Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/109

 have been told that we stand a fair chance of doing a good business in selling carved wood and stones and feathers in England. Everyone knows how many feathers are daily wasted away in almost every part of India. Since they are a saleable commodity in Europe, we are wasting away real wealth simply through sheer ignorance or indifference. These are mere instances. There must be various other things which would sell in England. It is exactly because we do not know these things that we should go to England to learn what they are. Will a time come when every trading firm will send their man to England? Then as to travelling. Both the traders and students can combine a little travelling with their profession. These are travellers of a low type. Those who want to become professional travellers, who want to write books on travels must go there for the special purpose of travelling. But I believe such persons had better see their own country first. I cannot do better than quote Mr. Malabari on the point:

In study as in travel it is best to begin at the very beginning and to proceed by slow stages, gaining something at every stage and that something such as to be of immediate practical use at the next stage. When you travel or study by degrees, every fresh step or item of knowledge is a keen enjoyment. You are prepared to receive it, and, thus received, your knowledge will fructify. But when knowledge is thrust upon you without previous discipline, i.e., without your being fit for it, it will be inert and unleavened. What is the use of visiting foreign countries when you know nothing of your own? When you go to Europe ignorant of your own national life, you will miss those thousand points of comparison and contrast, those thousand shades of difference, those thousand beauties and blemishes that modern European civilization presents. At the best you will look at things, not see or see through them.

These are wise words worthy of serious consideration. The outcome of it is that you should begin not at the wrong end. Last of all comes education. It is with very much regret that I have to record here that almost all who go to England for the purpose of education go there in order to become barristers. Education does not mean becoming barristers. I shall have a good deal to say about barristers in a separate chapter, so here I shall just say what other things you can do there. Of course the most coveted examination is the Civil Service examination. But those only who are British-born subjects can go in for that examination. Engineering is another branch of education which you can learn at the Cooper's Hill College. You can get the highest