CANDLES AND LAMPS. 
back to-morrow, and you now find dinner cold and 
spoilt. This is bad enough, but jou have not had the 
satisfaction of settling anything definite with your 
visitor, for have you not told him to “come back to- 
morrow,’’ and no doub^ he will come, and just a dinner 
is served. But they are to be excused ; we know very 
well complaints must be attended to, and the work- 
peope have no other time to come : they are at work 
during the day ; and the evening, after dark, is not 
suitable ; it therefore only remains with them to come 
at our early dinner hour, and torment the man who 
dines early. 
But supposing you ever have peace to eat your dinner, 
if they arrive in the verandah while you are at it, they 
will be polite enough to retire for the lime. Unless 
under very great pressure, a cooly will never disturb 
“master” when he is eating, for he considers this a 
very great and important event of the day, not a, but 
the, event ; he judges from his uwn personal feelings 
and exj ciiences when master says at the working 
place ‘ ‘ d here is Muttuswami a finger is pointed to a big 
stone at the edge of the stream, which is a sufficient 
answer to its question, for there is Muttuswami, rolling 
up boiled rice into balls, and cramming it into his 
mouth. A fine heap of rice it is, all spread out on the 
green leaf off one of your young plantain trees, which 
you have given positive orders to the boy to watch, 
and allow none to cut off a single leaf . You eye Muttu 
swami sternlyq but what cares be ? You know perfectly 
well he knows you won’t interfere with or annoy him 
in any way, so long as lie is eating rice. And thus it 
was i'l his own case, they Avould, seeing master at 
dinner, retire, only for a time, but they would not. go 
far. After }onr dinner was done, at the sight of tho. 
boy taking away the dishes, or of your going 
out into the verandah to smoke, they would be at 
you. It was perfectly intolerable, just as dinner was 
finished, when one feels inclined for and requires 
a little rest and peace, to be bothered in this way. 
You give it up, and resort to the old hour, seven o’clock, 
with lighted candles. Coolies never trouble or visit you 
after candles are lighted, unless it is something of more 
than usual importance, and thus it was, that after a 
tedious tiresome hour, or more , at the pay table — pay- 
ing was just done in time, for it was quite dusk, but 
still a number of fellows were hanging about the Veran- 
dah ; they did not say anything, but there they stood, 
all looking at ymu, as if they, instead of having been 
paid their Avages, had suffered some cruel wrong from 
your hands, and were gazing on you with eyes filled 
with speaking reproach. You call out in a loud voice, 
