For my own
part I decline to meddle with holly and jollity and general goodwill,
and I have again and again protested against the insane Beggars'
Carnival which breaks out yearly towards the beginning of December. A
man may be pleased enough to hear his neighbour express goodwill, but he
does not want his neighbour's hand held forth to grasp our Western
equivalent for "backsheesh." In Egypt the screeching Arabs make life
miserable with their ceaseless dismal yell, "_Backsheesh, Howaji!_" The
average British citizen is also hailed with importunate cries which are
none the less piercing and annoying from the fact that they are
translated into black and white. The ignoble frivolity of the swarming
circulars, the obvious insincerity of the newspaper appeals, the
house-to-house calls, tend steadily to vulgarize an ancient and a
beautiful institution, and alienate the hearts of kindly people who do
not happen to be abject simpletons. The outbreak of kindness is
sometimes genuine on the part of the donors; but it is often merely
surface-kindness, and the gifts are bestowed in a bitter and grudging
spirit. Let me ask, What are the real feelings of a householder who is
requested to hand out a present to a turncock or dustman whom he has
never seen? The functionaries receive fair wages for unskilled labour,
yet they come smirking cheerfully forward and prefer a claim which has
no shadow of justification.
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