Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/141

 be thrown further downward. If our parents send us to England, or if we hold ascholarship, we have a sacred trust to perform. We have to account to our parents or patrons for the work we have done and for the moneywhich [we] have spent. We ought to do unto them as we would be done by. If we were to send some one to England at our expense to become a Barrister, I suppose we would expect him to utilize every moment of his stay there and give us an account of how he passed his time. Exactly the same would be expected of us. Consciousness of this and work according to it are all that is required of us. If we do that, we shall have done our duty and will have no occasion to be sorry for having gone to England. When we go there to be Barristers, we ought to do there everything that would make of us good Barristers and not indulge in luxuries or pleasures. Let those who send their boys to England make sure that they would discharge their trust faithfully and they will have no occasion to regret having sent them. The best way to ensure this is to give your boy just enough money to make of him a Barrister and then tell him plainly that he should expect no more. Make a certain provision for him on his return from England for a year or two and then let him know that he shall be left to himself to earn his living. This may seem a little hard, but once done it would be a source of the highest happiness, or else it will be a source of woe and misery both to the parents and the boy. Are there already too many Barristers? Yes and no. Yes, if we take any one province into account, but, if India as a whole were taken into account, there are far too few. That Barristers have a field in any of Her Majesty's dominions seems to have either been forgotten or not cared for, because every Barrister goes to his native land to practise. Now, while in one's fatherland there is some chance of success owing to acquaintances and knowledge of the native country, there is much disadvantage if the profession is overcrowded. Why not then invade the regions not yet invaded? Then, again, a field, I am told, is sure to be opened as well for Barristers as for all educated persons in the protected States. They are yet in a very backward state. They are expected to make reforms. When that time comes, the aid of the educated of the land is likely to be called in. Again, it is a notorious fact that so far education has been too much neglected by the agencies and back-door influence has prevailed. This too will be set right some day. I must not, however, be misunderstood to advocate the Indians flocking to England to become Barristers. Whether it is