The evening times., 1899-05-06
TODS, AMENDMENT.

| NOW, sIOOS mamma Wd9 biuSulaIiy
charming woman. and every one in Simla
| knew Tods.
| Most men had saved him from death ON
] occasions. rf+
I He was beyond his ayah's control alto
| gether. and periled his life daily to find
out what would happen II you pulled .
Mountain Battery mules tail.
He was an utterly fearless young Pagan.
about six years old. and the only baby who
| ever broke the holy calm Of the supreme
Legislative Council.
1t happened this way:
Tods pet kid got loose and fed up the
hill of the Boileagugunge Road. Tods aft
! er 1t. until 1t burst into the Viceregal
Lodge Lawn, then attached to Peter
hoff."
I The council were sitting at the time. and
the windows were open because it was
: The Red, Lancer in the porch told Tods
. to go away. but Tods knew the Red Lancer
! and most Of the Members Of Council per-
sonally.
Moreover, he had firm hold of the kids
collar and was being dragged all across the
| flower bedRe. -.
Give my salaam to the long Councillor
Sahib. and ask him to help me take Mott
back!" gasped Tods.
The Council heard the noise through
the open windows; and, after an interval.
was seen the shocking spectacle OF Le-
gal Member and a Lieutenant Governor
helping. under the direct patronage of a
Commander-in-Chief and a viceroy, one
small and a very dirty boy In sailors
, suit and a tangle of brown hair. to coerce
lively and rebellious kid.
They headed it of down the path to the
Nal. and TOds went home in triumph and
told his mamma that all the Councillor Sa-
hibs had been helping to catch Mott.
Whereat his mamma smacked Tods for
interfering with the administration Of the
Empire. but Tods met the Legal Member
the next day. and told him In confidence
that If the Legal Member ever wanted to
catch a goat, he. Tods. would give him all
the help in his power.
Thank you. Tods.'' said the Legal Men,
Der.
Tods was the idol OF some eighty iham-
panis, and half as many saises. He sa-
luted them all as "Oh, brother"
1t never entered his head that any living
human being could disobey his orders;
and he was the buffer between the servants
and his mammals wrath.
The working Of that household turned
on Tods. who was adored by everyone.
from the dhoby to the dog boy
Even Futteh Khan, the villainous loafer
knit from Mussoorie. shirked risking Tods'
displeasure for fear his co-mates should
look down on him.
So Tods had honor in the land from
Boileasugunge to Chota Simla. and ruled
justly according to his lights.
OF course. he spoke Urdu. but lie had
also mastered many queer side-speeches
like the chotee bolee Of the women, and
| held grave converse with shopkeepers and
hill-coclies alike.
He was precocious for his age, and his
! mixing with natives had taught him some
OF the more bitter truths Of life-the mean
ness and the sordidness Of 1t.
He used, over his bread and milk. to de-
liver solemn and serious aphorisms. trans
lated from the vernacular into the Eng
lish, that made his mamma jump and VOW
that Tods must go home next hot wealth
er.
Just when Tods was in the bloom Of his
power the supreme legislature were hack
ing out a bill. for the Sub Montane Tracts.
a revision of the then act, smaller than
the Punjab Land bill, but affecting few
hundred thousand people none the less.
The Legal Member had built and boil
stered and embroidered. and amended that
bill until it looked beautiful on paper.
Then the council began to settle what
they called the minor details. AS il any
Englishman legislating for natives knows
enough to know which are the minor and
which are the major points. from the native
point Of view. Of any measure.
The bill was a triumph OF safeguarding
the interests of the tenant"
One clause provided that land should not
be leased on longer terms than five years at
a stretch: because, if the landlord had
tenant bound down for. say, twenty years.
he would squeeze the very life out Of him.
The notion was to keep up stream OF in
dependent cultivators in the Sub Montana
Tracts and ethnologically and politically
the notion was correct.
The only drawback was that It was alto
gether wrong. A natives life in India i'm
plies the life of his son. Wherefore, you
cannot legislate for one generation at
time. You must consider the next from
the native point OF view.
Curiously enough, the native now and
then and in Northern India more particu-
larly, hates being over-protected against
himself.
There was a Naga village once, where
they lived on dead and buried commissa-
riat mules. But that is another story.
For many reasons. to be explained later.
the people concerned objected TO the bill.
The native member In council knew as
much about Punjabis as he knew about
Charing Cross.
He had said in Calcutta that "the bill
was entirely in accord with the desires OF
that large and important class. the culti-
yators." and so on. and so on.
The Legal Members knowledge of ma
tiyes was limited to Englsh-speaking Dur
baris and his own red chaprassis. the Sub
Montane Tracts concerned no one In par
ticular, the Deputy Commissioners were
good deal too driven to make representa-
tions, and the measure was one which dealt
with small landholders only.
Nevertheless the Legal Member prayed
that it might be correct, for he was
nervously conscientious man.
He did not know that no man can tell
what natives think unless he mixes with
them with the varnish of. And not al
ways then.
But he did the best he knew. And the
measure came up to the Supreme Council
for the final touches, while Tods patrOlled
the Bura Simla Bazaar In his morning
rides and played with the monkey belong
ing to Ditta Null, the bunnia and listen
ed, as a child listens, to all the stray talk
about this new freak Of the Lat Sahib's.
One day there was a dinner party at
the house OF Tods' mamma and the Legal
Member came.
he heard the bursts Of laughter from the
men over the coffee
Then he padded out in his little red
flannel dressing gown and his night suit
and took refuge by the side Of his father,
knowing that he would not be sent back
''See the miseries Of having family"
acknowledgements. Put theek. you
know-made nice to please Ditta Null"
The Legal Member left his place and
moved up next to Tods.
what do you know about Ryotwari,
little man" he said.
"Ism not little man, I'm Tods, and I