CHAPTER XXXII.
At last we were homeward bound, having “done” Europe, Turkey, Egypt, and seen various objects of interest in Bombay.
It gave me the greatest satisfaction that my wife was delighted with my home, our home. We had made many purchases, and for several months, as we were in no hurry to end this great pleasure, we were busy in unpacking and arranging our treasures. One of our chief delights was in the large stock of excellent books added to my already quite extensive library. I had always delighted in books, and those of the best authors on every variety of subjects. It is a gratification to find so many different views, even on the same subject, and one can appreciate the wise saying, “It is one of the special dispensations of an all-wise Providence that every plank has two sides, and that no man is able to see both sides at once.”
When in trouble enough to crush life out of me, I resorted to my library, and when despised and shunned bythose around me I found never-failing friends and companions in my books, and pleasure in my flowers, so that I could well appreciate the beautiful lines of Lander:
“The flowers my guests, the birds my pensioners,Books my companions and but few besides.”
“The flowers my guests, the birds my pensioners,Books my companions and but few besides.”
“The flowers my guests, the birds my pensioners,Books my companions and but few besides.”
“The flowers my guests, the birds my pensioners,
Books my companions and but few besides.”
I have been an omnivorous devourer of books, and cannot enumerate them. Sydney Smith, when asked of the books he had read, replied, “I cannot tell you a thing about them, neither can I catalogue the legs of mutton I have eaten, and which have made me the man I am.” What now greatly pleased me was that my wife also was a great reader, not of the flippant, superficial stuff, but of the more substantial sort, so that with our mutual tastes and an abundant supply of books, we were a world to ourselves, and society was not a necessity to us. She knew enough of India to be aware that those not in the ring or clique of the civil or military services were tabooed as not in society. This prejudice or class pride is something I never could comprehend.
This is a queer, mad, man-made world though Providence has provided the materials.
It is amusing to watch the antics of society. Once, on a train, two young officers traveling third-class to save money, at a station just before they reached their journey’s end, slipped into a first-class compartment to save appearance, and make their friends think they traveled first-class. This was but an innocent deception compared to that of an officer in high position who always went second class, yet signed a declaration on honor, that he traveled first-class, and so got his first-class allowance.
Society has a horror of anything not first-class in India. It will pinch and pare in private, that it may spread its tail feathers like a peacock in public. The Stoics had a belief that the peacock was created solely for its tail, and these society folk may have the same notion about themselves. I have known a woman, a lady, cut down the wages of her half-starved servants, and squabble over the price of some cheap vegetables, who would put down a large subscription for a testimonial to some swell whom she had never seen or cared a pin about.
We, that is, my wife and I, had never spoken of my Eurasian descent, yet I could but feel that she was conscious of its disadvantages. Who could be in India, among its Christian people, only for a few months, without seeing the upturned noses of refined, Christian ladies and gentlemen, when a reference was made to any one who had been touched with the racial tar brush?
“But why the——do you always bring this up?” some one may ask. I don’t bring it up, for it is always up with me.
“For that dye is on me,Which makes my whitest part black.”
“For that dye is on me,Which makes my whitest part black.”
“For that dye is on me,Which makes my whitest part black.”
“For that dye is on me,
Which makes my whitest part black.”
I might as well be asked why I carry my nasal organ about with me, or if people should ever be hitting this facial protuberance of mine, why should I take offense? Even a worm will turn if trod upon. When we were on our train in the railway station in Bombay, a lady looked into our apartment, and remarked to her friend: “There’s an Eurasian in there, we will find another place.”
At one of the stations where we stopped for breakfast, as soon as I took my seat at table, a man, I only knew he was a padri by his clothes, arose and went to the other side. He probably, the next Sunday in his service, read, “Since God hath made of one blood,” etc., but this was in his prayer-book, and what he did at table was of a weekday color. In company, at times when others were introduced with a smile and a shake of the hand, some were so afflicted with frigid faces and stiffness in their necks that I scarcely got a smile or a nod.
I would not lisp a word about this if it were not for their passing as people of culture and refinement, and more, or worse, as Christians.
While away from India, I almost forgot that I was born under a curse, but I was so forcibly reminded of it on the steamer, returning, and on reaching Bombay, that my old feelings came back with renewed vigor, more so on account of my wife. I endeavor to act like a man. I will not say gentleman,—as that seems to be a special society made article of which I think God is ashamed and disowns—and with courtesy and kindness, but I am instantly andalways in India, made to feel that I am an intruder, as I really am. But who was the author of my intrusion and the cause of my confusion? Therein is the sting and bitterness.
Instead of asking why I, or we, cannot let this subject drop, should not you, high-toned merchants, ladies, gentlemen, teachers, preachers, Christians, followers of Jesus, all of you, show that your practice has some relation to your creeds and professions? My experience had taught me what to expect, and I was prepared for anything that might happen, even the worst, and this nearly always did occur. A man may rough it and bear any amount of brunt for himself, but if he has a particle of soul of manhood in him, as a husband, he cannot bear the thought of a slight or a snub to his wife without taking offense, especially when he is the innocent cause of it.
We were a kingdom by ourselves, and supremely happy, yet I knew we must see people and I was in constant dread. The time soon came.
There were to be some sports, and all the station were expected to be present. Even society likes a crowd to look on, though the unregenerate residuum are kept outside the ropes. I thought this a good opportunity to make our first public appearance, so in our phaeton, drawn by a pair of the best steppers in the station, we were driven to the parade ground. I saw that our coming excited considerable curiosity, and to tell the truth, I was not the least displeased at this. A number of my acquaintances came up to greet me, for I had some friends, and don’t wish it to be understood that because there are lots of cads and snobs, that I think all the better class of people belong to these grades. I was proud of this recognition. I have always had pride as every one should have, and mine, myself being the best judge of it, was an honest kind, based on my good intentions and self respect as a man. I never forgot the saying of Mr. Percy, “Charles, be a man.” He was a man who hated any false way, a manly, noble man, pure and clean, true as steel, and one in whom Jesus, or any other good person, would have been delighted as a companion, a friend without guile. To be aman, to have subdued all the baseness that pertains to the flesh, and to have the honesty, purity, courage and nobility that belongs to real manhood, is what it seems to me to be Godlike. When one has reached that condition he has obtained what the religious call “salvation,” and is prepared for the life to come. There are so many pigmies—no that is not the word—as they are only pigmies in goodness, but giants in evil—coarse-minded, foul-worded, sordid and base in everything, deceivers and seducers, living in the slime and filth of vice. They are the eels and slugs of humanity, living in the mud, while the pure and good are like the delicate trout that can live only in the springs at the source of the streams, but here I am going astray again.
I said that I had pride. I was proud of my wife and the way she received my friends. There was not a woman present who was her superior in appearance, manners or dress, and I knew, with her spirit, she could hold her own with the best of them, and I was not mistaken. As others came up to our company a white-haired, white-faced, flashily dressed swell, with an air of self-importance, putting his one-eyed glass to his eye, bowed to my wife with the remark, “Pardon me, but doncher know, I think I must have met you before.” This was said with a bold, patronizing air, with a London cockney tone and accent. My wife not at all disconcerted, with a laugh in her voice, replied, “Oh, yes, Mr. Smith, I remember you well. It was years ago, in Roorki, at a croquet party, when you told me that if I preferred that Eurasian I could do so. And to show you that I made use of the liberty you gave me, allow me to introduce you—Mr. Smith, Mr. Japhet, my husband.”
I would rather have lost the value of my best horse than to have missed that scene. It was so sudden—a flash of Irish wit. Mr. Smith scarcely nodded, though I made as graceful a bow as I could. His white face turned scarlet, and he seemed to be stricken dumb with all eyes upon him. I think he would have blessed his stars if the stand had broken down at the risk of killing a score of people, if a woman had fainted or a horse had rushed among us, but nothing happened.
I think it was not her words alone, but the sight of me, “That Eurasian,” one who had claimed to be the son of Mr. Smith, the Commissioner. This seemed to give a paralysis to his mentality. For a few moments, an age it seemed, he stood gazing as if trying to get the remnants of himself together, he, slightly bowing, turned away with his blushes thick upon him. I saw at a glance of the company that my wife had made her first innings with great eclat. There is nothing like winning at the start. It gives courage to the winner and commands respect from others. I need not say that I felt intensely pleased with my wife, not only for the independent, capable spirit she showed, but for her brave recognition of me, her husband. How else could I feel? I must also say that I was greatly pleased with the utter discomfiture of my white-faced brother, Mr. Smith. Some very goody-good people might say that such a feeling was wicked, but I cannot help that. I confess to being a little wicked at times, but my wickedness is not of the low, debased kind. I despise stealing, and yet I would delight in tripping up a thief who was trying to escape. In the same spirit, I am delighted when impudence and arrogance takes a tumble. The theory is, that when you are smitten on one cheek you should turn the other also for a smite, but when is it ever put in practice? I doubt if it is practicable. I know that if I had acted in that way, I would not only have had both my cheeks knocked away, but would have lost my head as well. I have a theory of my own, which is this, especially in dealing with Christians. They always teach the turning the other cheek doctrine, though they never act upon it. Yet, as a man of honor, I am bound to take them at their word, that they always do as they wish to be done by. So, when any one of them hits me on the one cheek, I must logically believe that, as a gentleman and a Christian, he wishes me to do unto him as he did to me, and I give him as good in return, and, to show my generosity, go him a little better as interest on his investment. How am I to do differently?
If, when he states his doctrine, I should doubt his word, he might say I was no gentleman, so when I take him tomean just what he says, he certainly should not find fault with what he gets.
I know there is much of preaching that becomes extorted, tired out, completely exhausted before it reaches practice. It is strange what different notions there are. Once a prominent Christian defrauded me out of quite a sum of money that I had loaned to assist him. He was not poor, or I could have overlooked the debt. After waiting, running and dunning him until my patience was exhausted, my temper raised to welding heat, and I was on the verge of using, not the Queen’s English, but rather that of King George the Fourth, this very religious debtor of mine said, “Mr. Japhet, I am afraid you are not showing a Christian spirit.” The cheek of this pious cheat and thief, talking “Christian spirit” to me! I scarcely need say that I gave him a little of his personal biography that he probably did not relate to his family or friends. There is a great deal of what the English call “rot” in all this pious twaddle among some religious people that is repugnant to my taste, heathen though I be.
I accept what the noble Lord Tennyson has said, “I am Calvinist enough to have a willingness to be damned for the glory of God, but I am not willing to be damned to satisfy the hatred, pride and hypocrisy of men no better than I am.”
One morning one of the headmen of my villages came to my house in a great state of excitement. It appeared that an ofiun walla sahib had come into the district and had sent his police to take away a number of the cultivators. To understand the matter myself, I went without any delay, and found that some of the best men had been taken, for what purpose the people did not know. I went several miles further, where I found a large tent under a tree. In front, at a table, sat a European surrounded by a number of policemen. Before him were several hundred natives seated in rows upon the ground. I sent my card and asked for an interview, which was granted. I explained who I was, that I was the owner of some villages, that as some of my ryots had been taken I had come to make inquiries. He replied that he was the agent of theOpium Department, and had been ordered by Government to come into the district and arrange for the cultivation of opium. He said it would be a good thing for the people, as he would make contracts and give advances on the crop. I made no objection to his statements, knowing well the absolute and despotic power of a Government officer, and that any argument in opposition from me would defeat my purpose; that it was the best policy for me to be as docile as possible. I wished to get my people released, and I well knew that if I showed any fight he would exercise his power and I would inevitably be defeated. The Hindu proverb is a good one. “Soft words are better than harsh; the sea is attracted by the cool moon, and not by the hot sun.”
After hearing all his statements, I replied that I was trying some experiments with new kinds of seeds, in the rotation of crops, deep ploughing, and in the introduction of imported cattle, and that it would greatly interfere with my plans if the people were diverted from them. He at first demurred, because his men had told him that there was very rich land in the villages best suited for opium; that he would like also to experiment in his line. This he said with a smile, as if taking me on my own ground, that a few patches of poppy would not interfere with my purposes. I then went on my knees, metaphorically speaking, and begged him as a special favor that he would grant my request. My earnest pleading as a suppliant must have touched him, for he at once said, “Mr. Japhet, as a special favor, under the circumstances you have stated, I will release your men, though it may make discontent among the people of other villages.” He then gave an order for my ryots to be called, and they went away greatly relieved, and as they afterwards told me, were very grateful for what I had done. After thanking the officer for his kindness, I took my departure.
I have often thought of this incident, and to tell the truth, have been ashamed of my cringing attitude in order to carry out my purpose. But what else could I have done? When one, unarmed, meets a brigand who points a pistol at his breast, even the bravest of men will deem itbest to surrender and deliver the contents of his pockets, expressing thanks to his assailant for his courtesy in not discharging his weapon. It is very easy to talk about courage when there is no danger in front of you.
The natives of India are accused of being cringing and truculent, of being invariable liars and deceivers. How could they be anything else? They have been subjects of tyranny and deception for a thousand years or more, when not only their little property, but their lives, were at the absolute disposal of their rulers and the robber minions of Government, so they have become inevitably what they are.
As I left the presence of the Sahib and had reached the road, a rather elderly Hindu of fine appearance threw himself on his knees in front of me, and putting his arms around my legs, he touched his forehead upon my boots several times. This was done so quickly that I had not time to check him. Then lifting up his head and still on his knees, he held up a paper in one hand and five rupees in the other. He said that the ofiun walla sahib had made him sign a contract by which he was to cultivate a certain amount of land for opium, and had given him five rupees as an advance on the crop. He said that it was contrary to his religion, against his caste and his dastur or custom to raise opium; that he wanted to raise food for his bal batchas, children, and begged of me to intercede with the sahib and get his contract annulled. He pleaded most piteously. I lifted him up and talked with him. I told him that the sahib was a Government officer, while I was only a zemindar, and that if I went to him he might become angry and double the contract. I certainly was disposed to help him, but I knew that if I interceded for him I would have hundreds of others at my feet, and there would be no end of a hullabaloo, and the sahib would have his own way in the end and make it even worse for the people. “Why awaken sleeping leopards?” “It is no use to sharpen thorns,” are common Hindu proverbs.
I learned afterwards that numbers went to the Collector of the District, who was as much of an autocrat and a despot in his way as was the other. He always resented anyone foraging in his pasture. He wrote an indignant letter to the opium agent, and the latter replied that if the collector would attend to his own business he might find enough to do.
Such was the commencement of opium growing in that district. There were about a million people in the district, and I doubt if any one of them had ever seen a poppy head until it was raised under the forced contracts of the opium agent. I was well acquainted with the district, had traveled everywhere in it, and had never seen a sign of opium either among the people or in the fields; and I question if there ever had been an ounce of opium used unless in medicine given by the doctors. The people did not want it in any shape, either for use or cultivation.
Why then was its cultivation forced upon these heathen, as Christians delight to call them? Simply and solely for revenue, for the money there was in it. The contracts were of the strictest kind, and the slightest violation of them would make a man a criminal. The plots of land were measured and recorded, the methods of preparing the soil, the time of sowing the seed, the collection of the juice and the saving of the refuse, were all minutely detailed. Every particle of the plant worth anything had to be delivered to Government under pain of fine and imprisonment, and for all his labor and anxiety the ryot got only a pittance, while the Government received a profit of nine hundred per cent. No one ever raised opium under these contracts but at a loss compared with what he could have received from his usual crops.
There was no local market for the opium when produced. Probably not a pound a year would have been purchased by the inhabitants if left to themselves. In order to facilitate the use of a drug of which the people were happily ignorant and did not want, the Government licensed men in different places to sell it, and even then there were no sales. To begin the trade these licensees were then ordered to give away samples, and so by degrees the people were educated in the opium habit. In a few years quite a number became confirmed opium users, and the evil, like the virus of a disease inoculated in the blood, spread over the district with its usual demoralizing effect.