THE ENGLISH WOMAN AS SEEN BY AN INDIAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 63

THE ENGLISH WOMAN AS SEEN BY AN INDIAN.

(Universal Magazine ) It is often a great tnal to a young man fresh fiom India who is thrown* into English society to know how to behave. You visit a friend. You ring, and the door is opened by a young maid-seivant, who invites you to enter, and clones the door as soon as you have entered You follow the servant into the drawing-room, where your friend soon meets and greets \ou. After some conversation your friend brings in his mothei and introduces her to 3 ou. The mother is very pleased to make your acquaintance, and a^ks you to sit in a chan near hers. But you he-.it ate. Is that the piopei thing to do? In India no mother of no friend of >oms asks you to do the Mine. If at all, jou always 'tood at a rt.spectful distance and ansv*. eied the mother's question*. But here it is so different. You obey with hesitation, and sit in the chair rather awkwardly, both your legs thrust as far beneath your chair as po&sible — of course as a mark' of respect

to your frienuS muinet — and youi^-elf only answeimg the mother 5 - m'esiions .'i monosyllibie.-. The m ither wonder* what is the ma/tter with you ; win \ou are '•o sin, and why do \on .'ppeir >>o dull Aie all Indians like tins —^.o dull ? Or ccuise. she cannot divine ths nature of the things which perjk'K you She does not understand; } 011 aie only nving to be on \our best behavtom — in fact, to pa---, for a veiy good boy. For a moment } our perplexf■lies incrcT-e Y( ur friend-; mother has dropped hei handkerchief She is rot .iv. are of it But you have seen l t drop. Wlwit are you to do? Aie you to pick it up and gi\.? it to hei? Is that tl'e proper tiling to do".' At home \ uti d >ip noi- do it. But it is .--o difi'eu'nt here. and. at la^r. % ou mike up \ our mind to pick up the handkerchief; and you do it so awkwardly that your friend's mother, while accenting it w ith thank*, looks at your face to why \ou bh'sl' The kindne-? of your fneiul increases your perplexities still. He and I 11& ii. ithei de«ne \on to stay for dinner. You don't knoiv what to '•■ay in. leply Yes or no At home, on a visit to a hiend, you alwo.vs sdy "No." The question often !-< mean:ng]es> Your fuend generally does not expect you to accept the invitation, and tl'.3 invitation 1-, often made without making any provision for you. You are geueially expected to bay "No, ' and you say "Xo." But it i=- not so m En--land. And, with seme hesitation, you interpose a vrmd which nuv be interpreted as "Yes or "Xo, bui which _\our good friend under.- land* a= Minifying ;i-sent Li the meantime, ot-liei mtnibcis of the household are ushered into the room, and to each of them you aie intioduced, and among the number to your friend's sifter, whee eagerness to shako hamh with you send« a thrill through jour whole fiamt. Fancy your friend's '-i^ter being intioduced to you in Indu! Can anything be lnoie atrocious? But 1* the custom in Fnglaiu' And then the time for dinner aiiive* ~Ar.c\ as the chief guest of the evening, you aie asked to lead the lady of the hoa^e, your friend--- mother, to Ihe dming-ioom. You are more perplexed than evei. i'he idea of gning your aim to a lady whom you respect as you; ou n mother ' You nevetouched your own mothei — at le. st not aft pi' you became a man And how car you now toucn a friend's mother? The more you move 'in the company of English women, the nroie you ate convinced that it is possible for you to admire the intellectual culture of your fuend s t-s-ter. or even her personal charms, without harbouring anj unholy thought 111 your breast. Society as constituted m India does rot recognise this di.'tmction ; in fact, people who Inve known no higher forms of life think it impossible to separate the two. Woman ha* no individual existence in India. To quote the oft-quoted veise fiom M.mv, "Her father maintains her in childhood, her husband maintains her in youth, and her sons maintain her in old age." Bhe seldom maintains heiself. fene is always the ivy and her husband the oak. It is different here. She is a recognised factor in English society. There is no society in England without her. whereas :n India society knows her not. In London *'ie i-s a familial figure e'seiywhere: she is at the shop-window, she is a f the restaurant, she -ippeais on the platform, she is connected with the prets, she writer books, she talks po'.itics, she has her own clubs and her own "societies."' Her individuality is averted m .1 thousand dnections. so much .so thot one woman out of every 10 earns her own living.