The Washington herald., 1911-01-04
HOW SNOBBERY
THRIVES IN INDIA

nun ONO0oEN
THRIVES IN INDIA
What is snob?
have looked the word up In Johnson's
dictionary and I am rather taken aback
to find it u not there. Perhaps Dr.. john
son did not believe there was such q thing
rs snobbishness and was of the healthy
minded type who thinks himself as good
as any man and better than most: but one
would have supposed that he. II any one.
knew the little weaknesses Of his fellow
creatures. Perhaps there were no snobs
in DR.. Johnson's day. and yet that Is
rather sad thought, for I was hoping
that nowadays there were less.
II must define q snob for myself,
should say that II Is q person who either
toadies to some one he Is foolish enough
to believe to be better than himself. or a
person who wishes to impress q supposed
inferior with false idea of his own su-
periority.
I do not believe Dr. johnson himself
could have beaten that. But have found
in an old book-not a dictionary-a deflni-
ton Of the word. 1t says: "Snob-not a
gentleman. one who arrogates to himself
merits which he does not deserve"
SohS SSOiSc ~ q stiop. uC-
cause he assumed to be the greatest gen.
tleman in Europe, but had not the stamp
Of gentleman's mind.
Mob and snob' are also defined as no.
bles and pseudo mobiles. l. therefore. as
sumo a ''snob' is the opposite to a mob. -
I suppose there are snobs among every
class. and not only among the people "on
the fringe" of society who manage to
bring a distant titled relative into the
conversation. but among the so-called no
bility who sometimes treat their so-called
interiors cavalierly.
I believe snobbery is nowhere more ripe
than in India-yet women there are scarce
And women are. by men. supposed to be
the chief offenders in this line. The
snobbishness Of Anglo-Indian society was
brought vividly before me in a letter
once received from a friend in India. a
vague enough term I use. so as not to
offend any particular Angio-Indian
Il always thought there were snobs in
London and snobs in the country and
provinces the letter said, 'but here
snobbery has been elevated, or reduced
to almost an art; only 1t goes by the
name OF etiquette. The social code here
is that Of our servants hail at home. and
the gentler sex have apparently no sense
Of humor. or they would surely see how
absurd it all is. The sergeants' wives
initiate the ladies' and my maid tells
me that nothing would induce Mrs. Ser
geant to speak to Mrs. Corporal at the
regimental sports.
They all pride themselves on keeping
themselves to themselves which is con.
sidered the real height Of distinction
Mrs. Colonel of the British cavalry, Is
on very ceremonious terms with Mrs
Colonel. Of British infantry. and unbends
only slightly to Mrs. Colonel. OF native
cavalry, but she cleverly manages not tc
see Mrs. Major or Subaltern. of native
infantry. and is quite astonished II YOU
ask her where they live. The fact tha,
Mrs. Native Infantry was in a better so.
cial position before she married and came
out here does not matter.
There is still a lower scale than al
this-the poor doctors wife. who does moi
live, but only exists. She is the gar.
rison ''Tweenie," as it were, and seem:
to be always playing tennis with hel
own husband or with some very young
man who does not yet know Etiquette
is indeed a fine art out here. and life is
in consequence. complicated. A wretched
subaftern. who has to be up early the
next morning and has finished his game
Of bridge. may not go home to bed until
the major has finished his interminable
spade hands at bridge.
"The only real natural person Is the
general, who, being absolutely at the top
can do as he likes. Would you believe
it? actually caught him running races
with Archie the other day. and he did
not even wear riding boots. but had q
strap around his leg. like the men who
dig up the road at home. -. .-.-
Alas! how lovely the word home
sounds now. Everything out here seem.
so hot and tired and strange-dirty and
frightfully pitiful. I think this is, per
haps, an unusually sad and depressing
part of India. but there seems to me t.
be no jokes, excepting those I make my
self. Even the animals seem all hal
castles. and a COW looks as though j
were trying to be a camel. and a thinl
they call a buffalo is more than half ;
hippopotamus. Every animal seems +
have an apologetic and depressed expires
sion, as though it felt its position yer.
keenly.
Nothing matters out here: nothing |
important to-day, and tomorrow you fee
will be just like to-day. The plague kill
15O0 natives. and nobody notices; and
mad. dog bites few English, and the.
i disappear to the Rastene Institute-an
it's merely bad luck. Everything seem
like We feel in London at the end of Jul,
after an unusually hot 81 inner. Only tn
women seem prettier. because there ar
SO few real beauties. and the men ar
grateful for very small mercies."
There are no railways in Kashmir.
| she wrote in a second letter. '-and W
| have now to come up in a tongo, an
| have driven fifteen miles in heat tha
would have made the devil himself per
| spire. But here We are at last, out o
the terrible dust and heat, in the bi
and lovely calm of the river. and I hav
q tiny tent to myself. and frogs ar
| jumping about it all day and all nigh,
and i actually found one in my bed
room slipper last night, but / am reall
getting not to mind them. although, al
| the same, I can understand how in an
| excess they must have annoyed poo
Pharoah. How cheerfully people tax
discomforts away from home"
This girl. who Is SO blithe and ga
| over the discomforts of the East. woul
not tolerate the faintest Inconvenience
at home. We should be wise IL we coul
make up our minds to take the little an
noyances of everyday life as cheerful
as we often take our discomforts abroad
I found a little golden sentence in
! book the other day, and ! have had 1
printed to take on any journeys I ma
have to make in the future: BE Per
fectly tranquil for just one day
| Perfectly tranquil! How lovely
guilty? Marcus Aurelius wrote tina
tranquility was but "a good ordering Q
the mind" and that. at least. depend
| upon ourselves. II We order our mind
rightly. no one can disturb our tran
guilty FLANEUR.