( 16 ) do not recognize that the country has claims on them or tha', freedom in the abstract is a desirable thing. But most of us when it is a question between the claims of country and other claims, do not in practice prefer the service of the country; and while many may have the wish to see freedom accomplished, few have the will to accomplish it. There are other things which we hold dearer and which we fear to see imperilled either in the struggle for freedom or by its accomplishment. It is not till the motherland reveals her self to the eye of the mind as something more than a stretch of earth or a mass of individuals, it is not till she takes shape as a great Divine and Maternal Power in a from of beauty that can dominate the mind and seize the heart, that these petty fears and hopes vanish in the all absorbing passion for our mother and her service, and the patriotism that works miracles and saves doomed nations is born. To some men it is given to have that vision and reveal it to others. It was thirty-two years ago that Bankim wrote his great song and few listened ; but in a sudden moment of awakening from long delusions the people of Bengal looked round for the truth and in a fated moment Bande Mataram. The Mantra had heen given and in a\single day a whole people had been converted to the religion of patriotism. The mother had revealed herself. Once that vision has come to a people, there can be no rest, no peace, no further slumber till the temple has been made ready, the image installed and the sacrifice offered. A great nation which has had that vision can never again be placed under the feet of the conqueror, A{ril 16th, 1907. College Press, Calcutta.
