Page:James Thomason (Temple).djvu/66

58 with his own hands, he grappled with the realities of the business. Though he was usually bland and benign, yet there are cases which show that, if his lawful authority were resisted, he would enforce it with vigour. Interest in his charge deepened year by year, till he came to regard himself as the thrifty and resourceful steward of an improvable domain. He saw the people not only as they appear in public offices and courts of justice, but also as they are in their villages and in their humble callings at home. He learnt to respect their susceptibilities, to feel for their anxieties and to recognize the difficulties with which they are but too often environed. While vigilant against wrongfulness concealed under plausible masks, he was aware of the insinuations with which natives are sometimes prone to poison the mind of European authority against their neighbours. Few Europeans in power have ever judged natives so considerately or made allowances for them so generously as he. During his rides, drives and walks he would try to catch the tone and feel the pulse of the people. At his headquarters, while living in the official residence, his recreation in the cool hours of the morning or the evening — before or after the indoor business of the day — was to inspect the city or the station, and to devise material improvements. For nearly half the year he would quit his headquarters and march in tents about the district. While riding through the fields, halting amidst the homesteads, lounging in the shade of a spreading tree, or in the vestibule of