Page:MKGandhi patriot.djvu/45

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far as the eye could see, green fields spread out, dotted with villages and cattle, or giving promise of harvest. It was essentially a pastoral country.

The Gandhi's second home was in old Rajkot, close to the palace. At first they were merely guests in the town, but when Karamchand accepted the position of Dewan Sahib to the Thakore, a house was built by him, and they became settled citizens. These were school-days for Mohandas. First of all he attended the Vernacular School, and continued there until his tenth year. Then he was transferred to the Kathiawar High School, whose head-master was a Parsi graduate, where he remained until he matriculated at Ahmadabad at the age of seventeen.

"Did you ever hear of Christians and Christian doctrines in those days?" I asked him. "Not at all in Porbandar," he said, "there were no Christians there, in my time. But in Rajkot rumours of Christianity found their way into the school, and so into the home. But they were vague, and by no means attractive. The Presbyterians had a Mission in Rajkot, and at one time our school was deeply stirred by the authentic report that a well-known Hindu had become a Christian. The idea among us of what becoming a Christian meant, was not