-
Articles/Ads
Article PENCILLINGS EROM THE SKETCH-BOOK OE A MA... ← Page 8 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Erom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
shape of vegetables : while , also , amid the great show of flowers , the English and China roses are conspicuous from their quantities ; but at distant stations , from various causes , the magnates alone ,. as a rule , can show ornamental ground about their dwellings . The space around a subaltern ' s bungalow , for instance , is usually little better than a
field , inclosed by an aloe or milk hedge ( the sap of the last-named bush being most pungent and blistering ) , with a couple of tumbledown pillars at the entrance and in front of the building , indicating thereby the spot where a gate should be—a single round or ovalshaped parterre immediately before the door , set with a rosebush or two , and perhaps a few geraniums in the last stage of horticultural vitality , bordered by . the dwarf mulberry three feet in height .
Plants will grow at most stations , if due care be taken , and sufficient money be expended ; but gardening in the East costs no trifling outlay . Officers slvq constantly liable to be moved about ; juniors have little to spend upon such luxuries ; and the owners of the bungalows , generally native shopkeepers in the place , as long as they have tenants , and so secure the house-rent , care little for aught beside .
I must here call my reader ' s attention to the portrait of a " great character" in his day , —the mess butler at the cadets' quarters . He was a perfect curiosity in himself—a capital specimen of fat and jovial Hindooism , —a black Palstaff ; indeed he was generally known by the sobriquet of " Sir John . " "Witty , after his fashion , full of
big looks towards his inferiors , he was roguishly accommodating in his services , uniting an odd mixture of respect and jocose freedom in his manner towards the cadets , who of course were in the habit of constituting him their butt . However , the facetious old fellow bore every stroke of pleasantry with the greatest good humour and
drollery imaginable . Poor Murrainsam Naich has long since been gathered to his fathers . Many likenesses of him were taken by the amateur limners of those days , and duplicates were given him , of which he was vastly proud , carrying the same about his person in the folds of his cummerbund , or waistband , whence he could draw
them forth , and exhibit them to each new arrival . The evening drew on ; the sun commenced its descent like a ball of fire in the western sky , and the great beat having become dissipated , we strolled out to view our locality . But a short time allowed for this , for twilight there was none ; a beauteous moon rose in the
heavens , tipping with silvery light the leaves of the distant cocoanut-trees , gently waving to the sea breeze , which had set in to cool and comfort us , and our little party returned to congregate in the hall , to discuss the merits of an Indian supper , to which all were prepared to do full justice ; finishing the same with a cigar and glass
of brandy ( panee ) and water . Some then tried their hands at cards ; those more drowsily inclined threw themselves back in their chairs , and their legs , a la Diode Asiatique , horizontally on the table , till Morpheus , the attendant on night here as elsewhere , called on every one to retire within tho compass of the canvass walls , there to sue-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Erom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
shape of vegetables : while , also , amid the great show of flowers , the English and China roses are conspicuous from their quantities ; but at distant stations , from various causes , the magnates alone ,. as a rule , can show ornamental ground about their dwellings . The space around a subaltern ' s bungalow , for instance , is usually little better than a
field , inclosed by an aloe or milk hedge ( the sap of the last-named bush being most pungent and blistering ) , with a couple of tumbledown pillars at the entrance and in front of the building , indicating thereby the spot where a gate should be—a single round or ovalshaped parterre immediately before the door , set with a rosebush or two , and perhaps a few geraniums in the last stage of horticultural vitality , bordered by . the dwarf mulberry three feet in height .
Plants will grow at most stations , if due care be taken , and sufficient money be expended ; but gardening in the East costs no trifling outlay . Officers slvq constantly liable to be moved about ; juniors have little to spend upon such luxuries ; and the owners of the bungalows , generally native shopkeepers in the place , as long as they have tenants , and so secure the house-rent , care little for aught beside .
I must here call my reader ' s attention to the portrait of a " great character" in his day , —the mess butler at the cadets' quarters . He was a perfect curiosity in himself—a capital specimen of fat and jovial Hindooism , —a black Palstaff ; indeed he was generally known by the sobriquet of " Sir John . " "Witty , after his fashion , full of
big looks towards his inferiors , he was roguishly accommodating in his services , uniting an odd mixture of respect and jocose freedom in his manner towards the cadets , who of course were in the habit of constituting him their butt . However , the facetious old fellow bore every stroke of pleasantry with the greatest good humour and
drollery imaginable . Poor Murrainsam Naich has long since been gathered to his fathers . Many likenesses of him were taken by the amateur limners of those days , and duplicates were given him , of which he was vastly proud , carrying the same about his person in the folds of his cummerbund , or waistband , whence he could draw
them forth , and exhibit them to each new arrival . The evening drew on ; the sun commenced its descent like a ball of fire in the western sky , and the great beat having become dissipated , we strolled out to view our locality . But a short time allowed for this , for twilight there was none ; a beauteous moon rose in the
heavens , tipping with silvery light the leaves of the distant cocoanut-trees , gently waving to the sea breeze , which had set in to cool and comfort us , and our little party returned to congregate in the hall , to discuss the merits of an Indian supper , to which all were prepared to do full justice ; finishing the same with a cigar and glass
of brandy ( panee ) and water . Some then tried their hands at cards ; those more drowsily inclined threw themselves back in their chairs , and their legs , a la Diode Asiatique , horizontally on the table , till Morpheus , the attendant on night here as elsewhere , called on every one to retire within tho compass of the canvass walls , there to sue-