Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17
HOUSEKEEPING M INDIA
In That Country the Task ID Thing of
Many Trials
Servants Have UnaIterable Rules OF
Their Own, which They Fol-
low Reiigiousiy.
From the London Mail,

If you question the memsahib of the or
dering of her household you will find that
she knows very little about it. She knows
that the bearer is supposed to dust the
drawing room and does not. and that the
khansamah presents a monthly account.
This account is almost the most wondrous
thing in India A khansamah who knows
his business fits it to the sahibs income
with undertaking precision. Servants at
home know everything: in India they know
yet more. The quiet men who wait at the
table know more English than they pre-
tend. Usually there is somebody in the
house who can read English letters. Anglo
Indian life is all in verandas. behind open
windows, transparent blinds and doors that
Will not shut. Also, every servant knows
every other servant, well as the clerks
at the bank and in the government offices.
Therefore man will first hear of his i'm
pending promotion or transfer from his
bearer. And when he is promoted his wife,
hoping to save money to exc out the ever
nearer retirement pension, will discover
that the expenses have arisen in exact pro-
portion to the rise of pay. The Presence
has more pay now" says the virtuous khan
samah. Does it become the Presence to
live like mere assistant commissioner? 1
nave seen many sahibs. and 1 know what
Is fitting"
Where does it go? Do not ask. hui count
from time to time the bangles on the ankles
or the khansamahs leading wife You will
notice that they enlarge and multiply The
word for this process is 'dastur:" in French
it is spelled mes sous" and in English
housekeepers discount" You NAV saw
confidently that no money changes hands
between the sahib and native without it
has borne commission. What is the nrice
IN the bazaar of tin pail?r the memsa !lib
asks of chaprussi. God knows I am a.
poor man." So by making inquiries If can
oe known. So he disappears around the
corner, where he waits the pail merchant.
ana by making inquiries it is known
Every man has his price
But If the rich mans expenses tncrease
MI, Mltn ms pay the poor mans remain steady.
Inc pinched married subaltern gets exact
~ the same food and servants and every
lnlng as the plump commissioner The In
atah servant may be a tyrant but he is
aiso providence He asks no more than
your all; give him that honestly and he
VIII see that you want for nothing. His
,ior Is in his sahib and his sahib's estab
lishment 1t is his pride that he never
s sesaLs. contrary to custom; he will take a
Iarthing commission on the expenditure of
"a, but he is safe as the grave with vonr
whoie months pay in his pocket, When
the exile Is over and the sahih returns
across the black water he weeps quite sin
cere!y. Behold. / am grown old in the
service of the Presence. The Presence is
m! rather and mother; what now shall
thls dust-like one do?" Then one day. in
the rlced-and-b uttered cose of his native
village. he hears that his old masters son
Is on the way to India. God knows how
put ne hears it. And when the bow lands
a. BOMBAY an old man creeps I'D to him
pearlng chit from his father. Behold.
It would be a shame to me if arv but mo
should be the Presence's bearer seeing tbat
nave many times held him on my Knee
When he was SO high" So he is the
PRESENCE bearer. The old man, who had
retired rich for life from a genarars &c
Enlistment, begins again in a suhaItern's
quarters ana serves the young sahih till
ms infrmities will let him serve no Ionoar
men ne goes back to his village again
with pension, and sends his son IN sarva
the Presence instead
me bearer and khansa nah may we'll take
icauS on themselves for there are asonjes
IN indian housekeeping which must fan ON
81 INC lieLnsahlp alone How would you like
~ oo your shopping at a thousand miles
range! Except in Madras, Bombay and
Ga1cutta there is hardly a possible shop in
Ihola GU must think what you want and
oruer IL fortnight in advance. even "a II
will probably arrive a fortnight later Ava
aiei' IL people are coming to stay ont
Christmfs I have heard of resi
oents wife who had to send two hundred
hnr ho LOT mock OF sheep for the needs of
Iel mouse party. and then the local Brah-
mans intercepted them and put them in tho
pound, ana religion ordains that what has
once been in the pound can never he
slaughtered. pe
Ihere are other sorrows Go into tho Tn
ulan drawing room; it Is shady and cool
ana charming, but nearly always II seems
a nttie bare. The rest of the FURNITURE
vi ate a pletey nothlngs-are packed in boxes
a. q, uepots IN calcutta or Bombay or pindf
me piano Is staying with a friend. and the
SiiVer mas not yet come back from the
pahk. Leave one year. and transfer TO the
nhans. camp next month, and an imperative
Snanee TO the hills for the memsahib the
not weather after that-the Indian court Is
ever place of transition 1t is a mere
Saravansari-a double exile We have at
nome no fixed place of banisf1ment + is
w, a
away her children; she NAV NOT eIrep IT,
with her furniture. e i've
IN thls Fugitive encampment on alien soil
the very order of meals is shaken Wban
1t Is hot you rise before dawn take yo,Ir
chotauzri, your tea and toast Then for
your rice, your bicycle spin. your game Of
racquets IN the first hours of the sun. Then
nome to Dress and then breakfast and
then days work through the long long
neat and glare. Tiffin you have no stomach
LOT, ana so you wait for tea. After that
me IS bearable again; there is air if YOU
only gasp hard enough. There is the drive
by the heights of Calcutta on the shore
OF Back bay at Bombay, on the Marina at
Madras Then for men the club; in similar
az an IONS the cup Is free to women also.
All prepare for dinner with billiards or bad
minton, which is battledore and shuttle
cock over a net. Then dinner under the
punkah; or maybe it is dance night, and
everybody forgets hot today and hotter TO-
morrow and the whole weary world
Sunday brings little respite Man has his
week 5 arrears OF work; for woman IL she
cares. there Is church at the big sta ton
In the small, the little Scotch missionary.
or the residence Of the deputy commission.
er, reading the service in a drawing room
to his wife and his assistant and the en-
gineer's wife-the engineer is out on the
canal-and the doctor is native-tfe rail-
way man and his wife and children. II
does Your heart good to see how the mis-
sionary enjoys his sermons the one taste
OF theological Scotland is his crash of stu
pid scholars and stupider patients; it does
you good to hear the railway man grunt
out the hymns of his childhood
SOUTH AFRICA TRAVEL.
As 1t WRR Before RaIlrno5-