The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-01-03
ANGLO-iNDIAN HOUSEkEEPERS.
Trials Put Upon the Memsahib by Hel
Houseful of Peculiar Native Servants.

Trials Put Upon the Memsahib by Her
Houseful of Peculiar Native Servants.
The memsahib's housekeeping re-
solves itself much into close scrutiny
of accounts and watching of supplies:
This is easy, since she does not feed
her numberless servants, and orders
her substance only through one. He
is the khansamah, the head butler,
usually a person of great pomposlty
and spotless raiment, with dignitied
capacity for robbing you of annas and
pice which would qualify him any
where to represent municipal ward.
Especially when a visitor arrives does
the heart of the khansamah rejoice
within him, for then is his glorious OPP
portunity. Lines every day for the
visitors bath2 But the visiting memsa-
hib has ordered it, according to the
khansamah, and you cannot very well
ask her. The towels, even the sheets of
the visitors bed, disappear the day Of
her departurel The khansamah looks
sorrowful and deprecating, but thinks
the visitors ayah must have been an
extremely dishonest person: And the
unhappy visitor has probably had one
lime for her bath during the entire
length of her stay; and the towels
have brought two annas apiece at the
bazar, which goes into the secret
wallet of the khansamah.
Next in rank comes the kitmutgar,
who brings the dishes from the
kitchen, helps to wait at tables, but is
an inferior person. A favorite term
of obloquy among Anglo Indians is
HE looks like kitmutgar," which is
much worse than being compared to a
khansamah. The baburchi is the
cook, and he has a mental in the mus
salchi, who washes the dishes. "Bear-
er" is more or less general term, but
when you call the bearer among your
household staff you mean the man
who trims the lamps and dusts. He
will not sweep-not he!-you must
have mater to sweep, who is OF very
low caste indeed.
The ayah is the memsahib's maid,
and she cannot get on without one.
The durwan is the gate keeper, who
sits all day long beside the door to at
tend to callers and messengers, and
does nothing else. Beside these the
sahib must have a syce-groom-
each horse. No syce will take double
pay and attend to two horses-that is
not the Aryan way. And if there is a
garden there must be a malice to take
care of it, and for the most mental
work of the house there is beestic or
water carrier, whose name is admira-
bly, approximate, and who skulks about
his business under the opprobrium of
all the rest.
The dhoby is the washerman. whose
peccadilloes are Interestingly "naife. {"
He has been known, for instance, to
dismember certain garments of the sa-
nib and send them in separate legs, in
order to show the proper number on
his list and yet retain a shirt or a
handkerchief. There is the dhurzie,
too, who is joy in India, and who
comes and sits and sews all day on
your veranda for fourpence! Very
initiative, indeed, is the dhurzie, not
to be trusted with anything, even to
bodices and skirts, for which he has a
pattern.
Anglo-India tempers are short, and
the khansamah knows their brevity
better than anybody in the world. A
favorite expression of abuse in con-
nection with undergone mutton per-
haps, is in exciting Hindustanee
''Son of pig" which hurts the gen.
tie Hindoos feelings as much
as anything. But the gentle Hin
doc usually replies conciliatorily
in some term of deep respect and
admiration; and certainly the uncon-
scious khansamah got the best of it,
who replied to this expression on the
lips of his irate sahib, "Sir, you are
my father and my mother!"-Garth
Grafton in Montreal Star.