Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 99

PARIAH IMPROVIDENCE
59
Pariahs it is an invariable rule, almost a point of honour,
to spend everything they earn and to take no thought for
the morrow.
The majority of them, men and women,
are never clothed in anything but old rags.
But in order
to obtain a true idea of their abject misery one must live
amongst them, as I have been obliged to do. About half
of my various congregations consisted of Pariah Christians.
Wherever I went I was constantly called in to administer
the last consolations of religion to people of this class.
On reaching the hut to which my duty led me, I was often
obliged to creep in on my hands and knees, so low was
the entrance door to the wretched hovel. When once
inside, I could only partially avoid the sickening smell by
holding to my nose a handkerchief soaked in the strongest
vinegar.
I would find there a mere skeleton, perhaps
lying on the bare ground, though more often crouching on
a rotten piece of matting, with a stone or a block of wood
as a pillow.
The miserable creature would have for cloth-
ing a rag tied round the loins, and for covering a coarse
and tattered blanket that left half the body naked. I
would seat myself on the ground by his side, and the first
words I heard would be
Father, I am dying of cold and
hunger.'
I would spend a quarter of an hour or so by
him, and at last leave this sad spectacle with my heart
torn asunder by the sadness and hopelessness of it all,
'
:
my body covered in every part with insects and vermin.
Yet, after all, this was the least inconvenience that I suffered,
for I could rid myself of them by changing my clothes and
taking a hot bath. The only thing that really afflicted me
was having to stand face to face with such a spectacle of
utter misery and all its attendant horrors, and possessing
no means of affording any save the most inadequate
remedies.
Oh if those who are blessed with this world's goods,
and who are so inclined to create imaginary troubles for
themselves because they have no real ones
if the dis-
contented and ambitious who are always ready to grumble
and
!
;
and complain of their fate, because perchance they have
only the mere necessaries and are unable to procure the
luxuries and pleasures of life
if they would only pause
for a moment and contemplate this harrowing picture of
;