ME. MEEK. 
to suspect that his man Mr, Meek was not quite 
up to the mark: he^ himself, must devote more 
time to the estate. Meek was a very well-meaning 
fellow, but he was too soft : he did not pitch into 
the coolies half enough. Then he would suddenly 
make his appearancee at very unusual hours, say 
:at three or four o’clock, no doubt with the object 
in view of satisfying himself that the work was not 
stopped before the time. On looking back on these 
times, how absurd it seems the exactness with which 
they used to insist on the last minute, as if that 
was any criterion of work done. We well remember 
feeling like a criminal caught in some evil deed, when, 
‘on unexpectedly meeting our employer a few minutes 
.after work was stopped, he took out his watch, and 
said in a very reproachful way : “It is not four 
•o’ clock ,1 it wants five minutes to it. I have had 
.all Uie trouble of coming out for nothing. You have 
left off work too soon. ” It was useless our explain- 
ing that the people had finished their task, had worked 
well, or that, as they had started work in the morn- 
ing with our time, they were entitled to go in the 
afternoom by the same time. ’ He would shake hia 
head doubtfully, and keep saying : “You .are too 
easy with the people ; it is not four o’clock, your 
watch is fast. I am going to Kandy to-morrow and 
will take in your watch, to have it cleaned, regu- 
lated, and set.” Mr. Meek said very meekly his 
watch had undergone a thorough repair a few weeks 
before, that he was very well pleased with it, and 
in fact that it kept capital time ; but his employer 
would take no excuse, the watch he must have, th© 
result of the discussion being that the proprietor, 
.as a matter of course, had his way. Mr. Meek’s 
excellent time-piece was put into the hands of a 
Kandy watchmaker, and most old planters know the 
result of that ; the fact was it now went very slow, 
which pleased the proprietor, as far as regarded 4 
p.m., but what about the 6 a.m. ? Ah ! he never 
saw that, but the fact was our knowing proprietor 
had lengthened his rope by cutting off one end and 
sewing it ©a to the other ! 
Keeping coolies late at work of an afternoon, be- 
•cause they were late of turning out to muster in th© 
morning, as a rule, is just playing at “ see-saw,” 
for the next morning they will be late, because they 
were kept late the evening before, and so on it will 
go, trouble and turmoil, grumbling and growling, day 
after day. In this case let the superintendent taka 
the initial step, and some fine sunny after-noon con- 
sult his watch, tell them to look at the sun, it is 
l^arely three o’clock. “ Viligl dda .i away you go ; only 
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