In Europe there are separate classes of people who subsist by
catering for the amusements of the higher classes of society, in
theatres, operas, concerts, balls, &c., &c.; but in India this duty
devolves entirely upon the young civil and military officers of the
Government, and at large stations it really is a very laborious one,
which often takes up the whole of a young man's time. The ladies must
have amusement; and the officers must find it for them, because there
are no other persons to undertake the arduous duty. The consequence
is that they often become entirely alienated from their men, and
betray signs of the greatest impatience while they listen to the
necessary reports of their native officers, as they come on or go off
duty.[38]
It is different when regiments are concentrated for active service.
Nothing tends so much to improve the tone of feeling between the
European officers and their men, and between European soldiers and
sepoys, as the concentration of forces on actual service, where the
same hopes animate, and the same dangers unite them in common bonds
of sympathy and confidence.
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