Karlee will devote the occasion to the
domestic felicities; he will spread holiday fare, and there will be
neighborly congratulations, and a hospitable relaxation in the family of
the orthodox heathen rigor. I will make a "surprise party" of myself,
and on the recommendation of a string of corals for the new butcha I'll
catch him in the very dishabille of his Hindooism. And I did.
* * * * *
I had often heard that Karlee lived well, and that his household enjoyed
substantial comfort in a degree notably superior to the general
circumstances of his class. With eminent intelligence and devotion he
had served for more than forty years various American gentlemen residing
in Calcutta, by whom, in his neat-handedness, he was esteemed a sort of
he-Phillis; and for his housewifely dusting of books and furniture, his
orderly keeping of drawers and trunks, his sharp eye to punkas and
mosquito-nets, and his exacting discipline of sweepers and messengers,
barbers, tailors, and washermen, he had been rewarded with generous
buksheesh over and above his stipulated, wages, which were liberal; so
that among bhearers he was distinguished for respectability, by income
as well as influence, and represented the best society.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230