54. To Romain Rolland¹

November 13, 1924²

DEAR FRIEND,

I received your kind letter. Miss Slade arrived a little later. What a treasure you have sent me. I shall try to be worthy of such a great confidence. I shall do everything to help Miss Slade to become a little bridge between West and East. I am too imperfect to have a disciple. She will be my companion in my research (for truth) and as I am older and consequently more advanced in spiritual experience, I propose to share with you the honour of your paternity. Miss Slade shows a marvellous capacity for adaptation and we are already quite at ease with her. I leave Miss Slade to tell you the rest by asking her to speak to you of a French sister who has arrived at the Ashram just a few days before her.

Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. XXV, p. 320

1 Romain Rolland (1866-1944)-Celebrated French writer, thinker and pacifist.
2 Date is wrongly mentioned as November 13, 1924, because this letter was written after Miss Slade's arrival at Sabarmati on 7th November, 1925.