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Mr. Henry Carpenter’s boots
World-traveller, philanthropist, naturopath, ardent Buddhist, and student of the
paranormal, Henry Carpenter hailed from New Jersey in America. He was a great friend,
and admirer, of Sardar Bahadur Laden La, the leading Buddhist of Darjeeling, and
took a kindly interest in his children. Mrs. Mary P.L. Tenduf La, Mr. Laden La's
daughter, the erstwhile owner of Windamere Hotel, would fondly recall in later years,
that Mr. Carpenter had wanted to take her to America to develop her psychic powers.
Mr. Carpenter left Darjeeling for America in 1930, leaving his boots behind in Mrs.
Tenduf La's keeping, until his return the following year. He never came back. For
the next seventy-four years, until her own death, Mrs. Tenduf La's maids, under
her direction, cared for Mr. Carpenter's boots: aired in good weather, placed by
the fire in wet, polished to a high gloss in all seasons. Dear, Mr. Henry Carpenter.
Gone. Never forgotten!
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