wash the dishes, &c., fee,—there is not one who would not leave his or her situation, or, in the cant phrase, part with their masters, rather than comply, simply because it “was not their place,” that is, beneath their notions of dignity. There was a book published not long ago, said to be written by a retired butler and housekeeper, called “The Complete Servant,” in which the exact work which every different description of servant was to perform was specified, and which would have wonderfully enlightened the eyes of those in India who are so fond of dilating upon the universal genius and capacity of English servants, as to the little that was to be expected from them. The natives of India are not fonder of trouble than other people, and will gladly shift off all they can upon the shoulders of others; and wherever the ignorance, folly, or indolence of their masters allow them to establish these arbitrary rules and customs, (which, of course, they have greater opportunities of doing at Calcutta than anywhere else, from the frequency of newly-arrived persons, who are ignorant of the customs of the people,) they will take their full advantage of it. I have known a bearer, when told to carry a bottle of wine or brandy, object that its touch would defile him. That same man would willingly have drunk the brandy, could he have done so without fear of detection[1]. On the contrary, should an Englishman be sent to a retired part of the country, to live by himself, and hire men of that neighbourhood who have never before been in European service, with few exceptions, any one will do whatever he is ordered. No sooner, however, does this Englishman rejoin his countrymen, than these very men will speedily adopt the airs of the other servants. The tribe of Kaits have a very absurd and strange prejudice against keeping a shop. They will submit to accept the poorest description of personal service, rather than join as a partner in the wealthiest shop in India. Yet not one, at least of all to whom I have
- ↑ Once when a bearer was desired to carry a note, he replied, it was not his business, as he was hired to carry the palanquin. “Very well, get the palanquin ready,” said the master, for which the whole set of half-a-dozen men were obliged to turn out: the note was deposited in the palanquin, and thus conveyed to its destination. The gentleman’s notes were carried readily enough afterwards.
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