Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/253

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GANDHI'S FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCES

THE END

All that was worth knowing has been stated above. Indians being placed on a level with the Kaffirs is a fact which calls for further consideration. While the White convicts get a bedstead to sleep on, a tooth-brush to clean their teeth, a towel to wipe their faces and hands, and also a handkerchief, Indians get nothing. Why this distinction?

We should never think that this is not a matter for our interference. It is these little things which either enhance our respect or degrade us. An Arabic book says that he who has no self-respects has no religion. Nations have become great by gradually enhancing their self-respect. Self-respect does not mean vanity or rashness but a state of mind which is prepared not to let go its privileges simply out of fear or idleness. One who has really his trust in God attains to self-respect, and I firmly believe that one who has no trust in Him never knows what is right, nor does he know how to do right.


II

Every prisoner in the jail on getting up in the morning is required to fold his own bedding, and to place it in its proper place, He must finish his toilet by 6 o'clock and be ready to start out at the stroke of the hour. The work begins at 7 o'clock. It is of various kinds. The ground to be dug was very hard. It was to be worked upon with spades, and hence the work proved too hard. Again, it was a very hot day. The place we were taken to was about a mile and a half from the jail. Each one of us started very well indeed. But as one of