Page:The Pilgrims' March.djvu/32

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THE PILGRIMS MARCH

ment. But it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good and these disturbances, sad and painful as they are, have taught us a useful lesson, both as to our strength and our weakness. The way in which the non-co-operators of Bombay, have worked has been a revelation to me of the strength and intensity of the capacity for discipline and self-sacrifice which animates our workers. I cannot sufficiently praise the courage, both moral and physical, of the volunteers and other workers of Congress and the Khilafat, who were always in the midst of the most turbulent crowds trying to calm and pacify them, meeting seething passion with a smiling face and turning away wrath with a soft word, helping and succouring the weak and the wounded and always ready to lay down their lives in their noble and self-imposed duties. They were indefatigable and worked day and night to restore peace and good order. Several had their heads broken, nearly all were wounded in one place or other and about half a dozen actually lost their precious lives. One Parsi gentleman told me that but for these non-co-operation workers coming to their rescue, many Parsi homes would have been looted and the Parsis, handful as they are, might have been