is so dull that it is affecting my health. Therefore, sir, I shall be much obliged if you will thank those very kind officer gentlemen and return their money to them. Tomorrow I will begin my rounds again, first selling these clothes which are too good to beg in.'
So Mrs. Brewer's spirits revived and her health was restored as she once more perambulated the station in suitable costume, taking her exercise regularly and earning her livelihood like other honest folk, if begging can be termed earning.
In India, where the weather is warm and congenial to the country-born, there is no hardship in sauntering through the cantonment, calling at the houses of the Europeans. The excitement of uncertainty, and the triumph of success when the rupee is bestowed—more often to get rid of the importunate beggar than to relieve visible distress—are sufficient to render the tramp round the station interesting, if not actually exciting.
Frequently the begging is done by letter, which is carried by one of the children of the family, who thus receives its first lessons in the art. The following epistle was brought by a smiling chubby little one, who pattered up to the verandah of the chaplain's sitting-room with bare feet over the warm dry sand. She handed the missive to the padre, as the chaplain is known among them, with a confident smile that seemed to anticipate a welcome rather than a rebuke.
'Reverend Sir,—Pardon me troubling you with these lines. I humbly beg to state that I and my four children are perishing with hunger and can't no longer keep up. I hope you will be ever kind to help me to cool the burning stomachs of my children, for which act of charity I shall feel thankful. I remain, Reverend Sir,
- 'Your obedient
