BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
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BENGALI SCHObLbAVS 
 
 TX Y. BATLEY 
 
 LONDON 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING 
 CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE 
 
 NEW YORK AND TORONTO ; THE MACMILLAN CO. 
 

 PRINTED BY 
 
 WILLIAM CLOWBS AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 
 LONDON AND BBCCUtS. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Introduction 
 
 PAGB 
 
 ♦ 7 
 
 I. The Recitation 
 
 9 
 
 II. The English Bible Class ... 
 
 13 
 
 III. The Coolie Woman ... 
 
 IS 
 
 IV. The Good Samaritan 
 
 17 
 
 V. Doing Likewise 
 
 19 
 
 VI. A New Ambition 
 
 23 
 
 SHANTI'S ENEMY 
 
 I. A Wedding Invitation 
 
 II. A Conspiracy 
 
 III. Shanti's Protest 
 
 IV. The Bridegroom's Procession 
 V. Retribution 
 
 27 
 30 
 33 
 37 
 42 
 
 FATE AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 I. Shanti's Aunt 
 
 II. The History Paper ... 
 
 III. A Dreary Walk 
 
 IV. Forgiveness 
 
 Af\ 4 (*: li ^i 
 
 47 
 SO 
 S4 
 S7 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE surroundings and conditions of life of a Bengali 
 schoolboy differ very much from those of an 
 English boy of the same age. All English boys are 
 supposed to go to school, but among the Hindus, only 
 upper-class boys receive any education. 
 
 These high-caste boys, as they are called, must 
 not be supposed to spend their Uves in what we vaguely 
 call Oriental splendour. Many of them Hve in thatched 
 mud cottages, which an English working man would 
 despise. The windows are unglazed and uncurtained, 
 the floors uncarpeted, the walls unpapered. If there 
 are any pictures they are crude representations of 
 scenes from Hindu mythology. The furniture is 
 meagre — ^no chairs, tables or beds — ^as a rule, only a 
 wicker stool or two, and some wooden boxes. The 
 handsomest things in the house are the brass plates, 
 dishes, cups and other vessels, which the women of 
 the family take pride in keeping well poHshed. 
 
 The Bengali schoolboy sleeps on a mat ; in the 
 winter time he wraps himself from top to toe in a 
 coloured shawl or brown blanket. He tubs in a tank 
 or pond, going into the water with his clothes, or 
 " cloth," on, and changing it for a dry garment when he 
 gets home. He eats off a large brass plate if he is rich, 
 or a plantain leaf if he is poor, using the fingers of his 
 right hand in place of knife and fork. His food 
 
 7 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 consists of rice, with a little fish or vegetable curry, 
 and he drinks water, also from a brass vessel. Of 
 course, the wealthier members of the commimity 
 have brick houses, and among them one sometimes 
 finds chairs and tables, and other Western luxuries. 
 But the BengaU as a whole cultivates the simple life. 
 
 His plain hving is certainly conducive to high 
 thinking, for BengaHs are a studious race, bom 
 philosophers and poets, and fonder of books than of 
 sport. 
 
 The subjects of a schoolboy's study differ little 
 from those of an Enghsh student. As a child of five 
 or six he is generally sent, with his slate imder his arm, 
 to a Httle vernacular school, called a '* reading-room," 
 where he is introduced to the elements of his own 
 beautiful but difficult language, but a year or two 
 later he is transferred to what is known as a *' middle 
 English " school. Here, and later on at college, he 
 learns history, Hterature, geography, philosophy, etc., 
 through the medium of the English language. Thus, 
 all educated Indians know EngUsh, often better than 
 they know their own language. 
 
 There is something peculiar about the pronunciation 
 and construction of the English spoken and written by 
 the average schoolboy, but considering that he hardly 
 ever has the opportunity of learning it from an English 
 person, it is wonderfully good. It is through EngUsh 
 that the BengaHs have come into touch with the thought 
 of the West ; and the reactions of that thought are 
 seen in India to-day, not always in happy forms. It 
 is well that the desire to learn English, as in the case 
 of Shanti, is also sometimes a first introduction to 
 a missionary and so to Christianity. 
 
BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTP 
 
 THE RECITATION 
 
 SHANTI SARKAR was ambitious. At the age of 
 a year he used to cry for the moon with much 
 persistency. When he was two it became his object 
 in Hfe to attain a red water-Hly that grew in a tank 
 near his home, and he was nearly drowned in his 
 efforts to reach it. At five years old his ambition was 
 to smoke a hookah pipe like his father, and he damaged 
 his digestion by his repeated efforts to get to like the 
 sticky black tobacco. 
 
 When he was six his father bought him a slate and 
 a " First BengaH Reader," and sent him to school, 
 and after that his ambition developed along safer and 
 more commonplace Hues. An EngHsh master would 
 have said of Shanti that " his abilities were well up to 
 the average." His BengaH teacher put the same truth 
 more briefly in the words : " The boy has head." 
 
 Shanti's " head," or brains, coupled with his 
 ambition, brought him success, and he soon began to 
 
 ^ Pronounced with a long a as in " father." 
 9 
 
10 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 excel boys of his own age. Like most Indians, he took 
 Httle interest in games, and was happier when studying 
 than when at play. At twelve years old the summit 
 of his ambition was to become a proficient English 
 scholar. 
 
 Shanti's father was a well-to-do Bengali doctor, 
 practising in one of the large villages of the Burdwan 
 district. He was a gentleman, belonging to the 
 Kayasta caste, one of the highest of the almost in- 
 numerable sections into which Hindu society is broken 
 up. Shanti was very proud of his caste. The 
 Brahman pupils of the school might possibly look 
 down on him, but he considered himself almost their 
 equal, and immensely superior to all the other boys. 
 
 " If I can only thoroughly master the English 
 language," thought Shanti, " the world will be at my 
 feet." 
 
 On the morning of the school's annual Prize 
 Distribution, Shanti was feeling unusually elated. 
 Not only had he become entitled to a prize, which 
 would be presented to him by one of the " Miss 
 Sahibas " from the mission house, who had been 
 invited to perform the ceremony, but he had been 
 chosen out for the honour of repeating a long and 
 difficult English recitation. As he squatted apart 
 from the other boys, mentally rehearsing, for the 
 hundredth time, the oration of Mark Antony from 
 Julius CcBsar, he felt as though the cup of his happiness 
 were nearly full. 
 
 The school playground was crowded with boys 
 and their fathers, huddled together on benches, or 
 sitting cross-legged on the ground. A large blue 
 canopy had been erected in the centre, under which 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 11 
 
 were placed a table covered with prize books and 
 several chairs for the guests. 
 
 Presently, a clapping of hands announced the 
 arrival of the English visitors, and with their sun- 
 helmets on their heads, and green-lined sunshades in 
 their hands, they advanced to their allotted places. 
 As soon as they were seated two of the smallest boys 
 came shyly forward, and placed garlands of sickly 
 scented white and yellow flowers round their necks. 
 Then some of the boys sang a Bengali song, after 
 which the headmaster read the annual report. This 
 was followed by a scene from a BengaU play, acted by 
 two or three of the elder boys. 
 
 Up to this point Shanti had been almost obHvious 
 of the proceedings, but now his turn had come, and 
 with fast-beating heart he advanced into the empty 
 space reserved for the performers. Straight and 
 slender as a palm tree he stood, his hands pressed 
 stiffly to his sides, and his large black eyes fixed on 
 one of the Miss Sahibas in an awe-stricken stare. 
 Then in a loud, rapid sing-song, he launched forth : 
 
 " Freyns - Rawmans- cawntreemen - len' - me - yewr- 
 ee-ars." 
 
 Without a single break or perceptible pause for 
 breath, without a single misplaced word or syllable, 
 and in an incredibly brief space of time, he brought 
 Mark Antony's pathetic elegy to a conclusion, and 
 marched off amid applause. Shanti felt well-satisfied 
 with himself. No other reciter acquitted himself 
 quite so flawlessly ; no other had been allotted quite 
 so difficult a task. Surely he might now reasonably 
 regard himself as having mastered the language of 
 the Sahibs ? 
 
12 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 But poor Shanti's pride was destined to receive a 
 cruel blow. The time for the distribution of prizes 
 arrived, and in due course his name was called. The 
 Miss Sahiba handed him " Kingsley's Heroes/' with a 
 gracious smile, and remarked : 
 
 '* Your recitation was very long, and must have 
 been very difficult. It was in Sanscrit, was it not ? " 
 
 Poor Shanti, much taken aback, could only shake 
 his head. 
 
 "Oh, wasn't it?" said the lady. "I couldn't 
 understand it at all, but it didn't sound to me Hke 
 Bengali." 
 
 " It was Oueeleeam Shakespere," stammered the 
 mortified and puzzled Shanti, and an older boy, 
 waiting for his prize, explained glibly : " The recitation 
 was in English, madam." 
 
 The speaker was a Brahman, and he smiled a Httle 
 maliciously at young Sarkar, whom he considered a 
 rather forward youth. 
 
 Tears of vexation sprang to Shanti's eyes, and 
 to do the Englishwoman justice, she looked almost 
 equally distressed. 
 
 *' Really, I am very sorry," she said. " It was 
 stupid of me not to hsten more carefully. You had 
 learned your piece perfectly; only your emmciation 
 was at fault." 
 
 *' I wish to learn enunciation," said Shanti, without 
 the vaguest idea of the meaning of the word. 
 
 Then he had to go back to his place, but after the 
 ceremony was over, the Miss Sahiba beckoned him to 
 her side. 
 
 ** Would you care to come to the mission house on 
 Sunday afternoons," she enquired, " to read the life 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 13 
 
 of Christ from the English Bible ? Two or three 
 other boys are coming. They are older than you, but 
 I think you could keep up with them/' 
 
 Shanti's drooping spirits revived. 
 
 " Certainly I wish to come/' he said, " that I may 
 speedily perfect my knowledge of the language of the 
 English race/' 
 
 II 
 
 THE ENGLISH BIBLE CLASS 
 
 WHEN Shanti returned home and informed his 
 mother of his intentions, she was not particularly 
 well pleased. 
 
 " What hast thou to do with the Sahib folk in the 
 big garden ? " (the villagers' name for the mission 
 compound) she exclaimed. " What wilt thou learn 
 there ? " 
 
 " I shall learn about Jesus Christ," said Shanti, 
 '* from the EngHsh Bible, which is a very famous 
 book." 
 
 " Have we not Krishna ? " cried his mother. 
 " What need have we of Jesus Christ ? " 
 
 " Oh, we boys need Him in school in the highest 
 class," said Shanti, referring to one of the subjects of 
 study. 
 
 Shanti took Httle notice of his mother's objections. 
 In her own sphere she reigned supreme, but she could 
 neither read nor write, and had no part in the interests 
 and aims of her son's school life. 
 
 Shanti's father approved of his attending the 
 
14 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 Bible class. " They are good people," he said to his 
 wife, " and who can teach the Sahibs' language better 
 than a Sahib ? " 
 
 Accordingly, Shanti set forth on the following Sunday 
 afternoon, arrayed in his best clothes. He wore a 
 long, beautifully pleated dhuti (loin-cloth), white with 
 a red border, and over it a clean white shirt ; and 
 over one shoulder he had a small shawl of tussore 
 silk. He carried an umbrella, though the sky was 
 cloudless, but he required it for the sun, as he wore 
 nothing on his head except his thick, well-oiled, well- 
 curled black hair, 
 
 Shanti had never been inside the big garden before, 
 and he looked about him with interest, at the fine 
 mango-trees with grey squirrels chasing one another 
 up and down their trunks, and at the scarlet-blossomed 
 hibiscus shrubs which grew near the hospital and 
 mission house. 
 
 The class was held in a kind of shed with mud 
 walls and a thatched roof, used during the week as a 
 waiting-room for the crowds of women and children 
 who came daily as out-patients to the mission dis- 
 pensary. The members of the class (which consisted 
 of three other boys besides Shanti) sat on wicker-stools, 
 and held EngHsh Testaments in their hands. At 
 the invitation of the Miss Sahiba conducting the 
 class, Shanti seciured one of these and opened it at the 
 Gospel of St. Luke, which the class was studying. 
 
 At first Shanti had only two objects in view, to 
 improve his EngHsh, and to make a favourable impres- 
 sion on the Miss Sahiba. Gradually, however, when 
 he found that he had to answer questions on what he 
 had read, he began to pay attention to the story of 
 
TEE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 15 
 
 Jesus Christ, and with attention came approval. 
 " We needs must love the Highest when we know it," 
 and Shanti, bringing a sincere and unprejudiced mind 
 to his study, felt himself attracted to the great and 
 wonderful Teacher, Whose words were as marvellous 
 as His deeds. 
 
 When he went home he took care not to speak 
 with too much enthusiasm of his class, lest his mother's 
 suspicion or antagonism should be aroused, but he re- 
 read the lessons by himself and presented himself on 
 Sundays with unfailing regularity. 
 
 III 
 
 THE COOLIE WOMAN 
 
 OF the other boys in the Bible class two were 
 Brahmans and one was a Mohammedan. They 
 were all older than Shanti but were reading in the 
 same class at school. One Sunday the four lads met 
 on their way to the class and proceeded together. 
 They did not talk much, as they had to walk in single 
 file, their road leading them through a rice-field along 
 a raised footpath with water on either side. Shanti 
 led the way, following at a Httle distance a young 
 woman of low caste, who was striding nimbly along, 
 with a large basket of cucumbers on her head and a 
 dusty black baby astride her hip. 
 
 Suddenly the woman stood still, uttering a loud 
 scream. Shanti pulled up abruptly, just in time to 
 prevent himself from running into her, and in his turn 
 
16 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 gave vent to a startled cry. The sight which met his 
 eyes was alarming. 
 
 Writhing and wriggUng across the path in front of 
 the woman were two huge snakes. They must have 
 been over two yards long, and proportionately thick, 
 pale grey in colour, with darker markings. Intent 
 upon their game, or their battle, they reared their 
 heads, and lunged and recoiled and dipped and twisted, 
 taking no notice of their alarmed human observers. 
 
 Suddenly they gave a simultaneous leap in the 
 direction of the cooUe woman, who sprang backwards 
 and clutched Shanti by the shoulder. Boy and woman 
 nearly lost their balance, and recovered their footing 
 with difficulty ; half the cucumbers fell splashing into 
 the water. The snakes suddenly aware of their 
 spectators sHd off the bank, and disappeared, as if by 
 magic, into a tangle of thorn bushes. 
 
 The Brahman boys threw clods of earth after 
 them, and laughed at the discomfiture of Shanti, 
 whose face had grown dark with anger. The woman, 
 aware that she had committed an offence, though 
 quite unintentionall5^ in touching a high-caste youth, 
 murmured a word of apology, as she jumped into the 
 water to recover her cucumbers. But Shanti, excited 
 by the mockery of his companions, made no effort to 
 control his passion. His mother was very orthodox, 
 and had trained him in caste lore, and he felt as 
 Hterally contaminated as though the woman had been 
 a leper or a plague patient. 
 
 Even a worm will turn, and your BengaU peasant 
 woman is no worm. Shanti saw no occasion to 
 moderate the rancour of his tongue and the owner of 
 the cucumbers gave back as good as she got. No 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 17 
 
 attempt need be made to translate the interchanged 
 compliments, of which the ancestors and posterity 
 of both parties received a generous share. 
 
 At length his schoolfellows prevailed upon Shanti 
 to quit the contest, lest they should be late for their 
 class, and the woman hurried off in an opposite 
 direction muttering to herself. 
 
 Abdul, the Mohammedan boy, was undisguisedly 
 amused by the incident, and when Shanti angrily 
 declared that he must bathe himself before attending 
 the class, he laughed aloud. The Brahman boys 
 expressed some sympathy with Shanti, but they 
 (having themselves escaped contamination) also saw 
 the comical side of the episode. Finally, Shanti's 
 ambition prevailed over his caste scruples. If he 
 missed his class, he reflected, these other boys, to 
 whom he did not feel very kindly disposed, would get 
 an advantage over him ; so, with secret chagrin, he 
 postponed the bath rendered necessary by his contact 
 with the low-caste woman, and hurried on his way. 
 
 IV 
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN 
 
 IT chanced that the day's reading was from the 
 tenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel and concerned 
 the story of the Good Samaritan. When the boys 
 had read the verses, and asked and answered some 
 grammatical questions, the teacher added a few words. 
 '* This incident," she said, " might have happened 
 in Bengal. The traveller we will suppose to have 
 
 B 
 
18 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 been a shopkeeper, going by the high road, say, 
 from Khana Junction to Burdwan, and carrying a bag 
 of rupees. He is waylaid and attacked by dacoits, 
 stripped, robbed, and beaten nearly to death. Soon 
 after the robbers have made off with their spoil, a 
 Brahman priest comes along, and hurries past, in fear 
 of his life, with scarcely a glance at the supposed 
 corpse by the wayside. He has scarcely gone when a 
 Kayasta gentleman comes by. He pauses, crosses 
 the road, and stoops over the injured man. A glance 
 shows him that he is of inferior caste. The Kayasta 
 carefully refrains from touching the sufferer, recrosses 
 the road and resumes his journey, resolving, perhaps, 
 to report the matter immediately to the pohce. The 
 third wayfarer to come by is a Mohammedan. In 
 his case pity prevails over the prejudices of race. 
 He washes, anoints, and binds up the sufferer's 
 wounds, Hfts him into his bullock waggon, and provides 
 for his wants at the next village. Now which of those 
 three men would you say had done the right thing ? " 
 
 ** The Mussuhnan ! '' cried Abdul, delighted at the 
 generosity attributed to his co-religionist (though 
 inwardly certain that he would not put himself out 
 so much for an idolater). The Brahman boys 
 grinned sheepishly at one another, but Shanti hung 
 his head in silence. 
 
 " Ask yourselves what you would have done,'* 
 went on the missionary, *' if you had come across 
 that injured man. You see what the Lord Jesus 
 says : ' Go, and do thou likewise.' " 
 
 At this moment the vibrant note of a brass gong 
 announced that it was time for afternoon service in 
 the neighbouring Christian church. The Bible-class 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 19 
 
 boys had been invited to attend this service, if they 
 wished. As it was held in Bengali, Shanti was not 
 usually keen to do so. To-day, however, he accepted 
 the invitation because he could think quietly in the 
 church, and he wished to avoid the chaff and laughter 
 of his school friends. 
 
 The church was a perfectly plain oblong brick 
 building. The roof was flat ; there were small white 
 turrets at the four corners, and at one end in the 
 centre a wooden cross. The windows were unglazed 
 and the floor was covered with matting. At one side 
 sat the men, at the other, the women of the Christian 
 community. There were no shrines, idols, or garlands, 
 but as the congregation knelt in silent prayer, Shanti 
 bowed his head <l1so and wondered whether the words 
 were true which were written on one of the walls : 
 " God is present in this place." 
 
 The people sang a hymn in praise of Christ, with 
 an attractive chorus, and Shanti joined in the tune 
 here and there ; but he sat through most of the service 
 with his head between his hands, and his English 
 Testament open on his knee. He tried to give his 
 attention to its pages, but it seemed to him as though 
 a quiet voice were whispering in his ear : *' Go, and 
 do thou likewise.'' 
 
 V 
 
 DOING LIKEWISE 
 
 SHANTI was returning from school a few mornings 
 later, at about ii a.m. The sky was cloudless 
 and the sim intensely hot. The red dust on the high 
 
20 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 road burnt his feet, and over the distant fields the 
 hot air quivered Hke steam. In the pasture-land the 
 lean cattle and the small boys in charge of them, 
 sheltered under such few trees as they could find. 
 Even the crows flapped around with their beaks open, 
 and the pariah dogs lay about hke corpses, without 
 enough energy left to hft their heads and bark at the 
 few passers-by. Only the Hzards and chameleons 
 seemed indifferent to the glaring sun, and rustled 
 merrily hither and thither among the dry foliage by 
 the wayside. 
 
 Shanti had opened his English grammar, and was 
 conning its pages as he strolled along. Suddenly he 
 heard a sound which caused him to Hft his head 
 abruptly — a low, long-drawn groan. Shanti looked 
 around him and at first saw nothing ; but the groan 
 was repeated, and then he noticed, in a shallow dusty 
 ditch beside the road, the prostrate figure of a woman. 
 She lay on her side, with her head thrown back ; a 
 stick and a bottle were on the ground beside her. 
 Her body was swollen, and her face drawn and grey ; 
 she was obviously very ill indeed, probably dying. 
 
 Shanti walked to the edge of the road and looked 
 at her, and having come to the conclusion that she 
 was of a caste inferior to his own, he went on his way 
 again, with a sigh. He had not gone far, however, 
 when a sudden recollection brought him to a stand- 
 still. Here was his opportimity of carrying out the 
 message of his Sunday lesson. Again the still, small 
 voice whispered in his heart : " Go, and do thou 
 likewise.'' 
 
 " But I am so hot and damp and hungry," thought 
 Shanti. " I must get home and bathe. This is not a 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 21 
 
 man attacked by robbers. There would be some 
 excitement about helping him. But how can I 
 touch the dying body of a low-caste woman ? '* 
 
 All the same, he slowly retraced his steps, and 
 stooping over the poor sufferer, asked : '' Ma, what 
 is the matter ? " 
 
 " Ma," or " Mother," is a common mode of address, 
 at once friendly and respectful, for a man or boy to 
 employ toward any woman whom he does not know. 
 
 The woman's eyehds quivered, and she whispered : 
 " Water." 
 
 Shanti looked eagerly about him. Not far away 
 there was a pool or tank in which some fisherwomen 
 were wading about. He called out to them : "Do 
 you know that there is a sick woman lying here in 
 the sun ? " 
 
 '* We know," was the callous response. " She is 
 not of us." 
 
 " Will you not give her a httle water ? " shouted 
 Shanti. 
 
 " She would not drink water of our hands ; she is 
 a potter," was the reply. 
 
 Potters, though far below Kayastas, are of 
 considerably higher caste than fisherfolk. 
 
 Shanti sighed impatiently. '' At least you can 
 call her caste-people to help her," he said. 
 
 " Oh, she belongs to a distant village," one of 
 the women explained. " She has no one belonging 
 to her here. She came yesterday to the doctor-place 
 for medicine, but was too ill to walk home. She lay 
 all night in the market-place, and this morning set 
 off again for her village, but she fell down there three 
 hours ago and has not stirred since." 
 
22 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " Then will you do nothing for her ? " cried Shanti. 
 
 " What can we do ? She is not of us, and we are 
 poor people. Besides, she is dying/' was the reply. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " cried Shanti, with 
 the optimism of inexperience. *' Run at least and 
 tell her people about her.'* 
 
 But the women, murmuring that they had their 
 work to do, resiuned their quest of freshwater shrimps. 
 
 Shanti stamped with vexation, as again the poor 
 sufferer murmured hoarsely : " Water, water I '* 
 
 Well, if sufficiently conscious to imderstand, she 
 would not object to receiving water from his hands. 
 The medicine had trickled out of the bottle at her 
 side ; Shanti picked it up, ran to the edge of the tank, 
 and filled it with water. Returning, he knelt beside 
 her, made a cup, Indian fashion, of his hand, and 
 holding that to her dry, swollen Hps, poured the water 
 into it and so gave her to drink. When the water was 
 finished she lay back exhausted, too weak to answer 
 or even to understand Shanti's enquiries as to her 
 belongings. 
 
 Presently her Hps moved, and Shanti caught the 
 whispered complaint, '* The sun strikes me." 
 
 Indeed the heat was cruel, and Shanti looked 
 wistfully about him, all other feehngs merged in an 
 overwhelming pity. A few yards away there was a 
 solid patch of shade, thrown by a couple of stunted 
 date-palm trees. He stooped over the poor woman, 
 and putting his hands under her arm-pits, tried to 
 drag her along. But she was quite helpless, and the 
 task was beyond his strength. 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 23 
 
 VI 
 
 A NEW AMBITION 
 
 BABU '* (sir), " I will do that," said a voice beside 
 him, as with a long sigh he relinquished his 
 effort. A woman, walking along the road, had paused 
 beside him. Shanti, mopping his brow with the 
 pleated end of his dhuti, looked up, and recognised 
 the object of his denunciations on the preceding 
 Sunday. 
 
 "Is it thou ?" he exclaimed, using a contemptuous 
 form of the pronoun for which we have no equivalent. 
 But some inward prompting made him correct himself, 
 and repeat the question in inoffensive terms. '* Is it 
 thou ? '' 
 
 The woman lowered her eyes, and answered, equally 
 gently, " Let me do that. You are not strong enough.'' 
 
 Shanti was not at all sure whether the patient, if 
 sensible, would not choose to die in the burning sun- 
 shine, rather than be handled by a degraded cooHe ; 
 but she was past all such consciousness. 
 
 *' 1 want to move her into the shade," he explained. 
 
 The woman asked no questions. She detached 
 the dusty infant from her hip and set it down by the 
 road-side, where it sat tailor-fashion, looking very 
 dismal but uttering no protest. Then she stooped 
 over the invalid, and applying her well-trained muscles 
 to the task, soon had her lying in a sheltered spot at 
 the foot of the trees. 
 
 Shanti sat and fanned her with an exercise book, 
 while he explained what he had heard of her history. 
 
24 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " What can we do for her ? " he said. " Could 
 we take her back to the Christian hospital ? " 
 
 The woman shook her head. ' ' The Christian hospital 
 is a good place," she said. " I have been there my- 
 self. But unless dying people who do not belong to 
 their own religion are quite destitute, they dare not 
 take them in. The Brahmans would be displeased 
 if they did so. But I will walk to her village and 
 call her relations. It is true I have worked all the 
 morning in the sun, and the child will cry; still, I 
 will go." 
 
 '* No," said Shanti, " I am not tired, and I can run. 
 I will go, if thou wilt stay with her. Fan her with 
 this, give her water to drink when she moans for it, 
 keep the flies and ants away, and see that she remains 
 in the shade." 
 
 Shanti had two annas (pence) tied up in a corner 
 of his dhuti. As he spoke, he imwrapped them and 
 gave them to the coolie. She put her hands grate- 
 fully to her forehead, and promised to fulfil his 
 directions. Two pence represented half a day's wages. 
 To Shanti, too, they were a treasure, for he had no 
 regular pocket-money, but with a curious thrill of 
 pleasure he suddenly remembered that the kind man in 
 the robber story had given two pence to the innkeeper. 
 
 " You should bathe and eat your rice before you 
 go," said the woman. Shanti sighed. The thought 
 of a bathe and a meal was inviting, for he had eaten 
 no food yet that day, but he shook his head. The 
 business was urgent, besides, if he once went home, 
 his mother might prevent him from leaving the house 
 again. If he did not go home she would conclude that 
 he was taking his rice with a school friend. 
 
THE AMBITIONS OF SHANTI 25 
 
 He refilled the medicine bottle and washed his 
 own feet and mouth at the tank, and then set forth 
 upon his weary tramp. 
 
 The sun was inclining toward the west when 
 Shanti, dusty and exhausted, returned from his 
 quest. He was accompanied by a young man, the 
 son of the sick woman, whose home he had discovered 
 with some difficulty. 
 
 The invaHd lay where he had left her, but her face 
 was covered by her garment. The cooHe woman sat 
 nursing her baby, several yards away. She sprang 
 up as Shanti approached, and called out to him, *' She 
 is dead ! " 
 
 The young potter ran forward with a cry of distress, 
 but Shanti stood still, a lump rising in his throat. His 
 labour had been in vain ; all his weariness, hunger, 
 and thirst counted for nothing. He turned slowly 
 away, leaving the young man to make his own arrange- 
 ments with regard to the body of his mother. The 
 coolie woman replaced her baby on her hip and followed 
 him. 
 
 '* You will eat now, Babu,*' she said. " You are 
 tired.'' 
 
 " Yes, I will bathe, and then I will eat,'' said Shanti. 
 " I am tired and thirsty." He added, after a pause : 
 *' Thy work, too, has been useless." 
 
 *' No, while she Hved she was not deserted," said 
 the woman. " I think it has been well done." 
 
 She smiled at Shanti, and then they went on 
 their respective ways. The sun was setting as he 
 bathed, and the water of the tank shone gold and 
 pink, and the light of a great joy shone into Shanti's 
 heart. 
 
26 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " Why am I happy ? '' he said to himself. *' All 
 my trouble has been in vain." 
 
 And a voice within made answer : "It has been 
 well done. Thou hast gone and done likewise." 
 
 Then Shanti gave place in his heart to the happi- 
 ness of a new ambition, and resolved to strive to 
 follow the footsteps of that holy, wonderful Teacher 
 Who had shown to him so soon the way of joy. 
 
SHANTFS ENEMY 
 
 A WEDDING INVITATION 
 
 "TTOW I hate Shibadash Ghose ! " exclaimed 
 -CJ- Shanti Sarkar as he climbed the steps of the 
 men's verandah and threw down his satchel of 
 books. 
 
 This so-called " sitting-room " was reserved for 
 the gentlemen of the house, and carefully shut off 
 from the women's quarters to which Shanti usually 
 resorted on his return from school. Seeing that his 
 father was alone, however, the boy repaired to him to 
 unburden his mind. Shanti was an only son, and a 
 privileged person. His father withdrew his lips from 
 his water-pipe and looked up with a smile. 
 
 " What has he been doing to thee to-day ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " He spilled a quantity of ink over my English 
 essay, and it was a very good essay that I meant to 
 show to the Miss Sahiba." 
 
 " Perhaps he did not do it on purpose," said 
 Dr. Sarkar. 
 
 " He did, indeed," replied the boy. " He smeared 
 on the ink with his finger, and laughed. Father, you 
 
 27 
 
28 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 have often told me not to quarrel with him, but some 
 day I shall have to do it ! " 
 
 " Bear with him a little longer/' said his father. 
 " That fellow is worth many rupees to me, for his 
 mother calls me whenever his stomach aches, which 
 happens often, for he is as greedy as he is rich. He will 
 not trouble thee long, for his relations are going to 
 marry him." 
 
 Shanti gave an exclamation of surprise. Shibadash 
 was reading in the same class as Shanti, and the idea 
 of his marriage seemed ridiculous. 
 
 '' Yes," repeated his father, *' his mother is resolved 
 to take him away from school and to marry him ; 
 and she is doing right, for the boy must be eighteen, 
 but he has no head and will never be able to pass an 
 examination." 
 
 " No, indeed," cried Shanti. " His English is 
 not nearly so good as mine. My Miss Sahiba says 
 that my accent is greatly improved." 
 
 " Oh, thou wilt be a B.A. and a Sahib before 
 long," laughed his father. And there was pride in 
 the laugh, for Shanti was undoubtedly a clever 
 youngster. 
 
 " I will be a doctor like thee, father," said Shanti, 
 " but I will take my degree in England." 
 
 Then he ran off to tell his troubles to his mother, 
 while his father pulled at his gurgHng pipe and 
 meditated on the probable cost of sending his precious 
 son to England to study medicine. It would be very 
 heavy, but there was hardly any sacrifice that Dr. 
 Sarkar would not be prepared to make in order to 
 accomplish it. 
 
 Shibadash Ghose was also an only child. His 
 
SHANTFS ENEMY 29 
 
 father, a wealthy lawyer, had died some years pre- 
 viously, and his mother simply hved to indulge her 
 spoilt son's every whim. He was a fat, hulking bully, 
 unpopular with boys and masters, but tolerated on 
 account of his wealth. Shanti's detestation of him 
 was not altogether inexcusable, for he had had much 
 ill-natured persecution to endure at the hands of 
 Shibadash. 
 
 Shanti was still enumerating Shiba's sins to his 
 mother when Dr. Sarkar came into the women's 
 quarters with a letter in his hand. It was a very 
 magnificent letter, printed in gold on red paper with a 
 golden butterfly on the envelope. 
 
 *' I have just received this invitation,*' said he. 
 " Thou wilt have to forget thy grudge against Shiba, 
 Shanti, if thou hast a mind to come with me to the 
 wedding." 
 
 He gave the letter to Shanti, who read it with a 
 downcast expression. It announced the forthcoming 
 wedding of Shibadash with the daughter of a neigh- 
 bouring landowner, and invited the recipient to be 
 present on the three special days of festivity. 
 
 " The two families are spending thousands of 
 rupees on the wedding," said his father, " and Shiba- 
 dash is getting a dowry of Rs. 25,000 with the child. 
 It will be a splendid affair." 
 
 Shanti, however, said nothing, but stood looking 
 down sullenly at a scar on his bare foot caused a few 
 days previously by Shibadash, who had deliberately 
 dropped on it the leg of a heavy bench. 
 
80 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 II 
 
 A CONSPIRACY 
 
 SHANTI was by no means alone in his detestation 
 of young Ghose. Indeed, Shiba's only friends 
 were a few youths of rather mean spirit who flattered 
 him on account of his wealth. When Shanti went to 
 school on the following day he saw two or three of 
 his class-fellows whispering together in a corner of the 
 playground. They beckoned to him to join them. 
 
 *' Shanti Sarkar is the very fellow we want/' cried 
 one of them. '* He will do it, for he hates Shiba, and 
 he has nimble feet." 
 
 " What is it that you want me to do ? " asked 
 Shanti, looking curiously from one to another. 
 
 The boys laughed and hesitated ; then one of 
 them drew a red paper, printed in gold, from his 
 satchel. 
 
 '* Hast thou seen this precious invitation ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 Shanti nodded, with an expressive gesture. The 
 other boys chuckled, and one of them clapped him on 
 the shoulder. 
 
 "He is no dearer to thee than he is to us," he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 '* He nearly broke my foot the other day," said 
 Shanti, showing his scar. '* Is it hkely that I should 
 love him ? My father has forbidden me to fight with 
 him, but I will do anything in the world to annoy or 
 injure him that you can suggest." 
 
 " Well spoken," cried the other boys, *' but there 
 
SHANTVS ENEMY 31 
 
 is no time to tell thee our plans at present. Come 
 early to-morrow — no, the school will be shut, for to- 
 morrow is Sunday. Come early on Monday, and thou 
 shalt hear what we propose to do." 
 
 On the following afternoon Shanti put on his finest 
 red-bordered dhuti and tussore coat, and set forth 
 with his New Testament in his hand for the mission 
 compound. He had been for some weeks now a 
 member of the boys' English Bible class there, and, 
 though the other members were older than himself, 
 he believed that he was the best English scholar 
 among them. For this reason, and also because he 
 was very fond of the EngHsh woman teacher, and 
 was fascinated by the Gospel story which was being 
 studied, he would not have missed his class for any- 
 thing. 
 
 He was the first to arrive, and the Miss Sahiba, 
 who had also received a gold-lettered invitation, 
 asked him to translate it for her into English. 
 
 '* Will you go to the marry, sir ? '' he enquired, 
 when he had done so. (Shanti could never remember 
 to say '' madam.") 
 
 " Yes, we all mean to go and watch the procession 
 start at any rate," said the missionary. 
 
 " Will you graciously overlook an essay for me ? " 
 asked Shanti, producing a neat copy of the production 
 which had been stained with ink. 
 
 " I will correct it for you before next Sunday," 
 said the teacher. *' But we are late now, so please 
 open your books," she added, now that the other 
 boys had arrived. 
 
 " We read seventeen Sain Matew chapter last 
 week," said Shanti virtuously. 
 
32 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " Very well, then, we will have the eighteenth 
 to-day. Each read a few verses in turn.'* 
 
 The boys bent over their books, and began to read 
 in the odd, sing-song chant peculiar to the Indian 
 student of EngHsh. To Shanti's lot fell the parable 
 of the unmerciful servant. 
 
 " Perhaps some of you have schoolfellows who have 
 been unkind to you,'' said the missionary when he 
 had finished. " I wonder how many times you have 
 forgiven them. What do you say, Shanti," she 
 added, as the class remained silent. *' Have you ever 
 forgiven a brother seven times ? " 
 
 *' I have not any brothers, sir," said Shanti 
 promptly. " I am a lonely son." 
 
 " Your schoolfellows are yoiu: brothers, Shanti," 
 was the answer. '* All those with whom you talk 
 and walk and work are in God's sight your brothers. 
 If a schoolfellow injures you, do you always forgive 
 him ? If we do not forgive others our Heavenly 
 Father will not forgive us. We have sinned more 
 against Him than they have ever sinned against us." 
 
 " But God differs greatly from a mortal being," 
 said Shanti with sudden daring, though his face grew 
 dark with the effort it cost him to speak out. " I 
 cannot hurt God as bad peoples can hurt me. Is it 
 to be pardoned if a base one spills ink on excellent 
 EngHsh essay? Is it to be borne with uncomplain 
 if bench is thrown down with force on unshodden 
 foot ? " 
 
 *' Remember our Teacher, Jesus Christ," said the 
 missionary ; "as bad people can sin against you and 
 me, so they could sin against Him. Was it easily to be 
 borne when iron nails were hammered through His 
 
SHANTFS ENEMY 8^ 
 
 Hands and Feet ? Yet even at that time of anguish 
 He prayed, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not 
 what they do/ " 
 
 " He was wonderful," said Shanti, under his 
 breath, " never was there One Hke Him/' 
 
 " Before next Sunday," said the teacher, " please 
 all of you write me an essay on Forgiveness. Now we 
 must close our lesson, for the church gong is sounding 
 for afternoon service/' 
 
 III 
 
 SHANTI'S PROTEST 
 
 OHANTI did not come early to school on Monday 
 ^ morning. In fact, the bell had stopped ringing 
 when he hurried in, and some of his schoolfellows 
 glanced at him reproachfully. Shibadash was absent, 
 , probably engaged in some wedding preparation. As 
 1 soon as lessons were over Shanti seized his books and 
 pencil-box and prepared to run home, but he was 
 overtaken almost at once by half a dozen of his class- 
 fellows. They caught him by the arms and dragged 
 him down a quiet lane to a desolate patch of ground 
 ; occupied by ruined mud cottages and pigs. Here 
 • they coiild hold their council of war without fear of 
 being overheard. 
 
 *' Shanti, didst thou sleep too long ? " asked one, 
 
 " or did thy father prevent thee from coming earlier ? " 
 
 " Surely thou hast not forgotten thy promise," 
 
 said another. " Thou hast agreed to help us to give 
 
 c 
 
34 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 our friend Shibadash a wedding treat which he will 
 not soon forget." 
 
 " Listen to our plan/' cried a third, " and do not 
 look so scared." 
 
 The sweat was standing on Shanti's forehead. He 
 swallowed something in his throat before he answered. 
 
 " I have not forgotten," he said, '* but I have 
 changed my mind. I will do no harm to Shiba" — 
 he jerked out the words with an effort — " I have for- 
 gotten the injuries that he did me. I have forgiven 
 him." 
 
 There was a moment's silence, followed by a burst 
 of laughter from his schoolfellows. 
 
 " Well spoken, Shanti," cried one. '* On his 
 wedding night thou deemest it wise to have no quarrel 
 with Shiba. Thou hast a wish to eat fruit and sweet- 
 meats, and Hsten to the music and watch the dancing, 
 and I don't blame thee." 
 
 " And if Shiba frowns on him," mocked another, 
 " he will put his hands together and bind his shawl 
 round his neck, and tell the base-bom fellow that he is 
 his father and his mother." 
 
 Shanti bit his hp and clenched his fists. " It isn't 
 that," he said at last. " I don't want to eat his 
 sweetmeats, nor to seek his friendship." 
 
 " No," replied a more friendly voice. " Do not 
 mock at him. Shanti's father has forbidden him to 
 quarrel. He gets bags of rupees from Shiba's mother. 
 Courage, Shanti, we will not fight with the bridegroom. 
 We will all eat sweets and fruit, and Hsten to the 
 bands. Thy father will not be angry with thee, for 
 he will know nothing about our plan." 
 
 The speaker was a boy named Kedar Chatterjee, 
 
SHANTFS ENEMY 85 
 
 a class-mate with whom Shanti had always been 
 friendly. Before Shanti could answer, he proceeded 
 to unfold the plot. 
 
 " When the wedding procession starts it will be 
 dark, and after they have marched round the market- 
 place they have several miles to walk along a mud road 
 between rice fields to reach the bride's house. We 
 have found a place about half-way there, where the 
 road is broken and a stream crosses it. At that point 
 some of us will get between the leaders of the procession 
 and Shiba's palanquin, and clear a little space. Then, 
 at a signal which we will arrange, some one must dart 
 across just in front of the bearers with the ends of 
 some cords in his hand. These must be pulled tight 
 about a span from the ground ; of course there will be 
 a boy at the other side. For a certainty the foremost 
 cooHes will trip over them. The palanquin is very 
 heavy, and if once they slip there will be utter 
 destruction." 
 
 The conspirators chuckled delightedly at the pleasant 
 prospect, but Shanti did not join in their mirth. 
 
 " We want thee to run across the road with the 
 cords, Shanti,'' pursued Kedar. *' No one will suspect 
 thee. There are twenty of us helping and we will see 
 that there is not too much light at the moment. The 
 cord must be smuggled away in the confusion and 
 tossed into a tank. Will it not be a joke ? " 
 
 '* Suppose some one is killed," said Shanti slowly. 
 " There will be two small boys standing on each side 
 of Shiba on the palanquin, fanning him. It will be a 
 horrible fall for them." 
 
 " They will not be hurt at all," replied the boys. 
 '* No one will be injured. Only the coolies at the front 
 
36 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 will stumble, and the throne will come to earth quite 
 gently. Except that the Maharajah's crown and 
 robes may be soiled, and the coohes' shoulders bruised, 
 no harm will be done. As for thee, if any one should 
 see thee with the cord, there are a dozen of us ready 
 to swear in any court that thou wast at the other end 
 of the procession. Speak up, wilt thou run with the 
 cords or no ? '* 
 
 Every one waited for Shanti's answer. His voice 
 trembled a little as he gave it. 
 
 " I will have nothing to do with your plan. It is 
 not that I am afraid, but I spoke truly when I said that 
 I have forgiven Shibadash and I will do nothing to 
 injure him." 
 
 A siuprised silence fell on the group. One of the 
 boys present was a member of the mission Bible class, 
 and he was the first to speak. 
 
 " Our Shanti wishes to become a complete Sahib. 
 He has read in their Bible book that we must forgive 
 our enemies, and if we are hit on one cheek we must offer 
 the other, and he is resolved to be a Christian. Is that 
 not so, brother ? '* 
 
 Shanti did not answer, and another boy spoke. 
 
 " Do the Sahibs, then, forgive their enemies and 
 offer their cheeks to be struck ? " he exclaimed. *' I 
 have never heard or read of one of them doing such a 
 thing. They prefer striking to being struck, if I am 
 not mistaken." 
 
 His companions laughed and fell to chaffing Shanti 
 again, telHng him that when he appeared in a topi 
 and pantaloons, he would be a sight worth seeing, 
 and asking if he aspired to marriage with a Miss 
 Sahiba. He stood silently in their midst, gnawing 
 
SHANTrS ENEMY 37 
 
 his tongue, and trying to keep the tears out of his 
 eyes. 
 
 " Well/' said one of the boys impatiently at last. 
 " There are plenty of us ready to do this bit of work 
 if Shanti is afraid of it. I will do it myself with 
 pleasure. Be off with thee, Shanti, and eat the dust 
 of Shiba's feet, but if thou disclose a word of what 
 thou hast heard to-day, not all the Mem Sahibs in 
 Bengal shall save thee from punishment.'* 
 
 '* Shanti will hold his tongue," remarked Kedar. 
 *' He may be mad, or he may be rehgious, but he is a 
 good fellow." 
 
 Shanti looked gratefully at his friend, but he wished 
 that he had not been mixed up in the affair. 
 
 IV 
 
 THE bridegroom's PROCESSION 
 
 IT was the evening of the first of the wedding feast 
 days. In the courtyard of the bridegroom's 
 house, great fires were burning in mud ovens, and 
 grey-haired Brahman servants, scantily clad, were 
 frying innumerable pancakes and all manner of delicious 
 sweetmeats, which they piled together in large baskets. 
 For hours two hired bands of tall, gaily-turbaned 
 men, wielding implements of sound (one cannot 
 truthfully call them instruments of music) of the 
 weirdest description, had been making the day hideous 
 with the reiterated " tweedledy clang dum dum," 
 which was their idea of harmony. As soon as darkness 
 
88 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 had gathered, and the customary pujas (worship) had 
 been performed, Shibadash would set forth in state to 
 seek the house of his bride. The courtyards and 
 verandahs were thronged with laughing men and 
 boys, and, as the twilight deepened, gas torches were 
 set aflare, and a strong acetylene smell filled the 
 house. 
 
 In the dark, untidy, women's quarter, Shiba's 
 mother and a large group of aunts and cousins were 
 resting after a busy day of cooking. They sat in a 
 half circle, round two of the mission ladies, who were 
 accommodated with wooden chairs in their midst. 
 The EngUsh women wore their daintiest dresses, but 
 the ladies of the house were in untidy and toil-stained 
 garments. They would have no part in the gorgeous 
 show, and would only be permitted to see the procession 
 through the sHts of shutters. Yet their faces beamed 
 with unselfish pleasmre. The Indian purdah woman 
 usually knows from experience that it is a happier 
 thing to give than to receive, and the joy of it is often 
 stamped upon her gentle face. 
 
 Shanti and his father were among the crowd of 
 guests. The general merriment was infectious and 
 Shanti forgot his troubles, past and future, and laughed 
 and feasted gaily, enjoying the jokes and banter passing 
 between the bridegroom's friends. 
 
 The time soon came for robing the hero of the 
 occasion, and poor Shibadash had to exchange his 
 comfortable dhuti for an elaborate and exceedingly 
 warm outfit. 
 
 The coat alone, of crimson velvet heavily 
 embroidered with gold, made one hot to look at it. 
 A tall, glittering cap or helmet w^s placed on the 
 
SHANTPS ENEMY 89 
 
 bridegroom's head, and scarlet stockings and velvet 
 shoes on his feet. 
 
 Then he had to take a ceremonial farewell of his 
 mother, who asked him according to custom : " Oh, 
 where art thou going, my son ? " 
 
 Shiba made the orthodox reply with due reverence : 
 " O Mother, I go to fetch thee a handmaiden. I go 
 to bring thee a serving-girl." 
 
 Then he passed out into the uproarious courtyard. 
 Trees and houses, and even the twilight sky, glowed 
 in a blaze of dazzhng brilliance. Huge floral torches, 
 nine feet or so in height and shaped Hke Christmas 
 trees, were being held aloft at erratic angles by excited 
 coolies. They were adorned with flowers of tinsel 
 and coloured paper, with a bhnding acetylene lamp in 
 each flower. Fireworks were banging and hissing, and 
 fiUing the air with red sparks. Gaudy portable 
 paviHons containing dancing dolls (worked on the 
 Punch and Judy system), and also blazing with Ughts, 
 wobbled in and out among the crowd, whose joyous 
 shouts almost drowned the tweedling and strumming 
 of the dancing musicians. 
 
 In the midst, surrounded by a bodyguard of stalwart 
 cooHes, was the bridegroom's palanquin ; a thing of 
 splendour, canopied with red silk and starred with 
 lamps. It rested on a f oimdation of long stout bamboos, 
 which sixteen tall bearers stood ready to hoist upon 
 their shoulders. 
 
 Shibadash, pale and perspiring, seated himself 
 on the gilded throne and two small children, robed in 
 blue silk embroidered with silver, were precariously 
 perched on either side of him. With one hand they 
 waved white yak-tail fans over the bridegroom, and 
 
40 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 with the other, clutched nervously at the canopy 
 poles. At a given signal the bearers with groans and 
 shouts hoisted the ponderous erection on to their 
 muscular bare shoulders. 
 
 When Shanti saw his former enemy and the two 
 fan-bearing children with their frightened eyes, five 
 feet above the ground on the swaying palanquin, he 
 felt no more doubt as to his duty. He could not 
 betray his schoolfellows who had trusted him with 
 their secret, but he determined to frustrate their 
 design, cost him what it might. 
 
 A bullock-waggon stood beside the road, laden with 
 fireworks, from which the guests were helping them- 
 selves ad libitum. Shanti had begged a box of matches 
 from his father ; now he took a bunch of Httle rocket 
 sticks and a round earthen object called a *' boma " 
 in his arms. The latter " toy " resembles an infernal 
 machine and makes a worse noise on explosion, but 
 it is usually harmless. Shanti wriggled his way to a 
 position just in front of the bridegroom and started 
 with the procession on its triumphal progress. His 
 father missed him in the crowd, but concluded that he 
 was enjojdng himself among his schoolfellows, so he 
 himself clambered into a waiting ox-waggon and 
 followed leisurely in the rear. 
 
 The procession was a long one. A master of the 
 ceremonies with two or three assistants tried to control 
 it, but it was unwieldy and undisciplined. Constant 
 pauses were necessary in order to get, and keep, it 
 in some semblance of order. Two or three times 
 Shanti was thrust out of his conspicuous position, 
 but he persistently wriggled back again, and his office 
 of firework carrier gave him some sort of privilege. 
 
SHANTFS ENEMY 41 
 
 At intervals he lit a spark-fountain or fired off a 
 rocket. 
 
 The procession, after making a proud circle of the 
 market-place, set off across the open country for the 
 village of the bride. The distance was about three 
 miles ; the road was bad and progress was slow. 
 Shanti, struggUng with a refractory firework, had 
 almost forgotten the conspiracy, when he became 
 suddenly aware that several of his schoolfellows, 
 whom he had not noticed hitherto, were pressing close 
 to the palanquin from either side. Then some of the 
 torches in front of him wobbled alarmingly, and word 
 was passed down from the vanguard : " Take care. 
 Here is water ! " 
 
 The procession had reached the fateful spot. 
 Shanti had no fixed plan in his head, but he Ht the fuse 
 of his " boma." As he was doing so he felt himself 
 seized roughly by the shoulder and pushed to one 
 side. He turned, ducked under somebody's arm, and 
 regained his position. Then he flung his detonator 
 along the road and across the narrow stream in front 
 of him. A " boma " is designed to make a noise but 
 do no damage. This one burst with a deafening crash, 
 and the merry-makers scattered with shrill screams. 
 The road was clear ; the coohes advanced cautiously 
 to the edge of the water. 
 
 Suddenly, Shanti saw a slim, stooping, almost 
 naked figure separate itself from the group by the 
 roadside, and pick its way swiftly and noiselessly to 
 the other side. Shanti dropped his rockets and was 
 after him in a moment. It was Kedar Chatter jee, 
 who was shorter and slenderer than himself. As 
 Chatterjee crouched in the act of pulling taut the 
 
42 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 cords in his hand, Shanti leaped upon him, rolled him 
 over in the mud, and tore the cords from his hand. 
 He flung back the loose ends into the water just as 
 the coolies stepped down into the stream. There was 
 still a danger that their feet might be entangled, but 
 happily this did not happen, and Shanti gave vent to 
 a whoop of triumph as he saw the palanquin and its 
 bearers regain the dry road without mishap. 
 
 RETRIBUTION 
 
 A JOYFUL hubbub now arose in the village where 
 the bride lived. Conch-shell tnmipets sent 
 forth the musical melancholy sound which gives 
 expression to the highest happiness of an Indian. 
 Boys with their fingers in their mouths emitted noises 
 resembling the gobbling of turkey-cocks. A royal 
 salute of '* bomas '* made one of the Miss Sahibas 
 think of air-raids she had experienced in the great 
 War. 
 
 But Shanti was not destined to assist in the rejoic- 
 ings with which the bridegroom was welcomed by his 
 future father and brothers-in-law. Nor did he witness 
 the ceremonies by which the little bewildered bride 
 was bound in a perpetual bondage to the hulking 
 youth whom she had never seen before. 
 
 Just as the procession had approached the village, 
 two big boys suddenly seized Shanti by the arms. 
 They hustled him through the crowd and dragged 
 
SHANTVS ENEMY 48 
 
 him, panting and protesting, behind some bushes in 
 a neighbouring field. Here they were joined by 
 several other fellows ; in the darkness Shanti could not 
 see their faces, but he recognised Kedar's voice and 
 that of other schoolfellows. They were armed with 
 sticks, and did not long leave the unfortunate Shanti 
 in doubt as to their intentions. 
 
 *' Thou hast spoiled our sport, base-bom one ! " 
 they cried, " and now thou shalt eat a good beating ! '* 
 
 Shanti might have done wisely to take his thrashing 
 quietly. One boy, empty-handed, cannot stand up 
 against six with stout canes in their hands. But 
 Shanti was not made that way. He struggled fiercely, 
 and suffered proportionately, till at last a blow on the 
 head knocked him imconscious to the ground. When 
 he regained his senses it was to find himself in a bullock- 
 cart with his father bending over him. His head ached 
 and he felt very tired, and he was glad to obey an 
 injunction to go to sleep again. 
 
 His schoolfellows on finding that he was insensible 
 had taken to their heels in alarm ; only Kedar 
 Chatter jee, stricken with remorse, had contrived to 
 call the attention of a passing peasant to Shanti's 
 plight without drawing suspicion upon himself. When 
 the man, on bringing a lantern, perceived that the 
 injured boy was of high caste, he had sought out 
 Dr. Sarkar, who had been horrified to discover that the 
 patient was his own son. The injuries were happily 
 not serious, and a couple of hours later, Shanti, with his 
 hurts dressed and bandaged by his father's skilful 
 fingers, sat eating sweetmeats. 
 
 " Who attacked thee, Shanti ? *' asked Dr. Sarkar. 
 " Who hit thee on the head ? Didst thou see no one ? " 
 
44 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " There was no moon," said the boy a little fret- 
 fully. " I cannot see in the dark." 
 
 *' But didst thou recognise no voice ? " persisted 
 his father. " Surely, Shiba could not be so wicked as 
 to. . . r 
 
 ** Oh no, no," cried Shanti, impatiently. " I am 
 sure Shiba had nothing to do with it ; but, father, I 
 am tired and my head aches. Need I talk any more ? " 
 
 There could be only one reply to this. The invahd 
 was instructed to go to sleep immediately, and having 
 been gently put to bed in the quietest and coolest spot 
 available, was fanned by his devoted parent till he 
 fell into a restful slumber. He did not awaken until 
 late the following morning, and by the evening, was 
 sufficiently recovered to go out to see the returning 
 procession. 
 
 The return of the bridegroom with his newly 
 acquired handmaiden exceeded in splendour even his 
 setting forth, for additional torches and dancing-dolls 
 were in evidence. The heroine of the occasion, how- 
 ever, saw nothing of the magnificent display, and not 
 a ghmpse of her face and finery could be obtained 
 by the crowds. She was carried past last of all, in a 
 plain, closely shuttered wooden box hanging from a 
 stout pole, the purdah lady's usual conveyance. A 
 woman servant walking beside this palanquin was 
 vigorously waving a palm-leaf fan beside a crack a 
 quarter of an inch wide between the shutters. 
 
 Dr. Sarkar stepped forward and asked the woman 
 a question ; the child-bride had been a patient of his. 
 The woman salaamed deeply and called to the palanquin 
 bearers to stop. 
 
 " She is well, doctor-babu ; I will give you a peep 
 
SHANTVS ENEMY 45 
 
 at her/' the woman said, as, with the air of one conferring 
 a forbidden favour, she opened the shutter a couple of 
 inches, disclosing a glimpse of purple silk, a flash of 
 gold and jewels, and a pathetic tear-stained face with 
 swollen eyehds drooping over tired eyes. The child- 
 bride did not move or speak, and as other curious 
 sightseers were pressing forward, the woman hastily 
 pulled the shutter down again. 
 
 " Poor child," said Dr. Sarkar, sighing. " Our 
 modern-minded young students are quite right, Shanti, 
 when they say that some of our customs are cruel. 
 I am really glad I have no daughters, but I suppose 
 thy mother will not be satisfied unless I marry thee 
 some day to a baby of eight years who will bring us a 
 dowry of 20,000 rupees.'' 
 
 It was some days before Shanti was allowed to go 
 to school, and had his father suspected the identity 
 of his assailants, it would have been yet longer. The 
 master questioned him about his bandaged head, and 
 several students, apparently absorbed in their books, 
 listened with strained ears for his replies. Shanti, 
 however, played the game ; his replies were sufficiently 
 vague to set his class-fellows' minds at rest and to 
 satisfy the master that he must have fallen among 
 some low-caste revellers on the wedding night. 
 
 In the playground Kedar eyed him furtively. 
 Shanti looked him in the face and smiled, and Kedar 
 lowered his eyes. 
 
 " How art thou, brother ? " he asked falteringly. 
 
 " I am well now," said Shanti ; " but I nearly 
 died when I got that terrible blow on my head." 
 
 " I — I did not strike it," stammered Kedar. 
 
 '* I did not think it of thee, brother," laughed 
 
46 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 Shanti. " Thou hast not enough strength in thine 
 arm. 
 
 He lingered a moment, and then turned away. 
 Kedar followed him. " I — I will never do such a thing 
 again, brother," he faltered. " I was angry because 
 thou didst roll me in the mud and spoil our revenge ; 
 but I was sorry afterwards." 
 
 " Forget it, Kedar," said Shanti. " I have for- 
 gotten it. Dost thou think that when I have forgiven 
 Shiba a hundred injuries I cannot forgive one to the 
 other boys and to thee ? " 
 
 Kedar eyed him doubtfully, almost suspicious of 
 irony, but Shanti's smile was sincere. 
 
 *' / could not forgive Hke that," he said, adding 
 ingenuously, *' especially not one smaller than myself. 
 Thou couldst thrash me if thou hadst a mind to, 
 Shanti, and I should deserve it." 
 
 Shanti put his arm over Kedar's shoulders and 
 repeated : *' Don't think about it any more, brother." 
 
 " From whom hast thou learned to forgive so 
 readily, Shanti ? " asked Kedar. " Thou wast not 
 always like this." 
 
 Shanti gave a quick sigh. He glanced about hrni ; 
 there was no one within earshot. 
 
 " I think I have learned it," he said in a low voice, 
 '* from my Giuru, Jesus Christ. Kedar, there was never 
 one so good and forgiving as He. Come with me next 
 Sunday to the ' big garden ' and learn about Him 
 too." 
 
 So at her next class, the Miss Sahiba had a new 
 pupil, and found him very attentive. 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 SHANTI'S AUNT 
 
 SHANXrS masM ma (maternal aunt) had come on a 
 visit. Shanti was glad to see her, but he hoped 
 she would not stay very long. She was so very 
 melancholy that it made his mother and himself 
 depressed to be in her company. When Shanti had 
 been a small boy she used constantly to take him on 
 her lap, and stroke his face, and cry over him. She 
 would have Hked to do so still, but Shanti carefully 
 kept out of her way. He was a happy schoolboy, 
 the only son of devoted and well-to-do parents. His 
 poor aunt's condition was very different. 
 
 She had been married at nine years old to an elderly 
 invaUd man, and had never known pleasure or happiness 
 since. Her husband had died when she was fifteen, 
 leaving her the mother of a pimy baby boy who had 
 gradually pined away. As a childless widow she had 
 been despised and ill-treated, under-fed, and compelled 
 to work beyond her strength. Her health had given 
 way and she suffered constantly from fever. Now, 
 though Uttle over thirty years of age, she was shrivelled 
 and bony Hke an old woman, and her eyes, through 
 
 47 
 
48 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 constant weeping over her lost child, had grown bleary 
 and dim. It was no wonder that poor mashi 7na 
 was melancholy, and it was not surprising either that 
 Shanti, in the vigour of healthy boyhood, found her 
 presence in the house irksome. 
 
 " Ah, Shanti,'* she greeted him as he came in from 
 school, " what a fine big boy thou art grown. Mayst 
 thou never be snatched from thy mother's lap as my 
 golden boy was snatched from mine. Alas ! alas ! 
 why did not I die and he Hve ? Never was there so 
 great a sinner as I am." 
 
 " Don't say that, tnashi ma," said Shanti uneasily. 
 
 " And why should I not say it ? It is true. Was 
 ever such a forehead as mine ? " 
 
 Mashi fjta rocked herself to and fro and wailed, 
 and Shanti left the zenana and sought the more cheer- 
 ful atmosphere of the men's sitting-room. He did not 
 question his aunt's logic, for he beUeved in the Hindu 
 doctrine of re-births and retribution, and supposed 
 that the sins of one life were expiated in the next. 
 Every helpless babe bom into the world, he would have 
 affirmed, brings with it a debt of guilt, and traced 
 invisibly on its tiny forehead is the list of the sorrows 
 and sufferings of its coming Hfe by which that debt 
 must be cancelled. 
 
 Shanti beUeved the story of the life and death and 
 resurrection of Jesus Christ which he had read at the 
 mission Bible class, but this did not affect his faith in 
 the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. The 
 Teacher Jesus was sinless, there was no debt written 
 on His forehead ; so His glorious resurrection was to 
 Shanti quite credible as a thing unique. 
 
 There could be no doubt, he thought, but that in a 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 49 
 
 former life mashi ma had been a grievous sinner and 
 that she was now reaping the fruit of ill-deeds long 
 past. Shanti looked at his father, a handsome, healthy, 
 prosperous man, his black curls glittering with perfumed 
 oil, as he lay back against a bolster smoking and 
 reading the newspaper. 
 
 " Father must have been a good man in his last 
 birth,*' reflected Shanti proudly, and he hoped that the 
 same thing was true of himself. He passed his hand 
 over his smooth forehead and wondered whether 
 any unremembered sins were stamped there which 
 would have to be expiated later on. 
 
 '* What art thou making such a heavy face about, 
 youngster ? " asked his father presently, as he turned 
 his paper. 
 
 Shanti told him of mashi ma's sad words and his 
 own reflections. Dr. Sarkar laughed with the happy 
 incredulity of prosperity. *' Do not worry thyself about 
 thy former births, child," said he. *' Only see that 
 thou art a good boy in this one lest thou become a beast 
 or an out-caste in the next." 
 
 " Mother told me one day long ago," said Shanti 
 thoughtfully, " that if I told Hes I should be born a 
 jackal next time." 
 
 He had been a little fellow when the jesting threat 
 had been uttered, but he had never forgotten it. The 
 thought of being re-born as a jackal had exercised over 
 him that indefinite fascination, half fear, half hope, 
 which so often dominates the mind of childhood. As 
 a jackal he would be deliciously free from restraint — 
 would never have to bathe or wear clothes or go to 
 > school — would be able to sit up all night, and howl at 
 the top of his voice whenever he wanted to — ^all these 
 
 D 
 
50 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 things were attractive. But he would have to stay in 
 the jungle with the tigers and snakes, and would 
 never be able to sit among his people eating sweets 
 any more. 
 
 Shanti smiled now at his out-grown fancies, but he 
 wished that he had not told quite so many untruths 
 in his life. He was quite sure that he had no longer 
 any wish at all to be re-born a jackal. As for Dr. Sarkar, 
 he leaned back and laughed heartily. 
 
 " By Mother Durga," he exclaimed, "if all the 
 liars in Bengal are re-born as jackals, there will not be 
 room for them in the jungles I '' 
 
 II 
 
 THE HISTORY PAPER 
 
 THE next day at school, during the tiffin interval, 
 Kedar Chatter jee called Shanti aside in the 
 play-groimd. 
 
 " Shanti,*' he whispered confidentially, " what dost 
 thou think I have got here ? The questions for the 
 history paper of our class in to-morrow's examination." 
 
 " Why, by what trick didst thou ^ti hold of them ? 'J 
 enquired Shanti. 
 
 The terminal examinations had just begun. Shanti, 
 with his usual ambition, had set his mind on getting 
 higher marks than anybody else. Kedar's announce- 
 ment interested him but did not cause him any special 
 surprise. Kedar's father was rich and the boy always 
 had plenty of rupees in his pocket. Money will 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 51 
 
 accomplish most things, and for examination papers 
 to leak out before their time was no specially imconmion 
 occurrence. 
 
 " Never mind how I got it/' said Kedar, " and do 
 speak more quietly. The question is, dost thou wish 
 to see it ? I am charging the other boys four annas 
 each to read it." 
 
 Shanti was silent for a minute. He was not sure 
 that he wanted to see this paper. He was pretty 
 strong in history for one thing. Besides, a voice in his 
 heart whispered to him that to the Teacher Jesus, Whom 
 he secretly worshipped, any act of untruthfulness and 
 deception would be abhorrent. 
 
 ** I don't care to see the paper, Kedar," he said 
 at last. '* I am not afraid of faiUng in history this 
 tei-m." 
 
 " Never mind about the four annas," said Kedar. 
 " Thou art my friend and I will show it to thee 
 free." 
 
 " I was not thinking about the four annas," said 
 Shanti. " Do not show it to any one, Kedar. Then 
 thou wilt prove thyself my real friend." 
 
 " It is too late, brother," said Kedar. " Half a 
 dozen have seen it already." 
 
 Shanti gave an ejaculation of annoyance. 
 
 '* Has Gopal Dey seen it ? " he demanded 
 anxiously. 
 
 '* Yes, and so have Upen and Hari Ghoze, 
 and— " 
 
 " You may eat my head if I let all those fellows come 
 out ahead of me," cried Shanti with energy. " Hand 
 it over, Kedar, and let me get the gist of it into my 
 head before school." 
 
52 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " There is not time now," said his friend. '* You 
 shall see it after school." 
 
 Just then the gong sounded and the boys ran in 
 together. 
 
 The voice in Shanti's heart tried to speak again as 
 he sat in class, but he suppressed it vigorously. After 
 school, Kedar, with much secrecy, displayed to him 
 his copy of the forthcoming history paper. Shanti 
 saw, not without disgust, that the questions were 
 easy. 
 
 " There is not one of those that I could not answer, 
 and answer well," he exclaimed with annoyance. 
 " There are a couple of dates in the third question that 
 I may as well look up, but otherwise it is a paper that 
 any fool could do." 
 
 Mashi ma was sifting grain when Shanti reached 
 home. She tossed it from a basket tray into the air 
 and caught it by skilful sleight of hand in separate 
 heaps of grain and chaff, and as she worked she still 
 lamented the dealings of fate and abused herself as the 
 worst of sinners. The thought came suddenly to 
 Shanti that perhaps his aunt in her previous " birth "had 
 been a schoolboy who had cheated in an examination. 
 The idea was grotesque, but it was also disquieting. 
 
 " Oh, mashi ma," cried Shanti, *' have mercy on me 
 and stop crying, or I shall go and spend the night in the 
 jungle. Thou art driving me mad with thy ceaseless 
 lamentations." 
 
 Poor mashi ma, accustomed to obeying everybody, 
 even cheeky nephews, relapsed temporarily into meek 
 silence and Shanti sat down to study. But at intervals 
 he stole a glance at his aunt and observed that tears 
 were still rolling down her withered cheeks. 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 53 
 
 The history examination passed off without incident, 
 but two days later Shanti and his class-fellows had an 
 unpleasant surprise. In the middle of morning school 
 the form master, looking worried and anxious, stood up 
 to make an announcement. He and his colleagues 
 had reason to know, he said, that the history paper had 
 been read beforehand by some of the examinees. It 
 was perfectly easy to see on reading the answers who 
 were the offenders. A new paper would be set the next 
 day. In the meantime the names of the guilty boys 
 would be read aloud and letters would be sent to their 
 parents, telling of their offence, and asking that they 
 might be adequately punished. 
 
 The master paused. There was an awful silence, 
 and the offending boys could almost hear one another's 
 hearts beat. Then the master slowly read aloud the 
 hst of names. It included that of Kedar Chatterjee 
 and those of most of the rivals whom Shanti had resolved 
 to excel, but his own was not among them. 
 
 The blood came back to his face and he heaved 
 a long sigh of relief. Shanti had always hitherto 
 acquitted himself well at school. He was docile, 
 painstaking, and anxious to please, and his form 
 master was fond of him. By nature he was timid, and 
 the prospect of sudden unprecedented disgrace had 
 appalled and sickened him. Now the danger was over. 
 He rubbed his sleeve over his damp forehead and went 
 on with his English translation, though the pencil 
 trembled a Httle in his hand. 
 
 The sense of relief was, however, short-lived. He 
 heard poor Kedar on the bench beside him choking 
 in his efforts not to sob aloud. The voice in his heart 
 grew loud, and cried out that he was a cheat and a 
 
54 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 contemptible coward. His mind refused to concentrate 
 on his work, and he felt more and more miserable. 
 His form master added the last drop to his cup of 
 wretchedness, for he patted him on the head as he left 
 the class-room, saying : " Thy paper was a very good 
 one, but we could see that it was thine own work and 
 that its excellence had nothing to do with any previous 
 knowledge of the questions. It is hard on thee that 
 thou wilt have to write a second paper, but I have no 
 doubt thou wilt acquit thyself well.*' 
 
 He walked away without waiting for a reply, which 
 was fortunate, for Shanti could not have spoken to 
 save his life. 
 
 in 
 
 A DREARY WALK 
 
 SHANTI could not go home. He turned his foot- 
 steps toward the open country, and was soon 
 wandering aimlessly over a wide expanse of waste land. 
 It was too dry and sandy for rice cultivation, but was 
 studded with date and other palm trees, with here and 
 there a tangle of thorns and cactus, or a solitary 
 banyan the tangled roots of which had struck deep 
 enough to find water. 
 
 Suddenly Shanti stopped abruptly. A gleaming 
 white object lay at his feet. It was a human skull. 
 He glanced about him and saw that he had found 
 his way unwittingly to one of the village burning- 
 places. Tattered leaf mats, round earthen jars, and 
 shreds of clothing lay on the ground. At a little 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 55 
 
 distance was a primitive wooden bedstead, broken and 
 half devoured by white ants. In places the ground 
 was blackened by fires, and sprinkled with fragments 
 of charred wood, and white bones were scattered in 
 all directions. 
 
 Shanti shivered. He, like other Hindus, believed 
 all burning grounds to be haunted by restless ghosts ; 
 yet he lingered as if fascinated and stared down at the 
 skull at his feet. The house was empty ; where was 
 the late owner? Somewhere in the wide world 
 eating the fruits of his good or bad deeds — ^perhaps as 
 a holy Brahman, perhaps as an unclean out-caste, 
 perhaps even as a dog or as a crow. Some day his 
 own skull would He bleaching on a burning-ground, 
 and then he would have to eat the fruit of his deceit 
 and cowardice. 
 
 For his sin no longer appeared to Shanti as it had 
 done at first, a trifling matter. The burden of it 
 weighed him down, and seemed to grow heavier with 
 the passing minutes. Presently, he turned on his heel, 
 and ran away as fast as he could from the burning- 
 ground. 
 
 When he stopped for breath, he found himself 
 opposite a little lonely shrine raised to the memory 
 of a pious widow who had burned herself on her 
 husband's funeral pyre more than a century ago. 
 On the summit of the peaked dome, sat a large sohtary 
 monkey, yellowish-grey, with black face and hands, 
 and a fringe of creamy beard. Its yard of snake- 
 like tail dangled nearly to the ground. The ugly 
 creature turned its head as Shanti approached, glared 
 at him with malevolent little eyes, and suddenly 
 showed its teeth in a savage snarl. 
 
56 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 Shanti recoiled. The brute was horribly human. 
 Was it a wicked man eating the fruits of a Hfe of 
 hatred and malice ? He turned and walked in an 
 opposite direction, and two large lean pigs, dirty, 
 bristly, and repellent, trotted away in front of him. 
 
 The boy stood still and shook himself impatiently, 
 and then rubbed his hand over his forehead on which 
 he fancied that he could feel the mark of an invisible 
 brand. Then he tried to laugh at himself for his 
 morbid fancies, but there was not much mirth in the 
 laugh. 
 
 *' What was to happen has happened," he said to 
 himself, '* and nothing can undo it. Let me go home 
 and eat my rice, and leave the future to bring what it 
 may." 
 
 He tried to sing a snatch of a Bengah song as he 
 wended his way back towards the village, but that did 
 not hft the burden from his mind. Why had he read 
 that wretched question paper ? Why had he not 
 been discovered and punished with the others ? Was 
 there no way of undoing the past, no way of escaping 
 till the debt had been paid down to the very last 
 pice? 
 
 The sun was now setting, and the sky glowed 
 with tints of apricot and mauve. High overhead 
 paddy-birds and storks, with the warm sunUght 
 tinting their snowy plumage rose-colour, were flying 
 slowly homewards. Shanti looked up at them and 
 sighed. They appeared so pure and peaceful. 
 
 " I wish I might be reborn a bird," he thought. 
 " But why should I be ? Birds are not deceivers 
 and liars." 
 
 Then he looked down, and saw by the roadside a 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 57 
 
 curious but repulsive sight. A small poisonous snake 
 lay there dead, having met its end in the act of trying 
 to swallow a lizard nearly as long and much broader 
 than itself. The lizard, halfway down the snake's 
 distended throat, was dead also ; and black ants 
 were swarming round the bodies. Shanti stooped 
 with natural curiosity to examine the strange spectacle, 
 and, as he rose to his feet again, he shuddered. His 
 overwrought imagination fancied the snake to have 
 been a cheating hypocrite intent upon success and 
 fame, and now forced to pay the penalty of greed and 
 ambition in this horrible fashion. 
 
 He pursued his way homewards ; anything was 
 better than his own company while this mood was 
 upon him. At the outskirts of the village a leper 
 showed his poor stumps of hands, and asked for alms. 
 Shanti had no money with him or he would have 
 given it. He passed on sadly, wondering whether the 
 leper in his last birth had committed sins worse than 
 the fault that now pressed more and more heavily 
 on his conscience. 
 
 IV 
 
 FORGIVENESS 
 
 AT the gate of his simple garden stood the aged 
 Bengali clergyman of the httle Christian chiurch. 
 The venerable white-bearded "Padre Babu " was a 
 well-known figure in the village, and his gentleness 
 
58 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 and kindness had endeared him to Hindus and 
 Mohammedans, as well as to Christians. 
 
 Shanti, wandering sadly homewards, would have 
 passed his gate, but the old man called to him to stop. 
 
 " O Shanti, how is thy father ? I have not seen 
 him for many days." 
 
 Shanti stopped, and replied with a respectful 
 salutation. *' Father is well, but he is very busy. 
 Are you well, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes, by God's mercy I have recovered from my 
 illness, and am very well. How art thou, Shanti ? 
 Thy face looks withered.'' 
 
 " My body is well," said Shanti, looking up earnestly 
 into the kind old eyes bent on him with such a sympa- 
 thising expression. Then he added impulsively. " My 
 mind is very sick." 
 
 '' What has happened ? " asked the Padre. " Thou 
 art young to have a sick mind. Tell me about thy 
 trouble." 
 
 '* It is of no use to talk about it," said Shanti, 
 " what has happened has happened, and what is to 
 be will surely follow." 
 
 But the old man repeated gently, " Tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 " What is there to tell ? " said Shanti. " I have 
 committed a very great fault, and I am not happy 
 because in my next birth the fruit of it will be written 
 on my forehead." 
 
 " Why dost thou think that the fruit of thy fault 
 will be written on thy forehead ? " 
 
 Shanti opened his eyes. " As we sow we reap," 
 he said. " Dost thou not believe, sir, that we 
 must eat the fruit of even the smallest faults ? 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 59 
 
 And mine," he added with a sigh, " was a great 
 fault/' 
 
 "No, Shanti," said the Padre quietly. "I do 
 not believe that. I believe in the forgiveness of 
 sins." 
 
 There was a note of joyous conviction in his voice 
 that brought a wistful light to Shanti's eyes. He 
 remembered suddenly that he had learned mudi in 
 the Bible class about forgiving and being forgiven. 
 But could such forgiveness touch the inexorable law 
 of works and fate, to him as certain as the rising and 
 setting of the sun ? 
 
 " I know the Teacher Jesus forgave His enemies," 
 he said. " But can such forgiveness wipe the writing 
 off our foreheads." 
 
 " God's forgiveness can wipe away the mark of 
 sin as surely as thou canst wipe away a chalk mark 
 from a blackboard," was the reply. " Our Teacher 
 Jesus died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God, 
 and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the beHever 
 from all sin." 
 
 " May my great fault then be wiped off my 
 forehead ? " queried Shanti, staring up with half- 
 incredulous eyes. 
 
 " Sin must be confessed and forsaken, Shanti," 
 said the Padre gravely. " And if by our sins we have 
 wronged others we must make amends. A cherished 
 sin cannot be forgiven, and even forgiven sin brings 
 suffering, but not the suffering of retribution ; it is 
 the suffering of love to help us to be better." 
 
 '* I am not afraid of that," said Shanti. "It is 
 only of reaping the fruit that I am afraid." 
 
 "If we confess our sins," said the Padre, " God 
 
60 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
 us from all unrighteousness." 
 
 Shanti heaved a quick sigh, but it was a sigh of 
 resolution, not of despair. A light came into his 
 heavy eyes. 
 
 " Which should I do first," he asked, " ask God to 
 wash the stain from my forehead or confess to — ^to 
 people I have deceived ? " 
 
 " First make amends to man," said the Padre, 
 " and go to God with a heart that has nothing to hide. 
 But it grows late ; hasten home now and forget not 
 my words." 
 
 Shanti salaamed gratefully and walked briskly 
 away ; but he did not go straight home. He wended 
 his way at first toward his form master's house, but 
 suddenly changing his mind went instead to that of 
 the head master. The form master would be distressed 
 when he heard of Shanti's fault ; but he would pro- 
 bably not be angry. The head master was different. 
 He had no special affection for Shanti whom he regarded 
 as a spoilt boy, and his family physician was not Dr. 
 Sarkar, but an older practitioner hving in a neighbouring 
 village. He probably would be angry, but the anger 
 of a person who does not care for one is easier to bear 
 than the sorrow of one who loves you. And Shanti 
 was not afraid now of facing the disgrace and punish- 
 ment that he deserved. 
 
 The head master was eating his rice when the 
 boy reached his house, so he had to wait, and this 
 was a trying ordeal. The master came on to the 
 verandah at last and impatiently asked the boy's 
 business. Shanti lifted his head, and spoke up like 
 a man. 
 
FATE AND FORGIVENESS 61 
 
 " I have come to tell you, sir, that I am one of the 
 boys who read the history questions before the examina- 
 tion/' he said. 
 
 The expected storm broke. Shanti had no excuse. 
 It was not even as though he had no brains or no 
 opportunity of studying at home. For a clever boy 
 to buy information instead of using his brains was a 
 shame and a scandal. Shanti did not defend himself, 
 though he had not, as a matter of fact, bought the 
 information. 
 
 The Head did not thrash him (he was not quite 
 sure whether Dr. Sarkar would approve of such a 
 proceeding), but he announced his intention of making 
 known before the whole school on the morrow what 
 he thought of Shanti's conduct. He added that he 
 would write a note to the boy's father to the same 
 effect* 
 
 " Shall I wait and take the note, sir ? " asked 
 Shanti, in all simplicity. 
 
 " Is it Ukely that I will trust thee with it ? " 
 demanded the head master with a scornful laugh. 
 " Be off with thee at once." 
 
 That hurt ; his form master would not have spoken 
 to him so. But Shanti gulped down the lump in his 
 throat, saluted, and went. 
 
 It was some consolation to get home before that 
 letter, drag his father away from his newspaper, and 
 pour into his ears the story of his fault. 
 
 Shanti went to bed supperless (contrary to the 
 head master's opinion, Dr. Sarkar loved his son too 
 well to spoil him) , but he went to bed forgiven. Crouch- 
 ing in a dark corner of the sleeping room with his 
 forehead against the mud floor he asked God his Father 
 
62 BENGALI SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 to pardon him for the sake of Jesus, his Holy Teacher. 
 As he curled up in his blanket, he rehearsed his creed as 
 far as he had learned it : "I believe in God my Father 
 and in Jesus my Teacher, and I believe it is good to 
 follow him and to be merciful, and I believe in the 
 forgiveness of sins." 
 
 THE END 
 
 
 
 PRINTXD BY Wlil^ZXU C&OWB8 AND SONS, hTD., i^NDON AND BECCLES. 
 
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