ey listen eagerly to its contents, discuss
it at length, and retail it to all absentees.

[Illustration: THE INDIAN VILLAGE POSTMAN.

(The white paint-marks on his forehead and cheeks indicate that Vishnu
is his special god.)]

The Indian postman knows that he is a privileged and generally welcome
visitor, especially when he is the bearer of the bulky weekly mail
from England. He steps into the verandah, or in at any of the many
wide-open doors of the bungalow, with a confidence and with a
consciousness that there is no need to ask permission, such as other
Indian visitors do not always feel.

CHAPTER VI

INDIANS AND ENGLISH CUSTOMS

Spread of English customs inevitable. No national dress.
Christians and English dress. Increased refinement means
increased expense; instances of this. Defects in the Indian
style of dress. Beauty of the turban. Models in the Indian
Institute. The transformed policeman.

"But why are they in English clothes? Why do they not wear their
Indian dress?" So said somebody when looking at a photograph of some
of the Christian lads who are working in the Mission stables.

The criticism is sometimes heard that missionaries are largely
responsible for the introduction of European dress and customs into
foreign countries. The charge is only partially true; in many cases it
is the restraining influence of the missionary which has done
something to check the inevitable growth of foreign customs, even at
the cost of provoking some discontent amongst the members of his
flock.

The real truth of the matter is that the spread of these customs is a
tide that cannot be stayed, and the most that can be hoped for is to
help to regulate it, so that things obviously out of place should not
creep in. As the knowledge of English spreads, the acquisition of
English ways gradually follows. This naturally is specially the case
amongst Christians, because so many of them are living in close touch
with English people.

Indian Christians are sometimes criticised and laughed at for their
frequent adoption of European dress, which often involves the adjuncts
of collars, ties, studs, shoes, and socks. But in so doing they are
not discarding a national dress, because India does not possess one.
Dress in India denotes religion or occupation, not country. The ample
linen cloth which the Hindu folds around his waist and therewith
clothes his legs, denotes that he is a Hindu. For th