33. Postman before Premier

According to Mr. S. Winsten, author of Days with Bernard Shaw, who had become acquainted with Gandhiji during the latter's visit to London in 1931, once Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, the then British Premier, arrived for an urgent consultation with Gandhiji, but a postman had walked all the way from Bow to Knightsbridge because he wanted to pay his respects to the great Indian leader. "I'll see the man of letters first," said Gandhiji decisively and then he explained to Mr. Winsten : "You see, a statesman can wait, for that is his job; he is always waiting till circumstances force him to move."