istinguish a
letter. The sudden fall of night resembles the gloom produced by the
rapid gathering of clouds before a thunderstorm in England, and gives
for the moment a certain sense of sadness. In the last half-hour
before sunset you see people hurrying along the roads and the many
footpaths which intersect each other all over India, in order to get
home before dark. The cattle which have been feeding all day on the
hills and jungle lands come straggling home, and they respond slowly
to the call for hurry, urged upon them forcibly by their young
attendants. If you happen to be in one of the narrow gullies of a
village just at the time when the cattle are coming home, the position
is an embarrassing one. There is scarcely room for them to pass, and
they eye a stranger with suspicion. They turn in at their respective
doorways as if they were the owners, and there is not much distinction
between the quarters allotted to them and the dwelling-place of the
family.

CHAPTER XLVII

EAST AND WEST ON BOARD SHIP

Christians and Hindu customs. The carpentry instructor; A
taint of Hinduism; he retains his pigtail. Indians on their
way to Europe; perplexities about bath and food. The Jain
sect; their views. The Sikhs. Going to Germany for Sanskrit.
Conversation of English-speaking Hindus. Indians on deck.
East and West pull together. No room for the theosophist.

Some missionaries advocate the retention by Christian converts of such
Hindu customs as are not directly connected with idolatry, especially
in connection with marriage ceremonies. Others maintain that it is
impossible really to distinguish between what is innocent and what is
not, and that the only safe course is to come out altogether and be
separate. The elaborate restrictions concerning food, given to the
children of Israel, were apparently chiefly designed to prevent them
from mixing socially with the idolatrous people with whom they were
surrounded, lest they should drop back into any of the old evil ways.
For the same reason it would seem necessary in India for the Christian
convert to separate himself from everything which is in any way
distinctive of Hinduism, quite apart from whether the thing itself is
harmful or not. It is certain that lapses back to Hinduism have been
most frequent amongst Christians of those Missions where the laxer
view has prevailed.

An illustration somewhat to the point may be found in the case