ave
observed that they have their land always at their hearts and in their
mouths, just as in civilized countries. They do not grow more than one
crop a year, but this is recompensed to them because their fields do
not need irrigation. The rain in Franceville is always sure and
abundant and in excess. They grow all that we grow such as peas,
onions, garlic, spinach, beans, cabbages and wheat. They do not grow
small grains or millet, and their only spice is mustard. They do not
drink water, but the juice of apples which they squeeze into barrels
for that purpose. A full bottle is sold for two pice. They do not drink
milk but there is abundance of it. It is all cows' milk, of which they
make butter in a churn which is turned by a dog." [_Now, how shall we
make my brother believe that? Write it large._] "In Franceville, the
dogs are both courteous and industrious. They play with the cat, they
tend the sheep, they churn the butter, they draw a cart and guard it
too. When a regiment meets a flock, the dogs of their own wisdom order
the sheep to step to one side of the road. I have often seen this."
[_Not one word of this will he or anyone in the villages believe,
Sahib. What can you expect? They have never even seen Lahore City! We
will tell him what he can understand._] "Ploughs and carts are drawn by
horses. Oxen are not used for these purposes in these villages. The
field work is wholly done by old men and women and children, who can
all read and write. The young men are all at the war. The war comes
also to the people in the villages, but they do not regard the war
because they are cultivators. I have a friend among the French--an old
man in the village where the Regiment was established, who daily fills
in the holes made in his fields by the enemy's shells with dirt from a
long-handled spade. I begged him once to desist when we were together
on this work, but he said that idleness would cause him double work for
the day following. His grandchild, a very small maiden, grazed a cow
behind a wood where the shells fell, and was killed in that manner. Our
Regiment was told the news and they took an account of it, for she was
often among them, begging buttons from their uniforms. She was small
and full of laughter, and she had learned a little of our tongue."
[_Yes. That was a very great shame, Sahib. She was the child of us all.
We exacted a payment, but she was slain--slain like a calf for no
fault. A black shame!... We will