The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-17
" TWENTY PER CENT"
A BANKING TALE OF THE PRESENT TINE
BY THE AUTHOR OF "TuE BUBBLES OF FINANCE"

II iB not 10 De wondered at II tue AnglO-ln'
dian who retuJns home after sojourn
of a quarter OF century in the
East, should, above all things, wish
TO "rest and be thankfup for the remain.
der of his days. Such, at any rate, was the
principal thought that occupied my mind
when some six years ago, made up my mind
to resign my appointment OF Judge at Beeapoore,
and retire upon my pension of 81OOO
year, which is the sum allowed to all those
who have spent quarter OF century and up
wards in the Indian Civil Service when they leave
India for good and ALL During my career in
that country l had neither been extremely tor
tunate nor very much the reverse. Besides my
pension Aforesaid, / had saved some money,
and having turned it over' iudiciously, and
never dabbed in speculative shares or hazardous
undertaking, had, from the very first that
commenced TO put by from my pay and allow
ances steadily increased my store, so that the
day took nay passage on board the Pennsular
and Oriental steamer at Calcutta to return to
England, could write myself down as the mas
ter and owner OF some 100000; which, being
invested in the Indian Government Flyeper-
Cent paper, gave me about tIOOO year, IN
addition to the like sum which would Tor the
future receive nom the India House. Now,
with $1,000 year man of moderate habits and
inexpensive tastes may look forward to comfort,
If not TO what he terms luNurles, Tor the rest
of his days. It was not neediul Tor me 10 put
by sanything for my WIDOW; for, according
to tue rules of the lUdian Civil Service,
she would have $500 year at my death, which
would be about equal to marriage settlement
OF $4,000 My children, by the regulations OF
the same Civil service Fund. were also provided
Tor, each one that survived me being entitled to
ElO0 yCar-the girls until they married, the
boys until they were twenty-One years OF age.
My income of $1,000 was therefore, so to speak
free TO spend how and where liked, without in
the least hazar0ing tue future comforts Of those
/ lett behind me. Not that ] looked forward
either to HE of incidence, or TO letting what
talents | brOuoht home with me in the way of
capital be Ind behind bushel The Italian pro.
vero says:-"Obj q beUUt1 bsCerG'-"he that has
drank viii drink aga l'-and thi- no doubt holds
good vii taOse wnO have LED an active lite during
their best years. Unless man be OF hopelessly
mdolent disposition 49, and nothing is more
unlikely than that such an individual should
get on IN the Indian Civil Service. his past life
of Work only gives him a keeneT zest Tor future
labor. ! was yet in The prime Of lite, being
some three years on the right side of City. MY
health had suffered little or nothing by my long
residence in the East. There could have been
no greater punishment to me than being con
demned to lead an idle life for the remainder OF
my days And, therefore, with all my anticl-
pations of home and home enjoyment, there
was mixed up the anticipation OF having some
employment which would fully take no my
time, and, although not Obliged 70 do so, enable
me TO add a few thousand pounds to what had
already saved.
Farming, and the various occupations of a
country gentleman who farms his own land
had always great charms fer me. My native
county was Heretordshire, a province where
from childhood upwards every man hears much
and must learn something fthe art ofculuvating
land buying aud selling 'beasts, sheep, ana
pigs, as well tattening the same. Neither
when young magistrate in the Upper Provinces
of India, nor even when condemned IN after life
to sit tor six hours every day upon the bench as
Judge OF Beefapoore, had this taste ever left me.
During the whole otmy Indian career received
The Fled by every overland mail, and read it
far more regularly than did the Calcutta Eng
laShnldn or the Lahore Chronicle. From the
day first went out to India had set an object
before me, aud this was TO return to Hereford.
shire with money enough TO rent or buy a small
estate, which l could farm myself and thus
add pleasure to profit, and healthy occupation
TO both, and so soon as l landed at home | COM
menCed to carry out my intentions.
But 1t Is not easy 10 settle down quickly in
England. In the first place. had many rela-
tons to see and visit, and many of my wfes
friends to become acquainted with. We had
married in India, to which country she, then
the only unmarried girl out of seven daugh-
ters had accompanied her father, the
Colonel of Queens regiment To meet
and mix with various persons who live in diff
terent parts of the kingdom, it is absolutely
necessary to reside in London, at anv rate for q
time, and we therefore agreed that We would
put of for year our settling down definitely in
the country, although in the meantime we
determined to be on the lookout for any place
that would suit US, IN or near my native county,
to which, as / said before, l wanted so much to
return. TO live at London hotel for twelve
months is luxury only allowable to million
aires or foreign diplomats and TO reside in
lodgings is O misery which the poorest man
would hardly submit to il he could do other
wlse. A furnished house-that Is, to hire
habitation of this description means to pay
double rent for the use of very bad beds,
chairs, and tables and when you leave the place
to be mulct in the full value of these articles
themselves under the head of "breakages, ;" with.
out the privilege of taking possession of the
same Taking these facts into consideration we
determined to take a house OF our own for the
year we were 10 remain in .ondon, and to trans.
port the furniture we should purchase down to
the country when we took our departure from
the metropolis. So far from giving up my in.
tentions of farming, and on my own account |
determined that the delayment in following out
my schemes should merely give me more time
to carry them out | advertised in the Times,
the Field, and the HeTeordshre and Gloucester.
shire papers for residence of a certain size,
which | could rent or buy, but to which must
be attached not less than certain amount OF
land, with shooting to be mad in the neigh
boThOod. The answers | received to my ad
VeTtisements were innumerable, and | am
AFRAID to say what l must have paid the
Great Western Railway Company for rrst-class
fares to Hereford, Gloucester, Worcester, Mon
mouth, and all the stations adjacent TO these
towns Still l could find nothing that exactly
suited me- One place had an excellent house,
but little or no land worth the trouble of iarm
ing attached TO il. At another the land was all
l could desire, but the house was badly stu
ated, and very inConvenient inside third
was desirable in every way, both as to house
ana land; the owuer would only sell, not rent
it; and the price he asked was much more than
l could afford TO give. IN short there was some
objection or other to every place | looked at
and by degrees began to despair Of getting