The Washington critic., 1889-01-12
INDIAN SERVANTS.
They Resemble children In Their Help.
iessness and other Traits.

| Ancy ltesemDIe Nntluren IN Ine1r helD.
lessness and Other Traits.
Indian servants are In many respects
like children in their helplessncss, their
naivete, their timidity, their readiness to
be pleased, their foolishness, their
proneuess to falsehood, their strong
personal attachment, says n writer in
tim CornhiU Magazine. Even in their
total lack Of any sense Of humor they
resemble children. No Englishman
could hear English spoken in the comic.
ally barbarous way in which the Hindoo'
stan is commonly spoken by the British
soldier, without betreying amusement.
But the Indian face remains darlly
impassive. Not the faintest twitch be.
tokens any lurking laughter. Their
love, too, of giving and receiving high
sounding titles is childish In its prodigal.
ity. Humble-minded as they are, and
with deeprooted respect for all differ
ences of rank, 1t arises from no vulgar
wish to appear other than what they are,
and its aggerated Indulgence savors even
of sarcasm. A tailor and q cook both en-
! joy being addressed by the exalted title
of ''Kalipha, or Emperor. The water
carrier is always "Jemadar," or Captain,
and the bearer is "Sirdar," signifying
irony, the sweeper, who ranks but little
higher than the dogs he looks after, is
invariably called "Mehter" or Prince.
The necessity of keeping great number
of servants, often wondered at by
dwellers at home, is caused chiefly
by the waste OF time involved
by caste prejudices. Instead of having
one dinner hour for all, and one man to
cook for ALL there are few who are not
obliged to cook for themselves. The
table-servants cannot eat with the grooms,
nor they with the coachman, nor him
with the sweeper. So each man has
twice day to light his own little fire,
draw water from the well and cook his
own bowl Of rice-a proceeding which
wastes no amount of time. One servant
we had was Of the caste of oil.sellers,
and he told us there was not one of our
twenty-four other servants with whom
he could eat bread, i. e., If the other
cooked the food, and only one who
could eat with him il he cooked. We
asked him if this distinction had not its
drawbacks. He merely replied that it
was the custom-what could he do? He
himself was the humble recipient of
four thin rupees month, shared
doubtless by q wife and many dusky
youngsters, and yet he would have cheer
fully submitted to be whipped to death
rather than eat anything that had been
placed on our table. 1t is strange how un-
complaining men wore the iron letters
forged by the great goddess Custom. They
may ridicule her with their lips but they
obey her in their lives in curious contrast
TO the many zealots who worship with
lips God whose precepts they persist
emily ignore. The table servants are men of
infinite resources. Nothing daunts them.
lfyou do not like the way vegetable mar
row is cooked your maniwill say. Your
Majesty has but to give the order and TO.
morrow it shall be made into French
beans!'' If they tell you there is beefsteak
for dinner you will ask quite as the matter
, of course, "What is it made of T'when the
answer will frequently be- "Ofmutton, as
no beef was to be procured" The want
of beef was a misfortune, but 1t could not
be allowed'to affect the menu. We were
sometimes entertained at dinner by native
men, on which occasions the table was
spread with our own linen, plate and
china, and we were waited on by our
own servants, who also had cooked the
, dinner. The host provided the mater
: ials,' no doubt consulting our men as
| to what would be required, who gave q
list which must, fear, have conveyed
an APPALLING idea of onr carniverous
power. We were told that for one OF
these entertainments our host had killed
, a sheep, goose, duck and six fowls
, for our behoof, besides sending q lavish
amount of timed salmon, oysters and
/, vegetables. The dinner being cere.
monious one, although only my husband
: and myself sat down to it, the traditional
number Of courses was religiously adj
. hered to, quite regardless of the distress
7 full consequences to ourselves.
When the game course was placed
with much ceremony on the table, We
were struck by something unusual in the
look of the partridges, seeing which oul
4 head servant told us in solemn whisper
that they were chickens, "but dressed aS
partridges." The eXigencies of State
dinner necessitated game course-thert
was no precedent to the contrary-anC
n no game being procurable, the innocents
/ had been offered up as victims on the
altar of the great goddess Custom. The
z lengths to which her worship leads some
/. of her more witless votaries was anus
l ingly illustrated on one occasion wher
we were out in camp.
y u Our head man had gone on few days
. holiday-probably to bury his grand
mother, a relative whose habit it seems tC
be to die thousand deaths so often was
attendance at her funeral obsequies ad
vanced as the reason for asking leave
o and we were left to the tender mercies
of an underling whose intelligence was
u equal to that of most owls. At dinner
= the first night we inquired what there wa.
( for the second course. "a Crow" he re
piled, with bland alacrity; but, seeing
o our horror-struck faces, added hastily
"At least not crow, but long -taieC
Q bird your honor shot" We then discov
g cred that he had proposed serving up q
y large hornbiil for the game course
q Frank Buckland would have delighted