course of
the day. The custom of early tea, with some accompaniment, has become
general with Indians who have got a little familiar with English ways.

Easterns are astonished at the frequency of English meals, under the
idea apparently that we eat to repletion three or four times a day,
instead of only twice as they do. The breakfast bell rang when two or
three young Indian students were talking in the verandah, and they
asked if they might come and see our table spread for the meal. We
gladly assented, and explained the use and nature of the things set
upon it. Fortunately it was not a beef day, and they seemed relieved
to find that there was nothing terrible on view. But they expressed
great surprise at what appeared to them the small amount of food
provided, and we were able to point out the difference between English
and Indian customs in this respect, and that though our number of
meals daily is greater, we eat less than they do on each occasion.

A very large number of Indians, both Christian and heathen, live on
poor fare and go to bed hungry. This is from necessity, not from
choice. The poorest man is particular in his degree as to what he
eats, more especially as to the manner in which his food has been
prepared. Even the beggar off the road will unblushingly and loudly
grumble if the fare at a feast to which he has been invited by some
wealthy man is not exactly to his mind. The children of mission
schools, many of whom have come out of lives of real privation, are
sometimes very critical about their meals, and more especially as to
how it has been cooked, and they will leave a good supper uneaten and
go hungry to bed because of some trifling defect in the manner of its
preparation.

Most Indian women have been taught how to cook from early childhood,
and many of them are experts and take much pleasure in their art. Some
of the native dishes take a great deal of care and toil to prepare,
and except that their tendency is to be rather too pungent for the
English palate, a really first-class Indian dinner is refined in
appearance; and in the variety of dishes, provided there are always
certain things which can be eaten with pleasure. The varied objects
which make up the meal are neatly grouped before each guest, and they
are meant to be taken in a certain order, so that the palate will be
constantly renovated for the next dish which it is to taste.

Even the ordinary daily bread, in the form in which India