Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/119

 beauty of that Lion of Indian's face. Mr. Tilak's voice is no less attractive. His accents have a clear ring. His sentences are always simple and his ideas directly expressed. There is no vehemence in his utterance. There is a pleasing reasonableness about his manner. In conversation, in public-speaking this is the keynote of Mr. Tilak's achievement.

Mr. Tilak is not given to parading his knowledge of English. He is as great a scholar in that language as any born in this country but he is one of those rare sons of India who early recognised that our salvation lies only through the vernaculars of the land. Most of his speeches have been delivered in Maharatti and almost the whole of his career has been that of a Maharatti journalist. We do want English. No advocate of Vernaculars has ever disputed its place as a common medium for the Britisher and the Indian, and as a common world language bringing to our doors the developing culture of the world. Mr. Tilak by his work as a professor of the Fergusson College, by his literary contributions to the English language and by his occasional English endeavour for the education of his fellow countrymen has certainly proved his desire to honor English