Towards democracy
440 Towards Democracy
and from the gaming-tables the crowd drifts to its supper-tables —while late through the night the telegrams flash to Vienna or London or Paris.
InpIA, THE WISDOM-LAND
ERE also in India—wonderful, hidden—oyer thousands of miles,
Through thousands of miles of coco-nut groves, by the winding banks of immense rivers, over interminable areas of rice-fields,
On the great Ghauts and Himalayas, through vast jungles tenanted by wild beasts, _
Under the cloudless glorious sky—the sun terrible in strength and beauty—the moon so keen and clear among the: tree-tops,
In vast and populous cities, behind colors and creeds and | sects and races and families,
Behind the interminable close-fitting layers of caste and | custom,
Here also, hidden away, the secret, the divine knowledge. .
Ages back, thousands of years lost in the dim past,
A race of seers over the northern mountains, with flockse and herds,
Into India, the Wisdom-land, descended ;
The old men leading—not belated in the rear—
Eagle-eyed, gracious-eyed old men, with calm facespe
resolute calm mouths,