It is regarded as of evil omen to call a man back when he has just started anywhere.
The indigenous village schools used to be noted for the severity of discipline in vogue there: various stories are told of the ingenuity of the village school-masters in devising ever-fresh punishment. One punishment was adopted from the illustrations of Bala Krishna, who is generally represented as kneeling on one knee holding something in his right hand, and something on his head; the poor boy who was to be punished was made to kneel on one knee, and hold a brick in his upturned hand.
Literally— “Day and night there were cries of ‘Let us eat,’ ‘Let us eat’— To-day we will eat the elephants out of the elephant stables, and to-morrow the horses out of their stalls.”
The reference is to the popular stories current in Bengal about the Rakshashas and Rakshashis, the ogres and ogresses of our English childhood.
Literally— “Day and night are still with us.”— The idea seems to be that the Universe is still in its place, and that there is still justice in the earth; the popular tradition apparently being that justice is gradually disappearing from the earth.