The Sketcher.

Otago Witness, Issue 1586, 15 April 1882, Page 27

The Sketcher.

SOCIETY ll¥ INDIA AND

AUSTRALIA..

An old Latin saying tells us that those who cross the sea change their sky but not their souls. This is, no doubt, in substance true, but there are climates which not only influence the bodies, but also the hearts and the minds of those who live in them without having been born in them. Of such countries India is a notable example, and in a totally contrary direction, Australia is another. The former enervates, the latter invigorates. If it were possible to find two Englishmen in' age, physique, disposition, and proclivities exactly alike, it would be a curious experiment to send one to India, the other to Australia, and at the end of twenty years to mark the divergence that would have resulted, and the contrast that would be presented by the two. The Indian would be indolent in body and mind ; nol easily annoyed, but onco roused, highly choleric; polished in manner, and showing ai easy tolerance to certain social sinners foj whom the Australian would feel the heartiest i contempt. Full of vigour, energy, and life, ; the latter would be developed in body, briimn- J ing over with strange experiences of men and manners, rough as to exterior, bourgeois in habits, but possessing that inevitable share of culture which comes from an extensive allround experience. The two would scarcely have a topic in common. The manner a thought of one wollldw oll ld jar as much upon the other as his habits of life. But the chances of true refinement arc in favour of the Austmlian. Life in India is demoralising. Few return from the torrid zone better men thin they were when they left the temperate — better citizon3, better husbands, better masters. A stay of any duration iv the Land of tho Sun almost, invariably deteriorates tjioin in all thsse respects,

In India there is little seclusion, little home life. The unattached men drop in at the houses where ladies are at all hours of the day — except, indeed, the sacred hour of siesta. The number of servants is in itself sufficient to prevent that privacy which at Home is considered the special privilege of husband and wife. The attendants cannot be shut away, as in England, with closed house and windows. Then, as to guests, the married man or woman who, in India, would refuse to open doors for the unoccupied men, youner and old, would be considered a churl indeed, inhospitable to the last degree. In stations where there are very few ladies, such a man would be looked upon as a sort of Bluebeard ; such a woman as a terrible prude. Prudery does not thrive in India, and is consequently evenmore unpopular there than it is at Home. Bluebeardism is singularly out of place in a land where nothing can be kept locked up— not even the family skeleton.

[ Here, then, are all the chances, for flirtation, .the only safety for the born flirt and her hus•band lies in the numbers of those available for her to flirt with. Even the quiet little girl who, before her marriage, thought little, in her home in some English parsonage, beyond conducting the practice of the village choir, making flannel petticoats for the old women and warm socks for the old men, develops in the atmosphere of adoration that surrounds her in India some innate germ of coquetry, which does not long remain a germ. Surrounding in;fluences soon fructify it, and we have then the ■development of the 'quiet flirt/ a dangerous ijady, who having learned her power rather late ,in life as compared with most girls, uses it warily, skilfully, and with a kind of hidden ■ eagerness, as though time pressed. 1 Thus the woman degenerates, and the influence of her degeneration is soon visible upon the men who surround her. Of course there iare charming women and good wives, who make j.even an Indian bungalow a real home for their j husbands, and carry with them an atmosphere of purity and sweetness that is an unconscious shield against the attentions that proceed from the mere idleness, silliness, or vanity of other men. But these women are in a minority, and the feminine element in Indian society^is mainly composed of married flirts and unmarried girls, who have failed in the Home matrimonial camI paign, and have come to India as a speculation. What can men expect of such women beyond the amusement of the hour ? The very danger that lies in such pastime gives it a kind of fascination. Of the two sorts of risks, flirtation with a married woman is usually considered the safer, but even in these cases a man never knows where he may finish. He may be sure of himself, but can he be sure of the woman ? Besides, there is the danger of mistaking the excitement of the chase for love of the object of pursuit. I once asked a man if he was really in love with a girl whose name was constantly coupled with his, and his reply was : ' I wish to heaven 1 knew. You see there are three or four fellows after her, and I nearly always get the best of them ; and I hate to fall.out of the running, for they would think she had refused me.' This kind of feeling has led up to many a miserable marriage morning. If a woman has much heart, and that heart is not wholly her husband's, her flirtation nearly always has a bitter ending, whether it be of disgrace or only the suffering of silent sorrow. If both parties to the game have little heart, it proceeds merrily. Nobody is the worse, if nobody is the better, for the pastime. In India, men become not only flirts, but gossips. Failing important things wherewith to occupy their minds, they fill them with trifles. Elderly men, especially, become desperate gossips. Is it because there are so few old ladies m India to play the part of Mrs Grundy ? You will see two or three of these old fellows in a ball-room, with their heads together, or hanging about the verandahs, and the sentence, ' I hope I don't intrude,' immediately hops into your mind. Too old for the role of the gay Lothario, they fall back with contentment upon that of Paul Pry. If there is not a bit of scandal ready to their hand, they are sometimes clever enough to make it, just I as a skilful cook .once made a delicious curry without meat.

In Australia, on the other hand, home life is as domestic as that usually led by the middle classes in England. Everything, in fact, is middle class, socially considered. There is no aristocracy to be aped, and, consequently there is but little snobbishness. Manners and customs tend downwards to those of the lower middle class, whereas in India the habits of life are those of the higher. The former is the healthier direction of the two, though by following it one misses many minor niceties to which we in England give perhaps too prominent importance. But to set against these small losses there are many greater gains. No one will deny that the great middle class in England represents the most virtuous and well-living portion of the community. Vice and immorality prefer the seats of the mighty or the haunts of the poor. In the decorous daily life of those whose lot is neither riches nor poverty, these kindred forces find little opportunity for the secrecy and concealment which are necessary to at least the first stages of their operations. In Australia, therefore, where social life is intensely of the homely, family kind, the moral atmosphere is comparatively pure. In India, on the contrary, where society tends upwards, the very contrary is too frequently the fact. The whole constitution of society there favours the frivolous, the thoughtless, the seekers after pleasure for pleasure's paltry sake, and in favouring these, falls into a nicety with the proclivities of the human jackals, who invariably follow the army of the idle and unprincipled. The result is what might naturally be expected from such favouring conditions, — India is a hotbed of scandal. Were the record of any three months in the Hills to be written in all the nakedness of truth, with nothing concealed and nothing extenuated, the chronicle would be as highly seasoned and almost as sensational as one of Zola's novels. Society at Home of the class that is known as ' good ' is very far from immaculate ; but that of India can give it a long start, and then reach the winning post of superiority in this respect by a length at least. — Truth.