188 INDIAN POVERTY 



new ideas, as well as the habit of saving money and 

 thousands of rupees saved during their short exile. 

 In Mauritius and South Africa the Hindu working 

 man is learning the same lessons. When he gets 

 back to the sleepy life of his native village, he is not 

 likely to settle down contentedly at the level from 

 which he started. 



On every hand, in short, forces are at work stirring 

 discontent in the breasts of the younger generation 

 with the existence which was the heritage of their 

 fathers. These forces operate from the outside, and 

 the mass is large and very inert : it would be rash 

 to say that in the heart of it there are not still 

 millions who regard a monotonous struggle for a 

 bare existence as their portion from Providence. 

 But when a man who has travelled in India for half 

 a cold season tells us that the standard of living in 

 India has deteriorated, we are tempted to quote 

 from Sir Ali Baba : " What is it that these travel- 

 ling people put on paper ? Let me put it in the 

 form of a conundrum. Q. What is it that the 

 travelling M.P. treasures up and the Anglo-Indian 

 hastens to throw away ? A. Erroneous hazy, dis- 

 torted impressions." " One of the most serious 

 duties attending a residence in India is the correcting 

 of those misapprehensions which your travelling 

 M.P. sacrifices his bath to hustle upon paper." 



