Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/90



Now, I thought it was time for me to poke my nose in. I requested the secretary of the committee, who managed those things, to give me a quarter of an hour for a short speech on vegetarianism. The secretary obligingly nodded consent to my request.

Well, I made grand preparations. I thought out and then wrote out and re-wrote the speech that was to be delivered. I well knew that I had to meet a hostile audience, and that I should take care that my speech did not send my audience to sleep. The secretary had asked me to be humorous. I told him that I might be nervous, but humorous I could not be.

Now, what do you think became of the speech? The second concert never came off, and so the speech was never delivered, to my great mortification. I fancy it was because no one seemed to enjoy the first evening, for we had no Pitts and Gladstones in the second saloon.

However, I succeeded in discussing vegetarianism with two or three passengers, who heard me calmly, and answered in effect, "We grant you the argument; but so long as we feel happy on our present diet (never mind about our being dyspeptic at times), we cannot give it a trial!"

One of them, seeing that my vegetarian friend and I got nice fruits every day, did give the V.E.M. diet a trial, but the chop was too great a temptation for him.

Poor man!

The Vegetarian, 9-4-1892

On Way Home to India II (16-4-1892)
Moreover, as an instance of affability between passengers and of politeness on the part of the first-saloon passengers, the second-saloon passengers were often invited to witness the theatricals and dances that they got up from time to time.

They had some very nice ladies and gentlemen in the first saloon. But it would not do to have all play and no quarrel, so some of the passengers thought fit to get drunk (beg your pardon, Mr. Editor, they got drunk almost every evening, but this particular evening they got drunk and disorderly). They, it seems, were discussing with one another over a glass of whisky, when some of them used improper language. Then followed a fight of words culminating in a fight of blows. The matter was reported