Blanche McManus

“ Near by was Uncle Achmed's old elephant, swinging his trunk at the two young ones as much as to say: "There are a great many things for you youngsters to learn yet, and I'm going to teach you."
The driver touched the old elephant with his stick and the great beast slowly knelt down. Achmed and the boys then climbed into the howdah, and the great big elephant marched off with much dignity.
"Look, the little elephants do not like the road," said Chola, pointing to the new elephants, who would not budge. ”

“ Just as all the little girls were marching around the courtyard after the ceremony, followed by the bride and groom, what should naughty Jam, the pet monkey, do but snatch some of the rice out of the bowl, and rush with it to the roof, where he sat chattering and throwing it down on the heads of the guests. This greatly amused the children; but the old Brahmin was very angry. So Chola had to pretend to scold the little monkey:
"Thou shalt come down and taste the bamboo rod, naughty one!" he cried, looking up at his pet. ”

“ The two boys slipped away through the crowded street, dodging between lumbering wagons drawn by oxen, called buffaloes, and pushing their way through a crowd of folk dressed in a great variety of costumes, all in gay colours and with queer gaudy turbans on their heads. The turban forms a very important part of the dress of the Hindu, and Chola could tell by the colour and shape of each man's turban to just what caste each man belonged and what business he was in. There are many of these castes, or classes, of Hindu people, and each caste keeps strictly to itself. ”

“ THE LITTLE SAHIB SEES THE BIG ELEPHANTS
"To-day I must take the young elephants home," said Uncle Achmed, when the wedding festivities were over. "Are the two little princelings ready to go with me?" he continued, smiling at his two little nephews.
"Indeed we are," exclaimed the two boys, wild with delight, though they did not whoop or jump about as boys probably would do elsewhere. Little Hindu children don't make much noise at any time. It would be thought strange because it would be bad manners to do so; indeed a Hindu very seldom even laughs loudly. ”

“ Shriya felt that she [10] was a person of importance these days, for was she not going to be married soon!
"Shriya is a useful little girl; besides, why are you not in the great room where thy fathers make sacrifice to the Gods of the Household?" answered the old lady, rather tartly. Like all good cooks she did not like to be bothered while she was preparing her dishes.
"Come away, the grandmother is always cross when she is in the cook-room," whispered Chola; so he and Mahala crossed the court again and went into the house. ”

“ Mahala's little sister Shriya, and the grandmother, and several cousins and cousins' widows. They all lived in the big stone house, built around a square courtyard, which stood in the middle of a large garden on the outskirts of the beautiful city of Lucknow.
"Oh, grandmother, give us the fine white rice this morning with the beautiful curry which thou hast made! None other tastes so good as thine," said Chola, coaxingly, as he and his little cousins seated themselves on the cleanly swept earthen floor of the great-room. ”

“ The big foot came down gently without touching either of the boys, and the elephant, giving a peculiar cry, rubbed his trunk against Chola, just as the Colonel Sahib and every one came running up in terror, for they had seen it all and thought that the boys would surely be crushed to death. ”

“ In fact much of their wealth is often put into the form of necklaces, rings, and bracelets, which the women wear all the time. The Hindus think this is the safest way to keep their wealth. So you see why the jewellers do such a big trade in India.
"Father, there's a customer," whispered Chola, but Harajar paid not the slightest attention to a tall man in a long silk robe, with a big turban on his head, who stopped to look in the shop. A Hindu merchant usually thinks it beneath his dignity to ask any one to buy his wares. ”

“ It was barely light when little Chola rolled out of his blanket and gave his cousin Mahala a shake as he lay stretched out beside him.
"Lazy one, listen! I hear little kids bleating below in the courtyard; the new goats with the long hair must have come. Hasten! We will be the first to see them!"
"Oh!" said Mahala, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "thou art the plague of my life. I was in the midst of a beautiful dream. I dreamed that I was sitting beside a clear stream, with many dishes of sweetmeats beside [2] me, and I was just beginning to eat them when thou didst wake me." ”

“ First there came a big elephant, all decorated with silk and gold and silver. On the elephant's back was a "howdah," which is like a big chair with a canopy over it, and in this, sitting cross-legged, was the Rajah,—a big, fat fellow dressed in coloured silks and jewels, with a great diamond-set plume in his turban. The fittings of this "howdah" were most luxurious. It was lined and carpeted with expensive silken rugs, for the making of which certain castes are famous. There are many kinds of rugs in India ”

“ No Hindu stands up to any kind of work if he has a chance to sit down.
Three or four women were squatting around watching the cooking, while the boys' old grandmother bustled about scolding everybody within sight.
"Do not linger here," said the grandmother to the boys, "this is no place for children."
"But, grandmother, Shriya is here," objected Mahala; "why can't we stay, too."
"I am helping grandmother," said Mahala's little sister Shriya, who, with a very important air, was sitting on the floor stirring something in a big bowl. ”

“ Chola and Mahala were sleepy by this time, so they just rolled themselves up in quilts on the ground, while Shriya crept into the wagon with her mother. Everybody slept soundly, in spite of the fact that one of the servants was beating a drum most of the night, which they really believed was the way to keep off evil spirits.
The first thing Chola heard when he woke up the next morning was the cook scolding the doves, who were picking out of his meal bags while he was getting breakfast ready.
"Oh, the thieves!" he cried. "They are as bad as the beggars." ”

“ This morning when the boys came in, they found that the offerings of dishes of rice and wreaths of flowers had already been placed around the old idol.
"Thou art late," called out Chola's father, who was sitting on the wide veranda in front of the great-room, smoking his big pipe called a hookah. It was very comfortable on the veranda, for all around it hung mats of woven grass to keep off the burning sun and yet let in a cooling breeze. You must know that India is a very hot country and that the people make use of all sorts of things to make [12] them comfortable. ”

“ Last of all the grandmother threw over her a long veil of silk tissue, spangled with gold.
What would you think of a little girl dressed [75] in all these beautiful things and being barefooted? Shriya would much rather have rings on her toes than shoes and stockings. She did have rings on her toes, too, and silver bands on her ankles as well.
The last thing the grandmother did was to hang wreaths of jasmine flowers all over her. It was no wonder that she had to be pushed along by some one! She could not possibly have walked by herself. ”

“ The elephants began to show signs of fear, as they always do when a tiger is about, and the beaters divided their forces, some of them going around one way and the rest another, searching carefully through the tangled grass and underbrush. All the men got their guns ready, and it was not a minute too soon; for, suddenly, up out [102] of the jungle, there sprang a great yellow tiger, straight for the "howdah" in which the Colonel Sahib and Harry and Chola were sitting. ”

“ There were many dinners to be given. So the cook-room was in a perfect hubbub, and you may believe that the grandmother was making [79] everybody fly around. But she found time to scold the crowd of beggars who were hanging around the doors however, though at the same time she saw to it that they got the scraps that were left.
"It is well to be good to the poor at all times," she said.
"Ah, but this is the best thing of all!" exclaimed Chola to Mahala, as he and his cousin and Nao sat side by side on a mat in the pretty garden that evening and saw the wonderful fireworks. ”

“ He knew, too, the wild, shy people of the jungle, who build their houses like nests in the trees, so as to be safe from prowling wild beasts. Once while hunting in the deep forest he had been caught in the huge coils of a terrible boa-constrictor, one of those great snakes that can crush an ox by winding themselves about it in great coils, or can swallow an antelope at one mouthful. ”

“ He liked to come with his father to the Bazaar and watch him make the gold and silver into beautiful things. When Chola was older he would come every day to the Bazaar, and his father would teach him to be a silversmith like himself. Every little Hindu boy follows the same trade as his father. ”

“ A curry for thee and me."
"The little one is fretful. He is not well; and it may be that he has a fever, the mother [42] fears," said Shriya, stopping her song as the boys came up.
"I will make him a horse to play with," and Chola seated himself and began to mould the clay as he had seen the old potter do.
"I shall make a buffalo like the sacred one that stole the sweets yesterday," said Nao, falling to work.
"Tush! this only sticks to my fingers!" exclaimed Mahala, impatiently, after a few minutes' work. ”

“ All the while his driver sits on the neck of the great beast, and tells him what to do by prodding him gently with his iron-shod stick. After awhile the elephants become so well trained that they will do their work without any guidance whatever.
Harry was amazed. He had never seen elephants at work before; but it was an old story to the Hindu boys, and they told him how the elephants were made to help build roads and railroads, and even carry cannon on their backs in battle. Elephants are very intelligent, and can be trained to do the most wonderful things. ”

“ This is even more fun than travelling in the ox-wagon, thought Chola, as they rushed through town after town and watched the trees fly past. Finally they stopped at the village where Achmed had arranged for the elephants and the beaters to meet them, for [95] the real way to hunt tigers is to go after them on elephants.
The servants had packed away their belongings and camp things on top of the two big elephants, as they expected to have to live in the jungle for several days.
"Isn't this splendid?" exclaimed Harry, as the elephants went rocking along through the tangled grass. ”

“ Uncle Achmed had a big lumber-yard on the banks of the Ganges, and used many elephants to move about and pile up the great logs of teak-wood. Wouldn't little boys in America think it a lot of fun if they could go out into the country and see, instead of horses, a lot of elephants at work? Well, that is just what a little Hindu boy can do, for elephants are almost as plentiful as horses in India ”

“ The beaters, whose business it is to beat through the long grass and underbrush where a tiger might be hidden, were full of tales of a great man-eating tiger that was the terror of the region, and who was in the habit of coming boldly up to the fields and gardens, carrying off goats and even attacking the oxen. ”

“ All the fruit and vegetable shops are in a street to themselves; all the workers in brass and other metals in another. You will find the silk merchants in one street; and, in still another, [18] all the shops that sell cotton goods,—the pretty flowered kinds stamped with tinsel as well as plain white, for every one in India wears light cotton or silk clothes.
When they came to the street where the silk merchants were, the grandmother and Shriya and her mother got out; for it was here they were going to buy Shriya's pretty silk dresses and long veils, and other pretty things. ”

“ These the children twisted into wreaths and threw into the river. "And here is one for the man who gave us [70] the sugar-cane," he said, tossing a large wreath on the water.
"Here thou wilt see every caste in India," said Harajar, as they sat on the steps drying themselves under a big umbrella after their bath. There were indeed thousands of people; some just getting ready to enter the water; others slipping into their dry clothes after their bath. There were water-carriers, carrying great jugs of the "holy water" to sell to pilgrims to carry with them. ”

“ She would have to shave her head and never wear any more pretty, bright dresses or jewels, and only eat one meal a day. [73] Then, too, everybody would have as little to do with her as possible; for even to see a widow is thought to be bad luck. You see that some of the Hindu customs are very unjust to the little Hindu girls. So it was no wonder that Shriya did not want to keep the festival of the Goddess of Learning, for fear it might cause her to be a widow some day.
On the day of the wedding, Shriya stood in the middle of the big room of the zenana, being dressed for the grand ceremony. ”

“ It is the Hindu custom to burn their dead; [71] and, in spite of bathing and drinking the sacred water, many of the poor pilgrims do die at Benares. Indeed, it may be that they die because they do drink it; for you can imagine how dirty the river is with so many, many thousands of people bathing in it all the time. ”