Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-11

There are two social seasons in India
one in the summer. when every one who
Is any one goes to the highlands. and es-
pecially Simla, and the other in the win
ter. when the center of all is Calcutta.
The latter season is lively that it even
attracts debutantes and post debutantes
of Great Britain. There is an influx OF
young maids and old maids. several hun
dred well bred girls coming annually TO
stay with their friends or at the hotels.
These girls have good letters of intro
duction. and they angle for husbands. |
am told that about fifty succeed in their
fishing. The others go back. and the
turned empties.' At the first of each
season a list OF this invading army of
ANA IONS is made up by the social de-
tectives Each girl is assayed. and her
pedigree and record. including the amount
of dot she will bring, are set down in cold
type. The list Is secretly passed around
to the bachelors of the army and civil
society, and the competition is free for
all.
They tell me that marriage is an expen-
sive luxury in India and especially so in
the cities. House rents in Calcutta are
high. an establishment of ten or twelve
rooms in a good location costing about
$500 per month. A fashionable wife will
need plenty for entertaining, and she will
have TO have her long summer vacation
to the Himalayan resorts, including. per-
haps, Simla, where social demands are
about as great as at Calcutta. On the
other hand, she may be of sporting ten
dency, in which case the outfit costs a
great deal, although camping out is de-
lightful
Keeping house in India seems cheap I'M
til you understand the conditions. Serv-
ants charge almost nothing in comparison
with their class in the United States. One
can get good cooks for s. month and
house men for less. The trouble is that
the Englshman has to hire a dozen serv-
ants in India where he has one at home.
The caste regulations are such that each
man will do only one kind OF work. The
man who washes the dishes will not make
the beds, and he who makes the beds will
not sweep or carry the water. The cook
will not act as scullion, and so il goes on
If YOU keep horses. you must have a
groom to each horse. and to every two
horses man to cut grass for them.
Every child has its own nurse. and the re-
suit is that you need many servants. The
servants are nearly all men the women
acting only as ladies' maids and some
times as nurses With the other sex the
same rules prevail: the maid who waits
upon your wife will not wait upon you.
and your own body servant must run
your errands.
As TO food. it is high when the quality
is considered. Animal meats are invaria-
bly, poor. but the fowls are excellent and
the eggs occasionally fresh, although not
larger than the big white alleys with
which we played marbles in boyhood
One of the big items of expense in In
dia Is the oriental squeeze which
one must pay upon all he buys.
1t is the same in Japan, China and in all
parts or the orient. Your servants have
a rake-off on your purchases and they
make more out OF such things than their
salaries. II you order a cab your serv-
ant wants his commission and IL the cab
man takes you to a native merchant he
expects to get his percentage on what