CHAPTER V.
THE BEGGAES.
ONE of the chief problems of Indian Society is that oS beggary. India is perhaps the most beggar-beridden country to be found. Nor would it be possible under present circumstances to pass any law forbidding beggary. In the absence of a poor-law, it is the last resource of the, destitute.
True it is a plague spot in society and a serious reflection both on our humanity and civilisation, to say nothing of our religious professions, to tolerate the continued existence of the present state of things.
And yet I see no reason why the problem should not be-firmly and successfully handled in the interests alike of the beggars themselves and those who supply the alms.
A short time, ago I was visiting a Mahornmedan gentleman in the Native quarter of Bombay, It was in the morning before he went to business, and I happened to hit upon the, veiy time when thq beggars made their usual rounds. I should think upwards of fifty men and women must have called during the few minutes that I was there. In fact it seemed like one never-ending string of them reaching down both sides of the street, Some sang, or sfroutedjtb' attract notice; others stood mutely with appealing eyes, wherever they thought there was a chance of getting anything*, -Mangr^ received a dole, while others were tdlc( to call again* I Qould not but be struck by the courteous manner of my host to them, even when asking them to pass .along.