FISHER, THE RIGHT REVEREND F. B. (AND MRS. FISHER)

[Frederick Bohn Fisher (1882-1938) was a missionary in India from 1904 and Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Calcutta from 1920. He returned to the United States in 1930 and became Bishop of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was the author of several books including India's Silent Revolution (New York, 1919) and That Strange Little Brown Man Gandhi (New York, 1932) which was banned by the British authorities in India.
He first met Gandhiji in 1917 and they became life-long friends.
Bishop Fisher visited South Africa in 1925 and his report on the plight of Indians in that country was highly appreciated by Gandhiji.
His wife, Mrs. Welthy Honsinger Fisher, visited India in 1947 and met Gandhiji. Returning to India in 1952, she established the Literacy Village near Lucknow.]

 Letter, February 11, 1926¹¹

Ashram, Sabarmati,
February 11, 1926

Dear friend,
I was delighted to receive your letter just before your departure for America where I hope you and Mrs. Fisher will have a good time.
I have no doubt that whatever the present result of the South African struggle, the seed sown by you and now being watered by Mr. [C.F.] Andrews will bear ample fruit in its own time. I cannot be dislodged from my faith in the ultimate triumph of truth which to my mind is the only thing that counts. The downs of life on the way to it will have been all forgotten when we have attained the summit.
Mrs. Fisher asked me for a message. I can only repeat what I have been saying to so many American friends who have been calling on me, namely, what is required most is serious and careful study of the Indian movement. What I see happening in America is distressful, either an exaggerated view of the movement or a belittling of it. Both are like distortions. I regard the movement to be one of permanent interest and fraught with very important consequences. It therefore needs a diligent study, not a mere superficial newspaper glance. May your visit to America then result in the more accurate estimate of the movement in India.
Whenever you can come to the Ashram, you know you are sure of a welcome.

Yours sincerely,

Bishop Fisher
150 Fifth Avenue,
New York City

 Letter, October 26, 1928¹²

[Bishop Fisher wrote in a letter to Gandhiji from Hingham, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1928: "Mother India has created a terrible sensation in America. It has been difficult to know just how to meet the situation... There is now coming off from the press a book by Gertrude Marvin Williams called Understanding India, which I believe will help in many ways to correct the wrong impressions which Miss Mayo has given..." He recommended that Gandhiji convey his opinion of the book to the author and perhaps review it in Young India.13 Miss Williams had assisted Bishop Fisher in writing his book, India's Silent Revolution.]

Satyagraha Ashram, Sabarmati,
October 26, 1928

Dear friend,
I had your letter from Hingham. I have got the book also, called Understanding India. I do not know when I shall get the time but as soon as I do, I shall read Mrs. Williams's book. I reciprocate the hope that we shall meet one another some time next year.

Yours sincerely,

Rev. F. B. Fisher
Methodist Episcopal Church,
3 Middleton Street,
Calcutta

 Letter, August 12, 1929¹⁴

[This is an appreciation of C.F. Andrews, a friend of Gandhiji and India. He had taken a special interest in investigating and publicising the conditions of Indians abroad and in assisting them in their struggles for their rights.]

Sabarmati,
August 12, 1929

Dear friend,
What I think of Andrews is that India has no servant more devoted, more sincere and more hard-working than Deenabandhu Andrews. He is truly what the Fiji Indians, I think, called him, Deenabandhu, friend of the lowly.

Yours,

 Letter, October 3, 1929¹⁵

[Bishop Fisher wrote to Gandhiji on September 25, 1929, that the Golden Rule Foundation of New York, which was interested in child welfare, had requested him to forward to Gandhiji a letter requesting information concerning specific ways in which American philanthropists might assist in meeting the economic limitations which surround Indian children. (The Golden Rule Foundation was the successor to the Near East Relief Association, which had donated millions of dollars after the First World War for relief in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Turkey.) He asked for Gandhiji's recommendation so that he could second it.16]

Camp Azamgarh,
October 3, 1929

Dear friend,
I thank you for your letter of the 25th ultimo. In the papers forwarded to me from Sabarmati I do not find the letter from the Golden Rule Foundation of New York referred to by you. But I can guess the purport of that letter from your letter. As I am dictating this, one thing does occur to me, namely, the scarcity of milk for Indian children. What American friends may do in giving constructive help is not to send doles of charity but to send expert knowledge in dairying, experts who are not exploiters in the disguise of philanthropists but true philanthropists who will give knowledge for the sake of giving it and who will study the condition of India's cattle and show us the way of improving our cattle breed and the supply of milk from the existing cattle. This idea, if it is entertained in a proper spirit, can be considerably amplified.

Yours sincerely,

Frederick B. Fisher, Esq.
Bishop's Residence
Methodist Episcopal Church
3 Middleton Street, Calcutta

 Letter, September 29, 1931¹⁷

[Bishop Fisher sent a telegram on September 23, 1931, to Gandhiji, then in London, requesting him to send a "strong message to American Christians on world peace and disarmament." 18]

88 Knightsbridge,
London, W.1,
September 29, 1931

Dear friend,
I was deeply touched by your prayerful greetings. My message to American Christians on World Peace and Disarmament is that Peace and Disarmament are not a matter of reciprocity. When real Peace and Disarmament come, they will be initiated by a strong nation like America - irrespective of the consent and cooperation of other nations.
An individual or a nation must have faith in oneself and in the protective power of God to find peace in the midst of strife, and to shed all arms by reason of feeling the loving power of God and His protective shield, and I hold such peace to be impossible so long as strong nations do not consider it to be sinful to exploit wea nations.

Yours sincerely,

M.K. Gandhi
The Right Reverend Bishop Fisher
c/o Christian Herald
New York

 Letter, November 11, 1931¹⁹

[Bishop Fisher wrote to Gandhiji on October 1, 1931, enquiring whether he planned to visit the United States after the Round Table Conference in London. "If so, I want to be of every possible service to you. It would be a pleasure to meet you and to even travel with you, doing everything in my power, just as Andrews has so often done, to guarantee comfort and protection."20 He sent a cable on 9 October expressing the hope that Gandhiji would visit America. "Our country needs you dear friend please come."21 And another telegram on 11 October:
"Please come to America as my guest graciously permitting me to assume full financial responsibility for your trip leaving absolute freedom to choose your own programme of travel and work. Mrs. Fisher or I will accompany you on tour if desired to protect from inconvenience and lovingly try to surround you with ashram spirit. America needs you and will receive your message seriously. Five hundred Christian ministers at international convention of Disciples of Christ yesterday voted sincere welcome and assurance of spiritual cooperation."22 Dr. John Haynes Holmes and several other friends had advised Gandhiji not to undertake the visit at that time. Bishop Fisher wrote a long letter to Gandhiji answering their concerns and explaining the nature of his invitation.
"I want again to assure you of my deep prayers and my abiding interest in the ideals you represent. Your life has made a profound impression upon mine and I shall always look to you as my rare, spiritual guide and friend. I hope even yet that you may decide to come to America... I would then attempt to secure the cooperation of men like Holmes, Atkinson and others... Circumstances might alter their attitude because their hearts are deeply devoted to you and to your ideals."²³]

88 Knightsbridge,
London, W.1,
November 11, 1931

Dear friend,
I have been receiving your very warm letters. I have time just to say this. With reference to the American visit, my own instinct was that the time had not arrived to visit America. That instinct still abides. I had made up my mind when the visit was first talked about that I would do as Dr. Haynes24 advised me. This was about 3 years ago or more when the visit was first talked about. As you know we have since met. He was in London just waiting for me, and I have told him that I would be guided entirely by him in connection with the pressing invitations that I received from America on my landing here.
Dr. Holmes and several other friends are decidedly of the opinion that it would be a mistake for me to go to America. Your decision therefore has come upon me as a surprise. You are just as dear a friend to me as Dr. Holmes; I shall therefore look forward to the result of your conversations with him. You know Richard Gregg too. He also supports Dr. Holmes and enforces the opinion by adding the winter will not be the proper season for me to visit America.

Yours sincerely,

The Right Reverend Bishop Fisher
The First Methodist Episcopal Church
Ann Arbor, Michigan

 Message, November 17, 1931²⁵

[This message was conveyed by telephone from London to Bishop Fisher, who was in Chicago.] My friends in India, members of the Working Committee of the Congress, have cabled me to return to India, immediately the conference is over; so I must not go to America. It seems that there is still a long time before I could give any message to America. Perhaps God thinks that, though I would like to meet friends, I have no reason to go to America.

 Letter, to Mrs. Fisher, December 28, 1941²⁶

[Mrs. Fisher wrote to Gandhiji requesting a few words to be included in a biography of Bishop Fisher.27]

Bardoli,
December 28, 1941

Dear sister,
I have yours of October 17th received yesterday. To send you season's greetings is a mockery when hatred reigns supreme and God of Love and Truth is disowned.
Here are a few lines for your book.
"I had the privilege of coming in close contact with the late Bishop Fisher. He seemed to me to be one among the few Christians who walked in the fear of the Lord and therefore feared no man."

Yours sincerely,

M. K. Gandhi
GOHEEN, J.L.
[John Lawrence Goheen (1883?-1948) was a missionary in India.]

 Letter, November 18, 1934²⁸

November 18, 1934

Dear friend,
I thank you for your letter. I have now received the parcel of eggs for which I thank you. Though you have sent me no bill for the eggs, I shall thank you to tell me at what price they are sold. I shall send the container back as soon as possible. I have your second letter. Please give my regards to your pupils who, I hope, will be discharged as competent workers. If you will render me a regular bill, I should like you to send me eighteen eggs per week till further instructions. You can make the commencement on the receipt of this.

Yours sincerely,

J.L. Goheen, Esq.
Sangli Industrial and Agricultural School
American Presbyterian Mission
Sangli (M.S.M.Rly)

GREENWAY, THE REVEREND CORNELIUS

Letter, February 21, 1926²⁹

[The Unitarian Church in Taunton, Massachusetts, sent greetings to Gandhiji in 1925 and received a reply. The Reverend Cornelius Greenway (1898-1968), pastor of the church, wrote to Gandhiji on January 6, 1926, that he wished to send some money to be used by him for sick and poor people in India, and asked for the address to which it should be sent. Describing himself as a "friend and admirer," he also requested a signed photograph for his personal library.30]

Ashram, Sabarmati,
(India)
February 21, 1926

Dear friend,
I have your letter. What I have given you at the top is my permanent address and remittance you may send to that address will be duly received.
I appreciate your prayers and good wishes of all of which this country stands badly in need.
I do not keep any photograph of mine nor have I given a sitting for years. All the photographs therefore that you see are snapshots. I wish therefore you will not want one.

Yours sincerely,

Rev. Cornelius Greenway
409, Cohamvet St.
Taunton, MASS

[The Reverend Greenway wrote another letter to Gandhiji on September 17, 1931, from the All Souls Universalist Church in Brooklyn, NY, where he had moved. He had sent in July 1931 another donation of $25, collected from friends interested in Gandhiji's work. He congratulated Gandhiji on the spiritual quality of his broadcast from London, and said: "We need it desperately for we sing songs of peace and prepare for war." He continued: "When the War broke out in 1917 I was a student and enlisted. Twice was I wounded, once 5 machine gun bullets. I know what War is like and with God's help I hope ever to remain strong enough to denounce War and to further the cause of Peace."³¹]