Awkward.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 106, 8 February 1900, Page 3

Awkward.

Sir Joseph Groove, in his " Reminiscences," gives several instances of the m inner in which religious bohef m India may conflict with the practical aflaii'j of life. Ho had numerous servants there, for a man who had been hired for one soit of work always refused to undertake anything else, and the consequence was that the place was full of people oithei idle or fast asleep. "When thpy did work, however, it was often under certain restrictions wnich a stranger was not likely to guess in the begin- ! ning. At one time the bnngalow was overrun with mice, and a boy was ordeied to buy half-a-dozen traps and sot them. He obeyed, and next day took his ' master round triumphantly to show that each of them was occupied by a prisoner. A few days latev it was evident that the micB were still rampant all over the bungalow, and the master cailed his boy. '• Have you set the mousetraps ?" asked he. " Yes, sahib." " How many mice did you catch ?" " Fifty." " What did you do with them ?" " I let them out again." " But," said the master, " they were to be caught and killed." "Oh," said the bo}, '"I never kill anything 1" Then he remembered that the Hindu religion makes that merciful but inconvenient provision.