CHAPTER XI
EURASIANS
Take care to spend nothing without hope of profit; to undertake nothing without reflection; to begin no quarrel without good cause.— Sloka.
My life in Madras was not made up entirely of social duties and driving round the suburbs to leave cards at the white palaces of the Europeans. A new phase of pastoral work opened before us with our introduction to Eurasia in Sunday-school and the almshouses.
A chaplaincy, which is a Government appointment paid from the revenues, conveys to the mind of the man who accepts it, that his services are to be devoted to the troops and to the civilians of all grades employed by Government; but these do not constitute the whole of his flock. There is another community that comes under his spiritual charge, the domiciled Europeans and Eurasians who have no employment under Government. The very existence of such a class is not realised by the chaplain until he arrives in the country and personally makes their acquaintance.
In the earliest days Eurasians were termed half-castes, which accurately described the children of English and native parents. As time passed the offspring of pure-blooded parents were outnumbered by the children of the half-castes themselves. These resented the appellation and preferred to be known as Indo-Britons. For two or three generations they were content with this as a term
