The Eyes of Asia | Page 7

calf for no fault. A black
shame!... We will write about other matters.]
"As to cultivation, there are no words for its excellence or for the
industry of the cultivators. They esteem manure most highly. They
have no need to burn cow-dung for fuel. There is abundance of

charcoal. Thus, not irrigating nor burning dung for fuel, their wealth
increases of itself. They build their houses from ancient times round
about mountainous dung-heaps, upon which they throw all things in
season. It is a possession from father to son, and increase comes forth.
Owing to the number of Army horses in certain places there arises very
much horse-dung. When it is excessive, the officers cause a little straw
to be lit near the heaps. The French and the Phlahamahnds seeing the
smoke, assemble with carts, crying:--'What waste is this?' The officers
reply:--'None will carry away this dung. Therefore, we burn it.' All the
cultivators then entreat for leave to carry it away in their carts, be it
only as much as two dogs can draw. By this device horse-lines are
cleaned.
"Listen to one little thing. The women and the girls cultivate as well as
the men in all respects." [That is a true tale, Sahib. We know--but my
brother knows nothing except the road to market.] "They plough with
two and four horses as great as hills. The women of Franceville also
keep the accounts and the bills. They make one price for everything.
No second price is to be obtained by any talking. They cannot be
cheated over the value of one grain. Yet of their own will they are
generous beyond belief. When we come back from our work in the
trenches, they arise at any hour and make us warm drinks of hot coffee
and milk and bread and butter. May God reward these ladies a thousand
times for their kindness!
"But do not throw everything upon God. I desire you will get me in
Amritsar City a carpet, at the shop of Davee Sahai and Chumba
Mall--one yard in width and one yard and a half in length, of good
colour and quality to the value of forty rupees. The shop must send it
with all charges paid, to the address which I have had written in
English character on the edge of this paper. She is the lady of the house
in which I was billeted in a village for three months. Though she was
advanced in years and belonged to a high family, yet in the whole of
those three months I never saw this old lady sit idle. Her three sons had
gone to the war. One had been killed; one was in hospital, and a third,
at that time, was in the trenches. She did not weep nor wail at the death
or the sickness but accepted the dispensation. During the time I was in

her house, she ministered to me to such an extent that I cannot
adequately describe her kindness. Of her own free-will she washed my
clothes, arranged my bed, and polished my boots daily for three months.
She washed down my bedroom daily with hot water, having herself
heated it. Each morning she prepared me a tray with bread, butter, milk
and coffee. When we had to leave that village that old lady wept on my
shoulder. It is strange that I had never seen her weep for her dead son,
but she wept for me. Moreover, at parting she would have had me take
a fi-farang [five franc] note for expenses on the road." [What a woman!
What a woman! I had never believed such women existed in this Black
Age.]
"If there be any doubt of the quality or the colour of the carpet, ask for
an audience of the Doctor Linley Sahib if he be still in Amritsar. He
knows carpets. Tell him all I have written concerning this old
lady--may God keep her and her remaining household!--and he will
advise. I do not know the Doctor Sahib, but this he will overlook in
war-time. If the carpet is even fifty rupees, I can securely pay out of the
monies which our lands owe me. She is an old lady. It must be soft to
her feet, and not inclined to slide upon the wooden floor. She is
well-born and educated." [And now we will begin to enlighten him and
the elders!]
"We must cause our children to be educated in the future. That is the
opinion of all the Regiment, for by education, even women accomplish
marvels, like the women of Franceville. Get the boys and girls taught to
read and write well. Here teaching is by Government order. The men
go to the war daily. It is the women who do all the work