1 80 Among Men and Horses. 



his wares. If he, like the great house of Henry S. King & 

 Company, will consent to part with, say, a box of cigars 

 only out of a warehouse, he is eligible ; but if, like Pisti and 

 Pelicano, he hands his hundred weeds across a counter, 

 he is damned. The unsuccessful candidate for admission 

 to Government House is debarred not alone from dancing, 

 eating and drinking there ; but is actually a social pariah ; 

 for such exclusion practically prevents him from belonging 

 to any of the best local clubs, which do much to mitigate 

 the discomforts of Indian life. The traders who cannot 

 pass the counter test, either willingly accept their position 

 as social outsiders, or so order their life that they may, in 

 the near future, obtain the coveted invitation. In any case, 

 as they, for the most part, make their livelihood out of the 

 officials ; they are careful not to wound the susceptibilities 

 of their customers. The planters, God bless them, care for 

 none of these things. When visitors go to them, they give 

 them to eat and drink of the best, lend them horses to 

 ride, get up shooting and pig-sticking meets, and treat them 

 with that fine old Indian hospitality which, except in the 

 indigo and tea districts, is now almost unknown, and which 

 has become such an anachronism that it is generally its 

 own reward. Hospitality given in Tirhoot or Assam is not 

 always reciprocated in Calcutta, and still less when the 

 quondam guest meets his former host in Piccadilly, and 

 passes by on the other side. Though I do not commend 

 such practice, I cannot wonder at its existence. The isolated 

 planter was glad of the society of the new-comer, out of 

 whom amusement, if not instruction, might be extracted. 

 When the traveller, not alone appropriated the free meals, 

 drink and bed, but also annexes the fun in the form of 

 ' copy,' as has been done by some globe trotters and itinerant 

 journalists, I grant that his conduct is indefensible. 



Having placed ourselves in the centre of a public con- 

 stituted as I have just described, we ought, in the opinion 

 of our well-wishers, to have made capital out of its follies, 



