The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1896-05-26
HIS CHANCE IN LIFE.

! lady said Miss VeZzis was bad, dirty
nurse and inattentive. 1t never struck
her that Miss Vezzis had her own life
/ to lead and her own affairs to worry
over, and that these affairs were the
most important things in the world to
/ Miss Vezzis. Very few mistresses admit
this sort of reasoning. Miss Vezzis was
as black as boot, and to our standard
of taste hideously ugly. She wore cotton
print gowns and bulged shoes, and
] when she lost her temper with the chill
dren she abused them in the language
of the border line-which is part Eng
lish, part Portuguese and part native.
She was not attractive, but she had her
pride, and she preferred being called
Miss Vezzis. -
Every Sunday she dressed herself
wonderfully and went to see her mann
ma, who lived for the most part on an
old cane chair in greasy tussur silk
dressing gown and big rabbit warren
of house full of Vezzisses, Pereiras
Ribieras, Lisboas and Gonsalveses, and
floating population of loafers, besides
fragments of the days bazaar garlic,
stale incense, clothes thrown on the
floor, petticoats hung on strings for
screens, old bottles, pewter crucifxes,
dried immortelles, pariah puppies, plas-
ter images of the Virgin, and hats with
out crowns. Miss Vezzis drew 30 rupees
month for acting as nurse, and she
squabbled weekly with her mamma as
to the percentage to be given toward
housekeeping
When the quarrel was over, Michele
d'Cruze used to shamble across the low
mud wall of the compound and make
love to Miss Vezzis after the fashion Of
the border line, which is hedged about
with much ceremony. Michele was
poor, sickly weed and very black, but
he had his pride. He would not be seen
smoking a huqa for anything, and he
looked down on natives as only man
with seven-eighths native blood In his
veins can. The Vezzis family had their
pride too. They traced their descent !
from mythical plate layer who had |
worked on the Some bridge when rail-
ways were new in India, and they val
ued their English origin. Michele was a
telegraph signaler on 80 rupees a month.
The fact that he was in government
employ made Mrs. Vezzis lenient to the
shortcomings of his ancestors.
There was a compromising legend
Dom Anna, the tailor, brought it from
Poonani-that a black Jew of Cochin
had once married into the D'Cruze fam
lily, while it was an open secret that an
uncle of Mrs. d'Cruze was at that very
81
cooking for club in southern Indial
He sent Mrs. d 'Cruze 7 rupees annas a
month, but she felt the disgrace to the
family very keenly all the same.
However, in the course of few Sun
days Mrs. Vezzis brought herself to
overlook these blemishes and gave her
consent to the marriage of her daughter
with Michele, on condition that Michele
should hay- Teast so rupees month
to --larried life upon This won
-grIul prudence must have been lin
gering touch of the mythical plate lay
er's Yorkshire blood, for across the bor-
der line people take pride in marrying
when they please-not when they can.
Having regard to his departmental
prospects, Miss Vezzis might as well
have asked Michele to go away and
come back with the moon in his pocket
But Michele was deeply in love with
Miss Vezzis, and that helped him to en-
dure. He accompanied Miss Vezzis to
mass one Sunday, and after mass walk
ing home through the hot stale dust
with her hand in his, he swore by sew
eral saints-whose names would not in
terest you-never to forget Miss Vezzis,
and she swore by her honor and the
saints-the oath runs rather curiously,
SIN nomine sanctissima' '-(whateve
the name Of the she saint isl and so
forth, ending with kiss on the fore
head, kiss on the left cheek, and a
kiss on the mouth-never to forget Mi
chele.
Next week Michele was transferred,
and Miss Vezzis dropped tears upon the
window sash of the intermediate"
compartment as he left the station
If you look at the telegraph map of
India, you will see a long line skirting
the coast from Backergunge to Madras.
Michele was ordered to Tibasu, little
suboffice one third down this line, to
send messages on from Berhampur to
Chicacola, and to think of Miss Vezzis
and his chances Of getting so rupees a
month out of office hours. He had the
noise of the bay of Bengal and Ben
| gall baboo for company-nothing more.
He sent foolish letters, with crosses
tucked inside the flaps Of the envelopes,
to Miss Vezzis.
When he had been at Tibasu for
nearly three weeks, his chance came.
Never forget that unless the outward
and visible signs Of our authority are
always before native he is as incapa-
BILE as a child of understanding what
authority means or where is the danger
Of disobeying it. Tibasu was forgotten
little place with few Orissa Moham-
medans in it. These, hearing nothing
of the collector sahib for some time and
heartily despising the Hindoo subjudge,
arranged to start little Mohurrum riot
of their own. But the Hindoos turned
out and broke their heads. When, find
ing lawlessness pleasant, Hindoos and
Mohammedans together raised an aim
less sort of Denny brook just to see how
far they could go. They looted each
others shops, and paid off private
grudges in the regular way. 1t was a
nasty little riot, but not worth putting
in the newspapers.
Michele was working in his Office
when he heard the sound that a man
never forgets all his life-the ''ah yahP'
Of an angry crowd. when that sound
drops about three tones and changes to
a thick, droning ut, the man who hears
it had better go away if he is alone.
The native police inspector ran in and
told Michele that the town was in an
uproar and coming to wreck the tele-
graph office. The baboo put on his cap
and quietly dropped out of the window,
while the police inspector, afraid, but
obeying the old race instinct, which
recognizes drop of white blood as far
as it can be diluted, said, What orders
does the sahib give9''
The sahib decided Michele. Though
horribly frightened, he felt that for the
hour he, the man with the Cochin Jew
and the mental uncle in his pedigree,
was the only representative of English
authority in the place. Then he thought
of Miss Vezzis and the 80 rupees, and
took the situation on himself. There
were seven native policemen in Tibasu,
and four crazy smoothbore muskets
among them. All the men were gray
with fear, but not beyond leading. Mi
chele dropped the key Of the telegraph
instrument and went out at the head Of
his army to meet the mob. As the shout
ing crew came round a corner Of the