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,