The evening times., 1899-05-06
SPECIAL OFFER

am not fool. and why should the Slrkar
say l am child? l can see il the land is
good and If the landlord is good. II
am a fool. the sin is upon my own head.
For five years l take my ground for which
have saved money. and wife l take.
too. and a little son Is born
"Ditta Null has one daughter now, but
he says he will have a son soon. And he
says: AT the end of five years, by this
new bundobust, I must go. II 1 do not
go l must get fresh seals and takkus-
stamps on the papers. perhaps in the mid
die of the harvest, and to go to the law
courts once is wisdom, but to go twice is
Jehannum'
That Is quite true" explained Tods.
gravely. "All my friends say so. And
Ditta Null says: Always fresh takkus and
paying money 10 vakils and chaprassis and
law courts every five years, or else the
landlord makes me go. Why do / want to
go? Am a fool? II l am a fool and do
not know. after forty years, good land
when see it. let me die, But If the new
bundobust says for fifteen years, that is
good and wise. Ny little son is a man.
and l am burnt. and he takes the ground
or another ground, paying only once for
the takkus- stamps on the papers. and his
little son is born, and at the end of IF
teen years Is man. too But what profit
is there in FIVE years and fresh papers?
Nothing but dikh, trouble. dikh. We are
not young men who take these lands. but
old ones-not jaiS, but tradesmen with a
little money-and for fifteen years We shall
have peace. Nor are we children that the
Sirkar should treat us So.
Here Tods stopped short, for the whole
table were listening.
The Legal Member said to Tods: rs that
all?"
"AIl can remember" said Tods. But
you should see Ditta Mulls big monkey.
It's just like Councillor Sahib."
.'Tods! Go to bed said his father
Tods gathered up his dressing gown tail
and departed.
The Legal Member brought his hand
down on the table with a crash.
by Jove!" said the Legal Member Il
believe the boy Is right. The short tenure
is the weak point.
Now it was obviously impossible for the
Legal Member to play with bunnia's
monkey by way Of getting understanding,
but he did better.
He made enquiries. always bearing in
mind the fact that the real native-not the
hybrid, university-trained mule-is as
timid as a colt, and. little by little. he
coaxed some of the men whom the mesa
ure concerned most intimately. to give in
tnelr VIEWS. WHICH SQudTtu very SioSciy
with Tod's evidence.
So the bill was amended in that clause.
and the Legal Member was filled with an
uneasy suspician that native members rep
resent very little except the orders they
carry on their bosoms But he put the
thought from him as illiberal. He was a
most liberal man.
After a time the news spread through the
bazaars that Tods had got the bill recast
in the tenure clause. and If Tods' mamma
had not interfered Tods would have made
himself sick on the baskets Of fruit and
pistachio nuts and Cabuli grapes and al
monds that crowded the verandah.
TIL he went home Tods ranked some
few degrees before the Viceroy in popular
estimation. But for the little life of him
Tods could not understand why.
In the Legal Members private paper
box still lies the rough draft Of the Sub
Montane Tracts Ryolwari Revised Enact
ment, and opposite the twenty-second
clause. penciled in blue chalk, and signed
by the Legal Member. are the words
"Tods' amendment t.'-Rudyard Kipling.