Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/145

Rh think it wrong. A cook in Royapooram, who had been a Roman Catholic, but became, I think, a truly Christian man, remarked that he had formerly been in the habit of taking four annas in the rupee as a commission on his marketing; but that, on consultation with his friends, he had come to the conclusion that this was wrong, and that hereafter he would only take one anna in the rupee; this, he thought, would be about fair.

The washing and ironing are done by two persons, and these not women, as with us, but men. The dobey (washerman) is responsible for the clothes, and usually receives pay for both operations; but the ironing-man is commonly in his company on pay-day, to see that the dobey does not cheat him as to the amount of wages received. They do their work well, but must be watched to see that the articles taken away are not kept back for their own benefit. They call for the clothes with poor little donkeys, and go off bending under great bundles on their own backs, driving before them the poor donkeys staggering under still greater loads, seemingly enough to crush their slender