THE PAST AND THE FGTUEE. 
wlidre lie will, in shelving coffee on the coffee estates,, 
he must enter into disputes and arguments to uphold his 
own views and practical experiences in many general 
matters. At home, or rather in the old country, should it 
not to he his home, he is led iut o all manner of minute 
details by his acquaintances, desirous of information or 
very likely just fora topic of conversation, or to keep 
the company alive and brisk. And then, if not directly 
told that he is ‘ drawing a long bow ’ it is very easy 
to be seen that they are of such an opinion : incredu- 
lous looks and smiles, shakes of the head, a turn of the 
eye, which just plainly says “ Not so green as you 
think.” Now, all this is very vexatious, when one is 
doing their best to give information, to see, to feel 
plainljq that the information is not believed. No, no ; 
the less one speaks about ‘ shop ’ the better, or, better 
still, say nothing at all when off on your holidays, 
wheresoever that may be. If questioned about it in the 
old country, say as little as ps'ssible (of course you can 
judge of exceptional cases), we mean generally, for 
depend upon it the topic is broached in nine cases 
out of ten, not for the sake of information, but merely 
for conversation’s sake to have something to say. And 
of course when talk slackens and a subject is 
wanting you can never fail by tackling a man for 
information on the subject of his calling. Then when 
you wax warm on the subject and commence a series 
of minute details, you will suddenly be arrested by a 
yawn, the listless eye, or “Dear me, but I did not hear 
your last remark.” Time now to shut up ; shut up and 
commence the details of some recent scandal, or some 
astonishing new dresses, and mark how^ the eye will 
brighten up ; you have found your cue now, and thank 
you, no more coffee, it feels luavy. 
We are told, such changes have taken place in the 
country within the last few years, that, if we were to 
revisit the land where we have sojourned so long, we 
should hardly know it, and that the manners and 
customs of the people have also undergone a similar 
change. If such a great change, such a rapid step 
forward, has taken place in a brief period of time, our 
young friends may take into consideration the changes 
that have taken place in these respects during thirty 
years. To those who have sojourned a long time in 
the country, these changes come on so gradually, 
that they are scarcely aware of them, unless they 
look back and compare them with the days that are 
gone. But let one who has been absent say only half- 
a-dozen years return, and he will no doubt find plant- 
ing life and Ceylon generally all turned upside down, 
and totally different from his former experienees 
