and of course, out of yours; or, if he is of the stolid sort, he will
set it down as a phenomenon incidental to sahebs, but without any
bearing on the matter in hand, and he will go on as before. Besides,
a state of indignation is very detrimental to your own command of the
language, and if you could in cold blood take your "Forbes" and study
some of the sentences which you fulminated in your ebullitions of
anger, you would cease to wonder that the subject of them was such an
idiot.


Hum roz roz hookum day,
Tum roz roz hookum nay,
Ooswasty lukree--(whack, whack)


went home, I have no doubt, but it is the gift of few to be at once
so luminous and so forcible. Try handling your Hamal in another way.
Call him mildly--a mild tone thaws his understanding--and say to him,
"Look here, my son. Do you see this gold writing on the backs of
these books? For what purpose is it?" He will reply, "Who knows?"
Then you can proceed, "That writing is the mark by which you may know
the head of any book. Now consider, should a book stand on its
head?" If he replies, "How should a book stand on its head?" then
you are getting access to his intelligence, and may lead him on
gradually to the conclusion that, whenever he puts a book into the
shelves, he should make it stand so that the writing on the back of
it may be uppermost. I tell you he will beam with intelligence, and
rise earlier next morning to put his new learning into practice.
After a few days he will forget and relapse into his old ways, but
you must have patience.