Mr. Gandhi's Fast We of the west and of western
habits of mind cannot easily appreciate the character of the ordeal of fasting which Mr. Gandhi imposed upon himself. For twenty-one days millions of his co-religionists have awaited the issue with intense emotion, and are now rejoicing at the miracle of physical endurance and faith by which he has survived. For them there is a virtue, difficult for us to understand, efficacious for the whole nation, in- his personal experience and mystical mortification of the flesh. And it is not surprising that for them the high character of his resolve should tend to prove the infallibility of his political judgement. Happily it seems that the mind of Mr., Gandhi is not now turning in the direction of encouraging Civil Disobedience, and that the campaign to which he is devoting himself is on behalf of the Untouchables.
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