Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/359

 full of passionate hunger for the beloved faces of her children. . . And yet when her husband soon after, felt the call, strong and urgent to offer his services to the Empire and to form the Ambulance Corps that has since done such splendid work, she reached the high watermark of her loyal devotion to him for she accepted his decision and strengthened his purpose with a prompt and willing renunciation of all her most dear and pressing desires. This to me is the real meaning of Sati. And it is this ready capacity for self-negation that has made me recognise anew that the true standard of a country's greatness lies not so much in its intellectual achievement and material prosperity as the undying spiritual ideals of love and service and sacrifice that inspire and sustain the mothers of the race.

I pray that the men of India may learn to realize in an increasing measure that it is through the worthiness of their lives and the nobility of their character alone that we women can hope to find the opportunity and inspiration to adequately fulfil the finest possibilities of our womanhood even as Mrs. Gandhi has fulfilled hers. Believe me, Yours sincerely, (Sd.).