears in

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

Josephine crewe 31 her eyes, and her plain, pinched little face was wistful. " You're awful good to me, Joey ; ay, you're awful good. You're so quick and strong and spry, and I bother you, I know ; but I like you best of everybody, there, I do now ! " I half cried for sympathy as I kissed and caressed her, and uttered such protestations of affection as rather embarrassed her. Poor little Bessie ! " I don't think I shall stand another winter, not if it's cold," she said ; " but if I was to die and go to heaven, as some says, I'd watch for you, Josephine, ay, I'd watch for you, and speak a word for you if you was in trouble, that I would gladly." " If I was rich — " I began, for I could not quite get Edward Crewe out of my head. He had opened a new land of dreams, if not precisely of wishes. " If you was rich you might go to the devil before I'd so much as ask the Lord to look your way ; ay, not if you was in hell itself, I wouldn't open my mouth to ask Him to give you a helping hand, I wouldn't." She spoke passionately, and turned from me so sharply that she would have lost her balance, and fallen from the wall, had I not caught her by her dress, and steadied her. I did not answer her, but pondered over her anger. I supposed her bitterness against those better off than herself had something to do with her back and her bad home. Yet it

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

32 JOSEPHINE CREWE puzzled me, for if she was going to be rich, I should want to be rich too, not to keep her poor. The afternoon wore away before we thought of return, and it was with distress that I at last noticed how low down in the heavens the sun had slipped, and remembered how my mother would already be watching for me. She would not wait patiently ; she would go out if I did not return. Bessie was dozing, and when I waked her she was tired and shaky on her legs, so that I had to help her back along the wall and almost lift her to the ground. She kept hold of me a minute, and whispered — " I know you'll never be rich, Josephine, 'cause I love you so." Aud she looked at me with a funny confident little smile. Oh, it was a weary walk back, for we were both of us tired after our long day, Bessie so very tired that I could hardly get her along, and she seemed to grow more cross and peevish at every step. I hurried her on, growing irritable myself with a strange anxiety about my mother. I did not usually worry about being in betimes, but on that particular evening I felt I must be home quickly, and several times my eyes filled with tears of helpless vexation when Bessie persisted in stopping to rest and com plain. Yet I felt it would be mean to leave the hunchback behind when she was so tired, so I gave her the help of sundry draggings and pushings, and we toiled wearily forward together.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 33 No freshness came at sundown; the air seemed to grow heavier as we pierced farther eastward into closer and narrower streets; the paths seemed un usually crowded, and everybody and everything appeared to wish to jostle and hinder Bessie and me. We did not talk, we were too tired for that ; only now and then we exclaimed angrily against each other or against some passer-by, and we sighed as we turned each corner with a mixture of relief and weariness. One more street left behind ; but every one before us seemed longer and longer — interminably long. Bessie was the older, and as tall as I was, despite her crooked back, and, little bag of bones as she was, it was hard work helping her along. My back and arms ached, and I was very foot-sore. One foot I had hurt not long before, and the tender flesh where it had healed was now blistered and broken with walking, so that every step was painful, as the raw place came in contact with the hard, dusty roads. I could have shaken Bessie off at last in my tired ill-temper ; but as we passed the flaring lights of a small butcher's shop, I caught sight of her white face and black-rimmed eyes, and my heart was touched with pity. I suppose I was kinder to her for the rest of the way, for when I left her at her own door she turned to me gratefully — " You're a good gurl, Joey, and we've had a lovely day — oh, beautiful ! Now I'll just creep in and go to sleep, for there won't be nobody watching for me." D

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

34 JOSEPHINE CREWE I ran forward as fast as my sore foot would allow, and looked up with a beating heart as I turned the corner that brought our high window into sight. There was a light burning up there, so Mother was in, and everything was right. Yet, despite my lightened heart, the stairs were steep, and I stumbled in the darkness, for what was dusk outside was dark in there. I slipped on something wet and greasy, and fell, bruising my arm. The pain brought the tired tears that were so near the surface to my eyes, and there was a struggle to beat them back before I entered our attic — a worn-out, dispirited little person. It was bright and dazzling in there after the stairs, for the fading evening light still came in through the open window at one end ; at the other there was a bright fire, and a candle burned on the table. The air of the room was suffocatingly hot, and was sickly with the strong smell of spirits. The tattered curtain hung motionless by the window, and the pendent cobwebs from the blackened rafters were still, for there was no breath of air to flutter them. There were no waving shadows to-night, for the steady candle-light drew a clear, black silhouette of each of the four persons present on the dingy walls behind them, and only when a flame flickered up in the fire, did the outlines waver and grow indistinct. A broken cup lay on the floor, and others stood with bottles and soiled cards on the table ; but no mice

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

35 JOSEPHINE CREWE ventured out in search of crumbs as they often did when Mother and I were alone ; they were scared away by the loud voices that startled me as I opened the door. Before I was conscious of who was there I found myself confronted by a great black shadow on the opposite wall, the shadow of a man with long, thin neck and ragged hair, with head thrown back, and scattered teeth that showed in the large, wide-open mouth as he laughed the loud laugh that filled my ears. I looked at the body that cast the shadow. The man sat sideways on the table swinging his feet in their heavy boots : he had an evil, cunning face that frightened me. On her usual chair by the fire sat my mother, her lilac gown far more soiled than yesterday, her hair gathered in a loose knot high up at the back of her head, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes rendered wide and bright by the spirits she had taken. She was talking noisily. Before her, on the book-box, sat another woman, or rather a girl, whose dark, gipsy face was turned constantly towards the pale, consumptive-looking man who occupied the other chair and made up the quartette. " There's the child," said my mother ; and all turned and looked at me in a half-startled way. " Go ! Go, every one of you ! " cried my mother, starting up and holding to the edge of the table. "There's nothing more to drink; there's nothing more at all. Go, I say, go ! "

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

36 JOSEPHINE CREWE The girl stretched both her arms up and yawned ; the consumptive man looked round uncertainly. "Isn't this my place, and haven't I told you to go ? " cried my mother excitedly. " Do you want me to drive you out ? I will, ay that I will ! " She grasped one of the empty bottles threaten ingly, but the long-necked man thrust the dirty cards he was shuffling into his pocket, and seized her hand, while the girl rose, passed her arm through that of the consumptive man, and drew him towards the door. "Come," she said, "don't let's have a row at this time o' day." " Let me go," cried my mother, struggling frantic ally to free her hand. The other two turned and laughed as they left the room, but there was no laughter in my mother's face. She suddenly bent her head and bit the hand that held her, and the man uttered an oath as he shook her off. Turning from her, he bent forward with knees apart and beckoned me to him. " Come here, little brat." Fearless, I yet found a vein of distrust and terror somewhere in my nature as I looked in his face. I advanced tremblingly, for I dared not hold back. I felt powerless before that bad, vicious man, and let him raise me to the table and hold the candle to my face, so close to it that I wondered it did not set my hah alight.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 37 " Like her mother, as like as two peas," he said. " She'll be you all over by the time she is your age, Milly. Nay," be added, " she is prettier than you ; she'll be a sight prettier in a year or two." At that moment I caught sight of our shadows on the wall, my small curly head in close proximity to that hook-nosed face and great gaping mouth with the gaps among the teeth. A cold shudder ran down my back, and I felt sick as I turned away my face. " Come, kiddie, you like me awfully I know," he said, and kissed me, then lifted me from the table and set me speechless on the floor. Whistling, he left the room, only pausing to swear angrily as he stumbled against a bucket of water by the door; then he continued the tune as he went his way down-stairs. Mother and I stood immovable just as he had left us, then turned and looked each in the face of the other, and a terrible feeling of revolt rose within me. I walked forward, and stood close before her with clenched hands and teeth. "Mother," I said, "I hate you. I hate you worse than anything on earth. You're a devil." There swept over me an awful sense of utter childish impotence. I was hers ; her child, to do as she would with ; a small weak child in this terrible network of surrounding sin. True, she had guarded me so far, but I revolted against such guardianship,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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38 JOSEPHINE CREWE and in my terror her face looked to me as evil as that of the man who had just left us. 1 uttered a loud and bitter cry, and turning, threw myself on the bed, and abandoned myself to a sense of hopeless misery. Helpless rage and despair mastered me; I wept aloud ; I twisted and struggled ; I bit the pillow, and sobbed till my sobs half strangled me, and then in terror I sat up and fought to regain my breath. I flung myself back, and beat the mattress with my fists, one on either side of me, and kicked the clothes from the bed with my angry feet. I raised my head and dashed it back again, crying all the while, " I wish I was dead, I wish I was dead, I wish I was dead ! " " Come, Joey, stop that ! What can't be cured must be endured, and when all's said and done, I've not been such a bad mother to you, have I, Joey ? " She spoke half flippantly, half uneasily, and I ceased my vacant stare at the rafters above the bed and turned to look at her, still sobbing the while. " Poor Joey ! " she said, looking pityingly down at me ; " you are tired out. What have you done all day ? I'll make you a cup of tea, and then you'll be better, little one." She bustled about and made the tea, and then dipping a rag in the pitcher of water by the door, she gently wiped my dirty, tear-stained face. I looked up at her, refreshed and grateful. " Little sweet heart," she said, and kissed me. Her manner was

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 39 flurried and uncertain, and I noticed that her poor face was flushed and swollen, and that her hands trembled. She sat down on the side of the bed and drew me towards her, and passing her arm round me, she rested my head against her shoulder and held the tea to my lips. I drank eagerly, and felt soothed and comforted as she held me protectingly and whispered endearing epithets: " Little one ! my pretty ! little Joey ! " etc. I loved her, and forgot all the terrible evil I knew of her. Presently, as I sat crouched with my arms round her neck and my cheek pressed to hers, she took me — I was very small and slight — and carried me to the fireside. She drew her chair forward and sat down. It was hot, but the fire was dying out, and her arms partly shielded me. A delicious sense of sleepy content stole over me as I nestled to her and closed my eyes, or dreamily looked at the fire. " Little one," she said, " when I was small like you I knew nothing of sin and misery and poverty, nor ever expected to know. I was a happy little girl, Joey, and as often as not at this time of a summer's evening I was racing about in the dusk in the old Rectory garden. Perhaps I was playing Hide and-seek, or Robbers with the Crewe boys. I'll tell you all about it. The Crewes' grounds touched the Rectory garden, but the Rectory was well kept, the shrubbery paths were swept and neat, and the borders were bright with flowers, while most of the Rookery

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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40 JOSEPHINE CREWE land was wild like a common, the timber was left uncared for, and the pretty old house was falling out of repair. That was how it was in the old man's day, and I am certain Edward Crewe is not the man to change old ways. — Oh, how I love it all!" she said, with a half-sob. " I like to think of you play ing there, Joey, as I did, in the cool of the summer evening. I remember how fresh the laurels smelt when the sun went down and the dew fell, and how strong the scent of the flowers was on the evening air. I remember when it grew darker how the bats flitted quickly through the trees, and great, fat-bodied moths flopped in our faces and startled us. And after a bit, Joey, when the moon rose silver and still over the dark Rookery woods, Edward and Jo would take me by the hand, and we would steal off across the rough broken ground. Oh, little one, it was beautiful then ! There was a quiet pool that lay white in the moonlight, where the water-fowl used to frighten us as they whirred up at our feet, and there was a pine-wood that was so dark that we trembled as we entered it. An old white horse found shelter in a shed there, and sometimes we would come upon him standing still and silent like a ghost, and some times he would flit past us like a phantom in the darkness, the thud of his galloping hoofs on the soft pine-needles making a low, dull, vibrating thunder in our ears. And then, dear, when we came to the end of the wood perhaps it was most beautiful of all,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 41 for the quiet moon looked down upon us through the pine trees, and when we stepped out into its light, we stood upon a rock at whose foot a broad strong stream rushed through the darkness to feed a mill below. Before us sweep after sweep of country lay sleeping in the moonlight. No matter how we had laughed and talked before, we grew thoughtful as we stood there with the white light before us and the dark wood behind. — Oh, Josephine, Josephine," she cried bitterly, " was it I who stood there ? I? No, it could not be. It was another world from this." " Yet it is nice here, Mother, with you." "Josephine, think of those three standing there many and many a time, solemn and thoughtful in the moonlight, and think of them now ; think of me, Josephine ! " " Dear, dear Mother." And I put up my face and kissed her. She turned her head away and leaned forward, so that I could not see her face as she sheltered it with her hand from the fire. " Ob, it is awful, awful, Joey, to think of your childhood and to think of mine ! To think of the foul, miserable world that you have lived in ! Can you ever be so light-hearted as I was ? " She was silent for a moment, and then went on slowly : "Little one, when you are at the Rookery I shall know that you have a chance of growing up a pure, good woman, and that you can be safe and happy. I don't know who is at the Rectory now, dear, and

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

42 JOSEPHINE CREWE instead of my father, who with all his kindness was very strict, you will have easy-going, indulgent Edward Crewe ; otherwise your life will be much what mine was, the same beautiful country and dear old places, and two Crewe boys for playfellows ; for Edward Crewe has two sons a few years older than you are. They are your cousins, Josephine, but some day I should dearly, dearly like you to marry one of those boys, and earn a real right to the name of Crewe." "Has Edward Crewe been here again, Mother? Are we going to live with him ? " " We ? I ? Nay," she said, with a bitter smile and speaking with decision, " I would rather starve inch by inch ; I would rather die alone and in agony up in this hole — there is nothing I would not rather do than go back to that place where every stick and stone would cry out against me. I couldn't do it, Josephine, no, not even for you. But listen, little girl. You must go, for you are too old and too pretty to stay here any longer; ay, you must go, though it will break my heart to part with you. And, Joey, you must be good when you are there. I don't think I can live without you, but I would kill myself, and you, too, sooner than harm should come to you. Josephine, you must forget your life here, and you must forget me — ay, God help us both, you must forget your mother ! Oh, my little sweet heart, my little sweetheart ! Oh, Joey, Joey ! "

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

43 JOSEPHINE CREWE She put me from her, and turning towards the table, she laid her folded arms upon it, and with her face buried in them sobbed unrestrainedly. For a moment I stood mutely by her, looking at the heaving of her shoulders in the soiled lilac gown and at the fair, ruffled hair. Poor Mother ! Absolute devotion to her, and unalterable opposition to her decision possessed me. I loved her, she was my mother, and no power on earth should induce me to leave her. She might command and command me to go, but I would never obey her, no, never ! I threw my arms about her, I kissed her bent head again and again, and when she raised it, I kissed her tear-stained face, I kissed her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, her swollen eyelids, her wavy hair, kissed her passionately, for I loved her, and had no one else to love. She took me to her breast and held me closely to her, returning my kisses and murmuring fond words. It was a long, long embrace we enjoyed (little we dreamed it was our last !) before she unclasped my clinging arms, and spoke. "Joey, my sweetheart, go and look in the book box ; I have put pen and ink and paper there, and now you must write a letter to your uncle Crewe. I can't do it myself; I have tried over and over again to-day, but there is something the matter with my hands ; they shake till I can't write legibly." She held out her hands and looked at them uneasily, and then in surprise at me as I did not

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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44 JOSEPHINE CREWE stir to obey her. Instead, I stood before her trembling with determined defiance, and asked — " And what am I to write to Edward Crewe ? " " God help me, dearest ! why, you must write that I have made up my mind to part with you." " Mother, I never will, no, never, never, never ! " And I set my teeth with angry decision. And then began a long struggle between us. She coaxed, she threatened, she cried, she swore, but I wavered never an instant. Firm as a rock, obstinate as a mule, I remained unmoved, and retained my cool determination. " No," I said, " I won't write it ; I won't leave you." She could not stand opposition on a matter on which she had set her heart; probably, too, the obstinacy of my face and firmly-closed mouth angered her, for she waxed momentarily hotter, and from words she passed to blows. A hasty blow, an angry push or shake I had bad from her before, but she had never before beaten me, never rained blow7 after blow on the child she idolized, striking heavily and indis criminately on head and back and shoulders, and on the arms I had uplifted to shield myself. I tried to escape from her, but she caught me by the arm with a hard, tight grasp, and still the quick blows fell, but I never thought of giving way. "You will write as I tell you now," she said, shaking me and laughing grimly. "No, no, no," I cried, battling with her. All

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 45 thought of what I was to write was lost in blind fury and uttermost opposition to her who struck me. Her expression was ugly, and my own face could not look more immovably obstinate than hers did now as she bent over me with the blood rushing hotly to her brow. Again and again she struck me, and shook me till I had only just sufficient breath left to cry out as my sore foot trod on the broken cup on the floor. My arms fell to my sides, and her hand, already raised, came heavily down on to my bowed head, while at the same moment, at the sound of my cry, she loosed me almost as if I burnt her fingers. Sinking to the floor, I took my foot between my hands and held it tightly, as if to squeeze out the pain and stop the bleeding from the deep cut across the sole; but the last blow had made me sick and giddy, and loosing my foot, my head sank sideways against a chair. A great darkness was enveloping me, a great silence enfolding me, when the darkness was dissipated, the silence broken through as my mother sprang towards me with a loud and miserable cry. " Oh Lord, I've killed her ! I've killed my child ! Oh Lord, oh Lord ! " She was beside herself now as she realized what she had been about. — What had she done ! what had she done ! She sobbed hysterically as she bent over me, but I crept slowly and painfully from her,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

46 JOSEPHINE CREWE dragging my hurt foot after me. With difficulty I climbed to a chair beside the table, and sat with arms and legs hanging straight and limp, and face turned sideways towards the window in search of air. I was faint and dizzy, and never having been faint before, the feeling frightened me. My mother came and knelt before me, and looked at me with timid pity. I could see her remorse in her anxious blue eyes, yet I gave her no reassuring word nor sign. A horrible fear of her possessed me, and I only longed to get away from her. Fearfully but gently she raised my maimed foot, but her very tears seemed to scald me as they fell, and her touch thrilled painfully through me. She fetched rag, and very tenderly and skilfully bound up the cut, crying all the while with such a hopeless sadness as haunted me on many and many a dreary evening and dark night in later life. Yet at the time it did not touch me ; I only wished she would leave me alone. She laid her head in my lap and wet it with those terrible tears ; she took my cold little hands in hers and kissed them with a passion of love, yet I never attempted to comfort her. I let my hands lie passively in hers and turned away my face. The fire had died low, and the room was rtearly dark before my mother rose and lit a candle and set it on the table near me. Her hands shook so that she had difficulty in doing this, and she turned and looked at me in terror. " I must be ill," she said.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 47 and buried her face in her shaking hands, shaking all the more probably after the strength she had used to master me, and the excitement of her anger. We sat without speaking in the quiet room. So still was it that the mice came out, growing momen tarily bolder, so that at last they ran close about my mother's feet. The quiet was oppressive, a quiet ness of suspense that weighed upon me, and would not allow even childhood to lay aside its sore resent ment. For the moment at least, the cares and sorrows of men and women had usurped the volatile, forgiving spirit of the child. There had been enough of evil, seen and half seen, in the past ; there was evil in the present ; there would be evil in the future, and with a heart filled with bitterness, I cast the whole burden of evil upon the shoulders of her whose likeness I bore. " Yes, Josephine, it was because of him I did it," said my mother, apparently carrying on her thoughts aloud. She raised her head and supported her cheek on one hand, with her face turned towards me. Her face and eyes were red — in part no doubt from crying — and both head and hands were tremu lous. I drew myself from her into as small a space as possible. " I had thought about it all day, Joey, and I had bought the paper and things. My heart had failed me again and again, but after you came in and

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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48 JOSEPHINE CREWE found those here this evening, I knew there was no help for it. I never thought you would mind leaving me so much, Joey ; I knew it would hreak my heart, but I had been thinking all day how much better and happier you would be down there, and trying to bring myself to it. Why did you anger me so, little one ? I must have been drunk or ill, for I never thought I could have been cruel to you, no, before God, I never did ! Oh, my little sweetheart, my darling," she cried, with the tears rolling down her cheeks ; " I curse myself for what I have done. I shall never forgive myself, never ! Oh, your pretty head, Joey, and your poor little foot ! — But see, Joey, it was all for you. I would cut your throat sooner than harm should come to you, and yet, my God ! I am not the one to keep it away. Those were an evil lot this afternoon, and Mary had no right to bring them here. I had never even had her in here before because of you." That man, those people of the afternoon, those heavy blows ; yes, it was enough. I did not realize, child as I was, that the very need I felt for purity and goodness, and a more wholesome atmosphere, was born of my mother's care, and the influence of her better moments : I did not realize all I was to her, her child — the one thing she had to love ; I only felt a sickening of the deadly breath I had so often to breathe, an imperative necessity for some thing cleaner and freer. The dull apathy in which

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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49 JOSEPHINE CREWE I had sat gave way, and burning words surged through my brain. " You are wicked ; you don't love me," I cried passionately. " You want to send me away, and you beat me. Yes, and now I will go away, and then you will miss me and wish I was back." I took the pen and paper, and in a scrawling, childish hand I wrote — "Edward Crewe, " My mother will be glad if you will take me to live with you without her. Please fetch your dutiful niece, Josephine Crewe." I directed the envelope with the address he had left on his card, and passed both it and the letter to my mother. She uttered a smothered cry as she read the little letter, and covered her face for a moment; then dried the writing at the dying fire, stamped the envelope, and laid it on the table before her. I got down from my chair, and crawled to the bed, and there lay watching her. There was a step on the stairs. I don't know whether she heard it, but she rose with a terrible look of despair, and cried with a bitter cry— " So it is ended ! It is all over ! Oh, little Joey, little Joey ! my little Joey ! " I was touched, yet when she would have kissed IZ

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

50 JOSEPHINE CREWE me I turned from her; I could not kiss her, no, though I tried I could not, indeed I could not. I raised my arm to ward her off, and she turned away with a bitter laugh. At the same time the girl who had been there in the afternoon entered, after a slight preliminary tap, and my mother faced round hastily to meet her, as if ashamed that any of her evil associates should see her in a softer and better mood. " Oh, it's you, Mary ; you're early, but I'll come now." She took the candle in her hand to blow it out, and the light fell full on her face. There was a terrible pain in the blue eyes as she turned them yearningly towards me, but she blew the candle out without another word, and the two locked the door and went down-stairs together. "Mother," I cried, "Mother, come back and kiss me." But the girl was talking in a loud voice, and they did not hear my call. " She might have listened," I said, as childishly unreasonable in my quick repentance as in my anger. " I'll kiss her in the morning," I murmured ; " and if Uncle Crewe corner for me, he'll have to go back again, that's all. I'll kiss her ever so many times in the morning." But a rush of tears came, for a child's morning seems so far away at night. I lay still in the heat and darkness of the close, low-roofed attic, and tried to forget the pain in my

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 51 foot, and the dull aching of my head. I felt no resentment nor anger; I even grew numbed and indifferent to sorrow and repentance as I lay there feeling sick and tired with the pain. I tried to think of something else as I counted the faint, pale flashes of summer lightning that showed across the dark frame of the open window, and as I lay count ing, a drowsiness stole over me that was rather of the nature of stupor than of sleep. " She will kiss me when I wake," I whispered, while strange fancies flitted through my brain, strange figures came and went, and then all was lost in darkness, and I knew no more till I opened my eyes to the light of another day. I sat up in bed with a puzzled sense of change. What had happened ? What was about to happen ? I drew up my legs, and my foot told me what had happened ; all came back, and my heart sank as I turned my face forlornly to the wall. I had lain so some minutes before I started at the thought that I had never heard my mother return. Night after night for as long as I could remember I had waked as she unlocked the door, and either I had risen to help her, or I had crouched nearer to the wall to make room for her, and had covered her with the clothes. Now I knew I had done neither; I had never heard her return ; my dull sleep had been too heavy.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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52 JOSEPHINE CREWE Once more I sat up and shivered. It was very quiet, very early, and the air blew in freshly through the window, which stood open just as I had left it. The door, too, was ajar, and I wondered, for I had never before seen it so at night. I looked at my mother lying by my side. She lay just as she had come in, in the soiled lilac cotton gown. She had no covering drawn up over her ; her feet were crossed, and her hands clasped loosely by her side ; her light hair was mostly unfastened and lay scattered on the pillow ; her head was thrown a little back ; her lips were parted, and her face was turned sideways towards me. She lay easily, as if enjoying rest after fatigue, and I was about to lie down again, assured that all was well, when something in the stillness and the whiteness of her face arrested me, and I bent over her. I could catch no breathing, see no movement. I was startled. Was it a fit? Certainly something was wrong, but though I had seen many fits among the swarming population of that neigh bourhood, I had seen none quite like this. — There was something else I had seen : I had seen Death. I was not frightened. There was something in her quiet face that told me reassuringly that there was no need to hurry, no need to call for help, no need to fear. There was no redness about the face now ; the eyes that had last looked at me with pain were closed; the waves of fair hair fell round a smooth white brow, and the dark lashes rested lightly

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Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 53 on the pale, thin cheeks. It was almost the face of a young girl, sweet and sad, as if she had known great sorrow but had now found peace. I touched the cold cheek gently, and murmured, " She is dead," but as yet I felt no fear nor grief; all was hushed into a great calm peace as I sat there in the early morning alone with my quiet dead. Dimly I felt in my dark childish mind that this solemn daybreak was holy, that it was good for my mother to lie so quietly there. I slipped my hand in between hers and watched her with no tear nor sigh. Death had come very gently, and taken the poor, sinful, tired soul from the evil things of the world, and cast it into a deep, unbroken sleep. She was resting, at perfect rest, with all her sins and sighing and weariness left behind for ever. I was happy with a strange, still happiness in that sleeping world, sitting beside her whose sleep was a little deeper, a little longer than the sleep of those others around us. Gradually the world awoke that summer's morn ing, gently at first, with a soft hum of returning life. The sun was shining, the river flowing, the breeze swept past, the great sea ebbed and flowed, and yet once again man went forth to his work and to his labour till the evening. The sounds of life grew nearer and more distinct; they came up from the street below, and the sparrows twittered in the sun shine on the eaves. All the world was awake, all

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Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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54 JOSEPHINE CREWE but my own little world in that room. It was time that it should also awake, and I rose to my knees, but as I knelt there, the meaning of that death swept over me. I felt that my mother was dead, and that I only was left alive, and utterly alone. "Mother," I whispered, crouching down beside her and turning my face towards hers, " ask me to kiss you now, and I'll kiss you again and again. Mother, you didn't hurt me, and you've always been good to me. Say you forgive me for not kissing you last night; I was sorry I hadn't as soon as ever you were gone, but you didn't hear me call. Mother, kiss me ! Kiss me, Mother ! Oh, Mother, Mother, Mother!" She could not hear me, she was at peace, and my repentance and misery were nothing to her. Frantic, I sprang up, shrieking such loud, piercing, agonized shrieks as called attention even in that house of many cries and sounds. They came hurrying up to look and wonder, and to tell me my mother was dead.

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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55 Ill "All the same a hundred years hence, as the American aloe said when it came into bloom." — Theodore Hook. The next three days were days of utter darkness and gloom. So dense and murky was the cloud of misery and despondency that enveloped them, that I can scarcely penetrate it to recall how they were passed. Something of that first overwhelming sorrow comes back to choke me and dim my eyes, and a feeling of great compassion grows up within me for that pale, lonely little child that once was I. Every one was kind to me in a rough, tactless way, and many a wan smile of gratitude, with its accompanying rush of tears, was called forth by the homely tokens of sympathy that were showered on me. They gave me sufficient food of all kinds to last me a fortnight, and sought to " hearten me up " with cups of tea and stronger drink ; while every mother among them pressed upon me a shelter for the night in the narrow quarters of her swarming offspring. As for tears, there was no stint of those, for what was a sudden death without a running together, a talking, and a conjecturing; without

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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56 JOSEPHINE CREWE "thirty alases and sixty sighs and a hundred and twenty curses " ; without a vast fermenting of emo tion among the women, which could result in nothing less than a deluge of salt water ! Numbers of women came to look at " the body." It did not matter whether they had known my mother, whether they had quarrelled with and abused her, whether they had been acquainted with her only by sight, or not at all ; it made no difference ; there was "the body" to see, lying, moreover, just as it had been found, and they came by twos and threes, and pulled down the sheet a neighbour had drawn over all, and looked on my mother's face with curiosity. Probably they were disappointed that there was nothing more terrible than Death to see. They questioned me as I sat at the table, dazed and stupid with my grief, my arms folded among the litter, my head laid sideways upon them, so that I watched what lay on the bed, and all who came and went beside it. They asked me how it happened, when she was taken, if she had died hard : in a prying spirit they asked me questions of all kinds, but I merely shook my head indifferently, while the slow tears fell on my folded arms. Then they murmured how it was " awful to be took so sudden," and said hard things of her who was gone. Their voices sank to whispers, but they talked louder of an inquest, of burial by the parish, and the workhouse for me ; and then having exhausted the interest of the occasion,

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Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 57 they left me, and went to gossip on the stairs, or in the street below. Later in the morning the landlord, or he who represented the landlord, came up to the attic, and looked at the corpse with the half-shrinking aversion and curiosity of a man. He showed none of the women's eagerness for close inspection ; on the con trary I think he was half afraid. He drew up the other chair, and sat down opposite me, and began to talk in a business tone that caught my attention as the aimless chatter of the others had failed to do. I raised my head and looked at him. " Little girl, your mother paid the rent last week ? " " Yes ; there's nothing owing.1 " I know ; but you can't clear out for a day or two, and that means another week's rent. Have you got the money to pay it ? " " No ; but she had some last night," I said, nodding towards the bed. " We must find it, or sell your things," he answered. Another man and a woman came in, and between them they ransacked the room, discussing and valuing the little it contained. The book-box afforded them lively satisfaction ; there was security for the rent ; yet so blunted were my feelings by the morning's shock, that I watched indifferently how they carelessly handled those treasures, and put them aside to take away. Next they looked through

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Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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58 JOSEPHINE CREWE the things on the table, and beside the cups and bottles, and the half-burnt candle of the previous night, they found my letter to my uncle. My mother had after all forgotten to take it to post when she went out. Had she perhaps remembered it later, and worried about it ? The men questioned me, and I told them it was to a rich uncle with whom I was to live. They smiled incredulously ; to them I was already a pauper child. " Will you post it ? " I asked him whom I believed to be the landlord. He laughed, but the other man interfered. " Ay, I'll post it. Where's the good of throwing another brat on the rates if it can be helped ? Ten to one you won't get rid of the woman for a day or two, and there'll be no hurt if the child stays too. If the uncle don't come, she can go to the workhouse when they bury the mother." So it was settled ; and now they turned towards the bed. I moaned as they touched my mother, and turned away, but then was forced to look again. They were not rough; indeed I think both men were afraid to touch her, yet would not trust the woman to search her pockets alone. They rolled her over not ungently, though with faces of aversion, and both appeared greatly relieved when the search was ended, and their efforts were rewarded by a small sum of money. I don't know to what it amounted, but they appeared satisfied, and tossed

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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59 JOSEPHINE CREWE a few coppers to me, from which generosity I con cluded that the sum probably considerably exceeded the rent. At any rate, they went off laughing, and left me alone and quiet. I got down from my chair, and orawled (my foot would not allow of my walking) to the bedside, and turned eagerly towards my mother. Now that no one was there, I wanted to feel that I was with her again, and I drew back the sheet the men had care lessly replaced. She no longer lay in the attitude of repose in which she had died ; the hands were still clasped, but now lay twisted awkwardly across her ; the head was thrown back, and the lips through which it had seemed she must still be breathing gently, looked rigid and expressionless. A great horror seized me, for those rough men had robbed Death of its calm, awful peacefulness. I tried to turn away, to move away, but I still clutched the bed, and my eyes again and again sought that face. Then I conquered my terror, and strove with all my might to lay her as she had lain before, but my strength was not equal to the task, for those limbs were strangely heavy now. I could not turn her to her side again, nor lay her cheek to rest easily on the pillow as before. Baffled, I burst into tears, and leaving the face uncovered, I sank down on the floor by the bed, and wailed to unheeding ears. I don't know how long it was before any one came to me, but I screamed with startled terror when at

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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60 JOSEPHINE CREWE length some one raised me from the floor. It was a woman who lived in the room below, and who had already brought me tea and shrimps, which I could not touch. Now she carried me off bodily, and bore me and the shrimps down to her room. She had more tact than the rest ; she obliged me to eat and drink a little, and found me occupation. A baby was laid across my knee, and a mischievous, crawling brat put under my charge. My hands were full, and I could not even pay attention to the elder children, who idled in and out of the dirty, crowded room, and looked curiously at one who had so often shown her self a domineering little tyrant thus reduced to a pale, limp, harmless baby-minder, without even the missile of a sharp retort at hand to hurl against them. They might have taken advantage of my defenceless state and tortured me in a thousand petty ways, but they were awed by the great grief and the close proximity of Death which overshadowed me, and they kept aloof, and only whispered and pointed in their wonder. Their kind-hearted, shift less mother tended my foot, and provided me with a crutch which had once belonged to one of her boys, and being thus able to get about again, one neigh bour or another sent me on errands, or demanded little offices of kindness from me, which kept me occupied and away from the painful details of death. Once when I was minding my kind friend's baby, I heard heavy footsteps in my mother's room above ; but

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 61 when I would have inquired, they sent me out with the baby down to the river-side. I lost count of time as it dragged slowly on. I spent the long hours of darkness dozing uneasily, or tossing in the hot, crowded room ; the long hours of light in limping here and there, or in sitting with the baby — or better still, all alone — down on the river steps. I don't remember things very clearly in that time of apathy, in that dull, sodden fog-land of grey, with no hope that the mist would rise and the sun break through again. I did not even wish for the sun ; I wrapped myself in the greyness, and bore everything with a hopeless indifference. One hour of utter blackness I remember when I went again to my mother's room. It was one evening — probably the first — that I stole in, looking to find all as I had left it; but there on a nail on the wall hung the lilac cotton gown, and the rest of her clothes and her boots were put together in a corner. Kind neighbourly hands had done it for her, but I did not understand it so. They had tried to do all decently, but the limbs they had sought to lay straight looked uneasy and unnatural, the curling hair was parted and brushed smooth as it had never been in life, and the face was dark and sunken under the closed eyes and about the open lips. Could that be my mother ? I turned sick, and hastened away, thinking never to enter again. One other incident I remember, which if not black

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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62 JOSEPHINE CREWE was at least a darker grey than the surrounding hours. It was when Bessie joined me as I sat on the steps with the baby. Other children were play ing there as I had been used to play, but whether it was morning, afternoon, or evening, I don't know. Bessie was sorry for me, yet she showed her sym pathy grudgingly ; there was nothing in her words to tell me of it, only in her attitude as she put her arm round me. — Oh yes, it was bad, she admitted, but she believed they didn't starve you in the Union. They made you work, she'd heard, but they gave you a bellyful to work upon. There was no need to put your finger in your eye and whimper for such a mother as mine ; and when all was said and done, I was strong, and she reckoned the Board would soon send me out to work. " I ain't going to the House," I said. " Who's to keep you then ? " " My uncle." " Lor' ! Where's he from ? What'll he do with you ? " "He's a gentleman and rich, and I shall go and live with him right away from here. I've got to be a lady, Bessie, but you needn't look as if you'd scratch my eyes out, for I tell you I can't help it." " What ! you'll leave them as you belongs to, them as has played with you, and suffered with you, and been a deal fonder of you than ever you deserved, and you'll set up for a do-nothing lady,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

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JOSEPHINE CREWE 63 will you ? You'll take the bread out of our mouths to feed yer dogs and horses with : ay, and you'll take our coal to warm yer grand greenhouses and make yer flowers grow, when folks, ay, folks, are dying of cold for want of it ; and you'll tear the rags from our backs and wear the flesh from our bones so that you may go fine, and eat and swill on the fat o' the land ! I tell you, Josephine Crewe," she cried, standing up and getting so excited that she collected quite a crowd of little loafers about her, while she continued with the impassioned gestures and heat of a stump orator, " I tell you it's your own damnation you've chosen. You've gone over to the wrong side of the great gulf, and there it is flamin' and burnin' atween us, all full of stinkin' pitch and vapours. If I tried to go to you — which I never would, no, never — I should be swallered; and if you was to try to come to me, you'd go down and the pitch would stick to yer silks and satins, and you'd flame and burn for everlastin', and I'd like to see you, yes, I would ! But when you're on the other side I'll stand on this and curse you, Josephine Crewe ; I'm tired o' livin', but now I'll live to curse you, Josephine Crewe. May the devil lay hold of you ! You'll find him there, lurkin' in the folds of yer satin dresses, and sittin' on yer soft chairs, and peepin' out of yer silver dishes, and burnin' in yer flamin' fires, and — and " " 'Ello, Burns ! Bravo, Tillett ! Rattle away, young

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Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

64 JOSEPHINE CREWE 'un, and send all the blowed lot o' aristocracy to the devil ! You've found your callin', little crook-back. A crook-back, gal, socialist agitator, you'll go down like old blazes ! Bravo ! 'Ear, 'ear ! " It was a big lad who applauded, and all the little urchins joined in and capered around, crying, " 'Ear, 'ear ! Bravo, crookie ! " Poor Bessie, baffled and enraged, stamped and shouted and ground her teeth while she maliciously pointed at me, but I sat quiet and silent, and was not a quarry worth pursuing. The cruel, unreasonable little mob of relentless urchins, girls and boys, fastened on Bessie like flies on a pot of treacle, till the poor sensitive, deformed child was stung to madness, and attempted to strike and bite me when I strove to rescue her. They were too many for her, and she fled with a whole train of capering, jeering imps at her heels. I only saw her once again, and never had an opportunity of pacifying my unreasonable little friend. I spent hours on the steps during those few days. I did all that I was asked with a meekness new to me, but whenever I could escape, I did, and fled to the little harbour. I had a great longing to sit there alone and think ; especially towards evening this craving was strong upon me, and one way or another I managed to satisfy it. My apathy deepened into forgetfulness of sorrow as I sat in the growing dusk, and with eyes tired and weak from crying, watched the light fade from the great river, and the

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREAVE 65 soft greyness that atoned so well with my mood steal doAvn and envelop all. I was soothed into a dull calm as I sat there and watched the ghosts of men and boats glide past in the mist, and listened to the never-ending flow of the river. The river bore me away from myself; unconsciously I lost myself in the great dim life around me, and forgot I was friendless Josephine Crewe. My thoughts grew vague and shapeless like the floating mist, but like the mist were broken here and there by something gross and palpable. For ever and again the thought that my mother was dead started up before me with terrifying, awful reality, and my heart ached till its very sorrow numbed it, and the greyness soothed me once more. I sat on the steps for the last time, but not knowing I was never to see them again, I made no' regretful lingering. Hardly had the glow of sunset faded from the hazy west before the silver rim of the moon rose before me, and recalling how my mother had told me she had watched it over the Rookery woods, I heaved a great sigh and turned away with tearful eyes. I went back to the crowded alley with its sordid life, and sighed half-regretfully as I thought of leaving it. I never doubted my uncle would come for me. " What ! not gone yet, Joey Crewe ? Then yer fine uncle's played yer false, and you'll have to go to the House to-morrow, poor little 'un ! " An uneasiness Avoke within me. I did not think p

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

66 JOSEPHINE CREWE of the House, for that was not to be ; but was she to be buried to-morrow ? Buried, and I never to see her again ! Ah, then there was not a moment to lose, not a moment. I must go to her, and stay with her all the night through, for every dear moment that was left. I fled to the attic as fast as I could with the help of my crutch and the hand rail. I did not pause to notice that the door stood ajar and that a light shone through the crevice, nor did I look round to see what caused the light; I stumbled hastily in with my eyes directed towards the bed — and it was empty ! " Mother," I cried, " Mother ! " and I tore aside the bedclothes, dirty counterpane, blanket, sheet, as if to find her under them. I threw them upon the floor, and dragged down the cotton gown from its nail, as if she might be behind it. She was nowhere, and terrified and appalled not to find her, I threw myself down on the scattered clothes, and cried to her, " Mother ! Mother ! " Then a tall form rose uji from the chair beside the table, and came towards me. It was Uncle Crewe. "Poor little child!" he said. "Poor little girl! God has taken her, little Josephine, and He is a very merciful God, loving to all His creatures. We must leave her in His hands, and trust to His great love, His never-ending forgiveness." " Where's He taken her ? " I sobbed. " It was a shame to take her when I want her so."

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

67 JOSEPHINE CREWE He took me in his arms, and then sat down Avith me on his knee, and pushing back my hair, he kissed me gravely on the forehead. His face was very kind and sympathetic. " Listen, little Josephine. The all-wise God has seen fit to take your mother suddenly from you without warning, and because He, the All-good, has done it, it is right, and we must not rebel. You must wait patiently for the Lord's good time, when in His great mercy He may see well to re-unite you with your mother in His presence. In the mean time, little girl, your mother has not gone quite away, something of her remains with you, something which each one of us must leave — a remembrance, an influence that never ends. There is a spirit that can never quite go out of your life, Joey, the spirit of your mother; and the presence of this spirit, because it is both a good and an evil spirit, and so very near to you, is the most solemn influence your life can ever know. It may comfort you to think of the nearness of her spirit now, dear, and that you are obeying it when you come home with me." I was silent, thinking deeply, my head against his shoulder, his arm round me. He, too, was thinking, and he sighed several times before he spoke again. " Josephine, so long as I have a home it shall be yours, and I hope you will be happy. I have only two big lubberly boys of my own, and I want a daughter. I think we shall be fond of each other,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

68 JOSEPHINE CREWE eh ? Yes, for your mother's sake, child, for your mother's sake ! " An expression of deep sadness crossed his face. I looked up into his kind grey eyes, and then I kissed him, and with that kiss I sealed an undying affection for my uncle. " While we are talking so gravely there is some thing else I must say to you, and I think you will understand me, though you are only a little girl. The home you are going to is very different from this, and I must trust to you, Josephine, who are quick and clever for your years, to bring no evil breath to taint our fresh country air. I feel it is an awful responsibility to take you there, and I ask you, Josephine, to respect our home, and to try to forget, or at least to never mention, what you cannot help knowing of the darkest side of life." I liked his reasonable manner of talking to me, no prohibitions, but a request made so gravely and seriously that I felt at once how right it was, and for the first time I was conscious how great was his generosity in taking me into his home. I looked dreamily at the caudle, and then gravely and thought fully at him. " I will try to be good," I said. " I will never speak of her, nor of anything here. I will do my very best to please you, Uncle Crewe." He kissed me again, and then stood up. There was no more time to talk ; we must make haste. I

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREWE 69 asked him Avhat he should do with the furniture, and he smiled at the mention of "furniture" as he looked at the few poor things the room contained. He said they would be better for giving than for selling ; to whom would I like to give them ? I reckoned up the value of the table, the two chairs, the bed and bedding, etc., appraising each with the exactitude of an auctioneer; it was a munificent gift in my eyes, and I hesitated whether it Avas not too much to bestow on one. Then I thought of my kind friend below, and determined she should have all. This new attitude of benefactress pleased me, and blunted the poignancy of regret in leaving this, the only home I had known. I had no knowledge of luxury, and the wretched hole was very dear to me. My uncle bade me Avait while he went to arrange matters, and so I remained for the last time alone in the old attic, and tried in vain to realize that Mother and I would never spend another evening there together, that a great break had occurred in my life, —recalling Bessie's words I named it a great gulf. The future was a blank to me, and vainly I tried to believe the present was at an end. How could I conceive of a world Avithout my old associates and associations, a new world to which I could take nothing but a character strangely formed, and, for a child, a far-reaching knowledge of good and evil ? I was quiet and almost dazed with the attempt

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

70 JOSEPHINE CREWE to think things out, so that I made no effort at conversation Avhen Uncle Crewe returned. He pro duced a little grey cloak and hood with which to cover up my rags and dirt, also a shawl which, when he found I could not walk without pain, he wrapped closely round my bare feet and legs, and took me in his arms. I looked back as we left the room at the emptiness and disorder — and then never saw the place again. Half the house was on the stairs as we went down, attracted more by the talk of the great gift of furniture than by my departure. Loud were the congratulations and wishes for good luck that accompanied me, many a one, I doubt not, vaguely hoping that some crumb of good fortune might fall to their share when two of their number were so liberally blessed. I was filled with childish pride and elation as I was thus borne through my wonder ing and envious housemates, but the feeling was of no long continuance, for as I Avas stowed away in the cab that waited at the alley's end, I felt that all I knew was slipping from me, and my eyes were so blinded by tears that I could barely distinguish the little hunchback standing under the gas lamp. " Bessie ! " I cried, " Bessie, Bessie ! I'm going, and oh, I don't want to go ! I don't want to leave you. I'll never stop loving you, Bessie, never, never ! " " I walks and you drives, my lady Crewe ! " said Bessie mockingly, "and may you have a pleasant

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English

000431585

1895

Josephine Crewe. A novel

London

JOSEPHINE CREAVE 71 airing on yer way to the devil." Then suddenly she changed her mocking tone for one of bitter hatred, and crying lustily, "And take that with you !" she threw a heavy stone at me with all her strength. It narrowly missed the cabman, who slashed at her Avith his whip, and as we drove quickly away a sharp cry told me he had not missed his aim. I Avas distressed, for Bessie and I had fought and loved one another all our lives, and it weighed heavy upon me that we had parted in enmity and for ever. I Avondered at her bitterness, but I knew she read the paper Avhcnever opportunity offered, and I laid all the blame of her outrageous behaviour to the score of the newspaper makers. " Perhaps Bessie is right, and there is a great gulf; I know what she means now," I said, breaking a long silence between my uncle and me. " But I'll never want to cross back to her side, so I sha'n't stick and burn forever like she said." " Ay ? What ? what ? " he asked, starting from a reverie, and looking puzzled. " Nothing to do Avith you ; you wouldn't under stand," I answered, not meaning to be rude. He smiled, and then I think forgot me, and I gazed out of the window and ruminated deeply. Street by street we were leaving behind us the domain of poverty, poverty's own especial kingdom. Each street, brought some fresh sign of wealth, or the work that leads to Avealth. The houses grew larger,

Boulton, Helen M.

Boulton, Helen M. [person]

Longmans

England

England

300 pages (8°)

English