The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-06-19
HINDoos AT TABLE.
The Higher Their Caste the More
Irksome Become the Rules.

The Higher Their Caste the More
Irksome Become the Rules.
ain India" writes Sidney Low, '-reh-
gion, with what seems a malign inge-
nuity, has occupied itself in heaping
compiled tons round the two essential
functions of eating and marrying. The
Hindoo cannot take his food without
elaborate precautions against pollution,
and the higher his caste Is the more
burdensome these rules are There are
some inferior castles in the south who
are not supposed to approach even
within speaking distance of the elect
A regular table has been drawn up Of
what may be called the degrees OF pol
luton, so that, while some of these low
persons can pollute man of higher
caste only by actually touching him,
it is held that blacksmiths, masons,
carpenters and leather workers can
pollute at a distance of twenty-four
feet, toddy drawers at thirty-six feet
and cultivators at forty eight feet,
while the pariahs, who eat beef, have
pollution range of no less than TWEEN
ty-one yards and twelve inches.
1.-The more sacred a Hindoo is the
more he is worried by his code of table
etiquette. The very high caste Brah-
man ought to strip Off all his clothes
and, If possible, sit on the floor when
he consumes his food. He should not
eat anything which has been touched
by an inferior or q non-Hindoo or
drink water out of any vessel similarly
defled. AS the scale descends the re-
strictions relax until at last we get
down to the man of no standing what
ever, the sweeper, who is so wanting
In refinement that he can openly stroke
a puppy dog, and finally we reach the
outcast who can eat any kind Of meat
whenever he can get 1t and will even
drink out of cup which has touched
other lips.
Luckily for the modern Hindoo
these burdensome prohibitions and In
| functions are subject to certain con-
venient legal fictions. Sweetmeats, it
appears. are not food and may be TAX
en- by anybody anywhere. Not long
ago the Brahman pundits at Benares
decided that soda water is not water
within the meaning of the act, so to
speak, and that ice does not count
Chicago News.
He Had Already sEEt.n
81 know a western Kansas town
where the rules of etiquette are purely
upon logical basis" said a man from
tha short oraSc corntrv tho ofhor dow
1.-THE daughter of the hotel keeper at
whose hostelry l was living was to be
married 1 received an invitation. At
about IL O'Clock in the evening the
wedding supper was spread. An old
lady came down the table side, passing
the viands to the guests. When she
reached my plate she skipped me and
began again with the next man. The
old lady had seen me eating my sup
per as usual at o'clock.
"'You've et,' she said as she gave
me the go by. Things began to look
| dubious for me. Then an old man
came along with more food. He also
had seen me eating at the usual even
ing hour. He SHE'D around me with a
look of surprise that should be at the
feed rack again and said, Why, you've
/ et.'
Everybody had been saving up for
the occasion so that they might eat like
heroes at that wedding feast. The fact
that / had not been missing any meals
nearly ostracized me in that happy
gathering kansas City Times.