The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-07
THE WAYS OF INDIA.
SERTANTS ARE 4 NECESSITY
 HHEN TRAVELLING THERE.

Their Main Dusiss are to Hire coOiie.
 to Do Everything There is to be
 Done-cost Listis aud Worth Less
 cant Hotel servies.
 Everybody who comes to India must
 have a personal servant. native who
 performs the duty of valet, waiter and
 errand boy and does other things as he
 is told. It is said to be impossible to
 do without one, and I am inclined to think that is true, for it is a fixed cus-
 tom of the country, and when q
 stranger attempts to resist, or avoid
 or reform the customs of the country
 his troubles begin Many of the ln- l dian hotels expect their guests to bring
 their ov Il servants with them-to fur
 nish their own chambermaids and
 waiters-hence are short-handed and the traveller who hasn't provided him. self with that indispensable piece of baggage has to hustle for himself. On the railways a native servant is even
 more important, for travellers are re- quired to carry their own bedding,
 make their own beds and furnish their
 own towels. The company provides a bench for them to sleep on, similar to those we have in freight cabooses at
 home, a wash room and sometimes wa ter. But if you want to wash your face
 and hands in the morning it is always
 better to send your servant to the sta
 ton master before the train starts to
 see that the tank is filed Then a
 naked Hindu with goatskin of water comes along, fills the tank and stands
 around touching his forhead respec- fully every time you look his way un-
 til you give him a penny. The eating houses along the railway lines also ex- pect travellers to bring their own ser wants, who raid their shelves and
 tables for food and drink and take it
 out to the cars. That is another of the
 customs of the country.
 E For these reasons a special occupa-
 ton has been created, peculiar to In-
 dia-that of travellers servants, or
 bearers" they are called. I have nev-
 CT been able to satisfy myself as to the derivation of the maine. Some wise men say that formerly, before the days of
 railroads, people were carried about in sedan chairs, as they are still in China, and the men who carried them were called bearers; others contend that
 the name is due to the circumstances that these servants bear the white mans burden, which is more likely.
 They hire cooies to do it. A self-re- specting' bearer" will employ somebody at your expense to do everything he can avoid doing and will never demean himself by carrying a trunk, or bag, or even a parcel. You give him money
 to pay incidental expenses. for you don't want him bothering you all the time, and hires other natives to do the work. But his wages are small
 l A first-class bearer who can talk
 English and cook, pack trunks, look after tickets, luggage and other busi- ness of travel, serve as guide at all
 places of interest and compel mer- chants to pay him a commission upon
 everything his employer purchases can
 be obtained for 45 rupees. which is s15 a month, and keep himself He gets
 his board for nothing at the hotels for waiting on his master. and on the pre- text that he induced him to come there. But you have to pay his rail- read fare, third class. and give him s l to buy warm clothing. He never buys 1 it, because he does not need it, but that's the custom of the country. Then again, at the end of the engagement he expects a present--a little back
 sheesh-$2 or s, and a certificate that you are pleased with his services.
 That's the highest priced man who can be guide as well as servant, but you can get bearers" with lesser ac- complishments for almost any wages
 down as low as $2 a month. But they are not only worthless; they actually I imperil your soul because of their ex- l asperating ways and general cussed- ness. You often hear that servants
 are cheap in India, that families pay their cooks $S a month and their
 housemen $2, which is true, but they
 do not earn any more. One Swede girl will do as much work as a dozen Hin dus, and do it much better than they and, what is even more important to the housewife, can be relied upon. The India women never go out to ser vice except as nurses, but in every
 household you will find not less than seven or eight men servants. and sometimes 20, who receive from $1 to $5 a month each in wages, but the total mounts up, and they have to be fed, and they will steal, every one of them, and lie and loaf, and cause an infinite amount of trouble and confusion, sim ply because they are cheap. High priced servants usually are an economy--good things always cost money, but give better satisfaction.
 Every upper servant in an Indian household has to have an under ser want to wait on him. A butler will not wash dishes or dust or sweep. He will go to market and wait on the table but nothing more. A cook must have a coolie to wash the kitchen utensils, and wait on him. He will do nothing but prepare the food for the table. A coachman will do nothing but drive He must have a coolie to take care of the horse, and if there are two horses the owner must hire another stable man, for no Hindu hostler can take care of more than one, at least he is not willing to do so. An American friend has told me of his experience trying to break down one of the customs of the East, and compelling one native to groom two horses. It is too long and fearful to relate here, for he was fin- ally compelled to give in and hire a oo.,, auapu barca and faroyo fbo