Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/172

146 to have a good look at the padré as we passed; and the monkeys grinned at us from the walls. Even the dogs knew that we were entering a territory to which we had no right, and barked at the white intruder. The boys, early as it was, were at their books in the heathen school, and the dye-men were stirring their pots, and fishing up from the blue indigo long pieces of cotton cloth. The bazaar-men were opening their stalls, and in one a shrivelled old man was showing his charity by breaking a rice cake into morsels and throwing them to the crows. This is esteemed a most meritorious act, and highly pleasing to the gods. It certainly was to the crows, who clustered around with loud caws, and caught the fragments in their bills before they reached the ground.

But here we are at the school: a boy has caught sight of us, and announced the approach of the missionary. The news produces a wonderful state of studiousness in the boys and earnestness in the teacher. The pupils roar out their lessons so as to be heard through all the neighbourhood, and the master is too busy to see us until we are within the door of the school-room. Instantly he commands silence, makes a profound salaam, and gives an account