Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-21
MORE DURBAR GOSSIP
Why Some Like and Others
Dislike Lord Curzon.
QUEENLY VICEREINE
MAHARAJAHS AND NATIVE
PRINCES PAYING oBEIsANCE.
A Wonderful Pageant, Full Of Life
and Color-Ease, Grace and
Harmony.

| Written for The Evening Star.
| Wednesday. the 31st of December the
third day of the coronation durbar held no
important event and we fingered long over
our breakfast. very jolly party. The
| honorable officer in charge of the camp
! whose very laudable aim 1t is to make every
| one as content as possible. pushed in my
| chair for me when sat down at table and
| said in a confidential whisper loud enough
| to be heard by all at the table: May 1
| ask IL you come to Delhi by the He Hi Har.
| the Ho Ho Har. or the He Hi Hem liner
| and there was a general shout. 1t was then
| explained that that the East Indian Rail-
| way and the o. 0. r. and the E. l. M. rail-
| ways, whatever they may be, are always
| spoken Of in that delightful manner. Then
we heard for the first time the story which
they say Is widespread in India, about Lord
Curzon. and which Is said to be one cause
| Of his unpopularity. 1t seems that an or
| der had been given to the effect that
| house occupied by his aids de camp, was
| to be refurnished and. the house being
| ready for inspection, Lord Curzon had gone
| to look 1t over. and among other things was
| dissatisfied with the duality of the chairs
| to be used in the dining room and said SO to
the A. D. c., who accompanied him, which
| caused that gentleman some annoyance and
| he answered at once that he had ordered
| chairs suitable for the dining room OF
country gentleman in England and thought
that the ones sent WERE SATISFACTORILY lLOIN
| Curzon Immediately answered that he had
| not found, SO far, any of that genus in
| India, and he thought that there was no
| such class. therefore the chairs were I'M
| suitable. The A. D. c. felt 1t to be an In
| suit and had the courage to leave the room
and the august presence Of the viceroy at
| once That is one version. Another is that
| Lord CurZon said that he had so far found
| none Of the genus gentlemen in the Indian
empire but that seemed to us beyond belief
| Although he Is so universally disliked and
| it may be accounted for partly from the fact
| that he believes in those who are paid for
| doing certain work doing 1t and not leav-
| ing it to subordinates. and partly because
| Of disagreeable, pompous manner. there
| are countless things to admire In his gov
eminent and chiefly. In our eyes, his perfect
| fairness toward the natives.
| I was amused, while waiting at the sta
| ton of the HE Hi Hur' one evening, for
| train which was very late, at the remarks
! of an Irish assistant station master, re-
| tired soldier who had done his time in the
| army and got this berth in his early-old
| age:
| 'Taint not to say what it used to be,
| ma am" he said, mot by any means. In
| those there times few years past, white
man he had the best places and he hadn't
| no natives put over him, and him havin'
| served his country all these years. And
| now it's quite different intoirely, for Lord
| Curzon he gives all the best places to the
| natives. ma am and then they just treat
| them as is under them like dogs, they does,
| and them there doesn't dare to let out
| word on 'em. let alone kickin' OF en- 1t s
| hard lines for an old soldier to be brought
to that. now amt 1t. a'am, don't ye
| think?'
I confess frankly that my perverted SYM
| pathy goes with the native. They may be
| liars, one and all, and they are, as a mat
| ter of fact-it is in the blood: and they may
| not be over clean. which they are not, but
| it Is their country, and half and half should
be the rule according to our ideas. and is so
| under Lord Curzon's just government, al
| though we are continually told that 1t is
| much more than half on the side Of the
native. We listened to one more story.
that of the government cat and then went
| forth into the gay and brilliant street.
The Story of the Cat.
| It seems that in a certain city in the
court house Of the same lived a much
| loved cat, the possessor of a pension Of
two mice day for its support, equal to 1
cent day. After time complaint was
brought In against the cat, that the court
| house was overrun with mice and that the
| cat was so we'll fed that it was neglecting
| its duty. consequently the cat was tried in
| court, found guilty and fined two mice a
| day. so from henceforth she had to take her
| old profession Of rafting in order to support
| life. AS the story came to an end heard
| a low waiting chant in the street near by,
| and asking what the cause of it was, was
| told that 1t was native funeral, so we
| stood a. the door OF the tent and watched 1t
| go by. The body, going to be burned, was
| wrapped in a scarlet and gold cloth. lying
| on a sort of stretcher which was carried on
| the heads of eight men, draped in their
| white chuddars. Following 1t came the
| mourners, presume bly, the men Of the fami-
| ly, all Of whom were grooming the curious,
weird chant we had heard. We saw many
native funerals later on and often heard the
| strange, mournful, wild chant, we sat
| In our tents in the twilight, and even some
| times In the early dawn.
far 11c tho avtc ha1
up the morning, and a fine game of polo
| and the massed bands with tea and many
| friends the afternoon. and the greater part
| Of the evening was spent around the table
| in the cheerful dining room. where, how
| ever. I must admit that the smoky fires
caused the tears to roll down our faces in
| rivulets! New Year day dawned as all the
other days had DONE brilliantly and We
! were all ready by breakfast time to start
| for the long-looked-forward-to durbar.
However. we heard just before starting
| that, owing to the fact of its being sacred
! day to the Mohammedans or to some sect OF
| them, the durbar was to be delayed two
! hours to leave time for their devotions so
we waited one of those two hours at home
| and then set forth. driving very slowly, in
order to view the picturesque crowd In de-
| tail, and reaching the Durbar Hall or am
| phith in time to see the greater part
| of the wonderfully picturesque audience ar
| rive and all Of the mobiles and princes.
|, Took Food and Drink.
As it was to be an affair of three or four
hours. possibly more, we all armed our
| selves with packets Of sandwiches and
| cakes and a flask OF brandy and water.
One OF the men Of our party included with
| his sandwiches some eggs. which he de-
| clared to be hard boiled and gave to Ia
vored friends as a treat, but which, when
opened, proved to be soft, much to our dis
may. and as cold soft-boiled eggs were too
much even for our then ravenous appetites
we slowed them carefully away under our
bench with sigh. The roads leading to the
Durbar Amphitheater were already begin
ming to be crowded with ticca gharris ok
kas, jinrickshaws, bullock carts. tongas and
| a few private carriages. and signs along the
road announced. greatly to our delight
"Tongas. sedan chairs and jinrickshaws for
hire" The vast plsin around the building
was dotted with elephants and camels in
gay trappings and the troops were gather
| ing in from all directions, bands playing
and bayonets flashing in the brilliant sun
shine. 1t was already gay and interest
| ing sight The entrance to the tiers Of seats
on either wing Of the huge semi-circe was
from the outside up a long flight of long
stairs covered with turkey red. The wings
| were already fairly filled with natives and
visitors, but the native princes only began
to come as we arrived and were all seated
I A1~~