Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/73

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IN INDIA.
53

the society is completely changed. Hence, even among the residents, many are indifferent about cultivating acquaintances that they are liable to be always losing; and certainly less sociality exists than would be the case were all permanently settled.

Calcutta may be aptly compared to a grand hotel, where travellers meet not only from all parts of India, but from all parts of the world. There assemble the young cadet, high in hope and eager to launch out into the career he expects to conduct him to glory and to fortune; the veteran, wearied with the weight of honours, grey and worn out before his time, panting to return to the land of his boyhood; the invalid—with the hectic flush upon his cheek, his sinews unstrung, and his raiment a world too wide for his shrunk shanks, preparing to embark for a more congeniai climate; the spinster with the rose of England still upon her cheek, bent upon conquest; and the maiden,all forlorn, dispirited and despondent, after an unsuccessful campaign under the banners of Cupid; and there may be seen the young widow in her weeds and in her teens, and the fatherless orphans in mourning and in smiles,preparing for the homeward voyage; and there may be seen the Mofusselites taking their annual spell of recreation; some sending children to England that they may never again see; others receiv-