Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/111

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tells upon one's health in India can be gone through with ease in England. An instance is at our very doors. Do we not work more in winter than in summer? So, then, it will not be doubted that a person willing to work will do more in England than in India. It is needless to mention the advantage that we have in England of talking in the English language the whole of our time. It is fervently to be hope d that examples of persons having cut a sorry figure will not be cited in refutation of the above proposition. For such fall under the category of those who are not willing to work, while we are here talking of persons who seek more opportunities for work in England than in India. It will be very uncharitable to expect drones to return types of learning from England. There are the better opportunities, it is for you to avail of them. If you do not, you are to blame, not England. And if superior education can be obtained in England, it follows that it is not more expensive than that to be obtained in India, if the ratio of superiority be the same as that of increased expenses.

Chapter 2. Preliminaries

Having in the previous chapter shown who should go to England, I now proceed to describe what preliminaries one has to make before starting. In so doing if I may at times enter into the most trifling details, I hope the reader will not take it as an insult. The standard by which I go is my intelligence and lower still if possible and I shall describe things which required an explanation in my case when I left for England. The first consideration is that of money. The amount of money the candidate has to take with him will be given later on, but whatever the amount, let him make absolutely sure of getting the full amount in England. In certain cases it may be advisable to take the whole amount with him. I know by personal experience how even persons who have promised on oath to give some pecuniary assistance, a loan mind you, not an absolute gift and whom you think [you] can safely depend upon prove false to their promises. 1 In London you do not often find persons who would give you a loan even. The loan too is generally big, for when you do not get the promised money, it is not a small sum, but a tolerably large one which you would not expect any friend to lend. I know by personal experience and that of