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The Golden Falcon |
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Chapter XXI/1 - Sunset |
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SUNSET I
remember, I remember, The
house where I was born, The
little window where the sun Came
peeping in at morn; He
never came a wink too soon, Nor
brought too long a day; But
now, I often wish the night Had
borne my breath away. (Thomas
Hood) Extract
from "Lankadipa" 11.8.1961
or 11.9.1961 (publication of the "Times of Ceylon"). When
the white men were the sole rulers of Ceylon, a gentleman named Mr
Winter strengthened the spirits of the villagers and started a sugar
factory at Baddegama. I have
often heard people say that Mr
Winter's sugar factory produced white sugar only and that some of
those who have tasted that sugar are still among the living.
As the people were under the sway of another nation and that there
was little freedom for one to improve one's trade Mr
Winter's sugar factory had to undergo the same uninterested fate.
With all that the white sugar that Baddegama produced at the time
was no second to any other white sugar produced in the other countries of
the world. Mr
Winter's enthusiasm and spirit were so sturdy that his factory became
famous for white sugar. Now
Ceylon has burst the chain of bondage and has stepped into a free world
with a free age, there are once again two sugar producing factories, one
at Gantalawa and the other at Gal Oya but to our misfortune there is not
sufficient cane for these two factories which are supposed to be two white
elephants." The
Rev. Charles Henry Winter visited Ceylon in 1951 and the "Observer"
reported: Men,
Women and Memories:
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
The last time we quoted Shelley's line irreverently was some years
ago when we were told that a Mr Winter had come to see us. He
had just returned from England after a short stay there and came to the "Observer"
Office in search of information about a famous ancestor of his who was the
first editor of this long-lived newspaper. Dipping
into one of our old scrap-books, we have just come across this headline
"George Winter -
Sailor, Merchant, Journalist and Planter". Born
at Clapham, Surrey in 1799 George Winter joined the India Marine as a lad of eighteen.
He later owned a ship which voyaged at regular intervals between
Gravesend and the East. It
was in this vessel that the first four Anglican missionaries for Ceylon
came to Galle in 1818. On
board with them was George Winter who became a good friend of theirs. Short
& Sweet: George Winter continued his seafaring life until 1828 when he
decided to make Ceylon his home. He
started a mercantile business in Colombo and in 1834, when a group of
merchants decided to start Ceylon's first independent newspaper and call
it the "Observer".
Our first editor soon ran into trouble.
He was involved in a libel action before the paper was many months
old. The trial ended in an
acquittal but George Winter
gave up journalism and took to something sweeter and more profitable.
When he visited his missionary friends at Baddegama, the idea came
to him that he would take to sugar-cane planting and the local manufacture
of sugar. The
sugar industry he started kept going until 1910 when it was abandoned in
favour of the more remunerative tea and rubber.
George Winter also tried
indigo cultivation. Hence the
name Nilhena Kanda (blue plantation mountain) near Baddegama. George
Winter
had twelve children. We have
met a few of his many descendants in Ceylon and found them prosperous and
purposeful. ("Ceylon Observer" - Pegasus). Saga
of the Winter family. Grandson of the first editor of the "Observer" only 12 when he left Ceylon,- now he returns at
80: A grandson of George
Winter of Baddegama fame, (he was the first editor of the "Ceylon
Observer") the Rev. Charles
H. Winter honorary Chaplain of the Forces at Grayshott, Surrey,
England - is on a short visit to Ceylon after the lapse of seven decades. He
left Ceylon as a little boy and is now in his eightieth year.
He did the trip by air recently to visit his only surviving
brother, Mr Edmund Winter of
St. George's Galagedara who was ill at the time. Of
a family of five brothers and two sisters, the only other surviving member
is a sister Mrs Chesshyre. She
lives in Florida, USA. In his
brother's house at St. George's Estate Mr
Winter recounted to me details of his eventful career and also gave me
a brief history of his grandfather's early days in Ceylon and of his great
grandfather in England. George
Winter
was one of six Englishmen who were among the first to come to Ceylon.
He settled in Colombo in 1828 as a merchant.
After a short period as editor of the "Ceylon
Observer" in the eighteen thirties, he devoted his life in
planting. One
of the greatest pioneers ever to have set foot in this Island, he spent a
great deal of energy in developing a sugar cane industry, with
considerable success. He was
also the pioneer in the essential oil industry in Ceylon and the first to
distil lemon grass oil and citronella oil for export. A
cottage industry for which he will be remembered is tortoise-shell craft,
a study of which he appeared to have made while in China and which he
later taught to Sinhalese craftsmen in the south. Family
History: George Winter's father
lived in Spital Square, London. As
a young man George joined the East India Company and was away in India and
other parts of the world, when his father, a widower, fell in love with
one of the two daughters of Mr Cresse, who lived in the same square and
were neighbours of the Winters. Subsequently Winter
senior married the elder Miss Cresse. Young
George Winter returned home
after his travels, fell in love with the younger sister Sarah Cresse, his
father's wife's (half) sister. George
married Sarah at Edmonton Parish church where Sarah had been baptised as a
child. When
George Winter sailed East
again, Sarah joined him. She
was the first Englishwoman to settle in Ceylon.
They made their home in Baddegama. There
were children by both marriages. A son of Winter
senior, James Winter later
joined George Winter in Ceylon
and carried on business with him for a time at Pillagoda.
Later the partnership was broken and James left for Australia and
had not been heard of afterwards. Mr
and Mrs George Winter had 12
children, most of them being born in Ceylon. Alfred Octavius who was born in Galle married a Miss Evelyn
Maria White whose parental home had been "Temple
Trees", the present residence of the Prime Minister.
They had seven children by the marriage and Mr
Charles Winter, Mr Edmund Winter and their sister in Florida are the
only survivors. Mr
Charles Winter told me that he
is now engaged in compiling the history of his grandfather and his other
forebears. For this purpose
he has studied some of the family records found in the British Museum.
"A lot more",
he said, "has to be
gathered" and he wondered if he could be able to complete it. Wide
travels:
At the age of about nine or ten, Charles
Winter spent a little under a year in India with an uncle C.
D. C. Winter (Charles Deslandes Church Winter) who was in the Indian
Civil service. On returning
to his parent's in Ceylon, his grandmother, Mrs
Sarah Winter, took him to England about the year 1882. There
he entered his first public school - Surrey County School, Cranleigh.
At the age of 15 he gained the much-coveted Royal Humane Society's
silver medal and parchment for swimming and life-saving exercises.
Even as a little boy Charles had been a proficient swimmer, having
spent most of his time in the crocodile-infested Gin Ganga in Baddegama. In
1836 he spent some time in Switzerland and returning to England he became
a pupil in a tenant farm. Then
he left for Canada. Charles
Winter was among the early migrants to Manitoba in 1880.
He took to farming very seriously, first working for others and
later by himself. Going to
the north lumber camps in winter, he did lumbering and learnt something
about trapping. When he left Canada, he had two timber wolves to his credit. Returning
home to England after seven years in Canada with the intention of taking
Holy Orders, Charles Winter
entered St. John's Hall, London where in his last year he was appointed
senior student. He was
ordained in 1900. After
holding various curacies he was eventually appointed Rector of Penhow,
Monmouthshire. He married in
1905 and has three children - daughters. War
Service: When
war broke out in 1914, he offered to serve in the forces as Chaplain. He was accepted for service and volunteered for the
Dardanelles. In the East he
was appointed Senior Chaplain to the base detail at Tower Hill Camp,
Mudros. He fell ill there and five days before the evacuation he was put
on a hospital ship as a cot case. Two
years later he met Q.M. (quarter master) who was greatly taken aback as
his men had been informed that Chaplain Winter
had been buried at sea! His
next assignment was in France where he took part in the battles of the
Somme and Arras. After holding four services one Sunday in the evening he was
partially buried by a high explosive shell at Tilloy, which came near
enough to blow him down before bursting within five yards. As
a result both eyes were affected as were his leg muscles which
necessitated his retirement from the Army.
Having resigned his living and retired from the Army, he began to
despair of finding as means of livelihood when a letter reached him from
the Lord Chancellor offering him a living in Buckinghamshire. It
turned out that his brother officers had put their heads together and used
their influence to further his case. Here
he lived for two years after which his eyes had to be operated on.
Advised to move where he could be in the open air, he exchanged his
living for one in Northumberland where he remained for 18 years.
Then he had to undergo a very severe abdominal operation resulting
from his Dardanelles experience. He
next accepted a living in Norfolk where he remained to six years when both
his eyes had to be operated again. He
lost so much sight as a result of this operation that he felt he could not
do justice to his people and retired on a small pension, having purchased
a bungalow and 10 acres of land north of Basingstoke, Hampshire.
He took in 2 and half acres to form a garden and planted 200 fruit
trees to make a most lovely garden. He
erected a large greenhouse, half of which was used for growing orchids and
other tender plants and spending all his days in the open. After
the Second World War, it was almost impossible to get local labour to work
his garden so he decided to part with his property.
He then moved to Grayshott, Surrey where he has a comfortable
house. Although the doctors
had ordered complete rest for months, when he heard of his younger brother
Edmund's illness, he was
greatly disturbed. Accepting
his brother's offer of a passage, two days after his eightieth birthday,
he undertook the journey and decided to fly, a mode of travel he had
always said he would never use. When
he boarded the plane from London he expected to find his brother very sick
man. At the Katunayake
airport it was a most pleasant surprise to find him touch his shoulder and
welcome him back to Ceylon after 70 years.
Mr Edmund Winter who is
73, had recovered from his illness almost completely. Mr
Charles Winter leaves for his
home in England by the end of the month by sea.
(R. M. Gunesekera - "Ceylon Observer"). After
he returned to England, Rev. Charles Henry Winter wrote an account of his
visit to Ceylon entitled "After
the lapse of 70 Years" from which the following extract is taken: Dedicated
to my beloved brother, Edmund Winter, St. George Estate, Galagedara Ceylon in memory of a
wonderful visit paid by me, August 1st to October 31st 1951.
Chas. H. Winter. Is
it only a beautiful dream? Or
have I really re-visited Ceylon after the lapse of 70 years?
I know that I have slept in my own bed for the last ten weeks but
have been told at one time I ran a temperature.
Did my mind wander leaving the impression that I had gone back to
my boyhood haunts? It
all seems so unreal and yet as I look round my study I see at my elbow my
dear mother's writing case. How
did it get there? And I look
further and see a comfortable old armchair and I feel sure my father used
to sit in on the verandah at our old home "Sunnyside",
Baddegama. And there is
also on my table, a beautiful Kandyan box..
None of these were in my room when I fell ill.
I must have been in Ceylon and brought them back with me.
And as I make further enquiries the cloud moves away, I now realise
it was not a dream but very real, that I did really go back to Ceylon and
had a most enjoyable time, with a real welcome and kindness such as
beggars me to describe. I
first of all find a letter written on 10th May 1951 by Nellie
van der Poorten, my brother Edmund's
eldest daughter, which she writes at my brother's instigation, to say that
he is anxious that I should know he had a serious operation on April 25th,
for a malignant growth and was at the time of writing still in hospital.
This made me very anxious, is I had not seen my "little" brother since he was quite a small chap at the
time I left Ceylon in early 1882. I
was desperately anxious on receiving further letters and said had
I the money I would come and see him, to be at his side. Eventually
came a letter signed by Edmund to say he was much better and able to get about his estate
but still weak with the PS "If
you are really in earnest about flying to Ceylon and seeing the old
haunts, I shall make you a gift of paying your passage as your 80th
birthday present." So soon as I had received
this letter I communicated with Messrs. Thos. Cook and asked them to make
all necessary arrangements for me to go by air to Ceylon.
I had always said I would never travel by air but I felt this an
occasion to break the rule. I
was anxious to see my brother alive.
So at the age of 80 and 100% war disabled, having only the very
partial sight of one eye, the decision was taken.
I sent in my application for a passport, all correctly filled in
with my photo to Messrs Cook who advised me a few days later that the
Passport Office refused to issue one, as both my father and I were born in
Ceylon and that it was necessary for me to apply to the High Commissioner
of Ceylon. On doing so, the High Commissioner insisted that I must
produce my father's birth certificate.
I did not possess this document, my father being born in 1835 and
had not the slightest notion where it could be obtained. I
had paid £282.10s.0d for a return passage and the plane was due to start
in a few days. I did not know
what to do. I spent two
mornings speaking on the 'phone to the Home Office and the High
Commissioner. The former said
they could not oblige me and the latter would not without my father's
birth certificate. The
question of my status had been taken up by me when the British Nationality
Act 1948 Section 6 (1) had come into force in May 1949 and as a result of
correspondence in the
"Times", I made enquiries from the Home Office as to my
positions, informing them that both my father and I were born in Ceylon
and I had been informed by the Secretary of State that I was a British
subject by birth and would have retained this status under the Nationality
Act. This letter had been sent to Messrs. Thos. Cook with my
application form but regardless if this the Passport Office refused to
issue the necessary form. So
I decided to call at the Home Office, accompanied by my daughter Eva.
We spent the whole day there, running from pillar to post.
I had to go before a Commissioner of Oaths, sign a document, return
to the Home Office and was told to call at 5.30 p.m. when a passport was
handed to me along with a paper I have to keep in a secure place.
This paper stated "The
date of the endorsement is the date on which you became a citizen of the
United Kingdom and Colonies." Shades
of Drake and his companions, to think if one claiming descent from the
Admiral who commanded the "Vanguard."
Admiral Sir William Winter,
who fought against the Spanish Armada, should became a citizen of the
United Kingdom on the 25th July 1952! By
the time I had received these papers, the Office of the High Commissioner
of Ceylon was closed and I had to make another visit by car the following
day to obtain a visa to land on the Island. Such is the fate of those who leave the homeland "empire
building" as my grandfather had done. At
long last everything was ready, even the bags were packed.
A cable came from my brother to say he had taken a return passage
for me and I had to send him a cable to say I already had my ticket and he
must cancel his. Apparently
my air letter telling him I was starting on the 30th and would arrive in
Ceylon on August 1st had not reached him. My
80th birthday was a very happy one. We had an excellent lunch at the Bank Hotel, just opposite
this house, when two old College friends, Bishop T. Sherwood Jones (with
his wife ) and Rev. C. P. Heywood, Canon Ottley, the Vicar of this parish,
my dear wife and two elder daughters sat down to as good a meal as was
possible in these hard times and the then others joined us at tea on our
lawn. On
Sunday we went to church and partook at the Lord's Table.
On Monday evening the car came to the door.
Mr Lawrence who drove had strongly advised us that instead of
travelling by rail to London and then have a long coach drive to the
airport we would do better to drive straight to Heathrow.
We took his advice. By
the way when Mr. Lawrence learned I was going by air, knowing my
disabilities he said I was a fraud! Later
I learnt that my excursion became the wonder and topic of conversation at
Grayshott that an old man,
should take that long journey alone! We
reached Heathrow in good time, had the luggage passed by Customs; we all
had a cup of tea for which they wished to charge an extortionate amount,
which I refused to pay, said "Good-bye" to my dear ones and walked off to the plane.
Punctually at midnight we started off - the others had gone to an
observation point to see the plane go, they only saw it going along the
runway, but not leave the ground. In
fact I was not aware of the moment when we became airborne. Our
plane touched down at Rome, Cairo and Bahrain at the head of the Persian
Gulf and Karachi before reaching Colombo but to me there was a huge
disappointment. I had counted
on seeing something of these cities but alas! in each case, the dromes
were far out of the cities. They
had been built for military purposes so were kept away from the towns. We flew at a height of from 100,000 to 17,500 ft. and all I
could see over the wing of the plane were clouds underneath. I
have experienced heat in various parts of the world but nothing to equal
that midnight at Bahrain. I
was subsequently informed by one of my brother's sons-in-law a Commander
of one of the two warships owned by Ceylon (Captain Ivor Murray of the "Vijaya")
that in winter the climate is quite cool, in fact cold. After
it was decided that I was going by air, my nephew Haverstock
Bowman called at our house. As
he had to do with insurance business, I asked him how much it would cost
per £100. He though 30s but
later wrote me he had made a mistake, it was only 3s. per £100.
So I sent him a cheque for £3 and asked him to insure me for £2,000.
What was my surprise when later I got a note that my life was
insured for £7,000. I wrote
at once to Haverstock to know if this was a typist's error - a huge joke -
or did he consider my life so valuable.
The dear boy wrote saying there had been a mistake in the paper
being sent to me, it should have come to him.
He had out of his own pocket increased the insurance to £7,000 as
I had always been so kind to them! Our
plane was scheduled to arrive at 12.10 p.m.
As time grew on I watched carefully but did not get the sight of
even a coconut tree but punctually to time, we touched down.
While I was at the Customs House, I was wondering who would meet
me, Nellie or one of the
nephews, to make certain I should be recognised I had written to say was a
tall man with a white beard. Suddenly
I felt someone touch my arm, I looked around and saw my dear brother who
had come to welcome me looking fit and well.
I had expected to find a very sick man in bed, whom I should
probably have to bury. But
here was the good fellow, having got over his operation most wonderfully,
come in person to welcome a brother he had not seen for just over 70
years. He had spotted me at
once from my walk being like my elder brother's A. W (Alfred William Roosmalecocq Winter). We
got into his car and drove first to a rest-house where we had lunch and
then on to his beautiful home where I had a great welcome from the
assembled family. This
house is well worth describing. I got to know it fairly well before we left. There
was a long stretch of connected path, commencing with 3 steps, then at
intervals broken by four more. On
the right there were sheds for paddy pounding and screening etc. some
others on the left, then one turned at the top to the left, where on
either sides were servants quarters, cook house etc.
The cook house had a modern English range for cooking and heating
water; there was large hot water cistern which supplied all the baths etc.
All this and the electric light, made on the premises, had been
installed by my nephew Willie, as also the pumping device at the various
sanitary points. On
this side of the house there is a verandah, two stops up, the verandah
goes back, on the left, to the cooks house. At one end what is known as the "boys' room" occupied by George and his children when
they are at St. George. In
the middle is the entrance to the dining room, with a wooden screen to
keep out any draught. The
dining room is large and has a big glass window in the ceiling for light. On the left are the apartments occupied by Edmund and his wife, on the right, another set of apartments at the
time occupied by Willie, and
his wife Hazel and Roy their
charming little boy, aged 4 also by Phyllis. Going
through, one enters a large semi-circular lounge and at either end an
apartment, on the right that occupied by Nellie and the on the left given
for my use. I
had two beds, each covered with mosquito nets.
At this point, let me say I scarcely ever even heard the buzz of
one mosquito all the time I was in Ceylon.
The Government send around spraying machines and all the native
houses are sprayed inside and out. The
European houses are only sprayed with DDT on the outside but in this way
the troublesome insects Each
apartment has its own bathroom and lavatory.
All the house is well-furnished. The
family used to meet after meals to talk, read or listen to the wireless.
The latter was not what I called good. It came form the studio at Colombo, notices were given out in
English, for the most part by Sinhalese whose speech was difficult at
times for English ears to take in. There
were any amount of jazz which seemed to much enjoyed by George The BBC gave English news at 9.30 p.m. which after a time I
found to be too late for my bedtime. My
brother had a large family four sons and seven daughters, all healthy and
strong and all married save the youngest daughter and this one, Phyllis,
I had the joy ands the honour of preparing and presenting for confirmation
and of uniting in holy wedlock at St. Paul's; Church, Kandy on September
22nd, 1951. These
were as follows - Ernest
married to Mary (nee Burnane),
a most charming and clever girl with one child Diana who lived at his own beautiful coconut estate, Dea Ella about
3 miles from St. George; Nellie van
der Poorten, with three sons, but with a sad history, as she had
separated from her husband; Mary
married to H(umphrey) Gray, with several children; George
whose wife I did not meet, who had five children and was a regular
"man of the woods" being more familiar with the life and
habits of birds, beasts and reptiles of Ceylon than any man I have met in
any country; Annie married to
R. G. Johnston of Gallekelle Estate, Urugala with one son (George) at
school in England. Dick
had been a mighty hunter and the walls of his house, as well of those of
his father, were covered with trophies collected in South Africa.
Having shot everything that he required, he turned to fishing;
visiting Scarborough, he went after tunny and was fortunate in catching
the largest killed that season. It
was a very mighty creature quite 6 ft long, caught with rod and line after
a most terrific battle. I saw
a photo of this giant, slung to a beam, with Dick standing, dwarfed, by it
side. I was told the weight
and how long it took to get him after he was hooked but the details have
slipped from my memory. Mabel
comes next, a very dear girl, married to her cousin, my brother Allie's
eldest natural son (Norman), a very fine man, who now manages the said
brother's estate, Pillagoda Valley, near my old home, Baddegama. He
used to be the life of any party but is now too quiet and meditative.
The previous year he had had a bad breakdown, the outcome of
looking after other people in their troubles and had had to got to the
Indian hills for a change, added to this he had serious eye trouble -
glaucoma -for which he has been operated on both eyes and I think,
cataract. They have three
delightful children, two girls and a boy. Then
comes Willie, a most capable
young man, married to Hazel (née Reith). They have one son, Roy,
who took me under his wing. Willie
manages his father's estate and now lives at the top bungalow, St. George. Then
we come to Jessie, married to
Commander Ivor Murray who commands one of the two Ceylon Government
warships. They live in the
Cinnamon Gardens (actually Laurie's Road, Bambalatiya).
They have two children. Victor
is
married to Helen (née Pritchard). I saw him only for a moment at the wedding reception of his
sister Phyllis. I
do not know where Dorothy comes
in. She was married to George
Wood, an Englishman and was living with three children at Hessle in
Yorkshire but while I was at St. George, arrangements were made at her
request, for herself and the children to join her parents.
Her husband was expected to go to Australia under a government
scheme to make a home for the family.
I intended to see her on my arrival in England but my illness made
this quite impossible. Arrangements
were made through Messrs. Thomas Cook and she left for home on January
12th, 1952 and since her arrival I have heard from her. Then
finally Phyllis whom I married
to Reggie John Roberts. This
disposes of the family but I have left out one of the most important
persons, my brother Edmund's wife. She
is by birth a Kandyan lady: I only heard her name once only (Kirimenike)
but it was so unpronounceable I could never manage it and called her "my
sister" but privately "the
dear bundle of kindness". She
was ever looking after my welfare. If
she ever saw me sitting without a leg rest, she would place a stool and in
a hundred other ways, she looked after my comfort.
Whenever I returned from a walk, she would meet me at the head of
the cement path or just inside the verandah to give me a welcome.
She was a fine, well-preserved woman of about 60, straight as a
dart, always dressed in national costume and a photograph I saw of her in
middle age showed a very beautiful woman.
Once she showed me her jewels, a wonderful assortment of gold
chains, etc. Among them there was quite a number of American golden
eagles, the first I had ever seen, each to the value of 10 dollars; also a
gold dollar. Every evening
she came into the lounge and sat with us; apparently she understood
English but did not speak it. The
front door of the lounge led into the garden.
There were flower beds and lawns on either side of the path., this
path led to another which went all around the house.
The bed was full of hippiastrums which came into bloom with the
monsoon rains. Magnificent
creepers in full bloom were on archways over the path and at the sides, as
well as flowering shrubs, all unknown by name to me, except the beautiful
crimson "shoe flower" (hibiscus)
well-remembered by me at Baddegama. There was also some fruit such as guava, a very seedy fruit
which make a delicious jelly, pomegranate, paw-paws, lime and others. At
one point in the path there was a flight of stone steps leading to the
road. I named these stairs
"Areopagus"1
for on many an evening, sons and daughters with one or two neighbours
used to sit on or about the steps "either
to tell, or to hear some new thing" as well as many an old yarn.
In fact I consider a good name to be given to the bungalow at St.
George Estate would be "Mars Hill" for it stands on the top of a mound and would
command distant views on all sides but for the height of the coconut trees
growing around, certainly at some distance but impeding the view. 1Areopagus
- the hill of Ares on which the supreme court of ancient Athens was held.
The Roman name for Ares was Mars so this would be the Roman Mars
Hill". From
a gardener's point of view, the shrubs etc. were too close together and
did not show off to full effect; they had "grown too large for their shoes!" The
roses sadly needed pruning as they had much old wood.
When I suggested pruning I was told it would never do in Ceylon,
Dick Johnston and cut his down and they had all died.
I noticed that after the monsoon broke and there was heavy rain,
the tops of the rose trees grew at least 6 inches and flowered.
I drew attention to this and suggested that if the bushes were cut
well down to outside bud at the commencement of the rainy season, they
would at once commence to put out shoots with resulting good blooms. To
go to my first evening: Nellie
kindly unpacked my belongings and put them in a chest of drawers and then,
to my surprise, I found a personal man servant placed at my disposal!
All I had to do was to call out "Banda!"
and he glided noiselessly, brought me tea in the morning, turned on my
bath water, helped me to dress and waited on me hand and foot.
Of course, he waited on me at table.
In fact I soon found I was well on the way to being thoroughly
spoiled - they all made much of me. Eventually
I told them they seemed to treat me as if I was a valuable piece of old
China! Special dishes had to
be prepared for me; I was given orange juice (fresh) or malted milk to
drink. Rice and curry was not
thought good for me. There
was always a plentiful and varied assortment of fruit; at least three
kinds of bananas, mangoes, paw-paws, oranges (mainly for juice as drink),
as well as others. Mangoes
soon got out of season but I thoroughly enjoyed them so long as they
lasted. Jak
("artocarpus")
had not come into season, though an old schoolmaster sent me one,
which was not ripe. I was
placed at the head of the table, with my brother on my left and always
said grace when the family was settled in. Before many days I declared that my brother was the only
planter on the island who had a personal domestic chaplain - who before
long also became his private secretary! Next
morning, on order received on landing, I had to report to the doctor at
the local hospital, to have my papers examined and to sign others.
He was not in. I had
to call three times before I met him - apparently another doctor was ill
and this man had to care for two hospitals.
Of course my papers were in order, but I had again to call after
the lapse of a few days. Edmund
took me to one of his estates to see the conductor's house.
It was empty at the time. It
was a nice cosy little place surrounded by a lawn and that by trees.
It had been occupied by Nellie
and her husband for some years till the latter's father, a wealthy old
man, had died and they moved. The
grandfather had made provisions for Nellie's two eldest boys but Emil, the youngest was not born till after the old man's death.
All the rest of his property went to the two sons, but as things
turned out, wealth did not make them happy.
But that part does not belong to my story. Later
this house was occupied by another of my brother's sons, Victor,
I supposed as manager of the estate but he did not prove a success and was
paid off. Victor
moved to an estate that my brother had bought for him at this or some
previous time. The bungalow
remained empty till Willie
moved in some weeks before I left. On
this trip Edmund, Nellie and I walked up and I thoroughly enjoyed the walk.
Although the lawn was rough and the beds empty, orchids growing on
the trees were in full bloom. As
we returned, Edmund showed me how he grew four different crops on the same piece
of land - coconut trees, up the stems of which he allowed pepper to climb,
then cocoa and rubber. I
must here tell the story of my brother's progress.
He started with nothing as our father had died a poor man.
When he was old enough, he worked for others, first as a "creeper"
(apprentice) as young men learning planting were called.
He gradually worked his way up, but apparently only received a
small salary, from which he saved a little and in time started a dairy
farm. He worked hard and
lived rough. By this
time he had taken to himself a wife, who also must have worked hard.
On one occasion they were occupying a mud hut and the back wall
fell down, fortunately outwards so that they escaped. Then
gradually he began to purchase government land at Galagedara which at that
time was cheap but it was all covered with jungle, so that it required not
only time but huge efforts before the first crop was harvested.
Even when he commenced to live at St. George, it was only in a tiny
bungalow - now I believe, part of the servant's quarters.
Now he had as beautiful and as comfortable a bungalow as anyone
could wish, with a fine estate of approximately 800 acres, nearly all
under cultivation. He was
only a very little chap when I left Ceylon.
I found him a gentle, kind and most loveable man, most
tender-hearted and generous, not only devoted to his family, but ready to
help others. In fact, there
were few of his brothers he did not help in some way or another.
Both my eldest brother and a younger, Daly,
had natural children and when they were hard up, the children were sent
off to St. George. I
had not kept in touch with him and did not even know his address till I
wrote to the Ceylon Commercial Company who did our estate business in
order to send him the pedigree I had drawn up of the Winter family.
Then in the course of time, I heard of his serious illness and
gradually it came about he offered to pay my passage to be at his side.
Words fail me to describe all the kindness and love he showed.
I was never allowed to spend - my tobacco, stamps, air mail letters
- everything was provided, he even had my room newly decorated before my
arrival. Not
all the estate had the four crops described above.
Some were planted in tea and for this he had a special method,
which others, seeing his success, began to copy.
In planning his estate, he not only had to clear the land of jungle
but he had to make roads. Some, if not all, entailed great labour and expense - one was
being made while I was there and every now and again, one heard the sound
of blasting. But this was
only part of the work to be done, common to all estates.
For tea he formed parallel platforms, with the outer edge higher
than the inner, so that the heavy rains should not cause any erosion, the
water flowing back to the inner side, where it sinks into the ground.
On these platforms the tea is planted and flourishes, shade trees
are also planted at intervals to save the leaf from blistering and dug
into the ground to form manure and at the same time artificial manure is
also added. When
I was ready for bed on my first night, I noticed there was no blanket and
came to the conclusion that the custom of the country was to have no
covering so I just lay on top and being tired, soon fell asleep.
It was not till next morning that I discovered there was a sheet,
which I had been lying on, which serves as a covering.
Later I had a blanket supplied as well and on occasion I found it
useful. Two
things happened that night which may interest my readers.
I have already explained that the electricity was made on the
premises. As soon as it
became twilight, it was turned on and flooded the house;
it was turned off shortly after 10.30 p.m.
Apparently it was kept on until this hour for my convenience.
Sometimes I was not ready for bed when the light went out, when I
had to use my torch.
Willie soon discovered
this and supplied a nice bedside lamp which could be turned on and off as
desired. The first night I
had got into bed and closed my eyes when I became aware that the light had
been turned off. I opened my
eyes and to my great surprise saw a small light moving from me,
zig-zagging and turning as it moved.
I thought "What an extraordinary thing that my retina should have retained
that light". Then I
realised what it was, a fire-fly! I
mentioned this to my brother in the morning and he said there were only a
few about at this time of the year and told me that in the old days, when
our sugar canes were in flower, they could be seen in millions, so many
that they actually lighted the road.
Flying in darkness they are lovely creatures but as see in the
daylight they were very insignificant insects. The
next thing was I suddenly woke up hearing "Rap, rap, rap" and thought someone was trying to get
into my room through the window. I
flashed my torch and had a good look round, but there was nothing.
I thought if it had been a native, he would have been noiseless.
When I mentioned this to my brother, he smiled and said he had set
a "brake-back" trap and had killed four.
I thought he referred to the dogs as the place seemed to be
over-run with them and said "Poor creatures." Then he explained it was a large field rat which got in under
the roof and did a lot of damage and he had got these traps set every day.
These rats have long and strong tails and when caught, the tail
"raps" down several times.
I had told my brother that I had heard the family ghosts! I now wished I had kept a diary of my everyday life as I have to depend on memory and the letters I wrote home. I had a very comfortable seat and table supplied for my use in the lounge, where the doors and windows stood wide open till bedtimes. A typewriter was supplied with everything necessary, even to a bottle of gum as the Ceylon air letters have no gum to stick them down. |