Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/173

 coat, with a European hat of some sort ; and they are very particular about carrying a walking-stick, which is entirely for show. In the privacy of their homes, where ventilation and punkahs are unknown, they lay aside as many of their garments as decency permits.

After a short experience of surprise visits, which were as much of a surprise to myself as to the people I called upon, a timely notice of the proposed visit was given beforehand. When this was done I found the rooms swept, the fowls expelled, a chair placed in the centre of the room for my use, and the whole family beaming in their Sunday best. The visit was a pleasure to all concerned, and there were no uncomfortable moments on arrival, nor long waiting while a hurried toilette was made. The chaplain, however, was not always able to send notice of his advent. The absence of a child from school or the report of sickness in a family gave no time for heralding his visit.

There was an old European pensioner who had married an East Indian wife and had adopted the country as his home. For half a century she had been his faithful helpmate. The children were all out in the world, and the old couple jogged comfortably along on his pension. They were regular in their attendance at church ; he in spotless white drill, and she in black silk gown, white lace shawl, and flowery bonnet. One Sunday they were missing from their usual seats ; and on the Monday the padre, fearing that one of them might be ill, called at their house to inquire if all was well. He entered the little front-yard and walked quickly to the door of the living-room which opened into the yard. There stood the old lady, her feet apart, her arms akimbo, and in her mouth was a long Trichinopoly cheroot, from which she puffed columns of blue smoke into the morning air. She wore nothing but the one cotton under-garment