DS 421 .153 1895 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/indianclerkhisteOOunse 
 
THE INDIAN CLERK 
 
 HIS TEN STEPS TO LONG LIFE, 
 SUCCESS, USEFULNESS AND HAPPINESS 
 HERE AN1) HEREAFTER. 
 
 FIRST EDITION, 3,000 COPIE 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN L.ITE RATURE SOCIETY. 
 
 8. P. C. K. PRESS, YEPERY. 
 
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 I 
 
THE INDIAN CLERK 
 
 HIS TEN STEPS TO LONG LIFE, 
 SUCCESS, USEFULNESS AND HAPPINESS ; 
 HERE AND' HEREAFTER. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. 
 S. P. C. K* PRESS, YEPERY. 
 
 1895. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 % 
 
 Introduction ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Appointment as Clerks ... .... 2 
 
 First Step: Good Health ... ... ... 4 
 
 Second Step : Sufficient Education 9 
 
 Third Step: Good Business Habits ... ... 16 
 
 Fourth Step : Living within one’s Income 22 
 
 Fifth Step : Moral Qualities Necessary ... 28 
 
 Sixth Step: Self Culture ... 43. 
 
 Seventh Step: A well-ordered Home ... 50 
 
 Eighth Step: True Patriotism ... 63 
 
 Ninth Step: True Religion ... ' ... ... 112 
 
 Tenth Step: A High Aim in Life 128 
 
 Appendix: List of English Publications ... 136 
 

 - /r 
 
 
 mr t f ha. 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The word clerk has a curious history. It comes from the 
 Greek kleros, ‘ lot.’ From this was derived clergyman, a 
 Christian minister. Some suppose that this arose from the 
 fact that the first were appointed by lot. In Europe, about 
 eight centuries ago, the clergy were the only men in any 
 nation that were educated. In England at that time clergy- 
 men were 'exempted from trial by civil judges. This was 
 called “ benefit of clergy,” a privilege which was extended 
 to all laymen who could read. It was afterwards modified, 
 and finally repealed. 
 
 The word clerk is now applied to all persons who use the 
 pen in public or private employ. There are clerks in 
 •Government offices ; merchants, lawyers, shopkeepers, and 
 others, often have clerks in their service. 
 
 The number of clerks in India must be reckoned by 
 lakhs. If collected, they would form the largest army 
 that ever took the field in India. They are generally 
 married and have families, thus influencing a number 
 greater than themselves. 
 
 Clerks render important service. Without them business 
 would soon come to a standstill. Those in public employ 
 have been compared to “ the brazen wheels of the executive 
 which keep the golden hands in motion.” • 
 
 Clerks may be considered to belong to the middle classes 
 of society, holding a place between the rich and the poor. 
 All are, to some extent, educated ; some are university gra- 
 duates. From their large number and position, the welfare 
 of the empire is affected by them in no small degree. They 
 may exert a powerful influence for good, or they may be 
 content to float like dead fish in the stream of Indian 
 
2 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 society, helping to perpetuate all its evils. The object of 
 this little book is to show them how they may prolong 
 their lives, promote their success in their profession, 
 increase their own happiness and that of their families, as 
 well as benefit their countrymen. . 
 
 The Great Teacher says, “Unto whom much is given, 
 of him shall be much required.” More is expected from 
 educated men than from the ignorant. They are bound to 
 set a good example to those who have not been so favoured, 
 and to be the leaders in every good movement. 
 
 APPOINTMENT AS CLERKS. 
 
 Examinations. — Ulerks in public offices have now gen- 
 erally to pass certain examinations before appointment. 
 These are so varied that no account of them can be 
 attempted. Nothing can compensate for ignorance of the 
 subjects, but certain directions may be given which will 
 enable candidates to make the best use of the knowledge 
 they possess, and guard them against fatal mistakes. Such 
 will be found in the little publication mentioned below.* 
 
 Applications. — Advertisements for clerks frequently 
 appear, and many are thus appointed. A few hints may be 
 given to candidates. 
 
 . The following cautions should be borne in mind : — 
 
 “ In writing letters applying for’ appointments, people in 
 India often use language intended to flatter the person address- 
 ed. Now a moment’s reflection should teach any one that when 
 a man has an appointment in his gift, he will give it to the 
 one he thinks best qualified to discharge its duties. Having 
 capacity to flatter, or being very poor, or having had disadvan- 
 tages in regard to education, or having many persons depend- 
 ing on you. for support, is not a qualification for the appoint- 
 ment you seek. On the contrary, the mention of these things 
 in an official application would only convince a sensible man 
 that the applicant has no right perception of the qualifica- 
 tions requisite for the office sought. Nor is it the benevo- 
 
 * How to Pass Examinations, 8vo. 29 pp. £ Anna, with postage, 1 anna. 
 Sold at the Principal Traot Depots in India. 
 
APPOINTMENT AS CLERKS. 3 
 
 lence of the person addressed that makes him confer the 
 appointment on any one. He appoints some one because this 
 canuot be done without ; and he appoints the candidate he 
 thinks best qualified. What you should aim at therefore in an 
 application is, to show how well you are qualified to discharge 
 the duties of the position; aud all references to the disposition 
 of the person addressed or to your own poverty should be care- 
 fully avoided. In a begging letter, personal troubles may be 
 set forth, for these form the very grounds of the petition ; but 
 to beg while one may earn is simply shameful.”* 
 
 Another mistake is for applicants to express “ perfect 
 satisfaction” with their own attainments. “ Let another 
 man praise thee, and not thine own mouth.” 
 
 A few examples of applications are given in the little 
 work mentioned below. • 
 
 The principal facts should be stated modestly and clearly, 
 in a brief business-like respectful way. The paper used 
 should be good, but plain and clean. Particular attention 
 should be paid to the handwriting : it should be legible, 
 avoiding both a school-boy style and flourishes. The 
 paper on which the advertisement was eeen should be men- 
 tioned, and all the particulars required should be given. 
 The writer’s name should be written in full at the end 
 very clearly, and his address should be added. 
 
 Applications for employment are generally accompanied 
 by testimonials or references. The originals of testimonials 
 should never be sent along with applications : only copies 
 of them in full, and without any alteration whatever. 
 The originals must be retained for future use or reference : 
 neglect of this may lead to their loss. 
 
 As a general rule, the shorter the application the better, 
 and the more likely to be, successful. 
 
 In advertisements , t: apply” means that personal applica- 
 tion must be made at the address specified. If the adver- 
 tisement runs, “ address,” a written application is required, 
 and personal application is not wanted. 
 
 Instead of answering advertisements, applicants may 
 
 * From The Letter Writer, published by Mr. A. T. Scott, Book Depot 
 Madras, 16mo. 48 pp. 2 Armas. 
 
4 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEE. 
 
 advertise for situations. In such a case the form of the 
 advertisement should be drawn up by a person who under- 
 stands such matters. 
 
 Influence and Patronage. — Situations are often procured 
 through relatives and friends, but those obtained by per- 
 sonal merit alone are more satisfactory. 
 
 Public and Private Clerks. — In public offices appoint- 
 ments are more secure, and work is more defined. The 
 office is generally considered to be for life, subject to good 
 behaviour. Private clerks maybe dismissed at the pleasure 
 of their employers, subject, except for gross misconduct, to 
 the notice usually measured by the periodical payment of the 
 salary. In private offices promotions depend upon the will 
 of the superiors ; employment may also be lost by changes 
 in business. A clerk must 'bear such contingencies 
 in view, and act accordingly. 
 
 The Ten Steps to Long Life, Success, Usefulness, and 
 Happiness, will now be noticed in turn. 
 
 'FIRST STEP. 
 
 GOOD HEALTH. 
 
 Good Health is essential both to success and happiness. 
 A sickly clerk, who may be absent when he is most want- 
 ed, and who even when present can only work feebly, is of 
 little value, and is not likely to be retained. Herbert Spencer 
 says that “ the first requisite to success in life is to be a 
 good animal” — to be strong and vigorous. Without health, 
 a king may be miserable in a palace. 
 
 Some suppose that sickness comes of itself. This is a 
 mistake. When we get ill, thefe is some reason for it. 
 Others think that it is sent by God, and all that we have 
 to do is to submit. It is true that nothing can happen to 
 us without God’s permission ; but our Father in heaven 
 wishes us to be healthy and happy, instead of being sick 
 and miserable. When we get ill, it is generally because 
 something has been done which He did not wish us to do. 
 More than half the sickness in the world is preventable , or 
 
GOOD HEALTH. 
 
 5 
 
 might be kept away by the use of proper means. If the 
 people of India took sufficient tare, they would not have 
 half the attacks of fever from which they now suffer, and 
 they would add several years to their lives. 
 
 Birmingham, in England, and Madras have about the 
 same population ; but twice as many people die every year 
 in the latter as in the former. Two or three centuries ago, 
 the mortality in English towns was as great as it is now in 
 India; but through improved sanitation, deaths are now 
 much less numerous. The average length of life has been 
 doubled. The same results would follow in India ; but at 
 present, as a Madras poet sings, 
 
 “ Sanitation is a botheration 
 To the Tamil Nation.” 
 
 Some of the essentials to good health will now be 
 mentioned. 
 
 1. Pure Air . — This is the first requisite. We can live 
 several days without food, but we die in two or three 
 minutes if kept without air. Every student is familiar with 
 the story of the Calcutta Black Hole. One night, 146 men 
 were shut up in a prison. Next morning, when the door 
 was opened, only 23 could stagger out : all the rest had 
 been suffocated. Though few persons die in a night, in 
 the above manner, many are rendered feeble and sickly 
 from want of fresh air. Every time we breathe, we con- 
 sume a part of the air which supports life, and give out a 
 poisonous kind of gas. The air we breathe should therefore 
 be allowed to escape, and fresh air should be admitted. 
 Most native houses in India are badly ventilated. Bed- 
 rooms are often small ; frequently they have only one little 
 window. It is also a common practice to crowd bed-rooms 
 with boxes and other articles, still further diminishing the 
 quantity of air. Many persons when they go to sleep 
 wrap a cloth over their head, which impedes breathing. 
 
 Generally it is hurtful to sleep with the wind blowing 
 upon us ; but if we wish to be vigorous, we must secure a 
 sufficient supply of pure air. 
 
 2. Pure Water . — The people of India are much better 
 acquainted with the need of pure water than of fresh air. 
 
6 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 When a person gets unwell on going to another district; he 
 generally says that the water disagrees with him. 
 
 A great deal of sickness is caused by using irhpure water. 
 People often bathe and wash clothes in tanks whose water 
 is used for drinking purposes ; even cattle are allowed to 
 go into them. The water of tanks which dry up or get 
 very low in the hot season, is unwholesome. Excellent 
 drinking water can often be obtained by digging a well 
 close to a low part of a tank. The water is purified by 
 draining through the earth. 
 
 Decaying vegetation is a fruitful cause of fever. Trees 
 and bamboos should not be allowed to overhang tanks and 
 wells, as their leaves fall into the water, and render it 
 unwholesome. Water on which the sun does not shine is 
 generally not good. Wells in towns often contain bad 
 water. Impurities from drains, &c., find their way into 
 them, causing fever of the worst description. 
 
 When good water cannot be obtained, it should be boiled. 
 This destroys the fever poison which it contains. The 
 Chinese who seldom suffer from fever, never drink cold 
 water; it is always hot, and generally made into tea. 
 Fever in India would be greatly reduced by the above 
 simple means. • 
 
 3. Wholesome Food . — Part of the food we eat serves as 
 fire to keep the body warm ; part forms flesh to give us 
 strength. Pice, sugar, and oil are excellent for warming 
 the body, but they contain little flesh-forming substance. 
 Wheat, flesh, fish, and especially the pulses, as peas and 
 dhall, give much more muscle. A mixed diet is best. 
 Sweetmeats and large quantities of ghee, are unwholesome. 
 They produce a soft, flabby flesh, and are one of the chief 
 causes of diabetes from which so many Indians suffer. 
 This diet would do much less harm if it were accompanied 
 by plenty of open air exercise. In this way the fat would 
 be, as it were, burnt up. But rich Indians are tempted to 
 eat freely, and the more corpulent they become, they are 
 the less inclined to take exercise. 
 
 Unripe and over-ripe fruit are both injurious. Cold rice, 
 often eaten in the morning, is apt to-ferraent and become 
 
GOOD HEALTH. 
 
 7 
 
 unwholesome. Special care is- necessary about food when 
 any epidemic prevails. 
 
 Meals should be taken at fixed times, and nothing should 
 be eaten between them. No more food should be taken 
 than the stomach can digest properly. Any excess over- 
 loads it, and is apt to cause disease. 
 
 Pure water is the best drink. • 
 
 4, Cleanliness . — The skin is full of innumerable little 
 drains to carry off waste matter from the body. Dirt chokes 
 their mouths, and the Vaste matter cannot escape properly, 
 causing itch and other diseases. Daily bathing is an 
 excellent habit. Clothes and beds should also be kept 
 •clean. Waste matter from the body sticks to the dress, 
 pillows, &c. If rubbed against the skin, it goes into it, and 
 injures the health. 
 
 Many deaths are caused by want of cleanliness. Stink- 
 ing drains and heaps of filth are often close to houses ; 
 cattle and goats are sometimes kept within the house 
 compound. Plantain skins, &c., should never be flung near 
 the house. When the refuse cannot be taken away at 
 once, it is a good plan to keep it in an earthen vessel, with 
 a tightly-fitting cover, which should be emptied every 
 night or morning. 
 
 A disagreeable smell is a sure sign that something is 
 wrong. Never rest satisfied until it is removed. 
 
 It has well been said, Filth is the Mother of Sickness. 
 
 5. Bathing . — The effect of bathing depends upon its 
 mode. Dr. Thomson says, “ The ablutions which Hindus 
 may be seen • performing perfunctorily by the side of the 
 tank or well, are, as a rule, more productive of fever and 
 chest diseases than personal cleanliness. In the cold season 
 the practice of standing exposed to a biting wind for some 
 time, and subsequently donning partially saturated gar- 
 ments leads to much disease.” It is a bad custom to walk 
 home in the sun from a bath with wet clothes. 
 
 Pure water should be used. It is thought that guinea- 
 worm finds its way into the body from bathing in dirty 
 water. The body should, if possible, be cleaned with soap, 
 and after it has been well washed, rubbed dry with a 
 
8 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 rough towel. Plain soap is better than cheap scented soap. 
 The rubbing is an important part, freshening the skin. 
 Towels should be clean, or the benefit will be lost in a 
 great measure. 
 
 6. Regular Exercise . — This is essential to vigorous 
 health. Through ‘exercise the blood is better purified. A 
 person walking takes in about three times as much air as 
 when sitting. The appetite is increased, and the food is 
 better digested. The inactive rich man needs sauces and 
 spices to encourage him to eat ; aftfer good exercise, espe- 
 cially in the open air, plain food is eaten with relish. 
 Plenty of food, well digested, increases the supply of blood. 
 
 Clerks may generally have outdoor exercise by walking- 
 to and from the office. In addition, it is well to devote a 
 little time daily to gymnastic exercises which call into play 
 other sets of muscles than those which are brought into 
 exercise by walking. 
 
 The chest is of great importance. Persons with 
 narrow chests are liable to consumption. It may be ex- 
 panded so as to receive more air and purify, the blood 
 better by taking 8 or 10 long breaths, keeping the lungs 
 full for a time, and then slowly . expelling the air. While 
 doing this, -the body should be kept perfectly straight. 
 
 The arms should also be exercised. Bring them forward 
 at full length with the palms together, and then throw 
 them vigorously back, trying to touch the backs. At first 
 this will seem -impossible, but after a few days’ practice it 
 can be done. Do this from 25 to 50 times. 
 
 The arms may also be swung roiind in different direc- 
 tions. If weights are held in the hands, the value of the 
 exercise is increased. 
 
 Instead of lounging in the verandah, let a portion of 
 every day be devoted to exercises like those described. 
 
 5. Precautions against Fever, Sfc . — Every care should be 
 taken to get good water. If this is impossible, it should be 
 boiled. W armer clothing should be worn during feverish 
 seasons of the year, especially at night, and during changes 
 of the weather. This is a great safeguard. Exposure to the 
 night air, to draughts and chills should be avoided. The 
 
SUFFICIENT EDUCATION. 
 
 9 
 
 body should not be weakened by over-fatigue or long fasting. 
 Damp feet, sitting in wet clothes, and profuse bathing 
 when weak, are all injurious. Quinine is a great preserv- 
 ative against fever. 
 
 To guard against cholera, use only wholesome food. 
 Avoid unripe or decaying fruit, raw vegetables and articles 
 difficult of digestion, known to be liable to cause purging. 
 The water should be pure. The clothing should be warm. 
 A flannel belt round the bowels is a great protection. 
 
 For further directions, see the “ Pice Papers” mentioned 
 below.* 
 
 6. Posture at Work. — This is of considerable import- 
 ance. A clerk should set upright, and not allow his chest 
 to touch any part of the desk. Disregard of this rule, 
 brings on a habit of stooping which contracts and weakens 
 the lungs, leading sometimes to consumption. 
 
 Other essentials to good health will be noticed hereafter. 
 
 SECOND STEP. 
 
 SUFFICIENT EDUCATION. 
 
 The chief branches may be briefly noticed. 
 
 English. — Business is now largely conducted in this 
 language. A good clerk should be able to write a letter in 
 simple English, free from mistakes in spelling, in accord- 
 ance with the rules of syntax, and properly punctuated. 
 
 Spelling. — A clerk should be able to spell correctly. 
 Mistakes under this head are certain proofs of a defective 
 education. 
 
 Spelling was formerly taught in English schools by re- 
 quiring the pupils to commit to memory long columns of 
 words from Mavor or Carpenter. Words were strung to- 
 gether without any other connection than that they con- 
 tained the same number of syllables. What was thus 
 
 Fevers : their Causes, Treatment , and Prevention. Cholera and Bowel 
 Complaints. Each 1 Anna. Sold at Book Depots. Still fuller information 
 will be found in Sanitary Reform in India, 55 pp. 2 As. 
 
10 . 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 learned was speedily forgotten, • and often children, wlio 
 could spell words orally, made gross mistakes when they 
 attempted to write them. This system has been exploded. 
 The whole proceeded on a wrong principle. Spelling should 
 be learned through the eye, not the ear. Learning by heart 
 columns of words without writing them, is a great waste 
 of time. 
 
 Persons who read much, usually spell well. By frequent 
 reading, the images of 'the word are, as it were, impressed 
 on the memory. But reading is only a help, and so far as 
 improvement in spelling is concerned, the process is slow. . 
 Special means must be adopted. 
 
 1. Rules are of some assistance. — The drawback is that 
 there are so many exceptions, and exceptions even to the 
 exceptions. Still, a student will find them of some service. 
 One or two may be mentioned as examples. 
 
 (1.) Words ending in e drop the e before an affix be- 
 ginning with a vowel ; as, make, making. 
 
 While the above is the general rule, there are exceptions. 
 Final e preceded by c or g soft, is retained before able and 
 sometimes before ing and ous ; thus, peace, peaceable; 
 singe, singeing ; courage, courageous. There are also other 
 exceptions, as dye, dyeing, see, seeing. 
 
 (2.) Rule for ei and ie. Few mistakes are more common 
 than the transposition of these letters. 
 
 When ei or ie has the long sound of e, ei is used after c, ■ 
 and ie after any other consonant. The rule is thus briefly 
 expressed. 
 
 I before e, 
 
 Except after c. 
 
 There are, however, a few exceptions; as neither, seize. 
 Ei and ie have other sounds to which the foregoing rule 
 does not apply. 
 
 2. The use of a good Spelling-Book. — While Mavor and 
 Carpenter are condemned, a treatise like Nelson’s Word 
 Expositor or the little work mentioned below,* may be used 
 with great advantage. By directing attention for a time 
 
 * Guide to Spelling. 18mo. 72 pp. 2 As. Sold at Tract Depdts. 
 
SUFFICIENT EDUCATION. 
 
 11 
 
 to a class of words, as, gnaw, sign, reign, in which g is 
 silent, they are much more forcibly impressed upon the 
 mind. Exercises on words pronounced alike but written 
 differently, are useful. 
 
 3. Frequent copying and writing from dictation. — It has 
 already been mentioned, that a person may spell a word 
 orally with correctness, who may blunder in writing it. 
 Writing is the only safe test. 
 
 Correct spelling is best learned by frequent careful copy- 
 ing. The right forms are presented to the eye, and tran- 
 scription helps to fix them in the memory. But what is 
 written must be examined, for mistakes are often made even 
 in writing from an open book. 
 
 4. Keeping a list of misspelled words. — There are certain 
 words often spelled incorrectly, as separate, written separate, 
 siege, &c. The reader should enter in a note-book all the 
 words he misspells, and copy them again and again till he 
 can write them correctly. 
 
 Syntax. — English and the Indian vernaculars differ con- 
 siderably in their structure. The latter have no articles 
 and their use in English is often a difficulty. There are 
 differences in the order of words, as verbs and prepositions 
 and in asking questions. A knowledge of grammar as best 
 acquired by reading and hearing the language correctly 
 written and spoken. Still, the study of works on grammar is 
 also recommended. The text-books mentioned below were 
 compiled specially for Indian students, and point out the 
 principal peculiarities of the English language.* 
 
 Docketing and Precis-Writing. — A Docket is a summary 
 of a larger writing. A Precis (pronounced praysee) is a 
 precise or abridged statement. 
 
 The Board of Examiners, Calcutta, give the following 
 directions with regard to them : 
 
 1. “The object of the Abstract or Docket is to serve as an 
 Iudex. It should contain the date of each paper, the names of 
 
 * New Manual of Grammar. 18mo. 206 pp. 6 As. Advanced Grammar 
 12mo. 300 pp. 14 As. The latter treats more fully of the subject, and 
 gives numerous mistakes in idiom. Both the preceding are sold at the 
 principal Tract DepOts throughout India. 
 
12 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 the persons by whom and to whom it is written, and, in as few 
 vjords as possible , the subject of it. The merits of such an ab- 
 stract are (1) to give the really important point or points of each 
 letter, omitting everything else ; (2) to do this briefly ; (3) 
 distinctly ; and (4) in such a form as readily to catch the eye. 
 
 2. “ The object of the Memorandum or Precis, vihich should 
 
 be not paper by paper but in the form of a consecutive narrative , is 
 that any one who had not time to read the original papers 
 might, by reading the Precis, be put in possession of all the lead- 
 ing features of what passed. The merits of such a Precis are 
 (1) to contain all that is important in the correspondence, and 
 nothing that is unimportant; (2) to present that in a consecutive 
 and readable shape, expressed as distinctly as possible ; (3) to be 
 as brief as is compatible with completeness and distinctness. 
 
 “ Brevity should be particularly studied.” 
 
 There are text books on the subject. ' One is noticed 
 below.* 
 
 Punctuation. — A clerk should be able to insert the marks 
 of punctuation in their proper places. Kightly introduced, 
 they contribute to clearness, while, if wrong, they obscure 
 the sense. When copying from printed books, the writer 
 should observe how the different signs are employed. 
 
 Handwriting. — Formerly much care was taken to acquire 
 a good hand. Of late years, this has been greatly neg- 
 lected by students. This is a great mistake. 
 fe^In every position in life, a legible, rapid hand is a great 
 advantage. Many students can expect only to become 
 clerks in public or mercantile offices. In their case, good 
 handwriting is of vital importance. 
 
 It has not unfrequently happened that a candidate for an 
 office has failed through the slovenly handwriting of his 
 letter of application. 
 
 In writing it is important to attend to the posture of the 
 body and the manner in which the pen is held. Health is 
 injured by bending over, and causing pressure on the 
 lungs. The body should be kept nearly upright, resting 
 somewhat on the left arm. The pen should be held be- 
 tween the first two fingers and the thu mb. The fingers 
 
 # Aid to Drafting, Docketing and Precis-Writing. Re. 11, Lahiri & Co., 
 Calcutta. 
 
SUFFICIENT EDUCATION. 
 
 13 
 
 should not be stretched out too far, nor too much doubled 
 up, and those which hold the pen should not pass below 
 its open part. The pen in writing is to be pressed lightly, 
 and to be held so as to point to the shoulder. Those 
 fingers only which hold the pen should move in the forma- 
 tion of the letters. These small joints can move with much 
 greater speed than the larger joints ' of the wrist and 
 elbow. Very rapid writing is not possible otherwise. 
 
 There are three tests of good writing : (1.) Legi- 
 
 bility, (2.) Rapidity, and (3.) Beauty. The chief points 
 requiring attention are the following : — slope, height, width, 
 thickness, curvature, mode of junction, and regularity of 
 the lines. 
 
 (1.) Legibility. This is the first requisite. The Com- 
 missioners for the English Civil Service Examinations say 
 that “ good handwriting is held to consist in the clear for- 
 mation of the letters of the alphabet.” 
 
 Curved letters are more legible than those which are 
 angular. Upright characters are more legible than sloping. 
 A very slanting hand, to be legible, must occupy much space. 
 Letters, however, should slope a little for the sake of ex- 
 pedition in writing. Very long loops and tails confuse the 
 eye. Very short loops and tails are also unfavourable to 
 distinctness. Very thin lines, called a “scratchy” hand, 
 and very thick lines, called a “ heavy” hand, are both 
 objectionable. A strong contrast between the light and 
 heavy strokes, which makes the “jerking” hand, is still 
 more unfavourable to distinctness. 
 
 Letters should be properly joined, whilst the words should 
 be properly separated. The pen should not be lifted except 
 when necessary. The last word of a line should not be 
 crushed against the margin. If there is not sufficient room 
 for the word, or for part of it, bring it to the beginning of 
 the next line. Perfect regularity and straightness of line, 
 and equality of space between lines, are conducive to 
 legibility. 
 
 (2.) Rapidity. A learner must write slowly, but in the 
 business of life rapidity is of great importance. Some 
 clerks will write twice as quickly as others and equally well. 
 
14 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 In this case, supposing the salaries to be the same, the slow 
 clerk is twice as costly as the other. Officers of Govern- 
 ment and merchants will either not employ clerks who 
 write slowly, or allow them only low salaries. A young 
 man submitted a specimen of his writing to a Govern- 
 ment officer, begging an appointment. The application was 
 rejected on the ground that, though the writing was clear 
 and neat,, it was evidently not free. Competitors for the 
 English Civil Service appointments are expected to be able 
 to copy out correctly in good writing a printed passage of 
 500 words in half an hour. 
 
 To secure rapidity, the body should be at ease, and well 
 supported. The round hand is more rapid than the angular 
 because the lines glide into each other ; whereas the angu- 
 lar hand is a series of jerks. Letters should be simple in 
 form and all flourishes should be avoided. Loss of time is 
 caused whenever the pen is taken off the paper. 
 
 (3.) Beauty. This doe£ not denote the ornamental style 
 of writing. Flourishes are out of place. In business writ- 
 ing, the object is not to display skill in penmanship, but to 
 secure legibility. 
 
 To please the eye, regularity is necessary. The letters 
 should be of uniform size and thickness ; the spaces between 
 the letters should be equal ; also those between the words, 
 and those between the lines. A clerk should be able to 
 dispense with ruling, and yet make the lines straight, and 
 at equal distances from each other. 
 
 Reading Handwriting. — It is a great advantage to be 
 able to read with rapidity bad handwriting. Every opportu- 
 nity should be taken of making out the worst “ scrawls.” 
 
 Shorthand. — A clerk who can take down matter as 
 quickly as his superior dictates and can write it out cor- 
 rectly, is sure of advancement. There are several systems 
 of shorthand. Pitman’s method is the most popular, if not 
 the best. Sounds, not letters, are represented. 
 
 Letter Writing. — Copying or writing letters forms the 
 main' business of many clerks. A thorough acquaintance 
 with the forms used is desirable. Elementary instruction 
 in this branch is given in the little manual noticed on 
 
SUFFICIENT EDUCATION. 
 
 15 
 
 page 3 ; but much more complete directions will be found 
 in the works noted below.* 
 
 Bookkeeping. — In merchants’ offices a knowledge of 
 this is essential. Systems vary so much, that in general 
 a clerk must learn by experience the forms used by his 
 employers. 
 
 Arithmetic. — This subject is of primary importance. The 
 chief thing is to gain a thorough mastery of the first four 
 rules, — addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, 
 both simple and compound, so as to able to perform them 
 with speed and correctness. A clerk should practise him- 
 self in adding up quickly and accurately long lines of 
 figures. lie should not say to himself 5 and 7 are 12 ; 
 12 and 6 are 18, &c. ; but only mentally say, 12, 18, &c. 
 When two figures are equal to 10, they should be taken 
 together. Accuracy in adding may be tested by taking 
 the column downwards as well as upwards. 
 
 The other rules, such as proportion, vulgar and decimal 
 fractions, interest, exchange, equation of payments, &c. 
 should also be studied and thoroughly acquired. 
 
 In arithmetical calculations accuracy is the first point. 
 Any error in this respect may be attended with serious 
 consequences. Rapidity is also important, although second- 
 ary. 
 
 Mental Arithmetic — It is often an advantage to be 
 able to perform a calculation without pen or paper. The 
 faculty may be acquired if duly practised. Even when 
 walking to office or at leisure, a clerk may improve his 
 abilities in this way. 
 
 General Knowledge. — Other things being equal, the 
 more intelligent a clerk is, the better will he be fitted to 
 discharge his duties. In the case of those are engaged in 
 merchants’ offices, a good acquaintance should be acquired 
 of the articles, as tea, indigo, cotton, in which they transact 
 business. 
 
 * Every Body’s Letter Writer, Lahiri and Co., Calcutta, Re. 1 , . 
 A Clerk’s Handlook, Dubhashi and Co., Bombay. 
 
16 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 THIRD STEP. 
 
 GOOD BUSINESS HABITS. 
 
 By these are meant the qualities which specially come 
 into play during office hours. Some of them also belong to 
 another Step. 
 
 Punctuality — It is a valuable qualification in a clerk 
 never to be late or absent without sufficient grounds. A 
 superior may be kept waiting or urgent important business 
 may be delayed because the clerk who has the papers has 
 not turned up. The unpunctual man is a source, of annoy- 
 ance to himself. t He is ever in a hurry, bustling, fretting, 
 in the vain attempt to make up lost time. 
 
 Let the clerk determine to possess this good quality. For 
 this purpose let him have a watch that keeps correct time. 
 It is not a sufficient excuse for being late that a watch is 
 wrong. Washington told his secretary who assigned that 
 reason for being late, “ You must either get a new watch, 
 or I must get a new secretary.” 
 
 In order to be punctual, the hours for rising, bathing, 
 dressing, breakfast, leaving for office, &c. should be mark- 
 ed out exactly, and scrupulously observed. 
 
 It is not easy to be punctual ; it will require a struggle at 
 first ; but it will become a pleasant habit. 
 
 Industry. — It is not sufficient ter be punctual. There are 
 some men who seem half asleep over their work ; there are 
 others who during the hours of business waste their time 
 in idle talk ; some even read books or newspapers. A clerk 
 should remember that he is paid to give his. entire time 
 during office hours. He would complain if he did not 
 receive his full salary : his employer is equally entitled to 
 complain if his clerk defrauds him of time. 
 
 Let the clerk attend faithfully to his duties, and give no 
 encouragement to idlers, if there be such in the office. At 
 first the hours may seen long, and the duties irksome ; but 
 those feelings will wear away, and labour will become 
 rather pleasant than otherwise. 
 
 There are some men who are industrious only when 
 
GOOD BUSINESS HABITS. 
 
 17 
 
 under supervision. A clerk gives a bad impression to bis 
 superior when be is known to require watching and to be 
 kept at bis work. This will be a bar to bis promotion or 
 may even lead to bis dismissal. A clerk’s rule should be : 
 “ Not with eye-service, as menpleasers...but with good-will 
 doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.” Or, as 
 Milton expresses it, 
 
 “ As ever in my great Taskmaster’s eye.” 
 
 Method — This is a great saving of labour. The late Ma- 
 haraja of Travancore says, “ Go to the record room of our 
 Jamabundi Department and see the thousands of cadjan 
 rolls heaped, pell-mell, and then see what a contrast it 
 presents to a well-arranged record room of some English 
 Government office, where the vast mass of records is arrang- 
 ed, assorted, docketed, numbered, and indexed, so that the 
 dullest clerk can lay his hand upon the required paper in 
 less than five minutes.” 
 
 A clerk’s office table is, to some extent, a reflection of 
 himself. If disorderly, it shows a muddled head. Much 
 time is often lost by some men and worry occasioned by 
 papers being mislaid. Let the two good rules be observed : 
 “ A place for everything, and everything in its proper place.” 
 
 “A time for everything, and everything in its proper time.” 
 
 If your papers are in confusion, set about at once to 
 arrange them, and keep them in proper order. This 
 will conduce as much to your own comfort as it will to the 
 efficiency of your work. 
 
 Good Manners. — Prof essor Huxley says that “the English 
 conception of Paradise,” is “ getting on.” Men of all 
 shades of colour have somewhat similar ideas. The desire 
 to rise higher in the social scale is natural, and, within 
 certain limits, praiseworthy. The Hindus profess to have 
 among their sixty-four sciences one which teaches how to 
 bring a person over to another’s side by enchantment. So 
 far as magic is concerned, this art is purely imaginary. 
 Still, there are things which act as charms, either exciting 
 every one against us or prepossessing them in our favour. 
 The irritants are conceit and rudeness; those which capti- 
 vate are modesty and good manners. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 Manners exert a powerful influence upon a man’s pros- 
 pects. The first impressions which a person makes are the 
 most lasting. People generally form their opinion at a 
 glance, and if it is unfavourable, they receive a bias which 
 is not easily modified. Many persons have created a prej - 
 udice against themselves and caused their real excellencies 
 to be overlooked, through want of civility. There is an 
 English proverb, “ Manners make the man.” An old 
 merchant was asked by what means he had contrived to 
 realize so large a fortune. The reply was, “ Friend, by one 
 article alone, in which thou mayest deal too if thou pleasest 
 — civility.” Young men generally would be quite aston- 
 ished if they could understand how greatly their personal 
 happiness, popularity, prosperity, and usefulness, depend 
 on then' manners. 
 
 In some parts of the country there are complaints about 
 the bad manners of educated young men. The Indian Mirror 
 says : “ Our young men do not know or care to know how 
 to respect their superiors. This may appear strange, for 
 the Natives of India are known to be fastidiously polite. 
 English education has made them self-sufficient, and infused 
 into their minds a kind of false independence which knows 
 of no distinction between high or low, old or young.” 
 
 Under this head may be included attention to dress. 
 This should be scrupulously neat and clean, while unneces- 
 sary display should be avoided. Some years ago The Indian 
 Mirror complained that the nasty habit of spitting was very 
 common, and that, too, with a noise that was “ sickening.” 
 It is to be hoped that such a caution is no longer necessary. 
 
 A few hints may be offered with regard to those with 
 whom the clerk comes in contact. 
 
 Towards his superior, the behaviour of a clerk should be 
 respectful, though not servile. Under ordinary circumstances 
 this is easy enough, the trial comes when a clerk is found 
 fault with or reprimanded. 
 
 Conduct under rebuke is of very great importance. Some- 
 times a superior is hasty and uses strong language. It has 
 happened that this has roused young men to a similar 
 display of temper, ending perhaps in the loss of their 
 
GOOD BUSINESS HABITS. 
 
 19 
 
 situations, and materially affecting tlieir prospects in life. 
 Solomon says, “ Yielding pacifietli great offences.” Calm- 
 ness has often a wonderful effect upon an angry man. He 
 is speedily subdued, and tries to make amends, whereas an 
 opposite course would add fuel to the flame. Even unjust 
 censure should not provoke irritation. “ What glory is it,” 
 says the Apostle Peter, “ if, when ye be buffeted for your 
 faults, ye shall take it patiently ? but if, when ye do well, 
 and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with 
 God.” 
 
 Instead of indulging in pique and resentment when 
 rebuked, the resource of wounded pride in weak minds, 
 seek rather by increased care to avoid the cause of censure. 
 
 Some men are always ready with an excuse for any fault. 
 It has been remarked, that those who are good at excuses 
 are generally good for nothing else. 
 
 Strangers who come into an office should be treated with 
 the same respect as is shown to a superior. Always rise 
 from your seat, if addressed by them. 
 
 Fellow clerks should be treated with courtesy. It is of 
 very great importance that you and they should be on 
 friendly terms. Cowper gives the following caution : — 
 
 “ The man that hails you Tom or Jack, 
 
 And proves by thumbs upon your back 
 How he esteems your merit, 
 
 Is such a friend, that one had need 
 Be very much his friend indeed 
 To pardon or to bear it.” • 
 
 There should not be a readiness to take offence. Especi- 
 ally there should not be any suspicion of backbiting, trying 
 to gain the favour of a superior by disclosing the faults of 
 fellow-clerks. Any person guilty of such conduct will 
 make himself thoroughly disliked. At the same time, if a 
 clerk is known to be defrauding his employer, his conduct 
 should be reported, although in the first place an effort 
 should be made to induce him to reform. 
 
 Inferiors, as peons and others considered to hold still 
 lower positions, should also be addressed kindly. 
 
 Smiles says, “ There are many tests by which a gentle- 
 
20 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 man may be known ; but there is one that never fails — how 
 does he exercise poiuer over those subordinate to him ?” 
 There are men that cringe to their superiors, who, in 
 speaking to a servant, could not assume harsher and more 
 contemptuous language were they speaking to a dog. 
 
 The last words uttered by the Duke of Wellington were, 
 “Yes, if you please,” addressed to a servant who asked 
 him if he would take a cup of tea. The “ Great Duke” 
 had been accustomed to command large armies, and to be 
 waited on by some of the noblest in the land ; but see how 
 he spoke to one of his common servants. Bear in mind 
 the Scripture precept, “ Be courteous.” 
 
 “ Kind words awaken kind echoes.” The best means of 
 securing polite treatment, is to give in yourself an example 
 of good manners. 
 
 “ The world around us may be said to be, in some sense, 
 a mirror in which a man may behold the reflection of him- 
 self. If he smiles, it smiles ; if he frowns, it frowns ; if he 
 behaves in a rude manner, he need not be surprised if the 
 world behaves rudely in return ; if he behaves with civility, 
 civility will be his usual recompense.” 
 
 Good manners should proceed from a kind heart, and not 
 be merely an outward appearance, like an article of dress. 
 
 Energy. — There are some persons who are sure, but slow. 
 They plod on day by day, never unemployed, but the 
 amount of work done is not great. Instead of their move- 
 ments being marked by a quick step, they crawl along as if 
 they were perfectly indifferent to the result. The man who 
 wishes to rise must ivork with a will. The following re- 
 marks of Buxton should be deeply impressed upon the mind 
 of every young man : “ The longer I live, the more I am cer- 
 tain that the great difference between men, between the 
 feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is 
 eneegy, invincible deteemination — a purpose once fixed, and 
 then death or victory. That quality will do any thing that 
 can be done in this world ; — and no talents, no circumstances, 
 no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man 
 without it.” Solomon says, “ Whatsoever thy hand findeth 
 to do, do it with thy might.” 
 
GOOD BUSINESS HABITS. 
 
 21 
 
 Zeal. — By this is meant a strong desire that the business 
 in which a person is engaged should prosper. A clerk, in- 
 stead of thinking how he can get through the least amount 
 of work compatible with retaining his situation, should taka 
 as much interest in it as if it were his own. He should ba 
 quite willing, when occasion requires, to come earlier or to 
 remain later than office hours. A clerk who objects to this 
 will speedily be dismissed. On the other hand, the man 
 who cheerfully does extra work for the benefit of his em- 
 ployer will be valued accordingly. 
 
 Integrity. — Honesty in money matters is here chiefly 
 understood. Without this all other qualifications are of no 
 avail. Plato says, “ Did you never observe the narrow 
 intellect flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue ? how 
 clearly his paltry soul sees the way to his end ! He is 
 the reverse of blind, but his keen sight is taken into the 
 service of evil, and he is dangerous in proportion to his 
 intelligence.” In every position, integrity is required. 
 Talent without this only renders a man a more successful 
 villain, and he is shunned accordingly. Can he be trusted 
 with money ? is one of the first questions asked before 
 appointing a person to a responsible office, and success or 
 failure in life depends largely upon its answer. 
 
 Clerks have sometimes charge of money belonging to their 
 employers, and may not require to account for it immedi- 
 ately. This is a great temptation to a spendthrift to use 
 some of it for his own purposes. At first, it is returned at 
 once ; next, the time is lengthened, and the amount taken 
 is increased. It cannot be paid at the end of the month, 
 and so the accounts are tampered with. Detection generally 
 follows in the end, and punishment for embezzlement 
 follows. Every large prison in the country has convicts, 
 educated men, once in respectable positions, tempted to 
 dishonesty when pressed by their creditors. “ He that 
 goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing.” 
 
 A clerk should resolve never to use for his own purposes, 
 even for an hour, money intrusted to his care. 
 
 Clerks are sometimes tempted by bribes, under the name 
 of commission or presents, to allow their employers to be 
 
22 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 defrauded. Inferior materials or work are paid beyond 
 tlieir value. Any person acting in tliis way has no claim 
 to be considered honest. 
 
 Suck, briefly, are some’ of the business qualifications 
 necessary. 
 
 FOURTH STEP. 
 
 LIVING WITHIN ONE’S INCOME. 
 
 All men wish to live comfortably with their families. 
 The feeling is natural, and in most cases, it can be secured, 
 if there is no bad management. Unfortunately, in this 
 country, the opposite generally holds good. Many persons 
 lead an anxious troubled life from youth to their dying day, 
 and leave a like heritage to their children. This may 
 arise from various causes, but one of the chief is the habit, 
 almost universal, of running into debt. 
 
 Getting into debt has been common in India from the 
 earliest times. In the Eig Veda, a prayer is addressed to 
 Varuna for freedom from debt. Till the present day the 
 habit of borrowing pervades both the uneducated and the 
 educated, in every part of the country. The people may be 
 separated into two classes, the borrowers and the usurers. 
 
 The great bulk of the people of India are agriculturists. 
 Many of them are in debt for the seed they sow, are sup- 
 plied with food by money-lenders during all the labours 
 of the field, and look forward, at the end of the harvest, 
 to the payment of a debt which absorbs all their earnings. 
 
 There is the excuse for ryots that their income is un- 
 certain, depending upon the seasons. Persons with fixed 
 salaries, however, get into debt with equal readiness. The 
 Indian Mirror says : — 
 
 “ The Indian ryot is notoriously improvident. But he is not 
 alone in this. It is well known that common sense and prudence 
 leave the Native, whether educated or uneducated, when he has 
 any social ceremonies to perform. On such occasion he is sure 
 to go beyond his means and involve himself.” 
 
LIVING WITHIN ONE’S INCOME. 
 
 23 
 
 Debt does not depend upon a man’s income. In the 
 same office there are two clerks. One, drawing the higher 
 salary, is deeply in debt ; the other has saved so much that 
 he has been able to buy a horse and carriage which he 
 hires out. There are men with families ha.ving only 15 
 rupees a month free from debt, while there are childless 
 men with 1,500 rupees a month heavily involved. 
 
 Causes of Debt. — Debt may arise from the death of a 
 father on whom a family depended for support, or severe 
 famine may compel a person to borrow money. The causes 
 which will now be noticed are those for which people them- 
 selves are mainly responsible. 
 
 1. Extravagant Expenditure at Marriages and Shrad- 
 dhas. — Though the Hindus are generally frugal, on certain 
 occasions they fling away money like water. A common 
 case is thus described. 
 
 “ A father is about to get his daughter married ; his income 
 is Rs. 50 a month, and he has saved nothing ; but it is the 
 custom for one in his position to spend Rs. 500. He knows 
 he hasn’t got the means ; he must borrow at exorbitant interest, 
 he must put a load of debt on his shoulders, which may grind 
 him down for long years ; but what does he do ? Does he say 
 honestly — Well, I havn’t got the money ; it is wrong and foolish 
 to burden myself with debt ; I’ll only spend what I can properly 
 afford, and mind nothing else P No, he says, ‘ What can I do, 
 sir ? It’s our custom, and if I don’t spend all this money my 
 neighbours will put shame on me.’ So he foolishly and cowardly 
 puts his neck under the yoke, rather than face a breath of 
 popular opinion.” 
 
 What hope of reform can there be in a nation when its 
 most intelligent men yield to the ignorant rabble, and 
 pursue a course which they themselves allow to be idiotic ? 
 
 2. Living beyond one’s means. — This applies chiefly to 
 some of the educated classes in towns. They are not con- 
 tent to begin life in a humble way like their forefathers. 
 Show is considered necessary to gain respect. To keep up 
 appearances, they run into debt wherever they can. The 
 crash comes at last, and their fashionable friends shun them 
 as if they had small-pox. 
 
24 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 Getting into debt for liquor is one of the worst forms of 
 extravagance. 
 
 The Evils of Debt. — Some of these are the following : 
 
 1. Loss of Money. — A man with a salary of Rs. 140 a 
 month has paid Rs. 30 as interest. Another getting Rs. 20 
 a month has paid over Rs. 4 a month. A third on a debt 
 of Rs. 50 paid Rs. 3-2-0 a month for three years, and at 
 the end of that period, having paid over Rs. 100 as interest, 
 the debt of Rs. 50 remained undiminished. 
 
 2. Disgrace. — The debtor shuns the face of his creditor, 
 who does not fear to reproach and abuse him for non- 
 payment. Sometimes he tries to hide himself ; he may 
 even wander from place to place to avoid being caught. 
 He feels degraded in other men’s eyes as well as in his own. 
 His life is a series of mean shifts and expedients, perhaps 
 ending in the gaol. 
 
 3. Slavery for Life. — “ The borrower is servant to the 
 lender.” The Hindus are so improvident and the rate of 
 interest is so high, that whenever a man gets into the 
 money-lender’s books, it is very hard for him to escape. 
 
 //The money-lender does not wish it. He prefers that the 
 J} unfortunate creditor should toil for his benefit. He takes 
 over the ryot’s crops, if he can, at his own valuation, and 
 merely gives him enough to keep him from starving. 
 There are even debts handed down from generation to 
 generation. 
 
 4. Dishonesty . — The preceding chapter mentions how 
 clerks in debt are tempted to this, and suffer from the 
 consequences. 
 
 5. Family Distress. — The debtor’s family suffer like 
 himself. He cannot maintain them properly ; and they are 
 troubled in mind through fear of creditors and coming 
 want. Sometimes the debtor becomes bankrupt during his 
 life-time. Everything is sold, and the family is turned out 
 of house and home. In other cases the debtor may stave 
 off this ; but at his death his wife and children are thrown 
 penniless upon the world. 
 
 Few people of this country realize that there is anything 
 actually wrong in running into debt. They do not imagine 
 
LIVING WITHIN ONE’S INCOME. 25 
 
 that they are acting dishonestly, and perhaps imposing 
 cruel burdens upon others. 
 
 How to get out of Debt. — For the debtor to say, “ I am 
 very sorry,” will not mend matters. 
 
 “ A hundred years of regret 
 Pay not a farthing of debt.” 
 
 It is easy to roll a large stone down hill, but a very hard 
 task to roll it up. In like manner, it is easy to get into 
 debt, but hard to get out of it. Still, it is possible, and the 
 reward will fully repay the trouble. Let the debtor vow 
 with God’s help at once to do what he can to relieve himself 
 of his heavy burden. If the reader is in debt and wishes to 
 get out of it, let him observe the following rules. 
 
 1. Estimate carefully your income, and make out a list of 
 your debts . — Do not over-estimate your income. If you 
 have more creditors than one, consider whose claims press 
 most heavily. Enter the claims in a book. 
 
 2. Determine so to regulate your expenditure that every 
 month you may not only pay the interest of your debts, but 
 reduce part of the principal. 
 
 This will be a hard struggle to a spendthrift, but it is the 
 only way to success. Persons who live beyond their means 
 will be obliged to economise in the end. They will suffer 
 much less if they exercise some self-denial at the proper 
 time. 
 
 It is not enough simply to pay the interest. The debt 
 remains the same, although an amount equal to the princi- 
 pal may have been paid several times over. If, however, 
 the principal is also being reduced, the debt will gradually 
 be cleared. 
 
 3. Consider how your Income can best be spent . — Every 
 well regulated State has what is called its Budget, an annual 
 estimate of the income and expenditure. Every family should 
 have its budget. The principal heads of expenditure will 
 be house rent, taxes, food and articles of domestic use, 
 clothing, education, charities, contingencies and reserve 
 fund. Each head should be carefully considered, and an 
 allotment made accordingly. 
 
26 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 4. Keep an account of your expenses . — Locke says, 
 “ Nothing is likelier to keep a man within a compass than 
 having constantly before his eyes the state of his affairs in 
 a regular course of account.” Mark down every day what 
 you spend. 
 
 Many poor men think that it is not needful for them to 
 keep an exact account of their income and expenses. This 
 is a great mistake. The poorer a man is, the more care he 
 should take of every pice he receives. 
 
 5. Pay cash for all purchases . — When a person has to 
 lay down the money at once, he thinks twice whether the 
 purchase is really needed. If you run up bills with a shop- 
 keeper, you must go to him and take what he chooses to 
 give. By paying cash you can go where goods are cheapest 
 and best, and may often get discount. 
 
 6. Do not spend money on intoxicating liquors or tobacco. 
 — The old Greeks had a proverb, “Water is best.” For 
 many centuries the people of India, except certain classes, 
 were very temperate. Let the Hindus adhere to the wise 
 example of their forefathers in this respect. Never acquire 
 a taste for tobacco, and the want will never be felt. The 
 smallest amount of smoking is hurtful to the young. 
 
 Opium should be avoided equally with spirits, and 
 should never be used in any form. 
 
 7. Learn to say “ No .” — 'When you are inclined to buy 
 anything which you cannot afford, say, “ No.” If you are 
 clearing off your debts, you may feel tempted to stop pay- 
 ment for one month ; say, “ No.” Your wife or your child- 
 ren beg you to get them dresses or other articles beyond 
 your means; say, “ No.” When you are urged to squander 
 your money on empty show, say, “ No.” When vice of 
 any kind allures you, boldly say, “ No.” The only way of 
 meeting temptations to idleness, to self-indulgence, to folly, 
 to bad customs, is to answer them at once with an indig- 
 nant, “ No.” The first time may require an effort ; but 
 strength will grow with use. 
 
 8. Have a Post Office Bank Account . — Many people in 
 this country are thriftless. When they are going to get 
 married or when they expect a confinement in their family, 
 
LIVING WITHIN One’s INCOME. 
 
 27 
 
 they make no preparation beforehand, when it would be 
 much easier to provide the necessary funds. When their 
 expenses will be increased, they borrow, requiring, in addi- 
 tion, to pay interest. Not a few spend their month’s pay at 
 once, and there is not a rupee left to meet any exceptional 
 expenses. All this is prevented by a reserve fund in the 
 Savings Bank. 
 
 The rules of such Banks can be obtained from any Post 
 Office. 
 
 9. Ask God’s Help . — A moral change is needed to 
 effectual reformation. The evils of debt may be acutely 
 felt, but many a spendthrift, even if relieved of his burden, 
 will fall again speedily under its power, like a sow that Was [( 
 washed to its wallowing in the mire. To lend money to 
 such a man, is worse than useless. As soon as his creditors 
 cease to dun him, he resumes borrowing. 
 
 Mere education is not enough. There are university men 
 as wasteful and improvident as ignorant ryots. Culture of 
 intellect has no effect upon moral conduct. 
 
 Distrusting your own power to resist temptation, daily 
 say to your heavenly Father, “ Hold Thou me up, and I 
 shall be safe.” This should be preceded by a humble con- 
 fession of past misconduct in all respects. 
 
 Leaning on Divine assistance and attending to the fore- 
 going directions, most debtors may, by degrees, get free 
 from their liabilities. 
 
 Dr. Johnson says : “Whatever you have, spend less.” He 
 
 calls Economy, “ the Daughter of Prudence, the Sister of 
 Temperance, and the Mother of Liberty.”* 
 
 * Further advice on this point will be found in Debt and the Right Use of 
 Money. 8vo. 32 pp. 1 anna. Post-free, 14 As. 
 
28 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 FIFTH STEP. 
 
 MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 Temperance. 
 
 This virtue, in its widest sense, denotes moderation in 
 the indulgence of every appetite ; hut it is especially 
 applied to self-control with regard to intoxicating liquors. 
 
 There is no doubt that intemperance prevailed to a consid- 
 erable extent among the old Aryans. One whole book of 
 the Rig-Veda, containing 114 hymns, is filled with the 
 praises of the intoxicating soma juice. By copious draughts 
 of it, Indra is strengthened for his contests with the demons, 
 and nearly all the gods have a confirmed love of the same 
 liquor. Intoxication was regarded as inspiration. Most of 
 the leading characters in the Mahabharata were addicted to 
 strong drink. After a time the evils of intemperance were 
 so much felt, that strong efforts were made, with consider- 
 able success, to repress the vice. Drunkenness has always 
 prevailed in India among certain classes ; but, as nations, 
 the people have been temperate for many centuries. 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted that, of late years, drinking 
 habits have been acquired by some educated Hindus, whose 
 forefathers never touched intoxicating liquor. This is 
 largely attributable to European example. 
 
 When English began to be studied in India, some young 
 men thought that they must imitate English habits as well 
 as learn the language. Among other things, it was consid- 
 ered a mark of manliness and a proof of advance in civil- 
 ization to use intoxicating drinks. And the liquor gen- 
 erally selected was brandy, the strongest spirit. The evil 
 has been greatest in Calcutta, where the educated classes 
 are the wealthiest, and English has been longest studied. 
 
 The Hindu Patriot thus describes the results in India : — 
 
 “ We have daily, nay hourly, evidences of the ravages which 
 the brandy bottle is making upon the flower of our society. 
 Wealth, rank, honor and character, health and talents, have 
 all perished in the blighting presence of this huge monster. 
 Notwithstanding the improved education and resources of 
 
MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 29 
 
 our higher classes, it is a notorious fact that they can now save 
 very little, and this new feature of our domestic and social 
 economy is. in a great measure, due to the fell drink-craving. 
 Families once flourishing have been reduced to absolute pau- 
 perism by the wreck brought by it.” 
 
 The evils of intemperance are quaintly shown by the 
 “ Drunkard’s Tree 
 
 THE DRUNKARD’S TREE. 
 
 The 
 Sin of 
 
 DRUNKENNESS 
 
 Expels Reason, Drowns Memory, 
 
 Distempers the Body, Effaces Beauty, 
 
 Diminishes Strength, Corrupts the Blood, 
 
 Inflames the Liver, Weakens the Brain, 
 
 Turns Men into Walking Hospitals, causes Internal, 
 External, and Incurable Wounds ; is a Witch to the Senses, 
 
 A Devil to the Soul, a Thief to the Purse, the 
 Beggar’s Companion, Wife’s Woe, and Children’s 
 Sorrow ; makes man become a Beast and 
 A Self-murderer, who drinks to others’ 
 
 Good Health, and Robs himself of 
 His own ! Nor is this all ! 
 
 It exposes to the 
 Divine 
 Dis- 
 pleasure 
 here ; 
 and 
 
 hereafter 
 
 to 
 
 Eternal 
 
 Destruction. 
 
 Such are 
 some of 
 the evils 
 Bp ringing 
 from the 
 Root of 
 
 DRUNKENNESS ! 
 
30 
 
 THE INDIA'S CLERK. 
 
 Reasons for Total Abstinence. — Some young men give 
 up Indian virtues and acquire only European vices. The 
 proper course is to retain whatever is good in old habits ; 
 to add whatever is commendable in Europeans, but to avoid 
 whatever is wrong. Of all European vices, none is more 
 dangerous and destructive than drunkenness. Even the 
 strong constitution of Europeans succumbs to its influence. 
 Among educated Hindus, its effects are as injurious as 
 “ fire water ” among the American Indians, causing them 
 to sink into an early grave. 
 
 The wine sent to this country, usually contains brandy. 
 Granting that the use of pure wine in great moderation 
 would not be injurious, it is much the safer and wiser course 
 for young men in India to imitate the example of their 
 ancestors in confining themselves to water. Many who 
 resolved at the commencement to drink only moderately, 
 have become victims to intemperance ; but this can never 
 happen to the man who altogether abstains from strong 
 drink. Never acquire the habit, and the want will never 
 be felt. 
 
 The Hindus, for many centuries, did not use intoxicating 
 liquors : why should they be necessary now ? Has any 
 change come over their constitution ? The Greeks had a 
 saying, “ Water is best.” In England, men training as 
 wrestlers, are not allowed to take even beer. Brandy may 
 indeed stimulate for a time, but it is soon followed by 
 greater exhaustion than ever. A walk in the open air or a 
 cup of good tea, is a far better restorative. 
 
 But educated Hindus use strong drink chiefly for mere 
 enjoyment. Dinners are thought incomplete without intoxi- 
 cating liquors. Customs dying out in England have been 
 revived, as drinking healths. A Hindu in Western India 
 complains, “ Go wherever you may, the first thing offered is 
 brandy-pani. This has taken the place of pan-sopari.” As 
 already explained, the practice of offering wine to visitors, 
 no longer exists among respectable classes in England. 
 
 Among the lower orders, liquor is drunk to produce 
 intoxication. 
 
 One of the most lamentable effects of intemperance is 
 
MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 31 
 
 that it tends to become hereditary. The children of 
 drunkards have a weak constitution ; they are corrupted by 
 the example of their parents, and the evil often goes on 
 increasing, till the family becomes extinct. 
 
 Every lover of this country should strive to the utmost to 
 check the ravages of a vice to which already some of the 
 brightest intellects in India have fallen victims. Such a 
 course is demanded even by personal considerations. It 
 has been well remarked, £f No reputation, no wisdom, nor 
 hardly any worth, will secure a man against drunkenness.” 
 
 Total Abstinence Societies. — Vigorous efforts have been 
 made by some good men in England in favour of temperance 
 reform. One means has been the establishment of Societies, 
 the members of which agree to abstain entirely from the 
 use of all intoxicating liquors. There are two classes of 
 them. 
 
 Band of Hope Societies are intended for the yourfg. The 
 reformation of drunkards, though not impossible, is ex- 
 tremely difficult. The habit, once formed is apt to break 
 out again when any strong temptation presents itself. 
 Where the taste has not been acquired, there is comparative 
 safety. The “ hope” of reformation lies chiefly with the 
 young. 
 
 Total Abstinence Societies for adults are also necessary. 
 By means of them numbers may be rescued. Some will 
 say that it is very desirable for persons who have acquired 
 intemperate habits or are in danger from them, to join 
 such societies, but where there is due moderation, such a 
 step is unnecessary. 
 
 In reply to this, it may be remarked that all drunkards, 
 as a rule, did not at first go to excess. No man who takes 
 liquor can be certain that he will not at last become in- 
 temperate. But there is another reason. Drunkards 
 require encouragement to join such societies. This is given 
 when persons of high position and character become 
 members. The English societies include noblemen, bishops 
 noted for their learning and piety, and others. Sir Donald 
 Stewart, the late Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, 
 has been a total abstainer for many years. 
 
32 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 Let the reader eschew entirely intoxicating liquors, and 
 it will be a blessing to himself, to his family, and to his 
 country. The cause will be further assisted by his joining 
 a Total Abstinence Society, and seeking to induce his friqnds 
 to do the same. 
 
 Chastity. 
 
 Chastity means the restraint of the passion for sexual 
 enjoyment. It forbids its unlawful gratification upon all ; 
 in married persons, it denotes moderation. 
 
 The prevalence of the opposite vice in India is painfully 
 shown by large numbers of quack medicines advertised in 
 native newspapers for the cure of “ nervous debility” or the 
 loathsome diseases which follow in its train. There are 
 even medicines advertised to excite lust. 
 
 Every one knows the value of the blood in the body. 
 The nourishing part of our food is converted into it, while 
 the remainder is expelled from the body. Our strength 
 depends upon the blood ; to waste it would be madness. 
 Yery few, however, are aware of the great importance of 
 the semen or seed. Besides its use in generation, it gives 
 strength to the brain, brilliance to the eye, vigour to the 
 mind, firmness to the flesh. A drain upon it weakens many 
 times more than the same loss of blood. Among the ancient 
 Greeks, who attached great importance to sports, persons 
 training as wrestlers were not allowed to live with their 
 wives. In some countries men are made eunuchs. They are 
 generally little better than lumps of flesh, without energy. 
 
 The loss of the seed is especially injurious to the young. 
 By the early marriage system of the Hindus, a boy with the 
 animal part of his nature still strong, is allowed to waste 
 his strength. A Bombay School Inspector says : “ The 
 
 great majority of the boys are exhausted and spent by the 
 time they reach seventeen. Their former energy and youth- 
 ful brightness have gone. Henceforth, for purposes of 
 close application on the part of the student, they are an 
 utter failure and disappointment.” He adds, “ The Hindus 
 and Parsis will never make a nation so long as these early 
 marriages continue.” 
 
5I0EAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 33 
 
 Dancing girls are another great cause of unchastity in 
 India. The Subodh Patrika thus describes their character, 
 and the frequency with which they are employed : 
 
 “Not the least urgent of such subjects of reform is the insti- 
 tution of danciug girls among us. Stripped of all their acquire- 
 ments, these women area class of prostitutes, pure and simple. 
 Their profession is immoral, and they live by vice. Being never 
 married, they can never be widows. Hence the wedding tie 
 woven by these women is considered propitious, and sufficiently 
 potent to confer life-long wifehood on the newly-married girl. 
 Indeed their presence at marriage and other ceremonies is almost 
 a necessity, and few persons who can afford the expense and are 
 unable to disregard the opinion of their neighbours can forbear 
 to call them to grace the occasion. The dancing girl is every- 
 where. It is she who crowns all merriment at all times. If it 
 is a marriage, she gives the finishing stroke to the gaieties of 
 the occasion. If you begin to occupy a house newly huilt, the 
 ceremony of the day is only brought to a conclusion when the 
 house rings to the noise of her anklets as the phrase goes. Hay, 
 you cannot treat a, friend or bid farewell to a departing Anglo- 
 Indian except by her mediation. It is this importance and this 
 shameful patronage accorded to her that we quarrel with. For 
 here is a premium offered to vice.” 
 
 It is deeply to be lamented that an Indian correspondent 
 of the Madras Mail thus describe the sad state of things 
 in the Southern Presidency city : — 
 
 “ There is not a more melancholy sight in Madras, not one 
 which all true well-wishers of the educated Hindu community 
 more sincerely deplore than the spectacle of highly-educated 
 Hindus, men of light and leading, and recipients of the most 
 civilising and humanising form of Western culture, living in a 
 state of adultery and concubinage with these sirens.” March 2, 
 1893. ' 
 
 Look at the character of the men whe keep dancing girls ? 
 Are they interested in the welfare of their countrymen ? 
 Are they the supporters of every movement for their bene- 
 fit ? No ; selfishness is their leading feature. Their money, 
 as far as available, is devoted to sensual pleasure. 
 
 A characteristic of dancing-girls is their avarice. Their 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 THE ENDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 cry is like that of the daughters of the horse-leech, “ Give, 
 give !” ’When the poor victim has lost everything he is 
 rejected, as the skin of a fruit which has been sucked is 
 thrown away. 
 
 Loss of money is not the worst result of intercourse with 
 dancing-girls. Some of them have a terrible disease, near- 
 ly as pernicious in its effects as leprosy, the existence of 
 which sometimes can be ascertained only by skilful medical 
 examination. In numberless cases, men have thus been 
 infected. Nor does the evil end with the guilty persons. 
 The innocent also suffer. Wives have thus been infected, 
 
 , and children have inherited the syphilitic taint. 
 
 Pale y sa 7 s: — “ Fornication perpetuates a disease which 
 may be accounted one of the sorest maladies of human 
 nature ; and the effects of which are said to visit the consti- 
 tution of even distant generations.” 
 
 Adultery on the part of a wife is condemned by Hindus, 
 but when the husband is concerned, many regard it as a 
 slight offence. In England husband and wife are ®n the 
 same footing. A wife can obtain a divorce as well as a 
 husband. God’s command, “ Thou shalt not commit adul- 
 tery,” applies equally to both. 
 
 The young are also tempted to uncleanness, or sin commit- 
 ted by a person in secret and alone. It is sometimes called 
 self-pollution. Persons who indulge in this vice become 
 dull, and listless, and weak ; their memory fails ; they dis- 
 like society, preferring to mope alone. Extreme cases end. 
 in madness or idiocy. 
 
 Milton thus describes the downward course of sen- 
 suality : — 
 
 “ But when lust, 
 
 By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk. 
 But most by lewd and lavish acts of sin, 
 
 Lets in defilement to the inward parts, 
 
 The soul grows clotted by contagion, 
 
 Embodies and embrutes till she quite lose 
 The divine property of her first being. 
 
 Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp, 
 Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, 
 
MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 35 
 
 Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, 
 
 As loth to leave the body that it loved, 
 
 And link itself by carnal sensuality, 
 
 To a degenerate and degraded sister.” 
 
 The reader should make a vigorous stand against the em- 
 ployment of nautch women. He should never have them 
 in his own house, and refuse to attend entertainments where 
 they are present. Their pernicious influence has already 
 been mentioned. Men who keep them as concubines should 
 not be reckoned as friends. 
 
 A Society, called the White Cross Army , has been estab- 
 lished in England for the promotion of purity. Its rules, 
 with a few additions necessary in India, were adopted by 
 the Purity Society formed at Dacca in 1890. They are as 
 follows : 
 
 I promise by the help of God 
 
 (1) To treat all women with respect and to discountenance 
 their degradation. 
 
 (2) To endeavour to put down all indecent language and 
 coarse jests. 
 
 (3) To maintain the law of purity as equally binding on 
 men and women. 
 
 (1) To discountenance and discourage all entertainments in 
 which fallen women take part, and to habitually abstain from 
 attending such. 
 
 (5) To endeavour to spread these principles among my com- 
 panions, and to try to help my younger brothers. 
 
 (6) To use every possible means to preserve my own person- 
 al purity, and to try to induce others to do likewise. 
 
 A similar movement? should be made in every part of 
 India. Let the" reader do all he can to promote it. 
 
 Bishop. Lightfoot, founder of the White Cross Army, 
 thus shows the blessedness of purity : 
 
 “ ‘ Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God.’ 
 No reward which the world has to bestow would meet the case. 
 Wealth, pleasure, renown, popularity — these are the world’s 
 best and choicest gifts. But purity of heart seeks not these. 
 To the pare in heart it is given to stand face to face before the 
 Eternal Presence — the veil withdrawn and the ineffable glory 
 streaming upon them with peerless splendour. Theirs is the 
 
36 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 indwelling of ‘ the Spirit that doth prefer before all temples the 
 upright heart and pure.’ To them is vouchsafed in their 
 journey through life the presence of the Holy Thing, * moving 
 with them night and day.’ In the strength of this Presence 
 they — like Sir Galahad, the spotless knight of the Laureate’s 
 idyll — ride onward, ‘shattering evil customs everywhere,’ till 
 they reach their goal, and heaven receives them, and they are 
 ‘ crowned as kings far in the spiritual city.’ ” 
 
 “ Spirit of Purity and Grace, 
 
 My weakness pitying see ; 
 
 0 make my heart Thy dwelling-place 
 And meet for Thee.” 
 
 Truthfulness. 
 
 “ There was no virtue,” says Smiles,* “ that Dr. Arnold 
 laboured more sedulously to instil into young men than the 
 virtue of truthfulness, as being the manliest of virtues, as 
 indeed the very basis of all true manliness. He designated 
 truthfulness as ‘ moral transparency,’ and he valued it 
 more highly than any other quality.” 
 
 It has been remarked that different nations vary more 
 in regard to truthfulness than any other virtue. The 
 Indian Mirror says, “ There is not a question but that 
 lying is looked upon with much more disfavor by European, 
 than by Native, society. The English notions on the sub- 
 ject are stroDg,. distinct, and uncompromising in the 
 abstract. Hindu and Mahometan notions are fluctuating, 
 vague, and to a great extent dependent upon times, places, 
 and persons.” 
 
 The difference between Europeans and Hindus in the 
 above respect is thus pointed out by the late Maharaja of 
 Travancore : “ The most truthless Christian is fired by 
 being called a ‘ liar.’ But turn to an average countryman 
 of our own who has not yet studied to adopt European 
 externals, and see how blandly and unconcernedly the 
 epithet 'liar’ is taken by him. You must have seen people 
 
 * In his admirable book on “ Character,” — the perusal of which is 
 strongly recommended. 
 
 
 i 
 
 s 
 
 ! a 
 
 1 5 
 
 a 
 
 sc 
 
 hi 
 
 I tii 
 
 an 
 
JIOBAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 37 
 
 even complimenting one another with the epithet ‘ clever 
 rogue.’ On the other hand, nothing is more common than 
 to ridicule men of truth and honesty as fools.” 
 
 Alexander the Great invaded India, 327 b. c. The 
 Greeks formed a high opinion of the veracity of the 
 Hindus. Arrian says that no Indian was ever known to 
 tell an untruth. Though this is incorrect, it shews the 
 idea entertained by the Greeks. 
 
 Cunning is everywhere the refuge of the weak against 
 the strong. Undoubtedly the oppression to which the 
 Hindus were subjected for many centuries, had an injuri- 
 ous effect upon the uational character. 
 
 Hindu literature is partly responsible for the present 
 state of feeling. Very strong denunciations of lying are 
 to be found in the Sastras. The story of Harischandra is 
 partly designed to show the nobleness of the man who 
 would not break his word when exposed to the severest 
 temptations. But such teachings are counteracted by others 
 of an opposite tendency. Manu permits lying under 
 certain circumstances : 
 
 “ A giver of false evidence, from a pious motive, even though 
 he know the truth, shall not lose a seat in heaven; such evi- 
 dence men call divine speech.” viii. 103- 
 
 “ In the case of courtezans, of marriages, of food eaten by 
 cows, of fuel for a sacrifice, of benefit or protection accruing to 
 a Brahman, there is no sin in an oath.” viii. 112. 
 
 In the Mahabharata, it is said that Dhritarashtra .con- 
 sulted Kalinga, a Brahman and prime minister of Shakuni, 
 about the way in which he might destroy the Pandus. The 
 prime minister related how a jackal, by lying, overcame a 
 tiger, a wolf, a mungoose, and a bandicoot. He said to the 
 king, “Tn seeking reconciliation with a foe, lull his 
 suspicions with the most solemn oaths and slay him. The 
 holiest of saint preceptors declares that there is no.harm in 
 this. When your heart boils with rage, speak pleasantly 
 and with the smile of friendship.” A whole chapter of the 
 Panchatantra is about overcoming by deceit, and the 
 Hitopadesa is equally objectionable. 
 
38 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 One of the most beneficial effects of English education in 
 India is, that it is creating a higher standard of truthful- 
 ness. Still, some remarks on the subject are desirable. 
 
 It should be clearly understood that falsehood is wrong 
 under any circumstances. It can never be right to do what 
 is wrong in itself. We are not to do evil that good may 
 come. As an additional argument of a lower order, it 
 should also be remembered that in such cases the individual 
 benefit is*far more than counterbalanced by the evil effects 
 on the community. “ Truthfulness as a principle is more 
 valuable than the good of any individuals or even nations.” 
 It is wrong to tell a lie even to save our life. Who does 
 not admire the conduct attributed to Regulus by certain 
 Roman historians ! He was taken prisoner by the 
 Carthaginians. After keeping him in confinement for 
 several years, they sent him to Rome to propose an ex- 
 change of prisoners, having first taken from him an oath 
 to return if unsuccessful. By his advice the Romans 
 rejected the proposal. His friends, his wife, his children, 
 entreated him to remain ; he knew that a cruel death 
 awaited him at Carthage; but rather than violate his 
 promise, he returned. He is said to have been put to 
 death by the most cruel torments that could be devised. 
 Socrates need not have drunk the cup of poispn if he had 
 told a lie ; thousands of the early Christian martyrs might 
 have saved their lives by falsehood, but they nobly refused. 
 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, when asked what was the first 
 thing he learned, replied, “ to tell the truth ,” — a noble lesson. 
 Resolve always to “| speak the truth, the v:hole truth, and 
 nothing hut the truth.” In the course of your life you will 
 no doubt sometimes make mistakes or do wrong. Admit 
 the error, instead of endeavouring to shield yourself from 
 blame by equivocation or falsehood, adding, “ I am sorry, 
 and will try that it shall not occur again.” Anger is thus 
 disarmed, while want of truthfulness only makes things 
 worse. Liars are generally discovered in the end. Pope 
 says,“ He who tells a lie is not sensible how great a task he 
 undertakes ; for he must be forced to invent twenty more 
 to maintain one.” 
 
MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 39 
 
 “ 0 what a tangled web we weave, 
 When first we practise to deceive !” 
 
 
 “The lip of truth shall be established for ever; but a 
 lying tongue is but for a moment.” A man convicted of 
 falsehood is distrusted ever after. Even when he speaks 
 the truth, he is not believed. He is always haunted by fear 
 of detection, and conscience reproaches him. 
 
 Rash promises or threats are a frequent occasion of 
 falsehood. People, in a passion, often say things which. in 
 their cool moments they regret, and are therefore under 
 a strong temptation to break their word. Make no promise 
 when it can fairly be avoided. Consider particularly, 
 whether you possess the means of a faithful performance. 
 If you are doubtful, guard your promise with such condi- 
 tions as shall render it safe. If you have made a promise, 
 fulfil it at whatever cost or inconvenience. 
 
 The Indian Mirror says that a Bengali “ never makes an 
 engagement in the sense which an Englishman attaches to 
 the word. He does not feel that his engagements impose 
 upon him. any moral obligations which he is bound to fulfil 
 as a gentleman. If he says, ‘ I will go,’ he means, ‘ I may 
 or may not go.’ There is another form of untruthfulness 
 to which attention should be drawn. Nothing is more 
 common among our countrymen than to neglect payment 
 of money on the day they themselves have previously 
 appointed. They unscrupulously put off the payment from 
 day to day, and pass through a series of breaches of promise 
 without compunction.” 
 
 Equivocation is a cowardly form of lying. The speaker 
 intends to deceive, and yet seeks to repel the charge of 
 falsehood. Smiles says, “Downright lying, though bolder 
 and more vicious, is even less contemptible than such kind 
 of shuffling.” 
 
 All tampering with truth must be avoided. Sir George 
 Campbell says, “ There is in the native mind a want of 
 exactness, a habit of speaking without perceiving, and in 
 the hearsay kind of way.” Do not assert that which you 
 do not know to be true. If you have heard a report, simply 
 give it as such. 
 
40 
 
 ’ THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 Guard against all exaggeration. When you repeat any- 
 thing, neither enhance nor lessen. Colour nothing beyond 
 the strict truth. 
 
 Hindus are peculiarly accessible to flattery, and accept 
 the most fulsome adulation. Cunning men skilfully take 
 advantage of this to gain their own ends. Those who are 
 thus deceived are fools ; the flatterers are despicable knaves. 
 
 The foregoing remarks refer chiefly to the evils of lying 
 so far as this world is concerned. There are far higher 
 considerations. Deceit of every kind is strictly forbidden 
 by God. “ Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.” 
 He styles himself a God of truth. Veracity makes us like 
 God. 
 
 A Loving Disposition. 
 
 Our whole duty has been summed up in love. Love to 
 God with all our heart, and love to our neighbour as our- 
 selves. It is one of the chief essentials to our own happiness 
 and to that of those arouud us. Like the sunlight, it 
 brightens all its influences. 
 
 Some people have a great many friends, and everybody 
 seems to like them ; while there are others whom no one 
 loves. A little girl was once asked what made everybody 
 love her ? “ I cannot tell,” said she, “ unless it is because I 
 love everybody.” When we speak to others in a kindly, 
 loving way, a pleasant feeling is produced, and they are likely 
 to reply to tls in the same friendly manner. On the other 
 hand, sour looks and angry words awaken similar in return. 
 
 A selfish man who cares only for himself, cannot make 
 friends. Ocher people will care as little for him as he 
 cares for them. On the contrary, those who try to promote 
 the comfort aud happiness of those around them will receive 
 a rich reward in return. They will never be in want of 
 friends. 
 
 A loving disposition will show itself in many ways, some 
 of which will be mentioned hereafter. Among others it 
 will prevent the feelings of envy and jealousy which 
 many feel when their neighbours prosper. Instead of such 
 
MORAL QUALITIES NECESSARY. 
 
 41 
 
 hateful passions, there is a joy as if the prosperity were 
 their own. 
 
 Kiudness should extend to the lower animals as well as 
 to human beings. We should try to make their lives as 
 happy as possible. Let our presence give them pleasure. 
 They can appreciate a kindly greeting. 
 
 In the New Testameut there is a beautiful description of 
 the way in which true love shows itself. In the old trans- 
 lation it is rendered “ charity,’’ but the word means love : 
 
 “ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
 and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal . . . Though I bestow all my goods to 
 feed the poor, aud though I give my body to be burned, 
 and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 
 
 “ Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; 
 love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave 
 itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provok- 
 ed, thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- 
 joiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all 
 things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never 
 faileth.” 1 Cor. xiii. 
 
 Moral Courage. 
 
 This virtue is everywhere of great importance, but it is 
 especially so in India. Educated Hindus are intelligent, 
 and in general well acquainted with what they ought to do. 
 The misfortune is that conscience prompts to one line of 
 conduct, while want of moral courage leads them to pursue 
 its opposite. 
 
 Many may say : 
 
 “ I see the right, and I approve it too, 
 
 Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.” 
 
 A very common illustration of this want of moral courage 
 is incurring insane expenditure at marriages to please the 
 greedy ignorant mob (see page 23). 
 
 A still more frequent, and still more blameworthy, 
 illustration of moral cowardice is afforded by educated 
 Hindus taking part in superstitious ceremonies. They 
 know perfectly that there is only one God, the Creator of 
 
42 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEE. 
 
 heaven and earth, and that worship is due to Him alone. 
 Yet, from weakness, they break God’s first command, and 
 thus use their influence to perpetuate the reign of idolatry. 
 The excuses by which they seek to palter with their 
 conscience are vain. If is their duty to do what is right; 
 to obey God rather than man. 
 
 The great question is, how is moral courage to be at- 
 tained ? An American writer on True Success in Life, says : 
 
 “ Accustom yourselves not to depend chiefly on others, but to 
 make decision of your own ; to consider deliberately each prac- 
 tical question that arises, and then come to a positive determi- 
 nation on it, if this be possible. Every instance in which you 
 say resolutely, No ! to a seductive temptation ; every time that 
 you say firmly, Yes ! to the call of self-denying duty ; every 
 time that you resist the urgency of the inclination that would 
 deter you from an arduous couise of action that your judg- 
 ment and conscience deliberately approve ; every time that in the 
 midst of perplexities you can so concentrate your force of mind 
 as to decide on the thing to be done without vacillation or delay, 
 you will have gained somewhat in true executive power. With- 
 out the power of deciding with due promptness, and of adhering 
 firmly to your decisions when they have been made, it will be 
 in vain to expect that you will act in life with any considerable 
 success.” 
 
 “ Nothing will go right unless you dare to be singular. Every 
 thing will be wrong when a man has not learnt — and the sooner 
 yon learn it the better for your lives here and yonder — the 
 great art of saying ‘ No.’ ” 
 
 The examples of moral courage recorded in history may 
 be studied with great advantage. The calmness with 
 which Socrates drank the cup of poison has already been 
 noticed. The grand words of Martin Luther are well 
 known. When warned of the danger to his life incurred 
 by attending the Diet, he said, “ I am determined to enter 
 the city though as many devils should oppose me as there 
 are tiles upon all the houses at Worms.” The most sub- 
 lime illustration of. moral courage is afforded by Jesus 
 Christ. Fully aware of the mockery, sufferings, and cruel 
 death that awaited Him, He “steadfastly set His face to go 
 to Jerusalem.” 
 
SELF-CULTUBE. 
 
 43 
 
 But it must be confessed that the foregoing means are 
 in themselves insufficient. A good English writer has the 
 following remarks : — 
 
 “ How many times since you were a boy have yon said, ‘ Now 
 I am determined that I will never do that. again. I have flung 
 away opportunities. I have played the fool and erred exceedingly 
 — but I now turn over a new leaf !’ Yes, and you have turned 
 it — and if I might go on with the metaphor, the first gust of pas- 
 sion or temptation has blown the leaf back again, and the old page 
 has been spread before you once more just as it used to be. The 
 history of individual souls and the tragedy of the world’s history 
 recurring in every age, in which the noblest beginnings lead to 
 disastrous ends, and each new star of promise that rises on the 
 horizon leads men unto quagmires and sets in blood, sufficiently 
 show how futile the attempt in our own strength to overcome 
 and expel the evils that are rooted in our nature.” 
 
 We need Divine help. How this may be obtained is 
 shown in the Ninth Step. 
 
 SIXTH STEP- 
 
 SELF-CULTURE. 
 
 Self-culture may be understood in different ways. In its 
 widest sense, it refers to moral and spiritual as well as to 
 intellectual improvement. It most frequently denotes the 
 last, the sense in which it will be taken here. 
 
 Neglect of Self-Culture. — It is a standing complaint in 
 India that when school or college is left, all study is thence- 
 forward abandoned. In some cases even text-books are 
 sold. This is a ruinous mistake. At Oxford a student, when 
 he receives his degree is told by the Vice-Chancellor that 
 he is *< commencing in the Faculty of Arts.” Real education 
 is only beginning when a student leaves college. Unless 
 reading is kept up, much of what has been learned will be 
 lost, while without fresh accessions of knowledge, no man 
 will be qualified to discharge his duties aright, and meet 
 the just claims of his country upon him. 
 
 The common excuse for the neglect of study is want 
 
u 
 
 .THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 of time ; but at tbe bottom it is want of inclination. Pure 
 laziness is the grand obstacle. “Where there’s a will, 
 there’s a way.” There are very few Indian clerks who 
 could nob give at least an hour a day to reading of an 
 improving character, in addition to light literature and the 
 newspapers. The men who do most work generally mark 
 out their time carefully, allotting such and such hours to 
 certain duties. A habit is thus formed, so that work be- 
 comes a pleasure. Let the reader adopt this plan, and 
 resolve to give an hour every morning to study. 
 
 Means op Self-Culture. 
 
 . 1. Books. 
 
 Value of Books — “Books,” says Sir John Lubbock, “ are 
 to Mankind what Memory is to the Individual. They 
 contain the History of our race, the discoveries we have 
 made, the accumulated knowledge and experience of ages ; 
 they picture for us the marvels and beauties of Nature ; 
 help us in our difficulties, comfort us in sorrow and in 
 /HC^fiufcsuffering, change hours of ennui into moments of delight, 
 t fA _ jttbre our minds with ideas," fill them with good and happy 
 ^'^'•'^thoughts, and lift us out of and above ourselves.” 
 
 Through books we can have the wisest men in all 
 countries and in all ages to be our teachers.' “ In a corner 
 of my house,” says Arnott, “ I have books ! — the miracle 
 of all my possessions ; for they transport me instantly not 
 only to all places, but to all times. By my books I can 
 conjure up before me, to vivid existence, all the great and 
 good men of old ; and for my private satisfaction I can 
 make them act over again the most renowned of all their 
 exploits. Poets recite their compositions before me ; 
 orators declaim ; witty men amuse me ; learned men 
 explain the sciences ; wise and holy men instruct and 
 counsel me. In a word, from the Equator to the Pole, 
 and from the beginning of time until now, by my books 
 I can be where I please.” 
 
 Classes of Readers. — Coleridge thus describes four of 
 them : “ The first, like the hour-glass ; their reading, like 
 the sand, running in, and then out, and leaving not a vestige 
 
SELF-CULTURE. 
 
 45 
 
 behind. The second like the sponge, which imbibes every- 
 thing, only to return it in the same state, or perhaps dirtier. 
 The third, like the jelly-hag, allowing the pure to pass 
 through, and keeping only the refuse and dregs ; and the 
 fourth, like the slaves in the mines of Golconda, casting aside 
 all that is worthless, and retaining only the diamonds and 
 gems.” Seek to belong to the last class, gathering riches 
 from all your reading. 
 
 How to Read. — “ Some books,” says Bacon, “are to be 
 tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed 
 and digested — that is, some books are to be read only in 
 part; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few 
 to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” 
 
 The following remarks do not refer to light reading for 
 recreation, but to standard works for the purpose of study. 
 Gibbon usually read such books three times. He first 
 read it, glancing through it to take in the general design ; 
 he read it again to observe how the work was conducted, 
 to fix its general principles on the memory ; and he read it 
 a third time to discuss its bearing and character. This is 
 the kind of reading of most value. 
 
 If the book you study is your own, it is a good plan to 
 indicate in the margin the most important points, and 
 your opinion of the argument. 
 
 What to Read. — Bacon says, “ Histories make men wise, 
 poets witty, the mathematics subtle, natural philosophy 
 deep, moral, grave, logic and rhetoric able to contend.” 
 
 Only a few subjects can be noticed. 
 
 Every Indian should seek to get a good knowledge of 
 his own country, its geography, its history, its literature, its 
 religion^. The list at the end of this volume contains 
 several cheap works which will be serviceable in this 
 respect, and they direct attention to the standard works from 
 which they have been compiled. The Series on the Sacred 
 Books of the East deserves special attention. Mr. R. C. 
 Dutt’s Ancient India contains a great amount of interesting 
 informatiqp. 
 
 From the close connection between Efcgland and India, 
 
46 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 the former country has the next claim to attention. But 
 other important countries deserve to be known. Macaulay, 
 while President of the Bengal Committee of Public Instruc- 
 tion, wrote : “ The importance of geography is very great 
 indeed. I am not sure that it is not of all studies that 
 which is most likely to open the mind of a native of India.” 
 
 History is another important and interesting study. Be- 
 sides the histories of India and Englaud, those of the Jews, 
 Greeks, Romans, and Arabs should be studied, as they have 
 greatly influenced the current of events in the world. 
 
 History has been called “ Philosophy teaching by ex- 
 ample.” This especially applies to biography, which is 
 history in its most attractive and influential form. It in- 
 cludes not only 
 
 “ The dead but sceptred sovereigns who still rule 
 Our spirits from their urns,” 
 
 but individuals in humble life, presenting models which it is 
 most desirable we should copy. The Appendix mentions, 
 Eminent Friends of Men, Noted Indians, the Governor s- 
 General of India, Anglo-Indian Worthies, and biographical 
 sketches in the Anna Library, to which attention is in- 
 vited. Let good biographies form a considerable proportion 
 of your reading. 
 
 Space does not admit other branches of literature to be 
 noticed ; as poetry, the various natural sciences, philosophy, 
 political economy, etc. All deserve more or less attention. 
 
 As a rille, the vernacular literature of India, except 
 modern works, contains only false geography, false history, 
 false science ; but every educated man should have some 
 acquaintance with the standard works in his own language. 
 
 Books to Avoid. — Among the worst are novels or other 
 works of an immoral tendency. Low sensational novels 
 should also be shunned; even the best novels should be 
 read sparingly. The great majority of works of fiction are 
 mere rubbish. They are bad examples of style, they 
 vulgarise taste, they waste time, they give fal^p views of 
 life, and so enfeeble the intellect as to occasion a dislike to 
 
 
SEW-CULTUBE. 
 
 47 
 
 solid reading. “ The mind at last,” says Rogers, “ becomes 
 so vitiated that it craves and is satisfied with anything in 
 the shape of a story — a series of fictitious adventures, no 
 matter how put together; no matter whether the events 
 be properly* conceived, the characters justly drawn, the 
 descriptions true to nature, the dialogue spirited or the 
 contrary.” 
 
 Newspapers and Magazines. — Well-conducted news- 
 papers are a great source both of amusement and instruc- 
 tion. The articles being generally short, they may be read 
 at spare minutes; they recruit the mind fatigued by study, 
 and they may be taken up with advantage after meals. 
 The same remarks apply to magazines, but they generally 
 require longer time. 
 
 While many newspapers edited by Indians are carried 
 on in a proper spirit, there are some to which the following 
 remarks of the Indian Mirror apply ; 
 
 “Any one who will go through the weekly reports in the Native 
 papers, cannot help thinking that in the current vocabulary of 
 our contemporaries, education means the I»ss of respect for the 
 Government; public spirit is synonymous with empty bluster; 
 patriotism is hatred of Englishmen, and impartiality is gross 
 abuse.” 
 
 II. Observation. 
 
 Blackie says : • 
 
 “ I earnestly advise all young men, to commence their 
 studies, as much *as possible, by direct Observation of Facts, 
 and not by the mere inculcation of statements from books. A 
 useful book was written with the title, — Hovj to Observe. These 
 three words might serve as a motto to guide us in the most 
 important part of our early education, — a part, unfortunately, 
 only too much neglected. All the natural sciences are parti- 
 cularly valuable, not only as supplying the mind with the most, 
 rich, various, and beautiful furniture, but, as teaching people that 
 most useful of all arts, how to use their eyes. It is astonishing 
 how much we all go about with our eyes open, and yet seeing 
 nothing. This is because the organ of vision, like other organs, 
 requires training : and by lack of training and the slavish 
 
48 
 
 THE INDIAN SLEEK. 
 
 dependence on books, becomes dull and slow, and ultimately 
 incapable of exercising its natural functions.”* 
 
 In India there is a boundless field of observation. The 
 numerous plants on every hand deserve careful study. 
 The beauty of many fill the mind with delight; others are 
 noted for tbeir uses as food, in medicine, or in manu- 
 factures. The animal creation is still more wonderful. A 
 European, called Huber, became famous through his obser- 
 vations on bees, to which he devoted a life-time. Sir John 
 Lubbock, a noted member of Parliament and author of 
 several useful books, has given great attention to the 
 study of ants. Some of the doings of insects are very 
 remarkable. There are mason wasps; insects rear earth- 
 works, they excavate, they saw, tbey are carpenters, they 
 weave, they make paper ; others drive themselves through 
 water like a steamship. Buskin shows *bow. an intelligent 
 man may desire pleasure from watching tbe varying 
 aspects of the heavens by day, while by night they present 
 a scene of matchless grandeur. 
 
 The conduct of tfyose we meet, and, above all, the workings 
 of our own minds, are other important fields of observation- 
 While even a villager may find enough around him to 
 occupy his thoughts, persons who can have access to the 
 museums found in some of the large cities, should avail 
 themselves of the privilege. Much interesting knowledge 
 may thus be gained. 
 
 A contemplative man as Shakspeare says, may find : 
 
 “ Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 
 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.” 
 
 III. CONVEESATION AND LeCTOEES. 
 
 “ Conversation, ” says. Bacon, ‘‘makes a ready man.''’ 
 The mere bookworm is often unable to express clearly his 
 own ideas. By attempting to explain them to others, we 
 get to understand them better ourselves. 
 
 It is allowed that one important use of conversation is to 
 relax the mind, and promote kindly feeling; but the com- 
 plaint of Cowper is also largely true. Conversation 
 
 Self-Culture, pp. 2, 3. 
 
SELF* CULTURE . 
 
 49 
 
 “ Too often proves an implement of play, 
 
 A toy to sport with and pass time away. 
 
 Collect at evening what the day brought forth, 
 
 Compress the sum into its solid worth, 
 
 And if it weigh the importance of a fly, 
 
 The scales are false, or algebra a lie.” 
 
 It is partly our own fault when time, is thus misspent. 
 Seek to introduce some interesting and useful topic. Its 
 character must depend upon the company. It would be 
 folly to talk of algebraic problems to persons entirely 
 ignorant of them. A wise man derives much knowledge 
 from the right employment of conversation. He tries to 
 extract from every one he meets the information he possess- 
 es. If in company with a farmer, he talks about agriculture ; 
 if with a merchant, he inquires about commerce. The wise 
 man gains knowledge, while those with whom he converses 
 are pleased, because they talk on subjects in which they 
 are interested. 
 
 Lectures are one of the pleasantest ways of acquiring 
 knowledge. In many cities courses of them are now 
 delivered. Those unable to hear them’ may find accounts 
 of them in newspapers. Occasionally also they are re- 
 printed 
 
 IV. Writing, 
 
 Here again Bacon may be quoted : “ Writing makes an 
 exact man.” Ideas in our mind may be confused, but 
 when we write them out, they must take a definite shape. 
 After reading a standard work, it is an excellent plan to 
 write out an analysis of it, or, still better, to present the 
 argument in your own language. 
 
 V. Reflection. 
 
 It need only be mentioned that this must accompany all 
 efforts at self-culture to render them of real value. 
 
 Moral and spiritual culture are of still greater import- 
 ance, but they will be noticed under another head. 
 
 In the foregoing ways, try to make the best use of the 
 talents God has given you. Tour duty to God, to yourself, 
 to your family, and country, requires it, and the reward will 
 be abundant. , 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 SEVENTH STEP. 
 
 A WELL-ORDERED HOME. 
 
 A man’s happiness depends largely upon the character 
 of his home. Of one whose inmates behave as they ought, 
 an English poet says, 
 
 “ Sweet is the smile of home ; the mutual look, 
 
 When hearts are of each other sure ; 
 
 Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook, 
 
 The haunt of all affections pure.” 
 
 There is no spot on earth so dear as a well-regulated 
 home. Around it entwine the tenderest recollections. It 
 recalls the sweet tones, the pleasant smile of a beloved 
 mother; the counsels of a father; brothers and sisters, the 
 companions of our childhood. Amid misfortune, when the 
 world may frown upon us, home sympathy and love are our 
 support. It has happened, not unfrequently, that men, 
 who by their talents have raised themselves to the highest 
 offices of state, have, in their old age, forsaken the splendour 
 of the capital, and gone to spend the last years of their life 
 in their native village. 
 
 It is true that the above remarks apply only to a family 
 where love reigns. There are many homes with which no 
 pleasing thoughts are associated. This arises from the 
 misconduct of the members, for the family relationship is one 
 of the greatest provisions made by God for man’s temporal 
 happiness. 
 
 The Hindu Joint Family System. — This prevails chiefly 
 among the upper classes of society ; labouring people often 
 live separately as in other countries. Sir Monier Williams 
 says, 
 
 “ There exists no word that I know of in any Indian language 
 exactly equivalent to that grand old Saxon monosyllable ‘ home 
 that little word which is the key to our national greatness and ; 
 prosperity. Certainly the word Zenana — meaning in Persian ; 
 * the place of women’ — cannot pretend to stand for ‘ home’ any 
 more than the Persian Mardana, ‘ the place of men’ can mean 
 ‘ home-’ For home is not a mere collection of rooms, or even a 
 
A WELL- ORDERED HOME. 
 
 51 
 
 mansion, however stately, where male relatives are aggregated 
 on one side, and female on the other ; home is not a place where 
 women merge their personal freedom and individuality in the 
 personality of the men ; still less is home a place where husbands 
 and wives do not work, talk, aud eat together on terms of 
 equality, or where daughters and child widows are kept in gross 
 ignorance, and made to do the work of household drudges. 
 Rather is it a hallowed place of rest and of trustful intercourse, 
 where husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, male and female 
 relatives and friends, gather together round the same hearth in 
 loving confidence and mutual dependence, each and all working 
 together like the differently -formed limbs of one body, for the 
 general good and for the glory of the great Creator who created 
 them.”* 
 
 The advantages and disadvantages of the family system 
 are well set forth by Mr. Bulloram Mullick iu his Essays on 
 the Hindu Family in Bengal. The latter are considered to 
 outweigh the former. He says : “ The joint system is des- 
 tined to die a sure death and nothing on earth can save it.” 
 No sudden revolution is desirable. The heads of families, 
 however, should prepare for the inevitable change by 
 training their children to independence. 
 
 Points to be Secured in a Family Home. — The following 
 remarks assume that the reader is living in a home of this 
 description. If he is receiving a salary, he may insist upon 
 the following : 
 
 1. Free Intercourse between Husband and Wife. — Mr. 
 
 Mullick says that the “young wife can see her husband 
 only at night when the whole house is asleep, and with the 
 lark she must bid him adieu.” If either is sick, it is 
 considered immodest for the other to be at the bedside. 
 The Bengalee thus describes the system and its natural 
 result : 
 
 “ The women are the hardest combatants, and the widows the 
 greatest heroines. They watch the young husband and the 
 young wife with the hate and jealousy of a step-mother. The 
 married couple cannot peep at one another during the day 
 
 # Addresses, pp. 50, 51. 
 
52 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 without; finding themselves the objects of the bitterest perse- 
 cution. The normal condition of husband and wife is upset 
 during the day, and during also that part of the night which is 
 not devoted to rest. In some families, owing to poverty of 
 house-room, even this indulgence cannot be obtained. Can a 
 more monstrous state be conceived, and can it be wondered, 
 that the young men, withheld from the society of their wives, 
 should run greedily for amusement into brothels ?” 
 
 The late Sir Madhava Row gives the following advice : 
 
 1 . If your circumstances allow of it, you and your wife should 
 live apart from the family, — in other words, live separately. 
 
 2. If you cannot do so, have at least a separate room for 
 yourself in the house, so that you may have therein the 
 company of your wife, without being seen by your elders. 
 
 3. Let your wife at her pleasure go into that room and sleep 
 during the day, or meet you there and converse with you, or 
 represent her grievances, difficulties and troubles, or at least 
 escape from the persecution of the mother-in-law and other 
 elder members of the family, whether male or female. 
 
 4. In short, enable her to meet you often and freely, so that 
 you may make her happy, may comfort her, relieve her troubles 
 and anxieties, and constantly afford her your sympathy and aid. 
 She will often need your support and solace. Enable her freely 
 to appeal to you for the same. 
 
 5. Remember that a large share of the miseries of the wife 
 is due to the restraints placed by the elders of the family on 
 her intercourse and communication with you. Only take means 
 to free her from such restraints, and you will greatly improve 
 her happiness. 
 
 (6. This will be noticed hereafter.) 
 
 7. Give her small monthly money allowances to spend as she 
 may like, without reference to the elders. 
 
 8. In any quarrel between the wife and the elders, do not 
 blindly side with the latter. Tour wife is as much entitled to 
 your justice as your elders are to your respect. Moreover, by 
 doing impartial justice, you will better set matters right than by 
 indiscriminately identifying yourself with the elders. 
 
 2. Free intercourse between Parents and Children. — 
 
 Pandita Ramabai says : “ Children enjoy the company of 
 father or mother alternately by going in and out when they 
 
A WELL-ORDERED HOME. 
 
 53 
 
 choose, but the children of young parents are never made 
 happy by the father’s caresses or any other demonstrations 
 of his love in the presence of the elders; the notion of 
 false modesty prevents the young father from speaking to 
 his children freely.” 
 
 The picture below represents an evening in an English 
 family. The parents and children are seated around a 
 table. The father has a newspaper in his hand, but is 
 talking to his sons, one of whom is building a little house 
 with wooden bricks. The mother is teaching sewing to 
 her daughter by her side. 
 
54 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 Another picture is given of an Indian family, which is 
 already realised in some cases. 
 
 It is this family life which makes a home. The advan- 
 tages are great. Mutual love is promoted. The father is 
 afforded the opportunity of teaching his children valuable 
 lessons. This is the more necessary in India, as the 
 mothers are generally uneducated. 
 
 If the reader has children, let him bring them together 
 with his wife every evening, and spend some time with 
 them. In England a part of the evening is sometimes 
 called the “ Children’s hour,” because good fathers devote 
 it, if possible, to intercourse with their children. When 
 they are young, part of the evening should be given to 
 play. A Spanish ambassador once went to the palace of 
 a famous French Kang. He expected to see the King seated 
 on his throne ; but when he went into the room, he saw him 
 on his knees, with his eldest son on his back, playing to- 
 gether “ at horses,” with the other royal children romping 
 around- The ambassador was about to start back, when 
 the King, looking up to him, said, “ My lord Ambassador, Ci 
 
 are you a father?” “Yes, may it please your Majesty.” E 
 
A WELL-OBDEBED HOME. 
 
 55 
 
 “ Very well/’ was the reply ; “ then I shall go on with my 
 game round the room.” 
 
 By taking an interest in the amusements of his children, 
 a father gains increased influence over them which may be 
 turned to the best account. 
 
 In the evening the father should also carefully observe 
 the moral conduct of his children. Selfishness is apt to 
 show itself : this should be guarded against. Obedience 
 and truthfulness are other lessons to be taught. Filthy 
 speech should be carefully checked. 
 
 Duty to a Wife. — This is well expressed in the words of 
 the Church of England marriage service. The man is 
 asked, “ Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded 
 wife ? ... Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour and keep 
 her in sickness and in health ; and, forsaking all other, 
 keep thee only unto her so long as ye shall both live ?” 
 The following promise is afterwards made : “ I take thee 
 to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day for- 
 ward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness 
 and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.” 
 
 The Mahabbarata thus describes the position and char- 
 acter of an Indian wife in ancient times : 
 
 “ A wife is half the man, his truest friend — 
 
 A loving wife is a perpetual spring 
 Of virtue, pleasure, wealth ; a faithful wife 
 Is his best aid in seeking heavenly bliss ; 
 
 A sweetly-seeking wife is a companion 
 In solitude ; a father in advice ; 
 
 A mother in all seasons of distress ; 
 
 A rest in passing through life’s wilderness.” 
 
 Love, sympathy, and faithfulness, are the great duties 
 which a husband owes to his wife. These may be mani- 
 fested in many ways. Some of them have already been 
 noticed, as free intercourse, but attention may be drawn to 
 a few others. 
 
 1. Teaching her to Read and Write, if necessary — In 
 
 the case of an increasing proportion of the wives of edu- 
 cated men, this is not required ; but as out of a hundred 
 millions of females in 1881 only 231,000 were able to read 
 
56 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 and write, probably the wives of some of the readers are 
 still destitute of that ability. Unless his wife is old or 
 other circumstances peculiar, no educated man has any 
 right to be considered a well-wisher to bis country who 
 allows her to remain in ignorance. It is no excuse to say 
 that the wife does not wish to learn. The real cause is the 
 indifference of the husband. If he was in earnest, she 
 would soon catch his spirit. 
 
 The husband and wife should always have an hour or so 
 together before retiring to rest. The work of the day will 
 be over and the children in bed, so that there will be time 
 for teaching. 
 
 As in the case of children, the instruction should be 
 made as pleasant as possible. A beginning should not be 
 made with the alphabet, but with a short easy word, which 
 the wife should try to copy. A lesson, even for quarter 
 of an hour every evening, would soon give the ability 
 to read. 
 
 2. Giving general information. — The object is toenlarge 
 the little world of Indian women, to lead their thoughts 
 beyond the kitchen and domestic squabbles. At first it 
 will be difficult, on account of their ignorance, to interest 
 them. A beginning may be made with what are called in 
 education “ object lessons.” A piece of salt would form an 
 excellent subject, how obtained from the sea aud mines, its 
 properties and uses. Talks about pearls, gold, silver, &c., 
 might follow. Plants and animals, the structure of the 
 body, the sun, moon and stars, remarkable inventions, de- 
 scriptions of strange places and strange people, biographies, 
 stories from history, &c., are some other topics. When 
 practicable, they should be illustrated by pictures. A small 
 telescope and microscope would be useful. 
 
 In Eugland a wife sometimes reads to her husband, tired 
 with the labours of the day, or she may amuse him with 
 music. In India, if necessary, a husband might read to 
 his wife. 
 
 Public events will afford materials for conversation. Some 
 Bengali ladies are taking a warm interest in the National 
 Congress. 
 
A WELL-ORDEBED HOME.. 
 
 57 
 
 Although at first information may require to be given 
 orally, in time, books, magazines, and newspapers may be 
 supplied, which will enable the wife to gain knowledge for 
 herself. 
 
 Visits to museums would excite curiosity, and give a 
 taste for reading. 
 
 3. Advice about the Training of Children. — Here in- 
 struction is urgently needed. A few points may be men- 
 tioned : 
 
 Preservation of Health . — As already mentioned, Indian 
 mothers trust largely to superstitious ceremonies to keep 
 their children well, while they neglect sanitary arrange- 
 ments. Mr. Mullick says, “The Hindu wife has no know- 
 ledge of the laws of health, and hence her children are 
 constantly ill. They are made to eat more than they can 
 digest, aggravating their otherwise invalid condition.” 
 
 Obedience . — Many mothers have no command over their 
 children. They let them do as they please when they are 
 young, and when they grow up they despise their authority. 
 When they try to secure obedience, it is generally by fright- 
 ening the children with imaginary goblins. 
 
 Truthfulness . — This virtue especially requires to be incul- 
 cated, but it is best taught by the mother’s example. Un- 
 fortunately some of them deceive their children or even 
 teach them to tell lies. 
 
 Purity . — The obscene speech of Indian homes is one of 
 its darkest features. Mothers should be urged never to use 
 indecent language themselves, and to check at once any 
 approach to it among their children. 
 
 Self-Help . — It is a far greater benefit to a child to teach 
 him to help himself than to do every thing for him. As 
 soon as he is old enough, let him be taught to wash himself, 
 put on his clothes, comb his hair, take care of his toys, 
 put them away, &c. The children cf rich people should 
 have the same training- — and not have every thing done for 
 them by servants. Hindus require to be taught self-reli- 
 ance and the dignity of labour. 
 
 If the reader has children, let him give great attention 
 to their training, Children may be the greatest earthly joy 
 
58 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 of parents or their severest affliction. “ A wise son maketh 
 a glad father; but a foolish son is the heaviness of his 
 mother.” “ Sharper than serpent’s tooth it is to have a 
 thankless child.” 
 
 Religious Teaching — This is, above all, important. Su- 
 perstitious beliefs and practices alone constitute the whole 
 religion of most Indian women. 
 
 The husband should teach his wife about the one true 
 God, our Creator and Preserver, our Father in heaven. 
 Instead of bowing down to idols, which can neither see nor 
 hear, which cannot even take care of themselves, worship 
 should be paid to God alone. 
 
 It must be confessed that it will be a very difficult task 
 to lead a woman, steeped in superstition from infancy, to 
 forsake idolatry for the worship of the Heaven-Father, the 
 Dyaus-Pitar of the old Aryans ; but it is worthy of the effort. 
 Until India gives up her 33 crores of gods and goddesses, 
 she must rank among the semi-civilised countries of the 
 earth. 
 
 Family Prayer- — Hindu women, as a rule, have no idea 
 of the nature of true worship and prayer. Their religion 
 consists only in doing puja to an idol or walking round the 
 tulsi plant. The nature of prayer should be explained. In 
 families that are truly Christian, God is worshipped morn- 
 ing and evening. A hymn is sung, a passage is read from 
 the Bible, and all afterwards kneel in prayer. An account 
 of this will be found in Pice Papers No. 35, Family Prayer. 
 
 Families where God is thus worshipped in spirit and in 
 truth, are likely to grow up loving, happy, and prosperous. 
 “ Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of 
 the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 
 
 Motives to the Duty. — Husbands who neglect their 
 wives and allow them to live in ignorance are bringing evil 
 upon themselves. As Tennyson says : 
 
 “ The woman’s cause is man’s ; they rise or sink 
 Together, dwarf’d or godlike, bond or free : 
 
 If she be small, slight-natured, miserable, 
 
 How shall men grow ?” 
 
 A few of the motives may be mentioned : 
 
A WELL-OBDEBED HOME. 
 
 59 
 
 1. Gratitude. — It was well said at a meeting in Cal- 
 cutta : “ There is no hand so gentle as a woman’s hand, 
 
 no eye so observant, no foot so soft, no ear so wakeful, no 
 head more unselfishly thoughtful, no heart more unceasing- 
 ly loving, no life more devoted than woman’s.” Men, in 
 their turn, should do all they can for women. 
 
 2. Personal Welfare. — The reader has had an English 
 education. Knowledge alwaysbringswith it responsibilities. 
 A blind man could not warn his blind wife of a precipice 
 over which she might fall; but a man with sight who 
 did not caution her would be justly regarded as a monster 
 of cruelty. An ignorant Hindu who does not instruct his 
 wife is comparatively blameless ; not so the educated man. 
 
 The excuse that women do not wish to be instructed is a 
 mere pretext for the neglect of duty. Indian wives are very 
 affectionate, and if their husbands were in earnest, they 
 would willingly be taught. 
 
 3. Regard for the Children. — There is an Indian prov- 
 erb, “As is the thread, so is the cloth.” Children largely 
 reproduce their mothers. At present they suffer in health, 
 they are full of superstitious fears, their morals are defec- 
 tive, and they are ignorant of true religion from the want 
 of proper training. If there is to be a change, the mothers 
 must be instructed. 
 
 4. Duty to Country. — Indians are now beginning to 
 take an interest in their country as a whole. Containing 
 one- sixth of the world’s inhabitants, its welfare is of the 
 highest importance. Their condition also is such as to 
 demand the most earnest effects for their enlightenment. 
 The necessity of female education for their improve- 
 ment will be noticed under another head.* 
 
 A home may include parents, brothers and sisters. A 
 few remarks may be made about duties to them. 
 
 Duty to Parents. — Our parents are our greatest earthly 
 
 * The Women of India and what can he Done for them, gives full details 
 under this head. 8vo. 158 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As. Childbirth, 1 Anna ; 
 The Health of Children. 2 As. ; The Training of Children, 2 As. ; treat of 
 their respective subjects. Pice Papers Nos. 5, 19, 31, and 32, are shorter 
 and cheaper. 
 
60 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 benefactors. Under God, they are the authors of our 
 being, aud the channel through which nearly all our bless- 
 ings flow. Hence, our duty to our parents comes next to 
 our duty to God. “ Honour thy father and thy mother/' 
 is the first command, so far as our fellow-beings are 
 concerned. Upon its observance or neglect, our temporal 
 happiness or misery very largely depends. 
 
 Gratitude demands that children should honour their 
 parents. With what care and anxiety parents nurse and 
 watch by day and night over their children when they are 
 feeble and helpless infants ! How readily they sacrifice their 
 rest, their comfort, their pleasures for the sake of their 
 children; how they toil and save to provide for all their wants! 
 Children should often think upon the self-denying love of 
 their parents, and show their gratitude by their conduct. 
 
 Filial obedience promotes the welfare of the children 
 themselves. An undutiful son cannot be happy. Uneasi- 
 ness, misery, and remorse dwell within him ; while the 
 affectionate child has, so far, the approval of a good 
 conscience. Habits of self-restraint and submission to 
 authority fit a man for greater usefulness in society ; they 
 secure for him that respect and confidence which pave 
 the way to success. 
 
 Parents should be honoured, because this duty is enjoin- 
 ed by God. It is not left optional ; there is an express 
 command given. Every obligation, human and divine, 
 enforces filial piety. 
 
 Still, God is to be obeyed rather than man. If a parent 
 should wish his child to do what his conscience condemns, 
 it would be his duty to refuse. 
 
 Brothers and Sisters — In some cases, parents have only 
 a single son, or daughter ; but generally there are several 
 children belonging to a family, forming brothers and sisters. 
 
 To secure the happiness of a country, not only must the 
 sovereign be just and the subjects loyal ;the people must 
 be well affected towards each other. A family is like a 
 little kingdom. Its happiness does not depend exclusively 
 on the mutual conduct of parents and children, but also on 
 the conduct of the children to each other. 
 
A WELL-ORDERED HOME. 
 
 61 
 
 Brothers and sisters are bound together by strong ties. 
 They are born of the same parents ; from infancy they have 
 dwelt under the same roof ; they have shared each othei^s 
 joys and sorrows. If love exists anywhere on earth, it 
 should be found within the family circle. 
 
 Remember,’’ says Newcomb, “ that the character you form 
 in your family will, in all probability, follow you through life. 
 As you are regarded by your own brothers and sisters at home, 
 so, in a great measure, will you be regarded by others, when you 
 leave your father’s house. If you are manly, kind, and courte- 
 ous at home, so you will continue to be; and these traits of 
 character will always make you beloved. But if you are peevish , 
 ill-natured, harsh, uncourteous, or overbearing, at home, among 
 your own brothers and sisters, so will you be abroad ; and in- 
 stead of being beloved, you will be disliked and shunned.” 
 
 Brothers and sisters should love each other, and try to 
 promote each other’s happiness. They should take pleas- 
 ure in pleasing each other, instead of each being selfishly 
 taken up in seeking his own enjoyment. 
 
 Envy should be guarded against. A selfish child is 
 prone to suspect his parents of partiality. There are 
 reasons, however, for treating children in some respects 
 differently, although all may be equally loved. 
 
 The capacities of children vary. A wise parent will 
 have due regard to this in his arrangements. One may be 
 fitted to excel as a student, while the others may have no 
 taste for learning. The children who would seek to de- 
 prive a brother of the advantage of a go^d education, 
 because they could not profit by it themselves, would be 
 selfish and unjust. At the same time, a son who has 
 thus been more highly favoured than his brothers should 
 not give himself airs, but use his superior privileges in 
 promoting the welfare of the family. Little differences 
 will arise among brothers and sisters. These should be 
 settled amicably among themselves, instead of complaints 
 being made to the parents. There is no sight more attrac- 
 tive than brothers and sisters, full of kindness and love, 
 Striving how each may oblige the other. If you would 
 have your home such a place, you must not be particular 
 
62 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 about maintaining your own rights, but be ready always to 
 yield rather than to contend. This will generally have the 
 effect of producing the same disposition in brothers and 
 sisters, and then tbe strife will be which can be the most 
 generous. 
 
 Mutual respect should be shown by brothers and sisters. 
 All coarse, degrading terms of address should be avoided ; 
 and nothing but what is courteous either done or said. 
 
 Brothers ought to be very kind to their sisters. Girls 
 are not so strong as boys, they are much more gentle in 
 disposition, and so they ought to be treated very tenderly. 
 It is unmanly to be harsh and rough to any woman, and 
 especially so, to act towards a sister in that manner. 
 
 Though female education is gradually spreading, there 
 are still vast numbers, both of girls and women, unable to 
 read. Au educated man should use all his influence to get 
 his sisters taught, and seek to promote their improvement 
 in everyway. 
 
 If any member of a family suffer from ill-health or other 
 misfortune, it is the duty of his brothers and sisters to show 
 him special kindness. All should be willing to sacrifice 
 their own pleasure to comfort him in his sorrow. 
 
 Brothers and sisters should be very careful not to become 
 estranged from each other after the death of their parents. 
 “ In a world so cold and selfish as this,” says an American 
 writer, “ fraternal love, deeply rooted in childhood and 
 nurtured through life, is of unspeakable worth. No amount 
 of parental estate, for which children too often contend, can 
 compare in value with it. Better that the largest fortune 
 be sunk in the sea, than that it should become an occasion 
 of alienation between them.” 
 
 Brothers and sisters are sometimes widely separated in 
 after-life. Kind letters, under such circumstances, tend to 
 keep alive the flame of affection. They remind brothers 
 and sisters of the “ sweet home” which they once enjoyed 
 together, and they strengthen each other for the discharge 
 of the great duties of life. 
 
TEUE PATKIOTISM. 
 
 63 
 
 EIGHTH STEP. 
 
 TRUE PATRIOTISM, 
 
 OR, 
 
 A WARM INTEREST IN THE WELFARE OF INDIA. 
 
 The word “Patriotism” comes from tbe Latin patria, 
 country. The meaning is a love of country. The feeling is 
 so noble and praiseworthy, that many claim the honour due 
 to it whose pretensions are groundless. Just as we ought 
 to judge between base and true coin, so should we distin- 
 guish between false and true patriotism. 
 
 Patriotism in Europe. — The sentiment was very strong 
 among the ancient Greeks and Romans. A soldier, stricken 
 down on the battle-field, comforted himself in his last 
 moments with the thought, “ It is sweet and honourable to 
 die for one’s country.” 
 
 But tbe patriotism of the Greeks and Romans was defec- 
 tive. “ Outside the circle of their own nation,” says Lecky, 
 “ all men were regarded with contempt and indifference, if 
 not with absolute hostility. Conquest was the one recog- 
 nised form of national progress, and the interests of nations 
 were therefore regarded as directly opposed. The intensity 
 with which a man loved his country was a measure of the 
 hatred which he bore to those who were without it.” 
 
 The primary meaning of the Latin word hostis, is simply 
 stranger : every stranger was looked upon as an enemy. 
 Christianity, by teaching that we are all children of the 
 same great Father in heaven, who should “ love as 
 brethren,” has enlarged human sympathies. Still, selfish- 
 ness is ingrained in human nature, and acts as a barrier to 
 the noblest principles. There are remains of the old spirit 
 among the most enlightened nations of the West. Smiles 
 says: 
 
 “ A great deal of what passes by the name of patriotism in 
 these days consists of merest bigotry and narrow-mindedness, 
 exhibiting itself in national prejudice, national conceit and 
 
64 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 national hatred. It doe3 not show itself in deeds, but in boast- 
 ings — in howlings, gesticulations, and shrieking helplessly for 
 help — in flying flags and singing songs — and in perpetual grind- 
 ing at the hurdy-gurdy of long-dead grievances and long-remedi- 
 ed wrongs. To be infested by such patriotism as this is, perhaps, 
 amongst the greatest curses that can befall any country.”* 
 
 Patriotism in India.— From the earliest times, Indian 
 patriotism has resembled that of ancient Europe. The 
 “ Brotherhood of Man ” is nowhere recognised in the Yedic 
 hymns. The Aryan settlers had the pride of race in an 
 extravagant degree, showing great contempt for and hatred 
 of the nations with whom they came in contact. They 
 called the aborigines the “ black skin” ; they were 
 looked upon even as demons. In course of time the caste 
 system was developed, and foreign nations were regarded 
 as impure Mlechchas. 
 
 More enlarged views are spreading among educated 
 Hindus ; but the patriotism displayed still assumes very 
 much the character of that condemned by Smiles. Some 
 of its manifestations will be noticed more in detail. 
 
 Forms op False Patriotism. 
 
 1. National Pride. — It is an old illustration that the 
 ears of corn heavy with grain hang down, while the empty 
 ones raise their heads upright. People are generally 
 conceited in proportion to their ignorance. 
 
 Bengalis are peculiarly prone to indulge in vain boast- 
 ings regarding the ancient civilization of India. Mr. 
 Manomohan Ghose remarked some time ago in Calcutta : 
 
 “ He felt a legitimate pride in the ancient civilization of 
 India, but he was bound to say that an undue and exaggerated 
 veneration for the past was doing a great deal of mischief. It 
 was quite sickening to hear the remark made at almost every 
 public meeting that the ancient civilization of India was superior 
 far to that which Europe ever had.” 
 
 The Indian Mirror, when the “ only Native Indian daily,” 
 
 * Character , pp. 27, 28. 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 65 
 
 thus avowed its belief iu astrology, and boasted of the 
 superiority of Indian, over Western, science : 
 
 “Modern science cannot prognosticate the occnrrence of 
 earthquakes, as the ancient science of the Aryans can do. That 
 there \vill be frequent earthquakes this year was foretold by our 
 Hindu astrologers long ago, and every Hindu almanac for this 
 year contains a forecast to that effect. Modern science is still 
 very much in its infancy, and has yet to make much greater 
 progress to enable it to even approach one-tenth part of the 
 ancient Philosophy of the East. Our modern scientists are not 
 fit to hold a candle to some of these learned men of our country, 
 who are well versed in the scientific teachings of the East.”*' 
 
 2 . A Defence of every National Custom and Belief. — 
 
 This was noticed more than twenty years ago by the late 
 Sir H. S. Maine in a Convocation Address. He says : 
 
 “ If I had any complaint to make of the most highly educated 
 class of Natives, — the class I mean which has received the 
 highest European education, — I should assuredly not complain 
 of their mode of acquiring knowledge, or of the quality of that 
 knowledge (except that it is too purely literary and not 
 sufficiently scientific) or of any evil effects it may have on their 
 character, or manners, or habits. I should rather venture to 
 express disappointment at the use to which they sometimes 
 put it. It seems to me that not seldom they employ it for what 
 I can best describe as irrationally reactionary purposes. It is 
 not to be concealed, and I see plainly that educated Natives 
 do not conceal it from themselves, that they have, by the fact 
 of. their education, broken for ever with much in . their history, 
 much in their customs, much in their creed. Yet I constantly 
 read, and sometimes hear, elaborate attempts on their part to 
 persuade themselves and others, that there is a sense in which 
 these rejected portions of Native history, and usage, and belief, 
 are perfectly in harmony with the modern knowledge which the 
 educated class has acquired, and with the modern civilization 
 to which it aspires. Very possibly, this may be nothing more 
 than a mere literary feat, and a consequence of the over- literary 
 education they receive. But whatever the cause, there can be 
 no greater mistake, and under the circumstances of this country, 
 no more destructive mistake.” 
 
 • Quoted in the Indian Witness, July 18th, 1885. 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 This “ desteuctive mistake ” is now more rampant than 
 ever. It is not confined to Bengal. The Hindu, a Madras 
 journal says : 
 
 “We have observed of late a tendency on the part of some of 
 our educated countrymen to apply their mental powers for 
 irrationally reactionary purposes. Social customs and institu- 
 tions which are evil in their results, and are the product of past 
 simpler and less civilized conditions, have received elaborate 
 defeuce ; and even certain merits have been attached to them. 
 
 “They defend every superstition of our people; they believe 
 in every dogma and worthless ceremonial, and are generally 
 slaves of our exacting priesthood. In their judgment, nothing 
 that our ancestors did could be wrong. Everything Indian is 
 excellent itself, and everything foreign the opposite.” 
 
 Principal Wordsworth made the same complaint with 
 regard to educated men in Bombay : 
 
 “ I find some of them employing all the resources of theologi- 
 cal sophistry and cant, not simply to palliate, but to vindicate 
 what is plainly one of the most cruel, blighting, and selfish 
 forms of human superstition and tyranny. I find others 
 manoeuvring to arrest every sincere effort at reform, sophisti- 
 cating between right and wrong, defaming the character and 
 motives of reformers.” 
 
 The Subodha Patrika corroborates the above : 
 
 “ Patriotism is now taken to mean a blind praise of all that is 
 ours, and a strong denunciation of all that is foreign. It matters 
 not whether a custom is good or bad ; it is ours, and we must praise 
 it. A non-Hindu tells us what we should do ; it matters not if 
 he is right ; be is not a Hindu and he has no right to tell us 
 what we should do ... . This is the prevailing spirit of the 
 present times. There is no respect for truth or consistency. A 
 people ruled by such ideas can never improve, and they are sure 
 to work their own ruin by their own hands.” June 17th, 1888. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that there is nothing new in 
 such a course of conduct. The emperor Julian attempted it 
 in Europe fifteen centuries ago. An intelligent Indian 
 writer says : 
 
 “History tells us that it is in human nature to use every 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 67 
 
 newly-discovered truth in explaining old superstitions, It is 
 after this explanation, too, has been exploded that the truth is 
 able to make its way into the minds of men. India is passing 
 through this intellectual crisis. The first gleams of modern 
 science have begun to flash upon a society long clouded by 
 superstitions ; and the first result of this change is, as it has 
 always been in the? history of nations, that the educated waste 
 their energies in spinning cobwebs of aii’y nothings, in order to 
 prove that all our institutions are based upon the latest results 
 of science. 
 
 “ These reconcilers of modern culture and old prejudices, in my 
 humble opinion, do more harm to their society than those weak, 
 ignorant men who openly oppose every innovation. The great 
 merit of the elder generation is that it has a genuine faith 
 — whether it is well guided or misguided is a different question. 
 But the young generation of Indians has neither the faith of 
 the elder one, nor the bold questioning spirit of Europe ; but 
 ‘destitute of faith, yet terrified at scepticism,’ it tries to escape 
 the inevitable agonies of a great intellectual crj^is by pouring 
 the new wine of modern culture into the old bottles of Indian 
 superstition.”* 
 
 The same writer remarks : “ I think if there is any phase 
 of our present revolution which is really lamentable, it is 
 that of the general hypocrisy of our educated youths.” 
 
 3. Race Hatred. — Sir H. S. Maine, in a Convocation 
 Address, deplored the European “ cant about nationality 
 and race which promises to flood the world with false 
 history almost as much as it threatens to deluge it with 
 blood.” The old Aryan feeling against the aborigines has 
 been noticed. It exists nearly as strong as ever. For- 
 eigners are so impure that their very touch is pollution. 
 Pandits bathed after shaking hands with a learned and 
 e refined Englishman, like Sir Monier Williams, the Oxford 
 I, Professor of Sanskrit. It is not surprising that the Native 
 journals which pander most to race hatred are considered 
 the most patriotic. Any stick is good enough to beat a 
 11 dog with. The grossest misrepresentations are readily 
 
 a accepted. Instead of stirring up the people to self-help 
 
 <y 
 
 
 The Indian Magazine , 1886, pp. 115, 116. 
 
68 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 and the reform of some of their insane customs, the poverty 
 of the land is laid at the door of the British Government. 
 
 The idea of a patriot, with seme, is the man who brags 
 most of the “ ancient glories of India,” and most depreciates 
 modern progress ; who defends every national belief and 
 custom, and denounces every thing foreign ; and who most 
 vilifies the English character and the English administra- 
 tion. 
 
 Happily there is an enlightened minority who see ithat 
 it is the worst treachery to their countrymen to flatter 
 them, to allow error and wrong to remain unchecked, and 
 to stir up nationality against nationality. A correspondent 
 addressed The Indian Mirror as follows : 
 
 “ It pains me extremely to read some of the articles of the Amrita 
 Bazar PatriJca. The editor of that paper, misguided by false 
 notions of patriotism, has taken into his head of serving his country 
 by heaping censures upon the character of the ruling race of the 
 land. I shall jiofc stop to enquire into the justness or otherwise of 
 such censures. Suffice it to say that even if they were true, the 
 mode in which they have been expressed shows a spirit of hostility 
 little calculated to reconcile the conquerors with the conquered. 
 Such indiscreet go-ahead effusions render the breach between 
 Europeans and Aatives still wider, and make those Englishmen 
 who have really the welfare of India at thfeir hearts think that 
 their sympathy is wasted upon beings who do not possess a spark 
 of gratitude in them.” 
 
 Tbue Patriotism. 
 
 A true patriot is one wlio loves all his countrymen, 
 and seeks to promote their benefit in- every way consistent 
 with truth and justice. 
 
 Gladstone says, “ The worst thing you can do to a nation 
 is to flatter it.” Mecaulay says that it was not by “ flatter- 
 ing national prejudices ” that Peter the Great did so much 
 to elevate Russia. The remark of the veteran statesmen. 
 Sir Madhava Bow, ought to be engraved on the heart of 
 every Indian : “ What is not tbde, is not patriotic.” There 
 is an Indian proverb, “ Truth conquers.” Any belief, any 
 practice, not founded on truth must eventually give away, 
 and “ great will be the fall thereof.” Truthfulness lies 
 
TEDE PATEIOTISM. 69 
 
 at the basis of every virtuous character, and patriotism 
 which defends a lie is a mere sham. 
 
 The maxim of Sir Madhava Row may be thus extended : 
 “ Whatever is not just, is not patriotic.” 
 
 The burning words of Kiugsley are true : — 
 
 “ Foremost among them stands a law which I must insist on, 
 boldly and perpetually, a law which man has been trying in all 
 ages, as now, to deny, or at least to ignore; though he might 
 have seen it if he had willed, working steadily in all times and 
 nations. And that is — that as the fruit of righteousness is 
 wealth and peace, strength and honour; the fruit of unrighte- 
 ousness is poverty and anarchy, weakness and shame. It is an 
 ancient doctrine and yet one ever young. The Hebrew prophets 
 preached it long ago, in words which are fulfilling themselves 
 around uS every day, and which no new discoveries of science 
 will abrogate, because they express the great root-law, which 
 disobeyed, science itself cannot get a hearing.” 
 
 True patriotism demands that all be treated with justice. 
 As well may men gather grapes from thornS and figs from 
 thistles as expect good results, on the whole, from any 
 iniquitous system. 
 
 Our duties gradually widen. . Beginning with ourselves, 
 they extend to our families, friends, neighbours, country- 
 men, and the whole human race. Some of these have 
 already been noticed : others will be taken up in turn. 
 
 Duty to Friends. 
 
 Some connections are made for us by God. We are 
 born into the world members of families without any 
 choice on our part. There are also connections which we 
 largely make for ourselves. The companions in whose 
 society we take delight, the friends we receive into 
 intimacy, are left open to us. Their choice forms an 
 important part of the probation of life. 
 
 There is a great difference between an acquaintance aud 
 a, friend. It is our duty to be courteous to all. There may 
 be pleasant intercourse aud au interchange of kindly offices 
 between many persons who are not, in the highest sense of 
 
70 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 the word, friends, “ A friend is one to whom we give our 
 hearts, whose society and companionship we seek, in whom 
 we repose our secrets, by whose opinions and advice we 
 are influenced : — in short, he is a kind of second self, 
 reciprocally giving and receiving sympathy and aid.” 
 
 “ We are all,” says Locke, “ a kind of chameleons that 
 take a tincture from the objects which surround us.” The 
 mutual influence of friends is so strong as to be proverbial. 
 “ Tell me your company, and I will tell you what you are.” 
 Solomon says, “ He that walketh with wise men shall be 
 wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” By 
 “ wise men” are here meant those who fear God ; by 
 “ fools,” those who love and practise sin. He that walks 
 with religious men will become religious; but a companion 
 of the wicked will come to a bad end. 
 
 To walk with wise men is to choose them for our associ- 
 ates ; and this implies a similarity of tastes. “ Can two walk 
 together except they be agreed ?”• If the good are our 
 chosen friends', they will encourage us in whatever is right, 
 and frown upon everything that is wrong. This will be a 
 great support to virtue. On the other hand, if the, wicked 
 are our companions, they will ridicule us when we wish to 
 obey conscience, and tempt us to follow their example. If 
 we go among persons having small-pox, we are very liable 
 to catch the disease. The risk is far greater of taking the 
 infection of vice from wicked companions. This is so much 
 forgotten, that the Bible cautions us, “ Be not deceived ; 
 evil communications corrupt good manners.” 
 
 Among those who should be avoided are gamblers. They 
 will tempt you to play, and a confirmed gambler is one of 
 the most selfish beings in the world. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing remarks, how import- 
 ant is the choice of companions. A few hints may be given 
 on this point. 
 
 No one who is immoral, whatever may be his talents, 
 should be selected as a friend. Tice is like the. drop of 
 poison in milk, causing the whole to be thrown away. 
 Neglect of this rule has been the ruin of untold' millions. 
 Frivolous triflers should be shunned. There are some 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 71 
 
 men who are not vicious, \yho are sprightly and entertaining ; 
 but who lack industry and moral earnestness. Idleness is 
 very apt eventually to lead such persons into a downward 
 course. Even if they should not go so far, their life can 
 neither be happy nor useful. The influence of such men 
 can be only injurious. 
 
 Our chosen friends should be amiable in disposition and 
 sound in judgment. Solomon says, “ make no friendship 
 with an angry man.” He who is wanting in prudence, is 
 altogether unfit to advise us in our difficulties. An old 
 poet remarks : 
 
 “ See if he be 
 
 Friend to himself, who would be friend to thee.” 
 
 “ I lay it down as a fundamental maxim,” says Cicero, 
 “ that true friendship can subsist only between those who 
 are animated by the strictest principles of honour and 
 virtue.” David’s rule was, “ I am a companion of all them 
 that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.” 
 Friendship founded on such principles will prove an un- 
 mingled blessing, and can never be broken. Our friends 
 should be chosen, as far as possible, from persons of the 
 same rank as ourselves. They can best sympathise with us, 
 and aid us by their counsel. 
 
 Friends should be few and well selected. The human 
 heart is not large enough to find room for many. He who 
 boasts of a long list of friends is generally little esteemed. 
 We may have* many acquaintances, 'but we can have only' 
 a few friends. 
 
 “ True happiness, 
 
 Consists not in a multitude of friends, 
 
 But in their worth and choice.” 
 
 Friendship has its duties. “A man that hath friends 
 must show himself friendly.” If we have no friends, it is 
 not our misfortune, but our fault. It shows that by our 
 selfishness, or other bad qualities, we have not deserved 
 them. 
 
 Friends should sympathise with one another. They should 
 be confiding, telling each other their joys and sorrows. 
 
72 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 Happiness will thus be increased, *und grief will be lighten- 
 ed. While, however, friends should be open in their inter- 
 course, wisdom is necessary. Friendship does not affect 
 other duties. Evil-speaking is forbidden. It is wrong to 
 report to a friend any tale of slander which we hear, unless 
 there is some good object to be gained. We should not 
 mention to him ill-natured remarks even about himself. We 
 should defend, if possible, an absent friend, but avoid 
 giving him needless pain. 
 
 Friends should be ready to assist each other. Kind offi- 
 ces ought never to be omitted, but they are especially called 
 for in seasons of affliction. “ A friend loveth at all times, 
 and a brother is born for adversity.” “ A friend in need is 
 a friend indeed.” We should be the first at the bedside of 
 a sick friend, and it should be our pleasure to endeavour to 
 alleviate his sorrows. The same remark applies to any 
 other trial. 
 
 The help rendered to friends must be regulated by justice. 
 “ I lay it down,” says Cicero, “ as a rule without exception, . 
 that no degree of friendship can either justify or excuse 
 the commission of a criminal action.” A more common 
 case is for a friend to expect us to exert our influence to 
 obtain for him some appointment for which he is unfit. 
 This is not our duty. Nor are we bound to sacrifice the 
 interests of our own family by becoming security for an 
 imprudent friend. Still, within proper limits, we should be 
 .prompt and willing to. aid our friends in ev§ry way in our 
 power. 
 
 Friends should kindly warn each other against whatever 
 is wrong. f< There is one duty of friendship,” says Cicero, 
 “ which we must at all hazards of offence discharge, as it is 
 never to be superseded consistently with the truth and 
 fidelity we owe to our friend. I mean the duty of admon- 
 ishing and Reproving him — an office which, whenever it is 
 affectionately exercised, should be kindly received.” Great 
 care, however, is necessary in performing this duty. Our 
 words should be dipped in the oil of love. 
 
 Friends should encourage'each Qther in well-doing. This 
 is the most important office of friendship, and it should be 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 73 
 
 shown more frequently in this way than in reproof. Wheu 
 a person is struggling to resist some temptation or seeking 
 to discharge some difficult duty, it is cheering to have the 
 sympathy of a friend. Strength is often thus imparted 
 which enables victory to be secured. 
 
 One of the most important means by which we can 
 benefit our friends is prayer. However separated we may 
 be on earth, it is comforting to think that we are always 
 equally near to a throne of grace. Especially in times of 
 trial, should friends intercede for each other. 
 
 We are far from being perfect ourselves, and we cannot 
 expect perfection in our friends. We require to “ bear 
 one another’s burdens,” — to make allowances for each 
 other. • Having once contracted a friendship, retain it 
 unless there are strong reasons for breaking it off. The 
 chief of these is when our friend, in spite of our warnings 
 and entreaties, adopts a course of conduct which renders 
 him unworthy of our respect and esteem. In such a case, 
 we should withdraw from him, but more in sorrow than in 
 anger. 
 
 Earthly friends may change ; one by one they will be 
 removed by death. But there is One whose love is warmer 
 than a brother’s and lasting as eternity. Seek to have the 
 Lord, Jesus Christ for your friend. He will satisfy the 
 desires of your soul, and bestow upon you every blessing 
 that will reiflly be for your good. 
 
 Our Neighbours. 
 
 In its widest sense, the word neighbour includes all 
 mankind except ourselves. It is thus- to be understood in 
 the second great commandment, “ Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself.” More generally, however, by 
 neighbours are understood persons who live around us, and 
 to such the following remarks have reference. 
 
 The question is, how shall we act towards our neighbours ? 
 The law is .plain, “ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self.” Understood aright, this' will guide us at every step. 
 We are to regard our neighbours as members, like ourselves, 
 
74 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 of God’s great family, and we are to treat them as we might 
 reasonably expect them to treat us under the same circum- 
 stances. 
 
 We should guard against whatever would annoy or injure 
 our neighbour. Xo filth should be thrown where it would 
 be disagreeable fo those who live next us. Children should 
 not be permitted to cast atones into a neighbour’s compound, 
 nor to be rude to his children. Cattle should n"ot be 
 allowed to trespass. 
 
 Quarrels between neighbours often originate in tale- 
 bearing. Perhaps, in a moment of irritation, some severe 
 remark is made about a neighbour. The person who hears 
 it, instead of trying to make peace, repeats it, possibly with 
 exaggeration, to him against whom it was spoken . The 
 latter is tempted to retaliate. What he says is similarly 
 conveyed to the original offender, and thus a long feud may 
 be the result. Domestic servants are very ready, in sup- 
 posed zeal for their masters, to heighten and distort what 
 they hear. All such conduct should be frowned upon. 
 
 If you have any complaint against a neighbour, go and 
 speak mildly to himself on the subject. Do not talk of it 
 to a third person. Should you hear an ill-natured remark 
 about your neighbour, show that you dislike backbiting, and 
 do not be a tale-bearer. 
 
 If you cannot speak well of a neighbour, speak no ill of 
 him. Silence is wisdom when speaking is folly. 
 
 We should show any acts of kindness to our neighbours 
 that are in our power. A courteous salutation when we 
 meet them, has an excellent effect. Even the children 
 should be greeted with a smile. Without prying into the 
 affairs of our neighbours, we should watch for opportunities 
 of assisting them or giving them pleasure. We should 
 rejoice in their prosperity. Especially should we be ready 
 to comfort them in affln fcion. “ Better is a neighbour that 
 is at hand, than a. brother that is afar off.” Before relatives 
 at a distance can come to our help, it may be too late, while 
 a friend on the spot may aid us at once. 
 
 The most important way in which we can benefit our 
 neighbours is to seek their moral and religious improve- 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 75 
 
 merit. Here, example is tire most effective mode of 
 teaching. Show by your conduct what you would have 
 them to be. It is possible, however, without obtrusive 
 interference to speak in a friendly and gentle way to our 
 neighbours about any evil habits they ought to guard 
 against, or any virtues they ought to practise. Especially 
 should we seek to turn them from the worship of dumb 
 idols to that of the living God. 
 
 Yery likely you may not meet with the return from your 
 neighbours which you think you deserve. We are all ready 
 to make complaints of ingratitude, but this generally arises 
 from our setting too high a value upon our own good deeds. 
 Sometimes, when their kindness has met with a cold 
 return, persons are tempted to say, “Well, I will never do 
 so much for any one again.” We are not to do good for 
 the sake of the thanks that it begets. It is, of course, 
 pleasant to meet with gratitude ; but we must beware of 
 making this our first object. The command is not, “ Thou 
 shalt do good to thy neighbour, because thou wilt thus 
 bring pleasure to thyself.” Jesus Christ says, “ Do good 
 to them that hate you,” “ that ye may be the children of 
 your Father which is in heaven, for He maketh His sun to 
 rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust.” 
 
 At the same time, no act of kindness is ever in vain. 
 Longfellow says : 
 
 “ Affection never was wasted : 
 
 If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters returning. 
 
 Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refresh- 
 ment ; 
 
 That which the fountain, sends forth, returns again to the foun- 
 tain.” 
 
 Duty to the Poor. 
 
 India has been called the “ Land of Charity.” It may 
 be called, with equal truth, the “ Land of Beggars.” In 
 no other country in the world is begging so respectable. 
 The Brahmans, by precept and example, have made it an 
 
76 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 honourable profession. Manu says of the Brahman, “.Let 
 him ever subsist by alms ” (x. 188). He may live even by 
 “ truth and lying/’ or trading ; but “ service is termed dog’s 
 livelihood, therefore one should avoid that ” (iv. 6) . People 
 are stimulated to give by 'promises of great rewards in an- 
 other world. A cow secures heaven ; rice, land, silver, gold, 
 &c. have their respective rewards. On the other hand, to 
 deny gifts to Brahmans is sinful and dangerous. Now-a- 
 days, however, Brahmans prefer “ dog’s livelihood ” to 
 begging. The best paid offices are usually held by them. 
 
 Although the highest rewards are supposed to be received 
 from gifts to Brahmans, charity is not confined to them. 
 Almsgiving is taught as a daily religious duty. “ Give 
 alms, then eat.” Many poor women, before cooking, will 
 lay aside a handful of rice to be given in charity. 
 
 One would think that those whose necessities are the 
 greatest have the strongest claims to charity, but this is 
 ignored by the Hindus. It is considered a far greater merit 
 to give to a Brahman, who is well off, than to assist a starv- 
 ing beggar. In Bombay there is a hospital for old bullocks, 
 dogs, cats, and other animals ; but not long ago a poor leper 
 died at its gate from starvation. 
 
 Hinduism is a system of priestcraft. The moral sense of 
 the people has been perverted through false teaching. The 
 Brahmans have taught the people that it is the highest 
 charity to give'to them, while they are made to believe that 
 it is degrading to touch whole classes of the people, that 
 those who suffer from poverty, sickness and other misfor- 
 tunes, are merely reaping the fruit of former sins, and that 
 therefore they may be neglected. 
 
 The strongest beggars, who visit most houses, bawl the 
 loudest, and are most obstinate, get the largest share of 
 alms, while the sick, the infirm, and the old, get least. 
 
 The love of laziness is natural to human beings. They 
 arp unwilling to work if they can .get others to labour for 
 them. Taking advantage of the charitable disposition of 
 the Hindus, there are lakhs of men who have chosen to 
 subsist by begging from door to door. This is done as a 
 hereditary profession, and not as a necessity forced upon 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 77 
 
 them by misfortune. While these men think it no disgrace 
 to beg, they consider it a dishonour and a great hardship 
 to do honest work. 
 
 Besides the professional beggars, there are lakhs of 
 able-bodied men who wander aliout, in the name of reli- 
 gion, from shrine to shrine. Seme of them, professedly in 
 ijnitation of the god Siva, are naked, filthy, smeared with 
 ashes, their eyes red with drinking, and half idiots from 
 ganja and bhang. Such men are considered hcly, and some 
 look upon it as a great merit to give to them. 
 
 On certain days alms are distributed by some, to which 
 beggars of both the above classes resort. There are also 
 special occasions, as Shrnddhas, when large numbers collect. 
 In this way and through ordinary begging, great numbers 
 contrive to subsist fairly well without labour. 
 
 When people are busy with their work, they have no 
 time to think of evil things. When they have nothing to 
 do, they are- tempted to wickedness. 
 
 What is the character of many of the beggars of India ? 
 It is notorious that not a few of them are obliged to wander 
 about, for if they remained long in one place, their vicious 
 conduct would become known. 
 
 There is a well known proof of the wickedness of many 
 Indian beggars. They abuse and curse these who refuse 
 them alms. Ignorant superstitious people, especially 
 women, are thus tempted to give them. If they were good 
 people’, they would go away quietly, when aid was with- 
 held. 
 
 There are money-lenders and merchants who give alms 
 in the hope of atoning for their frauds in business, and 
 their oppression of the poor. Apply this to common life. 
 A man is tried before a judge for some offence. Will he 
 be acquitted because he has given some pice to beggars ? 
 It is equally vain to hope to secure in this way the pardon 
 of sin. 
 
 Some hope to merit heaven by charity. We are all 
 naturally proud and wish to purchase heaven through our 
 own supposed good deeds, of which we have very exag- 
 gerated ideas. 
 
78 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 If a poor man offered tlie Empress of India some pice 
 in exchange for her dominions, he would he thought crazy. 
 It is just as foolish to suppose that we can merit heaven by 
 our alms. 
 
 Such persons go down'to death with a lie in their right 
 hands. They will find out their mistake when it is too late. 
 
 The only way in which pardon of sin and admission to 
 heaven can be obtained are mentioned hereafter. 
 
 Pandit Sivanath Sastri says : “ Hindu indiscriminate 
 
 charity saps the very foundation of national manliness, 
 gives a premium to indolence, and trains up men and 
 women to the meanness of beggary, and not to the dignity 
 of labour. 
 
 Such charity is a curse instead of a blessing ; a source 
 of demerit rather than merit. 
 
 There is, however, another extreme. Some Hindus 
 refuse to give to beggars “ on principle.” They do not 
 hope to merit heaven by their charity, so they are perfectly 
 indifferent to the petitions of beggars. The Hindu has the 
 following remarks : “ The dislike into which former charities 
 have deservedly fallen is only taken advantage of to screen 
 selfishness, parsimony, and even avarice. Many rich Hindus 
 professing to be influenced by modern ideas have simply 
 given up doing any charity at all. The old spirituality of 
 the Hindus has been killed by modern materialistic educa- 
 tion, and enlightened notions of humanity which Western 
 countries _ teach have not yet come to prevail largely.” 
 Dec. 7th, 1891. 
 
 Such conduct is still more to be condemned. 
 
 There is ample scope for personal charity on the part of 
 educated Hindus, but they might also assist in directing 
 benevolent action among their less instructed brethren. 
 
 In the principal cities of India Europeans have establish- 
 ed Friend-in-Need Societies, in which relief is given only 
 after due inquiry. In some cases also workshops have been 
 established to enable persons to earn their living. These 
 are solely for Europeans and Eurasians. There ought to 
 be similiar Societies for Indians. Educated Hindus might 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 79 
 
 do much to secure their establishment, and to have them 
 wisely managed. 
 
 Them are other forms of relief which do much good and 
 are least liable to objection. 
 
 1. Industrial Schools for Poor Children. — “ The child is 
 .father of the man.” It is very important to prevent poor 
 children from growing up as beggars. Education alone is 
 valuable, but the benefit is doubled in the case of the poor 
 by being associated with labour. To some children, mere 
 education has not been an unmixed good ; they aspire to 
 employments for which they are unfit, and despise the 
 occupations which would enrich the country. 
 
 2. Hospitals and Dispensaries . — The poor especially 
 suffer in cases of sickness. The able-bodied among them 
 lose their earnings ; expense is incurred for medicines ; 
 attacks are lengthened and made more severe from the 
 want of proper attention. 
 
 In hospitals good medicines are provided free, and 
 generally they have skilful doctors. Some ignorant 
 people, it is true, dislike going to hospitals, thinking that 
 they will die. No doubt there are deaths in hospitals, but 
 this often happens because the sick do not A>me till it is 
 too late. Lepers have special claims on us to alleviate their 
 unhappy lot. 
 
 3. Instructing the Ignorant . — This is not giving money ; 
 but, if of the proper kind, it is of far more value. The late 
 Sir Madhava Eow justly said : 
 
 “ Very many plight labour to remove the ignorance of 
 the great masses of the people, an ignorance from which 
 they suffer infinitely more than from all other causes .” 
 
 The object of foregoing remarks paper is not to discour- 
 age the charity of the Hindus, but to seek to guide it 
 aright. While it does some good at present, it also does a 
 good deal of harm. Wisely directed, it would cover the 
 land with industrial schools and hospitals, relieving misery, 
 discouraging idleness, and training the people to industri- 
 ous virtuous habits. 
 
80 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 Marriage and Shraddha Expenses. 
 
 The Hindus are a strange compound. Generally speaking 
 they are thrifty ; hut as the Indian Mirror says, “ It is well 
 known that common sense and prudence leave the Native, 
 whether educated or uneducated, when he has any social 
 ceremonies to perform. On such occasions he is sure to go* 
 beyond his means and involve himself/’ 
 
 The two great occasions on which this lavish outlay is 
 incurred, are Marriages and Shraddhas. These will be 
 noticed in turn. They are one of the chief causes of 
 Indian poverty. 
 
 Marriage Expenses. 
 
 An inordinate love of praise is a 'great weakness of the 
 Hindus. Skilful flatterers can induce them to part with 
 almost everything they possess. There are many Brah- 
 mans and others who live in idleness, depending for 
 support on what they can obtain, through their cunning', 
 from the industrious. On festive occasions, they come 
 together from all parts, and, for their own profit, do their 
 utmost to pncourage extravagant expenditure. In this 
 they are seconded by ignorant jvomen. 
 
 On the conduct of a Hindu with regard to marriage, it 
 has been remarked : — 
 
 “ This grand era in his existence must not pass into oblivion 
 without some demonstration of splendour ; and however empty 
 his purse, the applause of the rabble must be gained, and the 
 appetites of an endless host of friends and relations regaled with 
 a solid feast. To a man whose life is bound up in show, the 
 plaudits of the giddy multitude and the congratulations of his 
 own connections present an object worthy of his ambition. The 
 triumph of the moment outweighs every other consideration, 
 and he spends with a profuse liberality what it will require 
 years to replace. Under these circumstances, it is by no means 
 matter of surprise that the expenses of a wedding should bear 
 no proportion to the means of the contracting parties, and that 
 when a man expends the aggregate of his income for years on a 
 single event, he should involve himself in debt and disgrace.” 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 81 
 
 Evils of Extravagant Expenditure. 
 
 Space permits only a few to be noticed : 
 
 1. It tends to make the Hindus a nation of children . — 
 Children have two weaknesses : they are fond of show and 
 they think only of the present. Both are characteristic of 
 the Hindus at present, and they are fostered by the marriage 
 outlay. 
 
 2. The payment of an enormous amount of Interest . — 
 From the want of foresight, borrowing is the common 
 resource at a marriage, and a load of debt is thus often 
 contracted which presses heavily till the end of life. 
 
 3. Lands passing into the hands of Money-lenders . — 
 The Bombay Dnyanodaya says : 
 
 “ We know a village in the Konkan (the coast district of the 
 Bombay Presidency) where not a foot of land nor a single 
 house is owned by the inhabitants. They have lost all by 
 mortgaging their little property for the sake of money to spend 
 on marriage.s. One would think this would teach them a lesson, 
 but when their all is gone, rather than fail to spend a 100 or 200 
 rupees on the further marriages of their children, cases are known 
 of their selling themselves to their landlord for a period of years 
 or a life-time- 
 
 “The connection between their poverty and their marriage 
 customs is plain. A poor man who is struggling for an existence 
 told us to-day that his father owned six acres of land, but that- 
 when his three boys became of a marriageable age, he said, 
 
 ‘ Come what will, even if I lose my land, my boys must be pro- 
 perly married so he mortgaged the land, spent several hundreds 
 of rupees, was happy for two days, and then lost every thing he 
 owned.” 
 
 “ ‘ Expense/ says Bacon, ‘ ought to be limited by a man’s 
 estate / but according to Indian notions it ought not to 
 stop short of one’s credit with the money-lender.” 
 
 Measures Recommended. 
 
 1. Every means should he taken to spread a knowledge 
 of the evils of the present system. — Husbands should talk 
 about it to their wives at every fitting opportunity. They 
 should not wait till a marriage is proposed ; but “ take 
 6 
 
82 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 time by the forelock.” When intelligent men meet, let it 
 sometimes form the topic of conversation. Good popular 
 lectures on the subject would be of great value, and tracts 
 might be circulated with advantage-. 
 
 2. Families between whom marriages take place should 
 agree to a greatly reduced scale of expenditure . — It is quite 
 right to rejoice at marriages. Within due limits the enter- 
 tainment of relations and friends is becoming ; it is insane 
 extravagance which is condemned. 
 
 In Rajputana there has been a national movement in 
 favour of the reduction of marriage expenses. In most 
 parts of the country each section of the community will 
 require to take up the matter. The heads of families should 
 have meetings to consider the subject and come to an 
 understanding. There may be one or two fools who will 
 persevere in the old senseless custom ; but if the majority 
 act prudently, a change will take place. If one section 
 make a beginning, the example will probably be followed 
 in course of time by other classes. 
 
 8. Educated men should t<ike the lead in the movement. 
 — More may justly be looked for from them than that they 
 should be the slaves of custom. 
 
 What hope can there be of a nation when its most intelli- 
 gent men yield to the ignorant rabble, and pursue a course 
 which they themselves allow to be idiotic ? 
 
 4. Female Education should be promoted . — It is igno- 
 rant women who are the great supporters of the present 
 ruinous system, and their increased intelligence would be 
 one of the most effective means for its destruction. With- 
 out this, all other efforts are not likely todiave a permanent 
 effect. 
 
 Let the reader ponder well the foregoing statements, 
 and use every means in the circle in which he moves to 
 put an end to the evils which have been described. A 
 recent Governor of Madras justly said in his Convocation 
 Address : — 
 
 “ He who could persuade his countrymen to give up their, 
 to us, astounding expenditure on marriages, would do more for 
 South India than any government could do in a decade.” 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 83 
 
 Shraddhas. 
 
 The Hindus suppose that some of the dead are degraded 
 to the state of evil demons, while others are elevated to the 
 position of divinities. The general idea is that the dead 
 required to be nourished for three generations by their 
 descendants, and to have "works of merit performed for 
 their benefit. 
 
 The first object of the Hindu Shraddha is to provide the 
 departed spirit with an intermediate body. Were it not 
 for this, believed to be created by the offerings, the spirit 
 would be an impure and unquiet ghost (Preta), wandering 
 about on the earth or in the air among demons, and con- 
 demned itself to become an evil spirit. The intermediate 
 body converts it from a Preta into a Pitri, or ancestor. The 
 ball, (pinda) of rice offered on the first day, nourishes the 
 spirit in such a way as to furnish it with a head ; on the 
 second day, the pinda gives it a neck and shoulders, and so 
 on. By the tenth day the intermediate body is sufficiently 
 formed to feel the sensation of hunger. On the eleventh 
 and twelfth days it feeds voraciously on the offerings, 
 and so gains strength on the thirteenth day for its terrible 
 journey to Yama. 
 
 The Evils of Shraddhas. 
 
 In some cases the expense of a shraddha is nearly 
 equal to that of a marriage. But the moral evils are worse 
 than the poverty occasioned. Numbers of idle vagabonds, 
 some of them notoriously vicious, are maintained who 
 should work for their living. The impression is given that 
 a man’s welfare in another world depends mainly, not upon 
 his own conduct, but on the offerings made after his death. 
 He may lead any sort of life, however immoral and wicked, 
 provided he leave enough to feed the Brahmans, and espe- 
 cially to have his shraddha performed at G-ya. Thus 
 encouragement is given to sin. On the other hand, a 
 childless man is said to fall into Pat. The great Judge 
 of all the earth will do that which is right. A man will be 
 rewarded or punished for his own deeds, not for those 
 of others over which he has no control. 
 
84 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 The whole system is clearly an invention of the Brah- 
 mans to deceive ignorant credulous Hindus and get their 
 money. At a time when mourning the loss of relatives, 
 they work upon their feelings, and extort from them all 
 they can. 
 
 It is our duty to cherish the ^memory of our forefathers, 
 but their happiness in a future state depends upon their 
 own conduct — not upon our offerings. The best way of 
 showing respect for them is by living noble lives. 
 
 Shraddhas should be altogether abandoned as useless to 
 the dead and a source of great evil to the living. There is, 
 however, no objection to charitable donations to schools or 
 hospitals in memory of a parent or child. 
 
 Female Education. 
 
 This lies at the root of all Indian Progress. Ability to 
 learn to read is one great distinction between human beings' j 
 and brutes. Persons unable to read are, so far, reduced to 
 the condition of brutes. 
 
 While a few learned men in India, in all ages, have 
 taught their wives and daughters to read, it must be ac- 
 knowledged that Hinduism frowns upon female education. 
 Manu’s Code forbids women, like the Sudras, to be taught 
 the law or religious observances. 
 
 Effects of the Denial of Education, of Hindu Women — 
 
 It is gladly allowed that Hindu women have some ex- 
 cellent qualities. As a rule, they are faithful and devoted 
 wives, affectionate mothers, attentive to household duties, 
 kind to the poor, free from crime. 
 
 On the other hand, it must be admitted that they have 
 serious defects arising from the want of education. Some 
 of these are the following : — 
 
 1. Absorption with Trifles . — Pandit Sivanath Sastri 
 says : — 
 
 “ Mark also the pettinesses, the littlenesses, and the mean 
 jealousies to which our women are subject owing to their ignor- 
 ance and seclusion. The mean jealousies of our women have 
 ruined the peace of many a household, have made enemies of 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 85 
 
 brothers* and have caused in many cases the disruption of once 
 united and happy families.” 
 
 2. A Passion for Jewels. — Like children, Indian women 
 are fond of show. When they meet they talk about jewels 
 and compare jewels, giving rise to much jealousy and ill- 
 feeling. A wife complains that she has not so many 
 jewels as her sister who is married to a richer man. Up- 
 wards of 200 crores of rupees is sunk in jewels. The craving 
 for jewels is one of the chief causes of Indian poverty. A 
 Roman lady was once asked by another to show her jewels. 
 Pointing to her two well-educated sons, she said, “ These 
 are my jewels.” 
 
 A Brahman lady says, “ If men were to spend an hun- 
 dredth part of what is devoted to buying valuable j ewels and 
 gaudy clothes on their wives’ education, they would be spared 
 the enormous trouble they subject themselves to in provid- 
 ing their unnecessary jewels and dresses.” 
 
 3. Opposition to every Reform. — Mr. M. Rangachari 
 says : — 
 
 “ As affairs now stand in our society, everybody knows per- 
 fectly well tlie influence of our grandmothers in checking all 
 reform and in scrupulously preserving all absurd and ridicu- 
 lously stupid superstitions- In battles between wisdom and 
 prejudice, between knowledge and ignorance, the Hindu grand- 
 mother often proves successful ; and so tenacious is she that she 
 can be conquered only by death.” 
 
 Some of the women themselves are the strongest oppo- 
 nents of female education. 
 
 4. Inability to Tyain their Children properly. — The 
 formation of the character of children rests mainly with 
 the mother. A Tamil proverb says, “ As is the thread, such 
 is the cloth ; as is the mother, such i3 the child.” 
 
 The sole idea of ruling their children with some Indian 
 mothers is servile compliance with their demands. Others 
 keep alternately petting, coaxing, or punishing their 
 children, whichever they are most inclined to at the time. 
 
 A Hindu mother screens the faults of her children, and 
 keeps her husband in ignorance of them. Sometimes, for 
 
86 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 this purpose, she teaches her son to tell an untruth or 
 commit an act of fraud. 
 
 Mr. Mullick, referring to Hindu children, says, “ It takes 
 them years to rid themselves of the ideas put into their 
 head in infancy; but even here the demolition is not 
 thorough. Weakness, cowardice, timidity, and apathy, are 
 not completely eradicated, and some of their best faculties 
 remain undeveloped.” 
 
 •5. Little Moral Influence over their Husbands . — The 
 highest service a wife can render to a husband is to stimuT 
 late him to a course of noble conduct ; but here the failure 
 is complete. Pandit Sivanath Sastri thus points out the 
 baneful moral effects of the marriage of educated men with 
 illiterate women : 
 
 “ The ignorance of their wives does not allow them to regard 
 them as rational and moral companions, consequently their 
 sexual relationship is without that elevating power and moral 
 influence which true marriage always exercises in the mind. It 
 is no wonder that the state of conjugal morality amongst our 
 men is, in many cases, deplorable.” 
 
 6. Their children acquire degrading religious beliefs and 
 super stitioxis ideas . — Ho high and holy thoughts are given 
 of the great Father in heaven ; the children are not taught 
 to love Him, to pray to Him. 
 
 An “ Eminent Indian Gentleman,” at a. meeting held in 
 Calcutta on “ Hindu Marriage Customs,” said, “ The ladies 
 of our family also come to learn and believe from their in- 
 fancy that their husbands are the only beings on this earth 
 whom they should look up to for their worldly comfort, 
 whom they should worship as their God, and that their only 
 bounden duty is to sgrve their husbands.” 
 
 Such is the theory , but practice is very different. In 
 their way, Hindu women are the most religious creatures 
 in the world ; they are a bundle of superstitions. 
 
 A Hindu woman will not name her husband, she will not 
 eat in his presence, she will not learn to read, under the 
 idea that it would hasten his death. 
 
 When children are very sick, Hindu mothers believe 
 that it is caused by the displeasure of some god or goddess 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 87 
 
 or by the influence of some evil spirit. They will use 
 medicines as far as they and their physicians know : but they 
 trust largely to charms, to offerings, and vows. Sometimes 
 a mother will vow to eat with her left hand till her child 
 recovers ; sometimes she will promise a goat to a goddess 
 if she will effect a cure. 
 
 " The great majority of the inhabitants of India,” says 
 Sir Monier Williams, “ from the cradle to the burning 
 ground, are haunted and oppressed by a perpetual dread 
 of demons. They are firmly convinced that evil spirits of 
 all kinds, from malignant fiends to merely mischievous 
 imps and elves, are ever on the watch to harm, harass, and 
 torment them, to cause plague, sickness, famine and disas- 
 ter, to impede, to injure, and mar every good work.” This 
 demonophobia is learned from their ignorant mothers. 
 
 7. Educated Husbands behave like the Uneducated . — 
 The words of Tennyson should be indelibly impressed upon 
 the minds of Hindus : 
 
 “ The woman’s cause is man’s ; they rise or sink 
 Together, dwarf’d or godlike, bond or free.” 
 
 The late Bishop Caldwell complained that, with few ex- 
 ceptions and in some unimportant particulars, educated 
 Hindus acted just like their illiterate countrymen : 
 
 “ Practically it matters very little in general what theosophy 
 or philosophy a Hindu professes, what his ideas may be about 
 the most ancient form of his religion, or even what his ideas 
 may be about the religions reforms that the age is said to 
 require. As a matter of fact, and iu so far as his actual course 
 of life is concerned, he is content, except in a small number of 
 exceptional cases, to adhere with scrupulous care to the tradi- 
 tionary usages of his caste and sect. His ideas may have 
 received a tincture from his English education, but ordinarily 
 his actions differ in no particular of any importance from those 
 of his progenitors.” 
 
 The Hindu thus explains it : 
 
 “ There is then the whole class of women who are illiterate, 
 and who live intellectually and morally in an infinitely lower 
 plane than the men- The educated Hindu is at every turn 
 
88 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 tempted to secure their approbation and win their applause by 
 sinking to their intellectual level. . . So long as Hindu women 
 are kept in the miserable ignorance which now characterises 
 them, all your Colleges and Universities are a waste so far as 
 their effect on the national prospect is concerned.” 
 
 Hindu Objections to Female Education. 
 
 A few of these will be noticed : 
 
 1. Its alleged Uselessness. — It is asked “ What will 
 women do with it ?” They cannot become clerks and 
 attend public offices. The degrading ideas held of educa- 
 tion are thus shown. It is valued only as a means of making 
 money. A man will sometimes say, “ Why should I con- 
 tinue my studies ? I think I have already as much salary 
 as I am likely to get.” Learning is its own reward. Eight 
 education will help a woman to bring up her children pro- 
 perly, which is of greater value than mere lakhs of rupees. 
 
 2. It would cause the Neglect of Household Affairs . — 
 There is no doubt that home work is one of the first duties 
 of a wife. Food should be nicely cooked, good order and 
 cleanliness should be observed throughout the family. But 
 an intelligent woman can get through her work faster and 
 better than one who is uneducated. At present much of 
 the time of the women is spent in silly talk and squabbles, 
 which might be more profitably devoted to reading. 
 
 3. It would he misused. — It is objected that if women 
 were educated they would send letters making appoint- 
 ments, they would learn to use charms and poisons to 
 destroy those whom they disliked. They are considered 
 wicked enough already, and education would simply increase 
 their power for mischief. Brahmans have said that to 
 educate a woman is like “ putting a knife in the hand of a 
 monkey.” 
 
 The answer to this objection may best be given in the 
 words of Rai Bahadur P. Eunganadha Mudaliyar : 
 
 “ Do those who maintain that education tends to make women 
 wicked, also maintain that education has the same effect on 
 men ? If not, why should it be assumed that what is meat for 
 men is poison for women ? The truth is, that the doctrine that 
 
TROE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 89 
 
 education exerts a deleterious influence on the moral character 
 of women is a mere pretext for denying education to them, and 
 for perpetuating the tyranny of the strong over the weak.” 
 
 4. The Women themselves do not desire it. — This is not 
 surprising. Mr. Mullick says, “ Woman was made to 
 abhor knowledge as an unmixed evil.” The idea has been 
 fostered that for a woman to learn to read would cause the 
 death of her husband and make her a widow. The depth 
 of the degradation of women is that they do not feel it, 
 that they are quite content with their lot. Some of them 
 when asked to learn to read will say, “ What ! have I to 
 become a writer ? What ! have I to go to offices ?” 
 
 But it is the indifference of the men that is the chief 
 cause of this want of desire on the part of the women. 
 
 The Benefits of Female Education. 
 
 It must be admitted that the value of education depends 
 upon its character. It may do much good ; it may be 
 worth little — nay, it may be worse than useless. 
 
 The same objections, however, apply in many other 
 cases. Good food supports life and gives strength to 
 labour ; bad food may cause death. As already argued, if 
 education is useful in the case of hoys, why should it be 
 hurtful when girls are concerned ? 
 
 Some of the benefits of Female Education of the right 
 hand are the following : — 
 
 1. Healthier Homes. — As already mentioned, Indian 
 mothers trust largely to superstitious ceremonies to keep 
 their children well, while they neglect sanitary arrange- 
 ments. Mr. Mullick says, “ The Hindu wife has no know- 
 ledge of the laws of health, and hence her children are 
 constantly ill. They are made to eat more than they can 
 digest, aggravating their otherwise invalid condition.” 
 
 There are cheap books giving simple directions about 
 health which educated women can read. 
 
 2. better trained Children. — Dr. Duncan says : 
 
 “ The influence of the mother’s character on her children 
 during infancy is admitted by everybody. Yet how few realize 
 
90 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 what that means ! How can an illiterate, uncultivated, perhaps 
 infantile mother watch over the opening faculties of her child 
 and mould its character for good ? One cannot trust to maternal 
 instinct and common sense alone in such an important matter. 
 There are, on the contrary, very powerful reasons why the first 
 years of life should be placed under the most highly trained 
 intelligence, the experiences of these years being those that 
 exert the most lasting influence for good or evil in after life,”* 
 
 3. Educated men would have suitable helpmates . — The 
 Bombay Dmjanodaya says : 
 
 “ An educated wife can aid by counsel and direct assistance 
 when an ignorant wife is simply a drag. The difference between 
 an ignorant wife and an educated one, is that the former is 
 a servant, the latter a helpmate. The one may passively obey 
 orders, the other takes a deep interest in her husband’s work and 
 actively helps him to the measure of her power. She enters 
 into his work as if it were her own, supplementing it at every 
 possible point. Hence a man has something to lean on in 
 intelligent counsel and sympathy when he returns to his home 
 after his day’s toil. He does not return to a servant, but to a 
 helpmate.” 
 
 4. Eigher intellectual powers on the part of children . — 
 Dr. Duncan thus states the case : — 
 
 “ If there be any truth in the belief that intellectual endow- 
 ments take more after the mother than after the father, the 
 question becomes all the more serious. The child of parents 
 possessing w'ell-developed bodies and minds begins life with 
 faculties and capacities, which, in proper conditions and in due 
 course, grow up to the maturity of manhood or womanhood. 
 Not so with the offspring of a mother whose faculties are 
 infantile and undeveloped. The mental development of the 
 child is speedily arrested, the faculties retaining to the last the 
 inherent weakness of their maternal source — a weakness which 
 will prevent them from ever growing unto a vigorous maturity. 
 Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Can the 
 plenitude of intellectual and moral power be reaped as an 
 inheritance from a mother, perhaps a child mother, whose 
 faculties have laid dormant, or, if at all roused to activity, have 
 
 * Madras Convocation Address, 1891. 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 91 
 
 been arrested in their development almost at the outset ? For 
 the sake of posterity, therefore, I entreat you to do what you 
 can to remove one of the greatest, blots on your social system.”* 
 
 5. Desirable Reforms would meet with Support instead 
 of Opposition . — There are lakhs of educated Hindus who ' 
 sincerely wish certain reforms to he carried out, and who 
 would take an active part in securing them, were it not for 
 the opposition of their female relatives. To please the 
 latter, they often squander money in ways they know to he 
 idiotic, and they violate their conscience hy taking part in 
 idolatrous rites which they know to he wrong. 
 
 If, however, women are enlisted in the cause of reform, 
 it would advance with tenfold speed. 
 
 Dr. Duncan says : 
 
 “ Hindu and Muhammadan parents mnst be brought to face 
 the vital issues that are bound up with this question. If Native 
 society, in full view of all the circumstances, deliberately allows 
 itself to fall behind in the march of progress, there is not another 
 word to be said. But, if it desires to take its place among the 
 foremost peoples of the parth — to be a progressive instead of a 
 stagnating or decaying society — it must gird up its loins and 
 resolve at whatever cost to emancipate its women from the 
 thraldom of ignorance A society composed of educated men 
 and uneducated women can never be a progressive society.” 
 
 To the above may be added the following from Mr. 
 A. 0. Hume, the “ Father of the National Congress 
 
 “ A nation whose women are uneducated, let its men have 
 all possible culture, still goes into the world’s battle with only 
 one arm. 
 
 “ Political reformers of all shades of opinion should never 
 forget that unless the elevation of the female element of the 
 nation proceed pari passu (with an equal pace) with their 
 work, all their labour for the political enfranchisement of the 
 country will prove rain.”f 
 
 Let the reader, therefore, do all he can to promote female 
 education. 
 
 * Madras Convocation Address, 1891. 
 t Letter to Mr. M. JVlalabari, p. 73. 
 
92 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 Early Marriage. 
 
 In most countries of the world, men do not marry till 
 they are able to support a wife ; but in India mere children 
 are often thus united. The first marriage is properly a 
 betrothal, a contract to marry at a future time. Practi- 
 cally, however, it has the force of marriage, for if the boy- 
 husband dies, the infant wife is condemned to perpetual 
 widowhood. 
 
 The agp at which marriage takes place varies in different 
 parts of the country, and among different castes. Certain 
 classes betroth even infants. Such was not the case in 
 ancient times. 
 
 Rama married Sita ; Krishna married Rukmini ; Arjuna 
 married Draupadi ; Nala married Damayanti, not as chil- 
 dren, but as grown up people. 
 
 Early marriage is promoted by Hindu parents, because 
 they wish to get so important an event over as soon as 
 possible, and because they consider that it will save their 
 children from much harm. While there are certain advan- 
 tages connected with it, they are more than outweighed by 
 the attendant evils. The following are some objections to 
 early marriages : 
 
 1. Early Marriage leads to weak and sickly children. — “ It 
 is a great mistake,” says Dr. Mokendralal Sircar, “ to sup- 
 pose that the female who has just begun to menstruate, is 
 capable of giving birth to healthy children. The teeth are, 
 no doubt, intended for the mastication of solid food, but it 
 would be a grievous error to think that the child the mo- 
 ment he begins to cut his teeth will be able to live on solid 
 food.” Every farmer knows, that if a bullock is worked 
 when too young, it never becomes strong and vigorous. It 
 is the same with women. If they bear children too early, 
 their constitution is injured, and they become prematurely 
 old. Many of the Hindus are the children of children. It 
 is therefore not sui’prising that they are weak in body, 
 and that so many die in infancy. 
 
 2. Early Marriages produce females rather than males. 
 — This whs remarked more than 2,000 years ago by 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 93 
 
 Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher. “ Premature con- 
 junctions produce imperfect offspring, females rather than 
 males.” 
 
 3. Early Marriage hinders Education and leads to Intel- 
 lectual Weakness . — This applies both to the wife and her 
 husband. 
 
 Hindu girls are bright scholars, and often get on well. 
 But just at the time when they could profit most from 
 instruction, marriage intervenes, and school must be aban- 
 doned. This not only prevents them from continuing their 
 studies, but frequently causes them to forget, in course of 
 time, what they have learned. Married as children, they 
 generally remain intellectually children all their days. 
 
 An unmarried student is free to devote all his time to 
 his books. One who is married must also attend to his 
 wife and children. Petty household matters are forced 
 upon his notice ; he is importuned for ornaments ; he is 
 often drawn into domestic quarrels. Instead of prosecut- 
 ing his studies, he accepts the first obtainable situation ; 
 while, if better qualified, he might have occupied a higher 
 position through life. 
 
 4. Early Marriage leads to National Degeneracy . — 
 Dr. Pechy-Phipson, addressing Hindus, says : “For centuries 
 you have been children of children and there is no surer 
 way of becoming servants of servants.” 
 
 Principal Wordsworth, referring to infant marriages, 
 thus corroborates the above opinion : 
 
 “ Personally I hold most strongly that no great social or 
 political improvement can be looked for in Hindu society so 
 . long as it adheres to that system. For one thing it seems to me 
 simply incompatible with any marked advance in female educa- 
 tion. and I cannot hope that Hindu society will ever emerge 
 from what I consider its present state of feeble civilisation, 
 which must condemn it in the future, as it has condemned it in 
 the past, to be the servants of manlier and more energetic races, 
 so long as Hindu mothers remain in their present bondage of 
 ignorance and superstition.” 
 
 5. The large 'proportion of Widows in India is partly 
 oxcing to early marriage . — About one-third of all that are 
 
94 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 born die before they are five years of age. Others are cut 
 off in youth. If mere girls are married, it is plain that a 
 number of their husbands mast die before they attain 
 puberty. The unhappy girls are, according to Hindu 
 usage, doomed to be widows for life. ' 
 
 Dr. Pechey-Phipson, addressing Hindus, says of early 
 marriage : — 
 
 “ It is a retrogression from the early civilization of your race ; 
 it is a stigma on your religion ; a blot on your humanity, which, 
 were it known, would disgrace you in the eyes of the whole 
 civilised world. Stamp it out at whatever cost from vulgar 
 prejudice ; blot out this stain upon your character as men of 
 honour and manly virtue.” 
 
 It is so far satisfactory that there is a growing feeling 
 in India amongst intelligent men against such marriages ; 
 although, sad to say, they not unfrequently belie their 
 convictions by the early marriage of their children. In 
 Rajputana it has been ag - reed that boys and girls should 
 not be married before the ages of 18 and 14 respectively. 
 The Rajputs have thus placed themselves in the van of 
 progress May their example be speedily followed by all 
 others in India. 
 
 Treatment of Widows and Widow Marriage. 
 
 The strong generally seek to tyrannise over the weak. 
 Among savag’es, women do all the hard work : jnen, when 
 not fighting or hunting - , are smoking, drinking or sleeping. 
 Hindus have reached a higher state of civilisation ; but in 
 their treatment of women they display much of the same 
 spirit. Men, for their own selfish ends, have from early 
 times, taught women in India to surrender all their rights, 
 and to submit themselves in every way to the wishes of 
 their lords and masters. 
 
 But the oppression of women culminated in the case of 
 widows, who were especially helpless, having no husbands 
 to protect them. Their treatment by Hindus is the foulest 
 blot upon their character. It is only aggravated by the 
 excuse which is offered. Caird justly says : “ The worst of 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 95 
 
 all wrongs to humanity is to hallow evil by the authority 
 and sanction of religion.” 
 
 Number — One peculiarity of India is the very large 
 proportion of widows. In 1881 they numbered nearly 24 
 millions. About every fifth female in the country is a 
 widow, while only one in twenty of the males is a widower. 
 In South India every third Brahman woman is a widow. 
 
 Causes of the large number of Widows — These are two : 
 early marriage and the strong feeling among the higher 
 castes against widow marriage. As the so-called lower 
 castes have a tendency to ape the customs of the higher, 
 the prejudice against widow marriage exists among many 
 of them likewise. 
 
 Condition of Hindu Widows. — The treatment of widows 
 varies in different families. If they have the good fortune 
 to be in their fathers’ houses, their lot is less miserable ; 
 but, as a rule, they have to spend the rest of their days in 
 the houses of their fathers-in-law, where, in addition to 
 their other sufferings, they are often treated as domestic 
 drudges. 
 
 The late distinguished Sanskrit scholar, Pandit Iswara 
 Chandra Yidyasagara, says in his Appeal on the Marriage 
 of Hindu Widows : 
 
 “ An adequate idea of the intolerable hardships of early 
 widowhood can be formed by those only whose daughters, 
 sisters, daughters-in-law and other female relations have been 
 deprived of their husbands during infancy.” 
 
 The young widow must wear a coarse dress, and have no 
 ornaments. The ekadasi fast must be strictly observed for 
 24 hours twice a month. Her sight is a bad omen on a 
 festive occasion ; her touch is pollution. Instead of being 
 comforted she is told, “ You were a most sinful being in 
 your previous births ; you have therefore been widowed 
 already.” In some cases the results are prostitution and 
 foeticide. 
 
 Hindu women have generally been so degraded by the 
 men that they do not feel their degradation. They most- 
 ly think themselves as well treated as any women would 
 
96 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 wish to be. As a class, they have no desire for education. 
 So with the gTeat majority of widows. Their ideas have 
 been so perverted that they regard the inhuman treat- 
 ment they receive as commanded by the Shastras, and 
 make no complaint. But the more thoughtful and intelli- 
 gent among them feel bitterly their sad condition. 
 
 Sati or Widow Burning — The barbarous treatment of 
 women in India reached its climax in widow burning. That 
 sons should roast their mothers alive when they became 
 widows, seems too horrible an idea to enter the mind. 
 Yet Hindus, in the 19th century, contended earnestly for 
 the privilege. 
 
 Widow burning was unknown among the early Aryans. 
 There is no allusion to it in the Yedas, although a text was 
 perverted to justify the practice. The Hindus may have 
 adopted the customs from rude Scythian tribes, who sacri- 
 ficed concubine, horse and slave on the tomb of the dead 
 lord. Another motive was to get the property which would 
 have fallen to the widow. 
 
 To induce widows to submit to death in this cruel manner, 
 life was made bitter to them in every conceivable way. 
 This, however, was not sufficient, so they were told that 
 they would not only be pre-eminently virtuous, but enjoy 
 happiness for almost endless ages in another world if they 
 burnt themselves with the dead bodies of their husbands. 
 
 “ The wife who commits herself to the flames with her bus- 
 band’s corpse, shall equal Aruudhati and reside in Swarga.” 
 
 '•Accompanying her husband she shall reside so long in 
 Swarga as there are 35 millions of hairs on the human body.” 
 
 Another text says : 
 
 “ The woman who follows her husband expiates the sins of 
 three races ; her father’s line, mother’s line, and the family of 
 him to whom she was given a virgin.” 
 
 Hot a few widows, on account of the false hopes held 
 out to them and to escape a life of wretchedness, consented 
 to “ eat fire.” In the year 1817 it was found that, on an 
 average, two widows were burnt alive in Bengal every day. 
 
 In 1829, Lord William Bentinck, after suitable inquiries. 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 97 
 
 passed a regulation declaring the practice of Sati illegal 
 and punishable in the Criminal Courts. 
 
 Widow Marriage Act. — The injustice and pernicious 
 effects arising from the custom of prohibiting widow mar- 
 riage had been felt for some time by intelligent Hindus. 
 To an Englishman if an existing law is unjust or no longer 
 suitable, it seems evident that a new one ought to be made. 
 On the other hand, “ To the orthodox Hindu it would 
 bring no sense of conviction to prove that a practice is 
 cruel, if it is prescribed. For the suffering to the victim 
 is merely the inevitable result of her sins committed in a 
 past life ; and it may serve her as a blessed purification 
 which will bring happiness in the life to come.” The 
 efforts of reformers have therefore been partly directed to 
 show that widow marriage is permitted by Hinduism. 
 
 The law books of the Hindus are so numerous and contra- 
 dictory, that a long array of conflicting texts may be 
 gathered on almost any subject. In 1855, Pandit Iswara 
 Chandra Yidyasagara, in his Marriage of Hindu Widows, 
 showed that widow marriage is allowed in Parusara 
 Sanhita, held to be the guide in this Kali Yuga. 
 
 In July, 1856, Lord Canning, in spite of warnings and 
 clamours, legalized the marriage of Hindu Widows. It has 
 proved largely a dead letter. Orthodox native opinion lias 
 remained too strong for the law, and the sad lot of Hindu 
 widows, except in a few cases, remains unchanged. 
 
 The few widow marriages were largely brought about by 
 money being contributed by the leaders of the movement 
 towards the heavy marriage expenses. 
 
 Latterly a few men in good position have married their 
 widowed daughters ; as Professor Bhandarkar, of Poona, 
 probably the most distinguished Oriental scholar in India, 
 and the Editor of The Hindu, an admirable Madras daily 
 paper. Some more examples of this kind would have a 
 powerful influence. 
 
 Treatment of Widows. — The different treatment of 
 widowers and widows in India is a sad illustration of male 
 selfishness. It is also a proof of the gross injustice of 
 Hinduism. 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 the Indian Clerk. 
 
 As already mentioned, Hindus often charge a widow with 
 her husband’s, death ; he has been taken away from her to 
 punish her sin in a former birth ; the younger she is, the 
 greater sinner she must have been to be overtaken so soon ; 
 and her accusations are proportionally malignant. Her sin 
 must be expiated by a life of penance. 
 
 By the same reasoning, when a wife dies, it is an account 
 of her husband’s sins in a former birth. His demerit 
 should, therefore, be expiated by a life of penance. 
 
 A thief, to screen himself, 'will often try to accuse an 
 innocent person. In the case of a child-widow, it is the 
 parents who are to blame. If they had not married their 
 daughter till she was fully grown, she would not have been 
 a widow. 
 
 Sir Madhava Bow says : “ Forget not for a moment that 
 a widow is a most unfortunate being, and always deserves 
 the utmost compassion. Let her have the benefit of your 
 kindest words and deeds. Let her be ever treated with 
 every respect and regard. Let her not suffer from you an 
 unkind look, tone, word or even gesture.” 
 
 The extensive Indian vocabulary of abuse contains several 
 terms fitted to wound the feelings of a widow. She has 
 enough to bear without being contemptuously reminded 
 of her sad condition. 
 
 Shaving the head, or even cropping the hair, should be 
 discontinued. It is allowed, however, that a plain dress is 
 becoming in a widow, at least for a time. 
 
 The Ekadasi fasts should be given up. There is no more 
 reason why the widow should fast than the widower. It 
 is right that she should be temperate in eating, for 
 “ fulness of bread” is an incentive to lust. But this does 
 not require the Hindu severity. 
 
 Widows should be treated justly. — Mr. Mullick says that 
 the widow is “ often made the victim of fraud and chica- 
 nery.” Sir Madhava Bow says : “ Let not a pie of her 
 money or a particle of her jewellery be misappropriated. 
 Protect her against fraud and deception from any quarter. 
 Neither yourself nor any member of your family should 
 
TBUE PATEIOTISM. 
 
 99 
 
 borrow anything from her, lest it should not be returned, 
 and she be too delicate in feeling to ask for its return.” 
 
 Kindness should be shown to Widows. — Sir Madhava Row 
 makes the following suggestions under this head : 
 
 “ Give her for shelter a quiet, dry and healthy quarter of the 
 house. It must not be too near a drain, privy, bath-room or 
 cattle-shed Give her sufficient simple food, and also sufficient 
 simple clean cloths. If she fall sick, arrange kindly for her 
 comfort and medical treatment. 
 
 “ Give her a small monthly allowance for trifling contin- 
 gencies, and also for purposes of religion and charity. Un- 
 grudgingly allow her to visit her parents, brothers, and sisters- 
 Let her freely mix with the other members of the family and 
 partake of their comforts and pleasures as far as may be. If 
 they go out for any temple festival or other diversion, let her 
 also be one of the party. Let her be associated in any general 
 consultations which take place in the family. If she is at all 
 elderly, she will be able to afford many useful suggestion^.” 
 
 Young Widows should he allowed to Marry. — There are 
 cases of men of forty years of age marrying girls of eight, 
 whereas if they took a widow they would have a wife able 
 to be a helpmeet. 
 
 The Brahman opposition to widow marriage is thus 
 explained by Rao Bahadur G. H. Desmukh : 
 
 “ Priests derive a very large benefit from perpetual widowhood. 
 A widow thinks that her misfortunes arise from her not having 
 attended to religious duties in former lives, and therefore she 
 must devote her time and wealth to pilgrimages and so on. The 
 wealth of most widows is devoured by priests. It is the widows, 
 rich and poor, that maintain the priesthood in luxury.” 
 
 Fitting employment should he provided for Widows . — 
 The Indian Messenger justly remarks of the widow : “ Give 
 her honest and useful work, work that would ennoble her 
 soul and give her a relish for existence, and there will be 
 less complaint about her condition.” 
 
 Some of the ways in which they may be employed will 
 be mentioned. 
 
 Domestic duties, in the great majority of cases, will be 
 
100 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 most suitable. Already they do good service in this way 
 in their respective families. 
 
 Some may be employed as teachers. There are three 
 essentials to success. 1. The widow should bear a good, 
 character. 2. She should be fit for her work. 3. She 
 should have a home among relations or others who would 
 take care of her. 
 
 Some may be employed as midwives or nurses. 
 
 Trained midwives are greatly needed. Widows too old 
 or otherwise unfit to become teachers, might be useful in 
 this manner. 
 
 Concluding Appeal. — Theblessing of the Almighty cannot 
 rest upon a land in which widows are oppressed. The 
 
 Bible says, “ Te shall not afflict any widow If thou 
 
 afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will 
 surely hear their cry.” This is far more to be dreaded 
 than the widow’s shadow. 
 
 Educated men, besides acting towards widows in the 
 manner recommended, should try to give their mothers 
 and wives enlightened views regarding them ; they should 
 show the cruelty and sin of their present treatment. 
 
 Such as have young widowed daughters, following the 
 example of Professor Bhandarker and others, should 
 give them in marriage. In this course they should be 
 encouraged by their friends countenancing them in every 
 possible way. 
 
 Let all “plead for the widow,” and seek to put an end 
 to customs which are a disgrace to the country. 
 
 Caste. 
 
 The English word Caste is d.erived from the Portuguese 
 casta, race. It is especially used by Europeans to denote 
 the different classes into which the Hindus are divided. 
 Varna, colour, and Jati, race, are Indian names. Chatur- 
 varnya, the country of the four colours, is an ancient dis- 
 tinguishing epithet of India. To the present day, caste is 
 regarded by other nations of the earth as the characteristic 
 feature of the Hindus. 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 101 
 
 Caste distinctions, it is often alleged, are like the social 
 ranks which exist in England and other countries ; but there 
 is an essential difference. 
 
 Indian caste is derived from birth alone. It cannot be 
 transferred from one class to auother ; it cannot be gained 
 as a reward by the highest merit or bestowed as an honor- 
 ary title by the most powerful monarch. As well might an 
 ass be changed into a horse. The Queen of England can 
 raise a barber or shoemaker to the peerage ; but she 
 cannot alter the caste of a Hindu. The highest English 
 nobleman may sit at table with the humblest person ; not 
 so in India. 
 
 The sacred books of the Hindus contain no consistent 
 account of the origin of castes ; but, on the contrary, pre- 
 sent the greatest varieties of speculation on the subject. 
 
 The most common story is that the castes issued from the 
 mouth, arms, thighs and feet of Brahma. The Satapatha 
 Brahmana says that they sprung from the words bhuh, bhu- 
 vah, svah. The Taittiriya Brahmana says that they were 
 produced from the Vedas. In another place the same book 
 says the Brahman caste is sprung from the gods ; the Sudra 
 from the asuras. In one book men are said to be the 
 offspring of Vivasvat ; in another his son Manu is said to 
 be their progenitor ; whilst in a third they are said to be 
 descended from a female of the same name. The Bhaga- 
 vata Purana says that in the Krita or Satya Yuga there 
 was but one caste. The Vayu Purana says that the separa- 
 tion into castes did not take place till the Treta Yuga. 
 
 When witnesses in a court of justice give conflicting 
 evidence, discredit is thrown upon all their testimony. 
 Writingscannot be inspired which involve self-contradic- 
 tions. 
 
 How Caste arose. — The first cause was the difference of 
 race. The ordinary names for caste prove this. Jdti means 
 race ; varna, colour. The Aryas, coming from a colder 
 climate, were lighter in colour than the original inhabitants 
 of Iudra, whom they called “ the black skin.” They also 
 applied the najne Dasyus to the original inhabitants whom 
 they sought to dispossess of their lands. The word is 
 
102 
 
 THE IKDIAN CHEEK. 
 
 supposed to mean enemies. So many of them were enslaved 
 that the word dasa was applied to a servant. 
 
 The first great distinction was between the white and 
 dark races, the conquerors and the conquered, th6 freeman 
 and the slave. The Sudras undoubtedly were the aboriginal 
 races of India subdued by the Aryan invaders. One of the 
 earliest tribes brought under subjection was called Sudras, 
 and this name was extended to the whole race. 
 
 Difference of employment was another cause. In every 
 civilized country there are priests, soldiers, merchants, and 
 men following other occupations. 
 
 Subdivisions of castes arose from jealousy between rival 
 families, difference in religion, &c. 
 
 The present rigid caste rules were an invention of the 
 Brahmans to enslave their countrymen. This is evident 
 from the Laws of Manu : 
 
 100. Thus whatever exists in the universe is all the property 
 of the Brahman ; for the Brahman is entitled to all by his supe- 
 riority and eminence of birth. 
 
 413. But a Sudra, whether bought or not bought, (the 
 Brahman) may compel to practise servitude; for that (Sudra) 
 was created by the Self-Existent merely for the service of the 
 Brahman. 
 
 417. A Brahman may take possession of the goods of a Sudra 
 with perfect peace of mind, for since nothing at all belongs to 
 this (Sudra) as his own, he is one whose property may be taken 
 away by his master. Book VIII. 
 
 To induce the people to accept such unjust laws, it was 
 blasphemously asserted that they proceeded from the 
 Creator. 
 
 Dr. K. M. Banerjea well says, “ Of all forgeries the most 
 flagitious and profane is that Tybicb connects the name of 
 the Almighty with an untruth ” Hinduism, to use the 
 words of Principal Caird, “instead of breaking down artifi- 
 cial barriers, waging war with false separations, softening 
 divisions, and undermining class hatred and antipathies, 
 becomes itself the very consecration of them.” 
 
 The Spaniards, to enslave the American Indians, induced 
 them to put on what appeared to be bright ornaments ; but 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 103 
 
 which, in reality were fetters. The Hindus have been 
 similarly deceived. The Homan maxim was, “ Divide and 
 Conquer.” By the separation of the Hindus into castes, 
 the Brahmans have been able to retain their supremacy. 
 
 About 2000 subdivisions of Brahmans ate enumerated, 
 which keep nearly as much aloof from one another as it' 
 they were distinct castes. “ The curse of Brahmanism,” 
 says Mr. Sherring, “has fallen on all native society and 
 blighted it. Each caste, down to the lowest, is eaten up 
 with self-satisfaction and self-admiration. Indeed, it is a 
 notorious fact that the most debased castes yield to none in 
 the punctilious strictness with which they observe caste 
 prejudices and carry out caste regulations.” 
 
 Evils of Caste. — It is granted that caste has some ad- 
 vantages. It promotes a stationary semi- civilisation. It 
 binds together meu of the same class ; it promotes cleanli- 
 ness, and it is a check in certain directions on moral 
 conduct. But these are far more than counterbalanced by 
 its pernicious effects. The opinions of competent witnesses 
 will be given on this point. 
 
 The following are the heads of a lecture by Pandit 
 Sivanath Sastri on Caste : — 
 
 (1) It has produced disunion and discord. (2) It has made 
 honest manual labour contemptible in this country. (3) It has 
 checked internal and external commerce. (4) It has brought 
 on physical degeneracy by confining marriage within narrow 
 circles. (5) It has been a source of conservatism in every thing. 
 (6) It has suppressed the development of individuality and inde- 
 pendence of character. (7) It has helped in developing other 
 injurious customs, such as early marriage, the charging of heavy 
 matrimonial fees, &c. (8) It has successfully restrained the 
 
 growth and development of national worth ; whilst allowing 
 opportunity of mental and spiritual culture only to a limited 
 number of privileged people, it has denied these opportunities to 
 the majority of the lower classes, consequently it has made the 
 country negatively a loser- (9) It has made the country fit 
 for foreign slavery by previously enslaving the people by the 
 most abject spiritual tyranny. 
 
 Keshub Chunder Sen says in an “Appeal to Young 
 India:” — 
 
104 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 “ That Hindu caste is a frightful social scourge no one can 
 deny. It has completely and hopelessly wrecked social unity, 
 harmony, and happiness, and for centuries it has opposed all 
 social progress. But few seem to think that it is not so much 
 as a social but as a religious institution that it has become the 
 great scourge it really is. As a system of absurd social distinc- 
 tions, it is certainly pernicious. But when we view it on moral 
 grounds it appears as a scandal to conscience, and an insult to 
 humanity, and all our moral ideas and sentiments rise to execrate 
 it, and to demand its immediate extermination. Caste is the 
 bulwark of Hindu idolatry and the safeguard of Brahminical 
 priesthood. It is au audacious and sacrilegious violation of God’s 
 law of human brotherhood- It makes civil distinctions inviolable 
 divine institutions, and in the name of the Holy God sows per- 
 petual discord and enmity among His children ! It exalts one 
 section of the people above the rest, gives the former, under the 
 seal of divine sanction, the monopoly of education, religion and all 
 the advantages of social pre-eminence, and visits them with the 
 arbitrary authority of exercising a tyrannical sway over unfortu- 
 nate and helpless millions of human souls trampling them under 
 their feet and holding them in a state of miserable servitude. It 
 sets up the Brahminical order as the very vicegerents of the Deity 
 and stamps the mass of the population as a degraded and unclean 
 race, unworthy of manhood and unfit for heaven ” 
 
 Dr. Bhandarkar says : “ The caste system is at the root 
 of the political slavery of India.” 
 
 Sir H. S. Maine, in his learned work on Ancient Law, 
 describes caste as “ the most disastrous and blighting of 
 human institutions.” 
 
 Duty with regard to Caste. — 
 
 1. It should he made as widely known as possible that 
 caste is -not recognised in the Vedas. 
 
 Professor Max Muller first printed the whole of the Rig 
 Yeda with the commentary of Sayana ; and he has devoted 
 nearly his entire life to its study under the most favourable 
 circumstances. What does he say ? 
 
 “There is no authority whatever in the hymns of the Veda 
 for the complicated system of castes. There is no law to pro- 
 hibit the different classes of the people from living together, 
 
TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 105 
 
 from eating and drinking together ; no law to prohibit the 
 marriage of people belonging to different castes ; no law to brand 
 the offspring of such marriages with an indelible stigma. There 
 is no law to sanction the blasphemous pretensions of a priesthood 
 to divine honours, or the degradation of any human being to a 
 state below the animal.” Chips , Vol. II. 
 
 2. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man 
 should he recognised and acted upon. — An English poet says, 
 
 “ Children we are all 
 Of one Great Father, in whatever clime 
 His providence hath cast the seed of life ; 
 
 All tongues, all colours.” 
 
 The Mahabharata has the following : — 
 
 “ Small souls inquire ‘ Belongs this man 
 To our own race, or class, or clan P’ 
 
 But larger-hearted men embrace 
 As brothers all the human race.” 
 
 That there is no real distinction between men is admitted 
 by all who have any claim to intelligence. 
 
 3. No opprobrious Caste names should he used , and all 
 should he addressed without indignity .—The rudeness of 
 some Europeans is a frequent cause of complaint; but no 
 Englishman treats the Natives of this country with the 
 contempt and insoleuce which high caste Hindus habitually 
 display towards their low-caste brethren. 
 
 4. Subdivisions of the same caste should freely eat to- 
 gether and intermarry . — It is not desirable, as a rule, for 
 persons widely dissimilar in social and tastes to marry ; 
 but there is no religious prohibition against what is 
 proposed — only Custom. 
 
 5. Educated men of the same social standing should eat 
 together and their families should intermarry . — This would 
 be the second step in advance. 
 
 The great caste rod of terror is the prohibition of mar- 
 riage. Hindus feel bound to marry their children, and 
 if outcasted, this is impossible according to their ideas. 
 There are now so many educated and intelligent Hindus 
 in the great cities of India, that they outnumber several of 
 the subdivisions that confine intermarriage to themselves. 
 
106 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 A greater choice of marriage would tins be permitted, 
 while there would also be a greater similarity of tastes and 
 greater happiness. Early marriage would not be necessary, 
 and girls might be properly educated. 
 
 It has been proposed that a union of this kind should be 
 formed among educated men, who would bind themselves 
 to intermarry their children. If this were done, it would 
 give a great impulse to the movement throughout India. 
 
 6. Educated men should refuse to make expiation — That 
 the ignorant should cling to caste, is only what might be 
 expected ; but it is humiliating that some men who ought 
 to be the leaders of enlightened public opinion bend their 
 necks to its yoke. 
 
 The Hindu Patriot, the leading Native paper, while under 
 the editorship of the late Hon. Kristo Das Pal, remarked : — 
 
 “ As Indians, we should feel humiliated to see any one of our 
 fellow-Indians, with silly caste-notions in his head, travelling 
 to Europe — especially, when the traveller pretends to represent 
 the rising and educated classes of this great continent- We do 
 not wish people in England, in Europe, to believe that what we 
 call ‘ education’ has not yet freed our intellects from the tram- 
 mels of superstition ; that, we are afraid even to drink a glass 
 of pure water from the hands of an Englishman, lest the record- 
 ing angel should make a damning entry against us in his books ! 
 India can never be regenerated till she has outlived the oppres- 
 sive institution of caste ; and she can never outlive the oppres- 
 sive system of caste, if we are to look to men like who 
 
 begins like a daring rebel, but ends into an imbecile swallower 
 of penitential pills !” 
 
 The Indian Reformer says mournfully of such men : 
 
 “ We sicken at the sight. We are weary of moral worthlessness 
 and cowardice. When will India be reformed if her foremost sons 
 thus ignominiously allow themselves to be bound by the fetters of 
 custom — thus tamely submit to the dictation of ignorance, of 
 priestcraft, and of folly ? These men will surely do no good to their 
 country. We require men of braver hearts, of greater moral 
 courage, of a holier earnestness, of a more heroic determination ; of 
 a diviner faith.” 
 
 The foregoing remarks may fitly conclude with an extract 
 from an influential Bombay Journal, the Indu Prakash : 
 
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TRUE PATRIOTISM. 
 
 107 
 
 “ The qnestian is not about going to England, but about an 
 unmanly submission to the vilest and most absurd prejudices 
 of the caste system and Hinduism, which nothing can check and 
 uproot but a spirit of' noble independence, rigid moral firmness, 
 and genuine patriotism. The prohibition to go to England is 
 the least of our complaints against the tyranny of caste.” 
 
 “ It extends from the most trifling to the most important 
 affairs of Hindu life. It cripples the independent action of 
 individuals, sows the seed of bitter discord between the different 
 sections of society, encourages the most abominable practices, 
 and dries up all the springs of that social, moral, and intellectual 
 freedom which alone can secure greatness, whether to indi- 
 viduals or nations.” 
 
 “ Ob God, have mercy on our fallen-countrymen ! Give them 
 true knowledge of Thy Fatherhood, and their brotherhood ; that 
 our countless millions may be bound by one social tie, and join- 
 ing hand with hand, and heart with heart, move onward in the 
 path of freedom and righteousness, knowledge and glory, and 
 national regeneration.” 
 
 “ Hereditary bondsmen ! know ye not, 
 
 Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow ?” 
 
 Temperance and Purity Reforms. 
 
 These very important reforms, in which the reader should 
 take a .warm interest, have been noticed in previous chapters. 
 
 Muhammadans. 
 
 Muhammadans form one-fifth of the population of 
 India. They are not divided into castes like Hindus, one 
 of the reasons which enabled them to conquer India. At 
 different times, there have been bloody riots between 
 Hindus and Muhammadans. Cows have been killed in 
 Hindu temples, and pigs thrown into mosques. Though 
 now generally restrained by the strong arm of the British 
 Government, disputes, sometimes ending in bloodsted, still 
 occasionally occur. It is most desirable not only that such 
 unhappy events should no longer happen, but that, there 
 should be a friendly feeling between Hindus and Muham- 
 madans. Nothing but evil to both parties results from the 
 opposite. 
 
108 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 The two main causes of quarrels are the { cow question’ and 
 processions. To settle them, “ Conciliations Committees ” 
 have been established in some parts of North India, com- 
 posed of an equal number of Hindu gentlemen, chosen 
 by Muhammadans, and of Muhammadans chosen by Hin- 
 dus. They said to have succeeded beyond expectation in 
 restoring harmony between the two communities. 
 
 The above course should be followed in every part of 
 the country where necessary. Good men, on both sides, 
 should frown upon attempts to stir up strife and give vent 
 to evil passions in the name of religion. 
 
 The Queen’s Proclamation of 1858 lays down the rule 
 that none are to be favoured or molested on account of their 
 religion. Neither Hindus nor Muhammadans will be 
 allowed to tyrannise over each other. But more thau this, 
 they ought to regard each other with friendly feeliug, and 
 promote each other’s good. 
 
 Europeans. 
 
 Thousands of years ago the ancestors of the Euglish aud 
 Aryan Hindus were living together, speaking the same 
 language, aud worshipping the same God under the same 
 name. The Dyaush-Pitar (Heaven Father) of the Hindus 
 was the Zeuspater of the Greeks, aud the Jupiter of the 
 Romans. After long separation their descendants have uot 
 met on the plains ot India. There is no doubt that the 
 circumstances call for great wisdom and forbearance. Lord 
 Canning, in his parting address, remarked : 
 
 “ England has before her one of the most difficult problems 
 that state policy can be called to solve; the drawing together, 
 with harmony and without injustice to either side, two great 
 races radically different in every thing that forms the character 
 of man, but which, by the course of events, are being gradually 
 brought face to face.” 
 
 India, the seat of caste, is a most favourable soil for the 
 growth of race antagonism, aud it threatens to become a 
 formidable evil. All true patriots should seek to check it 
 to the utmost of their power. 
 
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 109 
 
 There are obstacles on the part of Englishmen which 
 hinder good feeling between the two races. They possess 
 great energy, and, as a rule, wish to act justly ; but 
 many of them are not sufficiently conciliatory. Even 
 among themselves they are often reserved. There are next 
 door neighbours in England who have no intercourse with 
 each other. 
 
 It must also be admitted that there are great difficulties 
 on the side of the Hindus. The majority shrink from the 
 very touch of Europeans as polluting. Eormerly at least, 
 when Hindus had to shake hands with Englishmen, they 
 afterwards purified themselves. Even the most friendly 
 say to Europeans, like Shyloek to Bassanio : “ I will buy 
 with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and 
 so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, 
 nor pray with you.” Such feelings are a great bar to 
 union. Hindus, accustomed from infancy to caste separa- 
 tion, attach little importance to this state of things. 
 Englishmen, however, are apt to regard it as grossly insult- 
 ing. Queen Victoria could enter the humblest cottage in 
 Britain, and sit down at the table, if cleanliness were 
 observed. The Muhammadan seclusion in which Hindu 
 women are kept is another great hindrance to intimacy. 
 The presence of ladies is one great charm in English 
 society. If Indian gentlemen and their wives could meet 
 European families, a kindly spirit would be greatly promot- 
 ed. Babu Keshub Chunder Sen says of his countrymen: 
 “ Their social customs are in a great measure obstacles 
 in the way of friendly intercourse with foreigners.” 
 
 Ignorant pseudo-patriotic editors, especially in Bengal, 
 , are one of chief causes of the existence of unfriendly feel- 
 t ings between the two nationalities. Police report cases 
 1 are quoted as typical of English society. A golden age is 
 1 supposed to have existed in India under Hindu rule, while 
 the country is represented as becoming poorer and poorer 
 e through the rapacity and misgovemment of the British, 
 a There is no doubt that, tried by a present western 
 it standard, India is comparatively poor. She is in the con- 
 dition of England in the 15th century, when a carpenter 
 
110 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 received 6d. (6 as.) a day. Witli free communication, 
 prices will slowly equalize all over the world. 
 
 Instead of becoming poorer, India is now far richer than 
 ever she was before. She absorbs nearly one-fourth of the 
 gold and one-third of the silver produced throughout the 
 world. Calcutta and Bombay are evidences of the result of ] 
 British rule. When both were first occupied, they were 
 mere jungle, with a few mud huts ; now they are magni- 
 ficent cities with palatial mansions. Except the public 
 offices belonging to the country, nearly all the fine build- 
 ings in them are owned by Indians.* 
 
 Europeans and Indians are united somewhat like husband i 
 and wife. Dwelling together, it is far better that they 
 should be as friendly as possible, indulgent to teach other’s 
 weaknesses, instead of makingthem the grounds of incessant < 
 fault-finding. 
 
 Of late years, no duty has been more strongly pressed 1 
 upon Englishmen going out to India than that of treating 4 
 the people with kindness. The great difficulty is with 
 mechanics, and with young men, who, all the world over, c 
 sometimes show disrespect even to their own fathers. It is g 
 hoped that the increased attention now directed to the c 
 subject will, by degrees, lead to improvement. 
 
 If we are disliked, it is, as a rule, our own fault. Teuny- a 
 son says, tl 
 
 “ Who shuts love out shall be shut out from lore.” 
 
 Friendship is best secured by manifesting a friendly ij 
 spirit towards those in whom the feeling is sought to be a 
 awakened. High moral couduct commands respect. |i 
 
 There have been faults on both sides. Each must make r 
 the confession, c 
 
 “ For I have sinu’d ; oh, grievously and often ; 
 Exaggerated ill, and good denied.” 
 
 The poet adds, 
 
 “ Be wiser, kindlier, better than thou art.” 
 
 * For details under this point, see, Is India becoming Poorer or Richer 
 with Remedies for the existing Poverty. Svo. 82 pp. 2f- As. Post-free, 3 As. 
 
TRUE patriotism. 
 
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 Every one in his own sphere may do something to pro- 
 mote friendly feelings between Europeans and Hindus. 
 This should be aimed at in spite of all provocation. The 
 Bible says, “ Overcome evil with good.” This will conduce 
 to happiness, here and hereafter. “ Blessed are the 
 peacemakers ; for they shall be called the children of God.” 
 
 Political Reform. 
 
 Except perhaps in other parts of the British Empire and 
 in the United States,- nowhere is there a greater amount of 
 political freedom than in India. The late Sir Madhava 
 Row, a statesman of great experience, said : 
 
 “The longer one lives, observes and thinks, the more deeply 
 does he feel that there is no community on the face of the earth 
 which suffers less from political evils and more from self- 
 inflicted or self-accepted, or self-created, and, therefore, 
 avoidable evils, than the Hindu community !!” 
 
 For years the British Government, by its schools and 
 colleges, has been preparing the people of India for self- 
 government, and more and more power will gradually be 
 conceded as the people become qualified for its exercise. 
 Without this preparation, the South American Republics 
 are a proof that self-government may be a curse rather 
 than a blessing. 
 
 National Congresses, wisely conducted, may do great 
 good. They have a very beneficial influence in making the 
 different nations of India better acquainted with each other 
 and diminishing local prejudices. British administrators, 
 like Sir John Strachey, fully admit that the government is 
 susceptible of many improvements. Suggestions may be 
 made which may lead to valuable reforms. 
 
 The danger is to expect too much from political changes. 
 
 “ How small of all that human hearts endure. 
 
 That part which laws or kings can cause or cure ! 
 
 Still to ourselves in every place consigned, 
 
 Our own felicity we make or find.’’ 
 
 Smiles says : “In all times men have been prone to believe 
 £hat their happiness and well-being were to be secured by 
 
112 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 means of institutions rather than by their own conduct.” 
 Herbert Spencer, in his Study of Sociology, shows the folly 
 of expecting to effect beneficent changes in society by 
 legislative apparatus except as the result of wide prepara- 
 tory changes in individual characters. An American writer 
 remarks : 
 
 “ The form of government mast naturally vary according to 
 the intelligence and virtue of the people. If, then, any citizens 
 would influence the government, if they would render it more 
 mild and liberal, they must seek to enlighten and reform the 
 great body of the people. The state, adapting its government 
 to the qualifications of the people, will be constrained to give 
 them liberty according as they are prepared to receive it.” 
 
 The necessity of female education has already been shown. 
 
 In electing members of public bodies, their moral char- 
 acter should be taken into account. Any person leading an 
 immoral life or convicted of dishonesty should be regarded 
 as an unfit representative. 
 
 NINTH STEP 
 
 TRUE RELIGION. 
 Importance of Religion. 
 
 Of all the steps, this is the most important. On it 
 depends the presence of several of the foregoing essentials, 
 and without it they can yield only an imperfect happiness 
 for a few fleeting years. This may be illustrated by the 
 following anecdote. 
 
 About three hundred years ago, a young man came to a 
 distinguished University in Europe to study law. His 
 long-cherished desire was at last gratified. He possessed 
 considerable talents, and commenced his studies with 
 bright hopes. 
 
 Soon afterwards, the student called on a good old man, 
 who devoted his life to the benefit of the people among whom 
 he lived. The young man told him that he had come to 
 
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TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 113 
 
 the University on account of its great fame, and he intended 
 to spare no pains or labour to get through his studies as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 The good old man listened with great patience and then 
 said : — 
 
 “ Well, and when you have got through your course of 
 studies, what do you mean to do ?” 
 
 “ Then 1 shall take my degree,” answered the young man. 
 
 “ And then ?” asked his venerable friend. 
 
 “ And then,” continued the youth, “ I shall have a 
 number of difficult questions to manage, shall catch people’s 
 notice by my eloquence, my zeal, my learning, my acute- 
 ness, and gain a great reputation.” 
 
 “ And then ?” repeated the good man. 
 
 “ And then,” replied the young student, “ why there 
 cannot be a question I shall be promoted to some high 
 office. Besides, I shall make meney and grow rich.” 
 
 “ And then ?” continued the old man. 
 
 “And then,” added the young lawyer, “then I shall 
 be comfortably and honourably settled in wealth and 
 dignity.” 
 
 “ And then ?” asked his friend. 
 
 “ And then,” said the youth, “ and then — and then 
 — then I shall die.” 
 
 Here the good old man raised his voice: “and what 
 then ?” Whereupon the young man made no answer, but 
 cast down his head, and went away. The last “ And then” 
 had, like lightning, pierced his soul, and he could not get 
 rid of it. The student, instead of devoting his life to the 
 pursuit of the pleasures and honours of this world, sought 
 to promote the glory of God and the good of his country. 
 
 There are several considerations prompting to virtuous 
 ^ conduct. A desire to please parents and other relations 
 often exercises a beneficial influence ; the ruinous conse- 
 J quences of immorality are another check ; the still small 
 voice of conscience, until it is silenced by repeated neglect, 
 : t protests against a life of sin. But all these motives, while 
 s ' valuable in their place, are of themselves insufficient. 
 0 There are some vices so common in India, that they meet 
 8 
 
114 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 with no reprobation from public opinion. There is also the 
 hope of concealment, — “No eye shall see me.” Besides, 
 sensual indulgence at last renders a man incapable of 
 resistance. He will pursue his downward course iu spite 
 of every argument or entreaty. 
 
 Of all the motives which can he brought to bear upou 
 man, religion is the highest and most enduring. Other 
 considerations affect time; this reaches to eternity. To 
 realize continually the presence of God our Heavenly 
 Father, is a most powerful safeguard against siu. We can 
 go to Him in all our trials aud temptations; we can hear 
 Him sayiug to us, “Son, thou art ever with me; I will 
 never leave thee ; continue thou in my love.” 
 
 Religion is frequently the only source of true consolation. 
 
 Man needs a religion. In youth, in the time of prosperity, 
 the thoughts of God, of death and a future state, may be 
 distasteful, and the world* may be considered sufficient to 
 satisfy the desires. But a change will take place in all. 
 The dark clouds of affliction will overcast the sky ; wealth 
 may take to itself wings and fly away ; the coveted office 
 may not be gaiued ; health, the absence of which embitters 
 every earthly pleasure, may be broken ; loved ones may be 
 removed by death, and, sooner or later, the inexorable 
 summons will reach ourselves. 
 
 Under trials like the above, our dearest earthly friends 
 will prove “miserable comforters, physicians of no value.” 
 But true religion cau support us uuder the most trying 
 circumstauces and cast a gleam of light across the dark 
 river of death. 
 
 Seek religion now. Ponder the solemn question asked 
 by the Great Teacher : “ What shall it profit a man, if he 
 shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? Or 
 what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?” 
 
 Educated Hindus and Religion. 
 
 Educated Hindus pass through a severe religious trial. 
 When children, beloved mothers trained them to worship 
 their ancestral gods, giving them offerings which they 
 might present with their own little hands. They were 
 
TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 115 
 
 taught to believe that bathing in the Ganges or other 
 sacred rivers washed away sin ; that the Vedas and Pura- 
 nas were the great sources of all knowledge ; that a 
 Brahman’s blessing or a Brahman’s curse was what was 
 most to be desired or dreaded by any human being. 
 
 During childhood, such instruction was implicitly believ- 
 ed. As they advanced in their English studies and became 
 acquainted with Western enlightenment, a gradual change 
 took place in their opinions. Probably they were first 
 struck with the folly of idolatry. They began to acknow- 
 ledge that there is only one true God, and that it is wrong 
 to liken Him to an ugly image. They felt that the waters 
 of the Ganges might cleanse the body, but they could not 
 purify the soul; the Hindu sacred books were found to 
 contain numerous errors, and the whole religious system 
 was seen- to be a device of the Brahmans. 
 
 It is not surprising that such a change should beget a 
 doubting spirit — a disposition to doubt even with as little 
 reason as was shown before in yielding an assent. In this 
 state of mind, the educated Hindu is inclined to question 
 everything as he once was to believe everything. 
 
 Young men everywhere have a tendency to pride and 
 self-sufficiency ; but educated Hindus are specially tempted 
 in this way. They are apt to compare themselves with 
 their fellow-countrymen ignorant of Shakespeare or Milton, 
 and are proud of their superiority. And not only so. They 
 become wiser, in their own imaginations, than their 
 teachers. They consider themselves competent to decide 
 the most difficult questions which have engaged the study 
 of the most profound thinkers in all ages. Adopting one 
 of thfe cant phrases of the age, they sometimes denounce, 
 with the utmost dogmatism, all “ dogmas,” except the very 
 few they are themselves disposed to accept. Because Hin- 
 duism is found to be false, they draw the sweeping con- 
 clusion that all “ book revelations ” are mere inventions 
 of priestcraft. 
 
 Young men are also tempted to sensuality. The pas- 
 sions are strong, attracting to self-indulgence and the 
 pursuit of worldly pleasure. It is seen that religion com- 
 
116 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 mands self-discipline and self-restraint; that sLe foi bids 
 making life a mere chase after selfish gratifications, and 
 insists upon the discharge of great and difficult duties. 
 Hence there is a secret wish that religion may not be true, 
 that 'pleasure may he indulged without check. 
 
 Educated Hindus may be divided into several classes, 
 which may be briefly noticed. 
 
 The Indifferent. — It is to be feared that indifference is the 
 general feeling on the part of educated Hindus with regard 
 to all religion. Their minds are entirely taken up with 
 worldly pursuits. The folly of such conduct is thus shown 
 by Pascal, a distinguished French writer : — 
 
 “I know not who has sent me into the world, nor what the world 
 is, nor what I myself am. All that I know is that I must soon die, 
 but what I know least of all is this death which I cannot escape.” 
 
 “As I know not whence I come, so neither know I whither I go. 
 I only know that on leaving this world, I fail for ever into nothing- 
 ness, or into the hands of an angry God, without knowing whether 
 of these tw r o conditions is to be my lot for eternity. Behold my 
 state, full of misery, of weakness, of darkness ! And from all 
 .this I conclude that I am to pass all the days of my life without 
 caring to inquire w hat is to befall me. Perhaps I might find some 
 enlightenment in my doubts, but I will not take the trouble, or 
 lift my foot to seek it. And then, treating with contempt those 
 who shall burden themselves with this care, I shall go, without 
 foresight and without fear, to try so great an issue, and allow 
 myself to be led softly to death, in uncertainty of the eternity of 
 my future condition.” 
 
 The Bible says to such, “ Bejoice, 0 young man, in thy 
 youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, 
 and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of 
 thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God 
 will bring thee into judgment.” 
 
 Eoubters. — There are seme educated Hindus who, al- 
 though not quite indifferent to religion, show no earnest 
 spirit of inquiry, and are content to remain in a sort of 
 intermediate class of perpetual doubters. This is a very un- 
 satisfactory state of mind. It is most desirable to have on 
 all important subjects clear views and well-defined opinions. 
 
TEUE EELIGIOST. 
 
 117 
 
 It is a common mistake, especially among young men of the 
 present day, to suppose that it is something indicative of a 
 superior mind to be in a state of doubt. But the very 
 reverse is the truth. A strong mind presses on to a decision. 
 
 Suppose you saw a farmer sitting quietly in his house 
 with folded hands, in the midst of seed-time. You ask him 
 why he is not busy in his fields. The reply is, that he has 
 not yet. determined what kind of grain is best adapted to 
 his soil. Suppose you knew a man who all his life was in 
 doubt what profession to choose. You would surely think 
 that these men had lost their senses. But far greater is the 
 folly of the man who is content to remain without settled 
 views about religion. 
 
 Men are wise enough in worldly matters. They diligent- 
 ly collect the means of forming their opinions and act. ac- 
 cordingly. In religion, however, many persons go through 
 life, making- no earnest efforts to arrive at the truth. 
 
 Conformers to Idolatry. — I’his is a very large class, in- 
 cluding many belonging to the classes already described. 
 The remarks of Bishop Caldwell have been quoted. 
 
 Keshub Chunder Sen thus points the duty of intelligent; 
 Hihdus with regards to idolatry : 
 
 “There can be no doubt that the root of all the evils which 
 afflict Hindu soci ;ty, that which constitutes the chief cause of 
 its degradation, is Idolatry. Idolatry is the curse of Hindustan, 
 the deadly canker that has eaten into the vitals of native society. 
 It would be an insult to your superior education to say that you 
 have faith in idolatry, that you still cherish in your hearts rever- 
 ence for the gods and goddesses of the H-indu pantheon, or 
 that you believe in the thousand and one absurdities of your 
 ancestral creed. But, however repugnaut to your understand- 
 ing and repulsive to your good sense, the idolatry of your fore- 
 fathers may be, there is not a thorough appreciation of its deadly 
 character on moral grounds. It will not do to retain in the 
 mind speculative and passive disbelief in its dogmas, you must 
 practically break with it as a dangerous sin and abomination ; 
 you must give' it up altogether as an unclean thing. You must 
 discountenance it, discourage it, oppose and hunt it out of your 
 cmntry. For the sake of your souls and for the sake of the souls 
 of the millions of your countrymen, come away from hateful 
 
118 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 idolatry, and acknowledge the one supreme and true God, our 
 Maker, Preserver, and Moral Governor, not in belief only, but 
 in the every-day concerns and avocations of jour life. By offer- 
 ing such uncompromising allegiance to Him and dedicating 
 yourselves wholly to His service you will rescue your own 
 conscience from corruption and sin, and your country from 
 superstition, priestcraft, absuid and injurious practices, and 
 horrid customs and usages. By declaring a vigorous crusade 
 against Hinduism, you will lay the axe at the root of the tree of 
 corruption.” 
 
 The righteous Judge of all the earth will try persons 
 who ignorantly worship the gods of their fathers by a 
 different standard from these who are sufficiently enlighten- 
 ed to see the folly and sin of idolatry. Knowledge brings 
 with it responsibility. The man who. believes in ouly one 
 Albaighty Creator of the universe and yet professes to be a 
 worshipper of Yishnu or Siva, is knowingly and wilfully 
 guilty of high treason against God, and of perpetuating the 
 reign of superstition among his countrymen. 
 
 Excuses . — There are several excuses by which educated 
 Hindus seek to palter with their consciences, one or two of 
 which may be noticed. 
 
 The desire to please parents and relatives is, perhaps, the 
 most common reason assigned for conforming to idolatry. 
 Within proper limits, the feeling is praiseworthy ; but to 
 break God’s first and great command at the wish of any 
 human being is a plea which cannot be sustained for a 
 moment. Suppose a parallel case. Parents urge a son to 
 take part in a robbery; they will be vexed if he does not 
 consent-. Would a judge accept such an excuse ? Would 
 it be true kindness to his parents to join them in such an 
 act ? Is he not rather bound, not only to abstain entirely 
 from any participation in the crime, but to do his utmost to 
 dissuade his parents from engaging in it ? It would be 
 great cruelty to behave otherwise. Idolatry is robbing 
 God of the honour justly due to Him, and giving it to a 
 dumb block. So far from encouraging parents in such a 
 course, love to them demands that every effort should be 
 made to lead them to worship the one true God. The 
 
TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 119 
 
 excuse is equally frivolous, that they will not consent. 
 Take the supposed case of robbery. If the son were to 
 say, my parents are bent upon this ; it is useless trying to 
 change their minds ; I must simply join them : would this 
 be held as a justification ? 
 
 If our friends and relations wish to do anything wrong, . 
 our duty is to -warn them againstdt; but if they will not 
 hear, the responsibility rests with them. Should, however, 
 we take pa.it, we share in their guilt, and with conduct far 
 more blameworthy because of our greater knowledge. 
 
 To please a relative will not be received as an excuse in 
 a court of justice for breaking the law of the land ; still 
 less will it be accepted by the great Judge of the universe. 
 Obey Gocf rather than man. 
 
 Some allege that they worship the one true God under the 
 name of Vishnu, Siva, or Kali. 
 
 In speaking, we are bound to use words in their ordinary 
 sense. Suppose a man were to say to himself by white I 
 ‘mean black, would he be justified in saying of an ordinary 
 crow, I saw a white crow ? In spite of such a pretext, it 
 would be deceit. It is well known what Hindus understand 
 by Yishnu, Siva, and Kali ; and to mean something entirely 
 different when employing the terms, is fraud. The God 
 of truth is not to be worshipped by hypocrisy. A man is 
 not to deny God by appearing a Hindu, when he believes 
 Hinduism to be false. 
 
 Seekers after God. — Although the great majority of 
 educated Hindus entirely disregard the claims of religion, 
 there are some who are seeking God, if haply they may 
 find Him. In the seai’ch after truth, they will meet with 
 difficulties and trials, which entitle them to warm sympathy. 
 If, however, the inquiry is pursued with earnestness, 
 sincerity, perseverance, humility, and prayer, it will 
 assuredly be successful in the end. A few hiuts may be 
 given on this point. 
 
 The Search after Truth. 
 
 Wrong Modes of Search. — There are some persons who, 
 when they inquire into .a religion, take up some isolated 
 
120 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 points, and confining their attention to them, demand an 
 explanation, or they reject the whole system. In deciding 
 a moral question, however, it is necessary to investigate 
 the evidence on both sides. While there may be difficulties, 
 perhaps inexplicable, on one side, there may be still greater 
 difficulties on the other. 
 
 Another hindrance to arriving at religious truth is a 
 wrong idea of the evidence to be expected. It is a pro- 
 position in geometry, that the augles contained in auy 
 triangle, are together equal to two right angles. This is 
 established by reasoning which commands the assent of 
 every person who understands the statement of the process. 
 But many truths are incapable of demonstration like 
 mathematical problems. No such proof could be afforded 
 for the existence of Alexander the Great. 
 
 In the search after religious truth, several qualifications 
 are necessary. The absence of any of them will defeat the 
 aim. 
 
 Earnestness. — This is necessary to success even in 
 common life. It is only the earnest student who gains 
 university honours ; it is only the diligent mau who becomes 
 rich. Much more is earnestness needful in religion. The 
 royal Hebrew moralist said that wisdom will be found, “ if 
 thou seekest for her as silver, and searchest for her as for 
 hid treasures.” 
 
 Prayerfulness. — Last century a young man went to a 
 celebrated preacher in London, saying that his mind was 
 sorely perplexed with some things in the Bible which he 
 could not understand. “Before I hear your difficulties,” 
 said the preacher, “ let me ask you one thing : did you take 
 them in humble prayer to God before you came to me ?” 
 With a natural shame the young mau confessed that he had 
 not. “ Then,” replied the preacher, “I must decline to 
 hear you. Prayer is one of the first duties of natural reli- 
 gion ; and be who lives in neglect of that, must not expect 
 to solve the difficulties of a religion that is revealed.” 
 
 ,Dr. Kay, of Calcutta, gave the following advice to intelli- 
 gent Hindus: — 
 
TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 121 
 
 “ You and all your countrymen who are worth listening to on 
 such a subject, acknowledge that spiritual light and the know- 
 ledge of God must come from Himself, the one Supreme. The 
 Mussulman^ say the same ; and we Christians above all others 
 affirm it. Then if you are really in earnest, if you are honest, 
 you see what you must do. You must go and endeavour to pray 
 thus : 0 all-wise t all merciful God and Father, pour the bright 
 beams of Thy light into my soul, and guide me into Thy eternal 
 truth.” 
 
 Acting up to the Light possessed, or, obeying Conscience. 
 
 — This is a rule of the utmost consequence. The life we lead 
 has a great effect upon our belief. Suppose a man wishes to 
 follow the bent of his passions, he will unconsciously try to 
 persuade himself that there is no future state, or at least 
 that he will be dealt with very leniently. Belief may be 
 similarly affected by other feelings, even when persons lead 
 moral lives. Man is naturally proud : he has an aversion to 
 spiritual truth : he may therefore fail to see facts which stare 
 him in the face, or he may draw conclusions which are 
 grossly incorrect. The Great Teacher says, “ This is the 
 condemnation, that light is come into the world, and meD 
 loved- darkness rather than light because their deeds were 
 evil ” 
 
 A National Eeligion. 
 
 A desire is expressed by some educated Hindus for a 
 National religion. It is thought degrading to India to 
 have auy other religion than her own. 
 
 There is no national geography, astronomy, chemistry, 
 geometry, &c. Science is one all the world over. It is the 
 same with religion. If each country had its own God, 
 there might be different religions ; but all enlightened men 
 are now agreed that there is only one God, the Creator, 
 Px-eserver, and Governor of the Universe. The Brother- 
 hood of Man is similarly acknowledged : 
 
 Since God is one and all men are alike His childreu, it is 
 reasonable to suppose that He has given only one religion. 
 A national religion shows that it is uot the true religion. 
 
 The most enlightened countries in Europe and America 
 
122 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEBK. 
 
 accepted a religion first made known to them by Asiatics, 
 and did not reject it from false patriotism, saying, “ We 
 must have national religions . ” 
 
 An Indian poet says : “ Disease born with you will destroy 
 you : medicine which is in the lofty mountain not born with 
 you, will expel the disorder.” 
 
 Of all false patriotism that is the worst which seeks by 
 sophistry to defend erroneous beliefs because they are na- 
 tional. It promotes hypocrisy and disregard of truth among 
 its advocates, while it is a grievous wrong to their ignorant 
 countrymen, tending to perpetuate the reign of supersti- 
 tion. 
 
 Let the advocates of a national religion remember the 
 wise words of Sir Madhava Row already quoted : 
 
 “What is not true, is not patriotic.” 
 
 A Thorough Reform of Hinduism Impossible. 
 
 All intelligent Hindus admit that great reforms are 
 needed to purify Hinduism. Many think that this is all 
 that is necessary to render it worthy of retention. Some 
 eveu affirm that it would then occupy the highest place 
 among the religions of the world. 
 
 Let the changes necessary to reform Hinduism up to the 
 light of the 19th century be considered : 
 
 1 . Reformed Hinduism should be neither polytheistic nor 
 pantheistic, but monotheistic. All intelligent men now be- 
 lieve in the existence of only one true God. There are no 
 such beings as Vishnu, Siva, Sarasvati, Durga, or the 33' 
 crores of the Hindu Pantheon. The Vishnu bhakti, the 
 Siva bhakti, &c. would all come to an end. : No sectarial 
 marks would be worn. The blasphemous assertion, Aham 
 Brahviasmi, ‘ I am Brahma/ would no longer be made. 
 
 2- All idols would l> i destroyed, and no longer worship- 
 ped as giving false and degrading ideas of God. The in- 
 decent images on some temples would be broken down. 
 There would no longer be Vaishnava nor Saiva temples. 
 
 3. The Vedas, the Code of Manu, the Ramayana, Maha- 
 bharata, Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas, &c., as teaching 
 
TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 123 
 
 polytheism, pantheism, containing debasing representations 
 of God, unjust laws, false history, false science, false morals, 
 would no longer be considered sacred books. 
 
 4. Hindu worship in temples would cease. Festivals 
 would no longer be celebrated. Pilgrimages to supposed 
 holy places would come to an end. Puja to idols would 
 not be observed in private families. 
 
 5. As Hindu temples contain only small shrines for 
 idols, buildings like churches would require to be erected, 
 in which people might assemble for public worship, and 
 receive instruction in the duties of life. 
 
 6. Caste would no longer be recognised, and the broth- 
 
 erhood of man would be acknowledged; all caste distinc- 
 tions would cease. . 
 
 Every one of the above changes is necessary to meet the 
 views of enlightened men. 
 
 Take away sweetness from sugar, and it is no longer 
 sugar; deprive a man of reason, and he is no longer a 
 human being. Hinduism without its gods, its sacred books, 
 its temples, its worship, its caste, would be no longer Hin- 
 duism, but an entirely different religion, like the Sadha- 
 rana Brahma Samaj. It would be simply Theistic. 
 
 The Religion which Man needs. 
 
 It is allowed that Hinduism contains some great truths, 
 but they are mixed with dangerous errors. It recognizes 
 by its doctrines of incarnations the need of God becoming 
 man to lighten the burden of pain and misery under 
 which the universe is groaning. But although Hinduism 
 is right in accepting the doctrine of incarnations, its views 
 regarding what is to be expected are very mistaken. The 
 chief Hindu incarnation is that of Krishna, whose life is 
 described in the Bbagavat and other Puranas. He is said 
 to have had 8 queens, 16,100 wives, and 180,000 sons, 
 many of whom he killed with his own hand. He might 
 rather be called an incarnation of lust than of holiness. 
 
 Christianity makes known the true Incarnation, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven and be- 
 
124 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 came man for our salvation. He was holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, the true Nishhalank, or spotless, Avatar. 
 
 Jesus Christ taught that the first and great command is 
 to love God with all our heart ; the second, to love our 
 fellow-men. He went about doing good. 
 
 That Christianity is the religion which man needs will 
 now be briefly shown. 
 
 The body needs food, clothing, and a house. The soul 
 may also be said to have three great wants. 
 
 I. Man needs the Pakdon of Sin. — All must acknow- 
 ledge that they are sinful. Some Brahmans daily make this 
 acknowledgment : 
 
 Papo’ham papakarmaham papatma papasambhavah: 
 
 The meaning of these words is : “I am sin ; I commit sin ; 
 my soul is sinful ; I am conceived in sin.” This confession 
 is true, and deserves to be made daily by every man. 
 
 The great question is. Can sin be forgiven ? 
 
 Hiuduism gives two contradictory answers to this ques- 
 tion. Many believe that sin can be washed away by 
 bathing in the Ganges or other supposed sacred waters : 
 Even the repetition of the name of a god is thought to have 
 this effect. A notoriously wicked man, called Ajamila, is 
 said to have been taken to heaveu, because, when near 
 death, he called on his son Narayana to bring him some 
 water. On the other hand, according to the doctrine of 
 Karma, pardon is impossible. Sankar Acharya says that 
 Brahma can no more interfere with Karma than he can 
 bring wheat out of rice. 
 
 Bramhos, like all other intelligent men, acknowledge that 
 sin cannot be removed by bathing, the excrements of the 
 cow, &c. ; but they adopt in some measure the doctrine of 
 Karma, supposing that it must, be punished by “ adequate 
 agonies,” What suffering this involves, who can tell ? 
 
 Christianity, on the other hand, shows how pardon may 
 be obtained consistently with God’s justice. God is the 
 lawgiver of the universe. If sin were pardoned without an 
 atouement, it would be regarded as a slight thing, and men 
 would be tempted to rebel against the Divine Government. 
 
TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 125 
 
 God Himself provided a Saviour. He so loved men that He 
 gave His only Son Jesus Christ to become a man, to live 
 in this world and die on their account. He bore the punish- 
 ment due to sin ; He perfectly observed God’s laws. He 
 answers for the sins of those who accept Him as their 
 Saviour, and covers them, as it were, with His robe of 
 righteousness. 
 
 God now offers free pardon to all who seek it in the name 
 of Jesus Christ. He is everywhere present ; we do not 
 need to go on a pilgrimage to some distant temple to find 
 Him. You may kneel where you are and say, “ 0 Great 
 God, I confess that I am a sinner, unable to save myself. 
 I seek for pardon in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ; I 
 make Him my only refuge. For His sake blot out my 
 sins.” This prayer, sincerely offered, will' be heard. 
 
 II. Man needs Holiness. — While pardon of sin is a 
 great blessing, it is not enough. Suppose a man under 
 sentence of death was also suffering from a mortal disease. 
 In order to his being saved, he must be cured as well as 
 pardoned ; for if only pardoned, he would soon die of the 
 disease. To meet his case, a physician is needed able to 
 restore him to health. 
 
 We all have the disease of sin, which is as loathsome aud 
 incurable as the worst forms of leprosy. Iu God’s sight 
 we are, as it were, covered from head to foot, with putrid 
 sores. In such a state we can never enter His holy heaven. 
 
 What means does Hinduism provide for growth in holi- 
 ness ? None. Brahma, Yishnu and Sivaj its three principal 
 gods, according to the Sastras, were themselves guilty of 
 great crimes. If they could not keep themselves from sin, 
 how can they help their worshippers ? No prayers for holi- 
 ness can be addressed to them. Does Hindu temple- 
 worship afford any help ? Are any exhortations given in 
 them to lead a holy life ? None whatever. In some of 
 them there are dancing girls, whose influence can only be 
 corrupting. According to Hinduism, the highest duty is 
 to refrain from all actions good or bad, and to meditate till 
 a man believes in the blasphemous assertion, Aham 
 Brahmasmi, ‘ I am Brahma.’ 
 
126 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 The one true God, who is an Ocean, of mercy, besides, 
 pardon, offers to send a physician able to cure the disease 
 of sin — His Holy Spirit. 
 
 A physician employs medicines ; so the Holy Spirit pre- 
 scribes means for our recovery from sin, though it is He 
 who gives efficacy to them all. Some of them are the 
 following : 
 
 The Study of the Bible . — This Book, the true Sastra, has 
 been given as a light to our feet, to guide us in the right 
 way. It also purifies. Jesus Christ prayed for His disciples, 
 “ Sauctif} 7 them through Thy truth ; Thy word is truth.” 
 The Scriptures should be read daily, and our conduct 
 should be regulated by them. 
 
 Prayer . — Like little children on a rough road, we are 
 apt to stumble aud fall ; by prayer, we, as it were, take the 
 hand of God our heavenly Father, and are held up. Every 
 morniug we should thank God for the mercies of the past 
 night, aud seek His help duriug the day. Every evening, 
 before retiring to rest, we should confess the sins of the 
 past day and seek forgiveness. At any time when we are 
 tempted, we should lift up our hearts in prayer. 
 
 Public Worship . — God has appointed one day in seven to 
 be kept holy. We should then especially review our con- 
 duct during the past week, study the Scriptures, and 
 worship God in His house. 
 
 Watchfulness against Sin. — “ Watch and pray that ye 
 enter not into temptation.” W r e should avoid, as far as 
 possible, whatever would tempt us to do wrong. Ungodly 
 companions and bad books should especially be shunned. 
 
 Associating with good men, reading good books, and 
 meditation, are other means of promoting our progress in 
 holiness. 
 
 Self-Examination . — By this is meant seriously consider- 
 ing our conduct how far it is right. Pythagoras, an 
 old Greek philosopher, recommended that this should be 
 done every night before we go to sleep. Blackie says, in 
 Self-Culture : “No man, in my opinion will ever attain to 
 high excellence in what an old divine calls ‘ the life of God 
 in the soul of man/ without cultivating stated periods of 
 
TKUE RELIGION. 127 
 
 solitude, aud using that solitude for the important 
 purpose of self-knowledge and self-amelioration.” 
 
 A patient who does not take the medicines he is ordered 
 and otherwise disobeys his physician, cannot expect to re- 
 cover. In like manner, if we do not follow the instructions 
 of the Holy Spirit, it is vain to hope for the cure of the 
 disease of sin. 
 
 Pray earnestly, “ Heavenly Father, for the sake of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, give me Thy Holy Spirit to lead me 
 into all truth, to purify my heart, and to make me like 
 Thyself.” 
 
 Progress, it must be confessed, is very slow with most, 
 from the half-hearted way in which they obey the commands 
 given to them. 
 
 III. Heaven. — The Empress of India has reigned more 
 than fifty years; but before long her crown must belaid 
 aside, and she must lie in the tomb like her long line of 
 ancestors. Short-lived happiness cannpt satisfy us. We 
 need an eternity of joy. 
 
 Hindus hope to purchase heaven by their own supposed 
 good deeds, by giving alms to beggars, &c. One of the most 
 efficacious means is supposed to be to take hold of a cow’s 
 tail at death, the animal being giveu to Brahmans. 
 
 Every intelligent man can see the worthlessness of such 
 methods; but, in any case, a dying Hindu must leave the 
 world in great alarm about the future. During his in- 
 numerable previous births, according to his idea, he may 
 have committed some sin not yet expiated, and when he 
 departs he may require to go to one of the fearful hells 
 described in the Puranas. 
 
 Christians do not hope to enter heaven on account of 
 their own supposed good deeds. They confess that their 
 best actions are defiled by sin, and need forgiveness. They 
 hope to be saved only through the spotless righteousness 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him their sins are 
 forgiven, and admission to heaven is obtained. At death 
 the true Christian has no fear. As soon as breath departs, 
 his soul goes to paradise, there to be happy for ever in 
 God’s palace. 
 
128 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 God is our Father, because He created us. We are not 
 eternal as Hindus suppose, but God called us into being'. 
 We are dependent upon Him for every breath we draw ; we 
 live upon His earth ; everything we have is His gift. 
 
 We owe to Him the love and obedience of children to a 
 wise and good father; but we have been ungrateful, rebel- 
 lious sons, disregarding His commauds, and following our 
 own sinful desires. Still He yeai-ns over us with a father’s 
 love, and calls us to return to Him. Say to him, “ Father, 
 I have sinned against Thee, and am no more worthy to be 
 called Thy son,” and embrace the blessings freely offered 
 through Jesus Christ. You will then be received again into 
 God’s family as His adopted child. He will watch over you 
 through life, causing all things to work for your good. A 
 wise father does not allow his children to spend their time 
 in play ; he requires them to study ; he corrects them when 
 they do wrong. So God deals with His children in this 
 world; but the object is to prepare them for an eternity of 
 happiness. 
 
 Choose the religion which provides for man’s three great 
 wants. 
 
 The list of books at the end of this little volume contains 
 numerous publications on the important subject of this 
 chapter. Attention may be particularly directed to Short 
 Papers for Seekers after Truth, to Elements of Christian 
 Truth and Letters to Indian Youth on the Evidences of 
 Christianity, both the latter by the Rev. Dr. Murray 
 Mitchell. Above all, the New Testament should be studied. 
 
 TENTH STEP. 
 
 A HIGH AIM IN LIFE. 
 
 It is to be regretted that many who have received an 
 English education, as soon as they leave school or college, 
 give up all attention to books, showing that their only- 
 motive in study was to command a higher salary and to 
 obtain more of those gross sensual enjoyments in which 
 
A HIGH AIM IN LIFE. 
 
 .129 
 
 they find their greatest happiness. Such men manifest 
 no love for learning, no desire for making any further 
 advance in useful knowledge, hut are wholly absorbed in 
 their selfish pursuits, aud do nothing to raise others from 
 their state of ignorance and degradation. 
 
 Mill says : 
 
 “ It is worth training meen to feel, not only actual wrong or 
 actual meanness, but the absence of noble aims and endeavours, 
 as not merely blamable, but also degrading • to have a feeling 
 of the miserable smallness of mere self in the face of this great 
 universe, of the collective mass of our fellow-creatures, in the 
 face of past history and of the indefinite future — the poorness 
 and insignificance of life if it is to be all spent in making things 
 comfortable from ourselves and our kin, and raising ourselves 
 and them a step or two on the social ladder.”* 
 
 Enjoyment is the great end of most men. It assumes 
 various forms. One of the most common and harmless 
 is to seek to live comfortably. Others look for it in 
 idleness ; some in amusements ; some in gratifying the 
 appetites. 
 
 Wealth is regarded by many as “ the one thing needful.” 
 They rise early, sit up late, and eat the bread of careful- 
 ness, that they may increase their gains. Beyond this, 
 they have neither thought nor desire. 
 
 Honour is with a smaller number the chief object of 
 ambition. It is sought in different ways. Fools seek it 
 by squandering their money at marriages ; some men 
 strive to obtain it through office ; a few by means of liter- 
 ature or science. 
 
 Mournful experience has shown that all these objects 
 combined and attained cannot give true happiness. 
 
 Even could earthly things satisfy the soul, there is one 
 thought which must always mar their joy : 
 
 “ that disheartening fear. 
 
 Which all who love beneath the sky 
 Feel when they gaze on what is dear 
 The dreadful thought, that it must die : 
 
 That desolating thought, which comes 
 Into men’s happiest hours and homes.” 
 
 9 
 
 * St. Andrew Address. 
 
130 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEEK. 
 
 God intended that it should be so. Augustine says, 
 “ 0 Lord, Thou madest us* for Thyself, and our heart is 
 restless till it find rest in Thee.” 
 
 Ponder deeply the importance of life. “ Think of living !” 
 says Carlyle. “ Thy life, wert thou the pitifullest of all the 
 sons of the earth, is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. 
 It is thine own ; it is all thou hast to confront eternity 
 with. Work, then, like a star, unhastening, yet unending.” 
 
 It is true that there are several objects to be kept in 
 view in life. We must provide for our support; we should 
 store our minds with useful knowledge ; and there are 
 many other things which may be lawfully pursued. What 
 we are now considering is the chief end of man, the one 
 great design to which every thing else should be made 
 subordinate. 
 
 To do God’s will, or to be good and to do good, include the 
 purpose of being. The two great commandments in which 
 Jesus Christ summed up the whole law have already been 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Bible says of God, “ Thou art good, and doest good.” 
 This is the character at which we should aim. We fulfil 
 the object of our existence only when we copy this pattern. 
 
 To be good is the first step. Without this we cannot 
 expect to do any real, lasting good to others, and even 
 although we could, to be a “ castaway” ourselves, would 
 be a deplorable end. To be as good as we can is the best 
 means of being as useful as we can. 
 
 Confessing our sinfulness, we should accept God’s gra- 
 cious offers of pardon through Jesus Christ, and trust in 
 Him alone for salvation. We should earnestly strive, 
 through the help of the Holy Spirit, to conquer every sin 
 and to possess every virtue. 
 
 Dr. Miller of Madras says : “ If you would have strength 
 and courage to be decided — to take your part and play the 
 man — to be no longer halting between two opinions, no 
 longer yielding to influences and practices which you des- 
 pise and hate, then seek to know God — to have Him as 
 
 your helper and your friend Think of how it would 
 
 give courage in every difficulty, and revive under every 
 
A HIGH AIM IN LIFE. 
 
 131 
 
 disappointment, if you only knew that God was working 
 with and in you, and that whatever your struggles and 
 your failures here, still that the victory was sure — victory 
 for all that is true aud pure at last on earth, and an 
 eternity of restful satisfaction with Himself on high/’ 
 
 “We live,” says Huxley, “ in a world which is full of 
 misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each aud all 
 of us is to try and make the little corner he can influence 
 somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than 
 it was before he entered it.” 
 
 Keshub Chunder Sen thus shows how much there is to 
 be done in India : — 
 
 “ Look at yourselves, enchained to customs, deprived of freedom 
 lorded over by an ignorant and crafty priesthood, your better 
 sense aud better feelings all smothered, under the crushing weight 
 of custom. Look at your homes, your wives and sisters, your 
 mothers and daughters immured within the dungeon of the 
 zenana,’ ignorant of the outside world, little better than slaves 
 whose charter of liberty of thought and action has been ignored. 
 Look at your social constitution and customs, the mass of ener- 
 vating, demoralizing, and degrading curses they are working. 
 Watch your daily life, where almost at every turn you meet with 
 some demand for the sacrifice of your conscience, some temptation 
 to hypocrisy, some obstacle to your improvement and true happi- 
 ness. Say, from your own experience, whether you are not 
 hemmed in on all sides by a system of things which you cannot 
 but hate and abhor, denounce and curse ; whether the spiritual 
 government under which you live is not despotism of the most 
 galling and revolting type, oppressive to the body, injurious to 
 the mind, and deadly to the soul ? Are you not yoked to some 
 horrid customs of which you feel ashamed, and which to say the 
 least are a scandal to reason, and have you not often sighed and 
 parted for immediate deliverance ? Are you not required to 
 pass through a daily routine of social and domestic concerns 
 against which your educated ideas and cultivated tastes perpetu- 
 ally protest ? And considering the sum total of mischief and 
 misery caused by Hinduism to its followers, religiously, socially, 
 and physically, have you not often wept bitterly in solitude for 
 your hard lot and that of your countrymen ?”* 
 
 * Appeal to Young India > 
 
132 
 
 THE INDIAN CLEKK. 
 
 While, as already mentioned, you may have subordinate 
 objects in view, let your grand aim be to do God’s will, to 
 strive to be like Bim, and to seek the benefit of your native 
 land. 
 
 Some may excuse themselves in the ground that they 
 have neither time nor ability to do good. This is a great 
 mistake. The real cause is want of inclination. The love 
 of ease or money lies at the root of the objection. 
 
 Mill urges educated men to seek to become “more 
 effective combatants in the great fight which never ceases 
 to rage between good and evil.” 
 
 Be adds these words of encouragement : 
 
 “ There is not one of us w ho may not qualify himself so 
 to improve the average amount of opportunities, as to leave his 
 fellow -creatures some little the better for the use he has known 
 how to make of his intellect Is or let any one be dis- 
 
 couraged by what may seem, in moments of despondency, the 
 lack of time and of opportunity. Those who know'how' to 
 employ opportunities will often find that they can cieate them ; 
 and what we achieve depends less on the amount of time we 
 possess, than on the use we make of our time.” 
 
 Where to begin. — Tt has been mentioned that the work 
 of the reformer should commence with himself. Bow to 
 benefit others is the next question. 
 
 Many of the readers of those lines will be married men. 
 Their first duty is to begin w ith their wives. The women of 
 India, though ignorant and superstitious, have some excel- 
 lent qualities. Properly taught, they would prove decile, 
 and, instead of opposing reform, they would become its most 
 active friends. Allowance must be made for early train- 
 ing. Loving instruction will be necessary for some time 
 before women will turn frern the worship of dumb idols to 
 that of the one true God. 
 
 If the reader has children old enough, they should be 
 his next care. The circle should be gradually widened to 
 embrace his other relatives, his friends, and all whom he 
 can influence. 
 
 The Means to ee Employed.-— These may be ranged 
 under the following heads : — 
 
 r 
 
A HIGH AIM IN LIFE. 
 
 133 
 
 1. Personal Example. — This is the first and most im- 
 | portant. Without it other efforts are of little use. “ Phy- 
 sician, heal thyself/’ may be justly addressed to mere lip- 
 reformers. 
 
 2. The Voice. — A few are gifted as public speakers. 
 In time it is hoped that Indian reformers will arise with the 
 talents and zeal of a Luther. The good such may effect is 
 incalculable. All, however, may turn the voice to valuable 
 account. If they caunot preach or lecture, they may use 
 it iu conversation. 
 
 3. The Pen and the Press. — Letters to friends may be 
 employed as a means of promoting reform. Many can 
 be reached in this way who are beyond range of the voice. 
 
 Luther was a powerful preacher, but it was mainly 
 through his books aud tracts that the Reformation was 
 effected. There may not be many competent to write 
 . original books or tracts. Some, however, might help on 
 f the cailse by translations into other languages. 
 
 Such as can neither write nor translate can circulate 
 books which are already prepared. There are numerous 
 publications of this class which may be diffused with 
 i advantage. The Pice Papers on Indian Reform, of which a 
 list is given in tlie Appendix, are cheap and treat of 
 important ■ subjects. There are also larger works of the 
 i same kind. 
 
 Luther’s hymns were of great value. The people of 
 j India are Very fond of poetry and song. Truth might be 
 spread very effectively by poetry set to popular tunes which 
 the people are able to sing, aud in language which they 
 can understand. 
 
 4. Money. — This is called the “ sinews of war.” It is 
 also greatly needed in the work of reform. There are 
 expenses connected with lectures, publications, and schools, 
 which must be met. Christian Missions in India and 
 other parts of the world are mainly supported by the poor, 
 although there are also wealthy liberal men who con- 
 tribute large sums. 
 
 5. Sympathy. — By this is meant the encouraging of 
 reformers in their work. They have to encounter many 
 
134 
 
 THE INDIAN CLERK. 
 
 difficulties and are apt to lose heart. The kind words of 
 friends are a great support. Attendance at meetings and • 
 at widow marriages is one way of encouraging reformers. 
 
 It is to be regretted that many who attend at the latter 
 ceremony leave before the dinner commences. 
 
 Let the grand object of your life be to do God’s ivill, and 
 it cannot be a failure in whatever circumstances you may 
 be placed. You may strive to be rich and yet die a poor 
 man ; you may set your heart on some honour which- 
 always eludes your grasp. Even should you attain riches 
 and rank, the loss of health, or some other affliction, may 
 damp your joys ; while, even at the best, the want of 
 permanence must cast a shadow over all. Not so if you 
 live for God. You may do His will in the lowest sphere 
 as well as in the highest; when prostrated by sickness, 
 as much as when most actively engaged. Milton says, 
 
 “ They also serve who only stand and wait.” 
 
 Never did young men in this country enter upon the 
 stage of life under circumstances more interesting and im- 
 portant than at present. The wall of caste, by which India 
 was inclosed, is crumbling down, and her representatives 
 are now heard in the International Congresses held in 
 Europe and America ; education is spreading; many “ run 
 to and fro,” and knowledge is being increased. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the time is also one of special 
 peril. Former beliefs are losing their hold; former res- 
 traints are being removed ; respect for authority is being 
 replaced in some by an arrogance which neither fears God 
 nor regards man. There is great danger lest old virtues 
 should disappear, and new vices prove a fresh curse to the 
 country. 
 
 The weal or woe of India depends largely upon her edu- 
 cated sons : they are becoming more and more the leaders 
 of the people. Let them seek to combine the exellences 
 of East and West, avoiding whatever is reprehensible in 
 either. Let their chief object in life be the glory of God 
 and good of their country. Thus will they secure to 
 themselves the greatest amount of happiness here and 
 
A HIGH AIM IN LIFE. 135 
 
 here after, while they will prove a blessing to generations 
 yet unborn. 
 
 And let there be no delay. Join at once the noble band 
 already in the field. 
 
 Arise ! for the day is passing, 
 
 And you lie dreaming on ; 
 
 Your brothers are cased in armour, 
 
 And forth to the fight are gone ! 
 
 A place in the ranks awaits you ; 
 
 Each man has some part to play , 
 
 The Past and the Future are nothing 
 In the face of stern To-day. 
 
 Arise from the dreams of the Future 
 Of gaining some hard-fought field, 
 
 Of storming some airy fortress, 
 
 Or bidding some giant yield ; ’ 
 
 Your future has deeds of glory, 
 
 Of honour, (God grant it may !) 
 
 But your arm will be never stronger. 
 
 Or needed as now — To-day. 
 
 Arise ! if the Past detain you. 
 
 Her sunshines and storms forget 
 No chains so unworthy to hold you ; 
 
 As those of a vain regret ; 
 
 Sad or bright, she is lifeless ever ; 
 
 Cast her phantom arms away. 
 
 Nor look back, save to learn the lesson 
 Of a nobler strife To-day. 
 
 Arise ! for the day is passing ! 
 
 The sound that you soarcely hear, 
 
 Is the enemy marching to battle ! 
 
 Rise ! Rise ! for the foe is near ! 
 
 Stay not to sharpen your weapons, 
 
 Or the hour will strike at last, 
 
 When, from dreams of coming battle-, 
 
 You may wake to find it past. 
 
 A. A. Procter. 
 
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140 
 
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 The object is to give some idea of an English Home. It treats of Houses, 
 Furniture, Servants, Cooking, Food, A.musements, and Training of Chil* 
 dren, &c.; with 76 illustrations. Educated Hindus might explain it to 
 their wives. 
 
 Emblems and Stories for Women. 8vo. 90 pp. 2 As. 
 
 Familiar illustrations of Christian truth, taken from domestic life, *• 
 
 Old Testament Pictures and Stories. 4to. 63 pp. 2| As. 
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 Post-free, 3 As. 
 
 Each contains 30 large Pictures. The two together, with stiff covers, 5 As. 
 
 Pictures of Women in Many Lands. Imperial 8vo. 112 
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 Descriptions of women, beginning with the most degraded nations of 
 the world, and gradually ascending to the most enlightened ; yith sugges- 
 tions, from the review, for Indian women. 172 illustrations. 
 
 Miscellaneous. . 
 
 Religion Weighed, or, Dharmtula. 12mo. 56 pp. ^ An. 
 
 By the Rev. J. F. Ullm*nn. An English translation of a very useful 
 Hindi tract. 
 
 The Claims of the Brahman. 12mo. 32 pp. f Anna. From 
 the Marathi, by the late Rev. Robert l^esbit. • 
 Numerous quotations are given from Manu. * • 
 
ENGLISH PUBLICATIONS. 149 
 
 History of the Dalada or Tooth Relic ; preserved at 
 Kandy, Ceylon. 4to. 24*,pp. 5 Cents oT 10 Pies. 
 
 An acoount of a supposed relic of Buddha', long kept at the temple of 
 Jagannath, 
 
 The Cow Question in India, with Hints on the Manage- 
 ment of Cattle. 8vo. 64 pp. 1£ As. 
 
 An account is given of cows in. ancient India ; the change produced by 
 Buddhism ; the Cow Protection movement ; what the Govemmpnt will 
 not do ; what the Government tuill do ; with remarks on the duty of 
 intelligent Hindus and Muhammadans. . 
 
 Illustrated Stories from History: 4to. 40 pp. 1£ Annas. 
 
 Interesting* stories from the history of different countries, with a 
 number of pictures. 
 
 Stories from Early British History. 4to. 4*0 pp. 1£ As. 
 
 An account of the progress of Civilization in early Britain, and how 
 the people became Christians. • 
 
 Stories from Early Christian History. 4to. 28 pp. 1£ As. 
 
 State of the world at the beginning of the Christian era ; how the Gos- 
 pel was first brought to Europe; persecutions of the Roman Emperors; 
 accounts of Martyrs; Constantine the first Christian Emperor ; with 
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 Tr^velljng by Land, on Sea, and through the Air. 4to. 
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 Various modes of travelling in different parts of the world, with numer- 
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 Elements of Christian Truth. 12mo. 71 pp. 1| As. 
 
 Lectares, by the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell* delivered>to educated Hindus. 
 
 Busknell’s Character of Je*sus. 18mo. 92 pp. 1^ As. 
 
 By a good American writer, with notes, by the Rev. T. E. Slater. 
 
 Famous Children of Long Ago. Stories of Bible Children. 
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 Story of the First Christian Missionary to Europe. 66 
 
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 Religious Condition of Ancient Europe ; Life of the Apostle Paul. 
 
 Pictures and Stories from Many Lands. 8vo. 97 pp. 2 As. 
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 Interesting stories from Asia, Africa, America, and the Islands of the 
 sea ; with 64 illustrations, 
 
 The Two Pilgrims to Kashi and other Stories, by 
 
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 Includes also Hassan the Robber, Flowers of Fable, The Boy Seven 
 Times Victorious, Story of Three Jewels, and Jewels Found, ’ . 
 
 * 
 
150 ENGLISH PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Jai Singh, the Beave Sikh, and other Stories, by 
 
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 Includes also the Secret Thing made Known, the Dangerous Tongue, 
 the Son of Healing-, the Broken Fence, and the Just Chief. 
 
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 Inoludes also the Just Chief, a Shining Light, the Truthful are 
 , Trusted, the Straight Gate, the Cry at Night and Song at Sunrise, the 
 Desecrated Temple, and the Wondrou% Sickle. 
 
 Picture Stories of Great Men. 4to. 48 pp. 2 As. 
 
 The lives of Columbus, Peter the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and James 
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 Progress- 
 
 This is a monthly Illustrated Periodical for the educated 
 classes in India and Ceylon. The subscription is 
 only 8 As. a year ; with postage, 14 As. Three copies 
 may be sent for ^ anna postage. 
 
 The Periodical is specially recommended to Teachers.* 
 It would give new ideas to their pupils, while'the 
 page for students would be very useful to those pre- 
 paring for examinations. 
 
 Orders to be addressed to Mr. A..-T. Scott, Tract Depot, 
 Madras. . 
 
 Educational Catalogue. 
 
 A List of English School Bopks prepared specially for 
 India, and largely used all over the country, supplied gratis 
 on application to Mr. A. T.*Scott, Tract Depot, Madras. 
 
 Orders may also be addressed to the Calcutta, Allahabad, Lahore, 
 Karachi, Bombay, Bangalore, and Colombo Book Dep6ts. 
 
 •S. P. C. K. PRESS, VEPERY, MADRAS — 1895. 
 
I 
 

 
 
 
OJ .>> 
 
 the Sacred 
 
 BOOKS OF THE 
 AND EXAMINED. 
 
 EAS'i 
 
 DESCRIBED * 
 
 An Account of the Vedas, with Illustrative Ex- 
 tracts. 8vo. 166 pp. As. Post-free, 6 Asl 
 
 The principal divisions of the Vedas are described; withflpPin 
 - Vedic times, the gods of the Vedas, the offerings and sacrifices, j? 
 
 Through ihe kind permission of Mr. R T. B. Griffith, translations ^ 
 1 of some of the most important hymns in the Rig Veda are quoted sS 
 p in full. 
 
 : Selections from the Upanishads. 8vo. 120 pp. 4 As. 
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 and Chhandogya Upanishads, with an examination of their teaching ^ 
 
 The Vishnu Purana. 8vo. 96 pp. 3 As. Post-free, J 
 
 4 As. -) z 
 
 I ^ a 
 
 A* abridgment is gi veu; verbatim, from the English tram- i» 
 
 lation of H. fcf. Wilson, Prhfessor of Sanskrit, University of In 
 a Oxford ; with an examination of the oook iu the light of the jg 
 present day. J 
 
 The Bhagayad Gita. 8yo. 108 pp. 4 As. Post-free, * 
 
 5 As. 'J 
 
 With an English Translation carefully revised ; numerous Ex- 
 planatory Notes, and an Examination "of its Doctrines. % 
 
 The following ar , some other works proposed to be ? 
 included in the Series : — • J 
 
 The Brahman *s. 
 
 The Vedanta Sutras. 
 Many’s Code. 
 
 The Ramayana. 
 
 Tue Mahabiiaratv. 
 
 The Tantkas. 
 
 The Sacred Books of the , 
 Buddhists. 
 
 An Account of the Jains. 
 ThbZend Avesta. 
 
 The Granth, tue Sacred 
 Book of the Sikhs. 
 Thb^Sacred Books of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 The Koran. 
 
 Orders to be addressed to Mr. A. T. Scott, Tract Depot, Mad) ^ 
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 ©* 
 
 1503GYR 111 
 
 7-16-98 32180 FS 
 

Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
 81 
 
 nil nil III I 
 
 012 Oil 
 
 4599