Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/232

 one mentions their names. Sir Subramanya Iyer, till yesterday, belonged to this category of what may respectfully be called the worthies of South India. But his intrepid heroism in a supreme hour of trial has entitled him to a place with men whose life has become a part of the heritage of the sons and daughters of all-India. Among the living he takes rank to-day with Messrs. Tilak and Gandhi in the contribution he has made to national enrichment.

Mr. Gandhi is of a type which the world produces once in a way, a type that recalls after long gaps of time the height to which the power of human will can take one, and the conquest which lies within the reach of a great moral manhood. It is a life worthy of meditation for all times. From him to Balwanta Rao Tilak is to take a turn and traverse a distance to find a career dedicated from its very commencement to the service of national self-respect. It is the life of a man who, identifying his own prestige with the prestige of the nation and finding the latter mortifyingly low,spoke time after time truths to the chagrin of the powers that be, and paid the penalty in the sentences to long terms of