Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/83

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A MORNING WALK.
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coin,) he replied, “The English are a great people, a very great people; they do not care for the pice; oh, no; they do not care for the dirty pice; what they care for is the rupee!”




A Morning Walk.

Early the next morning we left the house, impatient to have a look at the new world into which we had entered. The sun had not risen, and the air was soft and cool. The somewhat straggling oleanders and jessamines that adorned the compound bloomed bright and fragrant, and the soft green drapery of the margosa-tree had a peculiar charm for eyes that for months had seen no vegetation more brilliant than sprouting potatoes and turnips. Passing through the gate and by a few houses, we entered the main street of Chintadrepettah, with the mission church on our right.

Immediately opposite to it stands a small temple—a temple of the elephant-headed Ganesha or Pullyar; and a poor little house he has, not more than twelve feet square, built of brick