The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-10

after spoil Of hard work, his frat idea
is to drink. but the Indian peasant has q
different habit. At the hour OF repose
his custom Is to disengage from his tur-
ban and loin cloth small bag like q
housewife. with partitions, tied by q
string. This he unrolls deliberately, and
there are seen o layer Of green leaves
from tho pepper vine, q lump Of lime,
two or three nuts Of the arecapalm, a
few cloves and an iron implement some
thing like nut cracker.
With this he breaks off some frag-
ments of the aromatic nut, mingles them
with little Of the lime, lays both in the
hollow of pepper leaf, which he folds
over and pins with Glove, putting the
whole medley into his mouth and Joy
ously chewing it. That is the pan 500
pari, OF excellent leaf'-the betel-
which soothes half Asia with it's hot,
astringent taste, and is no doubt an ad-
mirable stomachic and febrifuge, though
it blackens the teeth and turns the sa-
Iva blood red. Unrolling his betel case
and making himself Quid, the village
fisherman explained the gray stone and
its inscription:
"Sohni-Protectors of the Poor!-was
girl of this gaum; oh, only common
low caste girl, but beautiful to see as the
blue lotus is when the blossom first
opens. 1t is now very long ago since
the thing happened about which the
Presences ask, but anybody will tell
them still, among the white haired men
of those who saw her face, that it was as
fair as Radha's or as any of the milk.
maids of kriShna. Her father was q
herdsman, owning many sheppard goats.
which he grazed along this bank and
Sohni's business, after she became big
enough, was to drive them out to pasture
III this jungle, which business she did
for many dry and rainy seasons until she
was we'll grown.
Sometimes it would be by day and
sometimes by night. that she wandered
along the river, and once, alone with her
flock, she heard the bansuli very sweetly
played upon and saw young shepherd
named Luximan, who was playing it.
He was very good looking lad, they all
tell, and skilled beyond measure upon his
pipe, SO the thing fell out easily that
they became violently enamored of each
other but kept the matter hidden from
all for other reasons and because Luxi-
mans people. who lived on the farther
! side of the river, were no friends of the
herdsman, Sohni's father, but the con-
trary.
Moreover, Sohni had been secretly
promised by her father to Govinda, the
soucar of the district. who was a man
growing old, and a wicked and cruel
man, always taking advantage of the
| poverty of our people to lend them
money at hard interest, and then, when
they could not pay and the time came
round, to get their fields and cattle and
implements and silver ornaments away
from them-so that they became his
slaves. The Sahebs, of their wisdom,
will know very we'll what sort of folk
these bloodsuckers of marwarries be- 1t
is better to put your hand into the hole
where cobra is sleeping than to dip it
into the money bag of the soucar. The
seasons had been bad, and Sohni's father.
Notwithstanding his ewes and she goats,
had fallen into debt with Govinda years
back and could not clear it Off So had
he been led unwillingly to promise his
child to the money lender. But this
was not known to Sohni nor to Luximan?
eff you had seen them together, Char
ibpurwar, you would have cried. 1T is
surely krishna with one of the Gopis'-
she was so comely and erect and slender,
and he so handsome, playing his bansuli,
and SO loving. The jungle deer does not
tread lighter than Sohni pacing before
her goats, nor the palm tree stand
straighter than she with her mlkpot
upon her pretty head. But it was as
much as the life of Luximan was worth
| for him to be seen upon this side of the
river, where so many enemies were.
Therefore, in order they might meet,
Sohni, who was strong and skillful as IL
Brahinany duck in the water, would
many and many a time at night swim
over to her chosen lover.
THE river, rs the Presences perceive,
is very broad hereabouts. and when the
| floods descend-nay, indeed, for weeks
and weeks at a time-no swimmer could
of his own strength breast that current
and safely pass over. But Sohni was
wont to keep i'll this thicket of thorns
and reeds here large black chatty Ct
baked clay, and when the gods favored
| she would stop the mouth of it with
grasses, and placing it beneath her
breasts she would boldly swim over the
water, carrying her sari and choli dry up
on her head, and Luximan would sing and
play to her, and she make him good love
cheer until such time as the VOLTS tail
came into the sky and the first crow sail
ed across the dark fields Then the goat
| girl, happy in her heart and we'll CON
tented, took the chatty in her arms again
| and silently swan back to her charge,
none knowing of their mutual comfort