Page:Masani - Gandhi's story.pdf/48

most of the people of India could only travel third class he too must do the same. This meant a great deal of discomfort. A third class compartment in India is most uncomfortable and not too clean. There are always too many people in it, and often it is impossible to get room even to sit. Sometimes, it is so overcrowded that there are people hanging out of the doors and windows. Gandhiji insisted that what was good enough for other people was good enough for him. Everywhere he went he tried to improve the lot of the poor and the lowly. He was so loved that people began calling him the Mahatma or Great Soul, and this is what he is still called by some in India.

Gandhiji also asked the Indian people to help the British in the great World War that was being fought in Europe. He believed that the British were fighting for the rights and freedom of the world and of all men, and it was India's duty to help them. One day the Viceroy of India, who represented the King of England and was an exceedingly important person, asked Gandhiji to address a meeting where he was going to be present himself. This meeting was being held to persuade the people of India to help in the war and to join the army. Gandhiji accepted the Viceroy's invitation but when he got up to make his speech he spoke, not in English, but in Hindustani, the national language of India. This was the very first time that any Indian had the