from all who would aid and sustain her, an over-exacting
mistress, This man talked no gospel, translated no
sacred screeds, was no sectarian, but his life preached
in no mistakable terms the three great doctrines enunciated
by the Sikh, that courage, kindness, and truth are
the great virtues, and that to quietly count the cost
and quietly overcome misgivings is better than courting
needless dangers, to help the weakly brother is more
meritorious than the frantic efforts of much-advertised
philanthropy, and that to take the simple facts of life
as they stand and construct canons for the conduct of
our life from them, is better than to befog ourselves in
searchings after misty phrases of philosophy.
Strength is the soul of man, and all that nourishes
that strength is wholesome, the only thing worth anything;
to be subject is bad, and slavish vices are
foul and unworthy, for which reason this wide empire
is a noble institution, and one out of which men, strong
and sinewy, shall be bred, the weak-kneed and unstable
losing caste and class.
I t was a pleasant change to sit and talk with any one
who could understand without speaking every word,
who could catch one’s meaning before the phrase was
complete, or an allusion but partly indicated; better
still it was to note the sympathy of the strong character
for the weaknesses of his soft underlings, and the real
pity and sorrow for the hopeless, unmerited sufferings
of his peoples. People at home wonder at the incapacity
in India to deal with appalling disasters—plagues
of sickness and hunger. Folk in India have no time for
wonder or speculation, but give up their strength and
their health, their money, and their enjoyment to
alleviate what they cannot wholly relieve, to aid what
they cannot understand.
As I stood up to say good-bye, the other Polled
himself together. “ I ’m going down next week he
said laconically. IGoing down; why, you are shaking
with fever now.” “ That’s nothing; I’ve been writing,
and my hand is a bit shaky, but Mitcham, my chief, has
been sent off—nearly went out altogether last week-
and there’s no one to go in his place, and that
native overseer will be stealing the gram if 1 dont
go and look after things—well, it was awfully good
of you to come and bring those papers; made me
think of that day long ago at the — - Races, those
pictures in the Sporting and Dramatic! Perhaps we
will meet there again, if I am home next year.
I Yes, if! ”
Natives are not the only ones who die when plague
and famine stride through the land.