" To
appreciate the joke thoroughly you must understand that there is no
society here at all--absolutely none. We are not proud, we
Maritzburgians, nor are we inhospitable, nor exclusive, nor unsociable.
Not a bit. We are as anxious as any community can be to have society or
sociable gatherings, or whatever you like to call the way people manage
to meet together; but circumstances are altogether too strong for us,
and we all in turn are forced to abandon the attempt in despair. First
of all, the weather is against us. It is maddeningly uncertain, and the
best-arranged entertainment cannot be considered a success if the guests
have to struggle through rain and tempest and streets ankle-deep in
water and pitchy darkness to assist at it. People are hardly likely to
make themselves pleasant at a party when their return home through storm
and darkness is on their minds all the time: at least, I know _I_ cannot
do so. But the weather is only one of the lets and hinderances to
society in Natal. We are all exceedingly poor, and necessary food is
very dear: luxuries are enormously expensive, but they are generally not
to be had at all, so one is not tempted by them. Servants, particularly
cooks, are few and far between, and I doubt if even any one calling
himself a cook could send up what would be considered a fairly good dish
elsewhere. Kafirs can be taught to do one or two things pretty well, but
even then they could not be trusted to do them for a party.
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