Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-18
BEARERS IN INDIA
Made Necessary by the Gus
toms Of the Country.
THEIR PAY rs SMALL
MR.. CURTIS TELLS OF A PoMPoUs
FAILURE HE ENGAGED.
Was Hired After Examining Long
List Of Candidates-The Hotels
and Their Faults.
THEIR PAY rs SMALL

List of Candidates-The Hotels
and Their Faults.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald
BOMBAY, January 10, 1894.
Everybody who comes to India must have
a personal servant a native who performs
the duty of valet. waiter and errand boy
and does other things as he Is told. 1t is
said to be impossible to do without one. and
i am inclined to think that is true, for it is
a fixed custom of the country, and when a
stranger attempts to resist or avoid or re-
form the customs of country his trouble
begins. Many of the India hotels expect
their guests to bring their own servants
with them-to furnish their own chamber
maids and waiters-hence are short-handed
and the traveller who hasn't provided him
self with that Indispensable piece of bag
gage has to hustle for himself
On the railways a native servant is even
more important, for travellers are required
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 ca
booses at home. wash room and some
times water, but If you want to wash YOUR
face and hands In the morning it is always
better to send your servant to the station
master before the train starts to see that
the tank is filed. Then naked Hindu with
a goatskin of water comes along fills the
tank and stands around touching his fore
head respectfully every time you look his
way until you give him a penny.
The eating houses along the railway lines
f0 hrfn oir
servants who raid their shelves and tables
FOR food and drink and take 1t out to the
cars. That is another of the customs Of the
country.
For these reasons special occupation has
been created. peculiar to India-that Of
travellers servants, or bearers" they are
called. have never been able to satisfy
myself as to the derivation of the name.
some wise men say that formerly, before
the days of railroads., people were carried
about In sedan chairs. as they are still I'm
China, and the men who carried them were
called bearers: others contend that the
name Is due to the circumstance that these
servants bear the white mans burden,
which Is more likely. They certainly do
not Dear his baggage. They hire coolies to
90 II. seff-fespectfng bearer will en-
pioy somebody at your expense to do every
thing he can avoid doing, and will never
demean himself by carrying a trunk, or a
bag, or even parcel. You give him money
to pay Incidental expenses. for you don't
he hires other natives to do the work But
his wages are small
4 Bearers Wages.
A first-class bearer. who can talk English
and cook, pack trunks. look after tickets,
luggage and other business OF travel. serve
as guides at all places Of interest and COM
pei merchants to pay him a commission
upon everything his employer purchases,
can be obtained for 45 rupees, which is SIS
a month, and keep himself He gets hts
board for nothing at the hotels for waiting
on his master. and on the pretext that he
induced him to come there. But you have
to pay his railway fare, third class, ana
give him - to buy warm clothing He
never buys 1t. because he does not need it.
but that's the custom of the country Then
again, at the end of the engagement he ex-
poets present-a little baeksheesh-S2 or
So. and certificate that you are pleased
with his services.
That's the highest priced man, who can
be guide as well as servant but yo. can
get bearers" with less accomplishments for
almost any wages, down as low as 81
month. But they are not only worthless:
they actually imperl your soul because of
their exasperating ways and general cussed-
ness.
Pay Of House Servants.
You often hear that servants are cheap In
India. that families pay their cooks s.
month and their heusemen 81, which Is
true; but they do not earn any more. One
Swede girl will do as much work az a dozen
Hindus, and do It much better than they
and. what is even more important to the
housewife, can be relied upon. In India
women never go out to service except as
nurses. but in every household you will find
not less than seven or eight man servants,
and sometimes twenty, who receive from
81 to IS a month each in wages but the
total amounts 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, simply 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 house.
hold has to have an under servant 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 coolie to wash the kitchen
utensils and wait on him. He will do moth
ing but prepare the food for the table. A
coachman viii do nothing but drive. He
must have coelie to take care of the
horse, and II 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. 1t Is too long
and fearful to relate here, for he was finally
conpefied TO give IN and hire man for
every horse and prove the truth of Kip
ling's poem:
1t 10 not good fer the Christian race
To worry the Aryan down,
For the white rifles,
And the brown Smiles
And 1t wesreth the Christian down
And the end of the fight
In q Tombstone white
With the name Of the late deceased
And the epitaph clear:
fool lies here
Who tied to hustle the East.
That's the fate of everybody who goes up
against established customs. And so we
hired bearer"
Candidates for the Place.