RANDOM READINGS.

Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 340, 14 August 1914, Page 7

RANDOM READINGS.

f rTHE EDUCATED BABU.

The Babu, or native Indian, is educated upon English lines, in the schools of India, and often obtains employment as a clerk, hotel booickeeper, or waiter in various English establishments. Babu English is mainly based upon classic models such as Shakespeare or Milton, and their use of ponderous quotations from these great tomes of English literature in place of ordinary conversation is often most humorous. A visitor at one of the big hotels at Calcutta asked the hotel Babu to call him at five o’clock in the morning, and, being a heavy sleeper, impressed upon the man the-absolute necessuy of being aroused in good time. The Babu evidently sought for a suitable phrase to meet the necessity, for, to the visitor’s surprise, lie was roused by the diligent servant in sonorous tones in these Miltonic lines: “Awake! arise! or be for ever damned!’’ Needless to say, the visitor at once jumped out of bed. MAXIMS IN DEALING WITH WOMEN. Never say to your wife, “Before 1 was married I used to do this am do that.” She will resent it. Before you were married is a long period in your life in which she takes no interest, and she would rather never hear it mentioned. If you set any value on your time, never attempt to prove that your wife is wrong, in saying this or in thinking that. A clever man does not commit such a mistake in matrimony, lie agrees or remains silent. Lunatic asylums arc full of men who have tried to argue in matrimonial life. If your husband cannot afford to give you expensive jewels, have enough delicacy never to mention the jewels of Mrs. So-and-So before him. The most poignant suffering that a man who loves his wife may perhaps have to endure is to feel that he can not afford to give her dresses and jewellery as expensive as those of hei female acquaintances. Whenever you have an opportunity, give your husband a chance to appear at his best. He will praise you for it, and so will everybody. , A wife may speak admiringly of a man to her husband. He will probably join her. But for thw lovJol all you hold most sacred in this world and the next, my dear man, nevei speak admiringly of a woman to youi wife, or you will be treated as a mon ster of cruelty. Her privileges arc not yours. Of course, you have youi own. Apropos of this, have you cvci tried to hold up a woman of your acquaintance as a model to your wife. Now, have you? No? Oh, do try just for fun ! If you want to foresee the result, remember the feelings you entertained, when you were a boy, for the boy that was constantly offered to you as a model to imitate.—Max O’Rell.