Girl.—"Tell me when is the train dōō."
Myself.—"Immediately. There it is coming now."
Girl.—"Guess the box is too heavy for one man. Will you help to fix it upon the car?"
She did not wait for a reply, but ran and took her place. No more thanks. I looked round for some one to help with her box, and as I did so she put her head out of the window, and called to a man who was sitting in a cart, and had probably brought her and the trunk.
"Jimmy, can't you see my box? Help that man standing by it to ship it on the car."
Jimmy did kindly help me, and so the difficulty was got over, but I saw or heard no more of the American lassie.
As I made notes of the above (I filled many pocket-books in that way in America), I pondered and thought it over. I don't at all believe the girl meant to be rude or unkind, it's quite likely she would have done as much as she asked of me for some one else, but she had not been brought up to consider courtesy a necessity, and most certainly did not practise it.
The tea usually drunk in the States is dreadful stuff. As I am interested in the growth of tea in India, I inquired much as to the prospects of that tea if sent there, and on my return to England, I wrote the following to one of the papers devoted to tea matters in Calcutta. I give it here, as it exemplifies the difficulty of getting good tea in America, which so many English appreciate, and because large numbers here now are interested in the tea industry of Hindustan.
TEA IN AMERICA.
Would you like to hear as to the prospects of Indian tea in America? Having been in the States some five months and looked into the matter, I can tell you.