nothing by this kind of pride in India. They only conclude that you
are not an asl, or born, saheb, and rejoice that at any rate you
cannot take away their right to do obeisance to you. And you cannot.
Your very bhunghie does you a pompous salutation in public places,
and you have no redress.

The dog-boy's primary duties are to feed, tend and wash his charge,
and to take it for a walk morning and evening; but he is active and
very acute, and many other duties fall naturally to him. It seems
hard that he should come under the yoke so early, but we must not
approach such subjects with Western ideas. The exuberant spirits of
boyhood are not indigenous to this country, and the dog-boy has none
of them. He never does mischief for mischief's sake; he robs no
bird's nest; he feels no impulse to trifle with the policeman.
Marbles are his principal pastime. He puts the thumb of his left
hand to the ground and discharges his taw from the point of his
second finger, bending it back till it touches the back of the hand
and then letting it off like a steel spring. Then he follows up on
all fours, with the action of a monsoon frog in pursuit of a fugitive
ant. But liberty and the pride of an independent position amply
compensate any high-souled dog-boy for the loss of his few
amusements.

I have said that the dog-boy never does mischief for its own sake.
He would as soon do his duty for its own sake. The motive is not
sufficient. You shall not find him refusing to do any mischief which
tends to his own advantage. I grieve to say it, for I have leanings
towards the dog-boy, but there is in him a vein of unsophisticated
depravity, which issues from the rock of his nature like a clear
spring that no stirrings of conscience or shame have rendered turbid.