Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/970

 "How can I make him known? I am nothing compared to his illumined soul. And no truly great man has to be made great. They are great in their own glory, and when the world is ready they become famous by dint of their own greatness. When the time comes Gandhi will be known, for the world needs him and his message of love, liberty and brotherhood.

"The soul of the East has found a worthy symbol in Gandhi; for he is most eloquently proving that man is essentially a spiritual being, that he flourishes the best in the realm of the moral and the spiritual, and most positively perishes both body and soul in the atmosphere of hatred and gunpowder smoke."—(From an interview in America).

As I talked with Mr. Gandhi, I marvelled at the simplicity of his dress. He wore coarse white cloth, with a kambal thrown over his body to protect him from the cold. A little white cap was his only head covering. As he sat on the floor facing me, I asked myself, how can this little man, with his thin face and large protruding ears, and quiet brown eyes, be the great Gandhi about whom I have heard so much? All doubts were set aside, when we began to talk. I do not agree with all the methods that Mr. Gandhi employs to bring about the desired end; but I do want to bear this personal testimony of the man himself. Mr. Gandhi is a spiritual man. He is a thinker. In my short interview, I had the same heart-to-heart fellowship with him as I have had scores of times with some of God's saints. I took knowledge that this man had been to the source of Christian strength and had learned from the great Christ. (Indian Witness.)

There is a man, sent of God, who is called the Mahatma Gandhi. He comes to the surface out of that great sea of human beings that compose the Empire of India, one-fifth of the people in all the world. As this is written in October, he is going about with no clothing except a homespun cloth wound around the lower part of his body and partly covering his legs. If all the Indian people had only this much for each, there would be none left, and it would be "stealing" for him to take more than his share. He rides third-class in the railway carriage set apart for coolies and eats the food on which the meanest of human beings exist.

Much is said regarding this man to his disadvantage. His name is anathema to many wedded to the existing order of things—especially alcoholic things. Those who attack him and there are many, such never attack his sincerity, his character or his ability. To them, he is of the devil, because he attacks British rule in his country. And yet, after all has been said that can be said against him, this fact remains silhouetted against the sky—in two years by