f bashfulness, diffidence or fear
we had none, our main object being to bask in the heat of our own
fervour.

Bravery may sometimes have its drawbacks; but it has always maintained a
deep hold on the reverence of mankind. In the literature of all
countries we find an unflagging endeavour to keep alive this reverence.
So in whatever state a particular set of men in a particular locality
may be, they cannot escape the constant impact of these stimulating
shocks. We had to be content with responding to such shocks, as best we
could, by letting loose our imagination, coming together, talking tall
and singing fervently.

There can be no doubt that closing up all outlets and barring all
openings to a faculty so deep-seated in the nature of man, and moreover
so prized by him, creates an unnatural condition favourable to
degenerate activity. It is not enough to keep open only the avenues to
clerical employment in any comprehensive scheme of Imperial
Government--if no road be left for adventurous daring the soul of man
will pine for deliverance, and secret passages still be sought, of which
the pathways are tortuous and the end unthinkable. I firmly believe that
if in those days Government had paraded a frightfulness born of
suspicion, then the comedy which the youthful members of this
association had been at might have turned into grim tragedy. The play,
however, is over, not a brick of Fort-William is any the worse, and we
are now smiling at its memory.

My brother Jyotirindra began to busy himself with a national costume
for all India, and submitted various designs to the association. The
_Dhoti_ was not deemed business-like; trousers were too foreign; so he
hit upon a compromise which considerably detracted from the dhoti while
failing to improve the trousers. That is to say, the trousers were
decorated with the addition of a false dhoti-fold in front and behind.
The fearsome thing that resulted from combining a turban with a
_Sola-topee_ our most enthusiastic member would not have had the
temerity to call ornamental. No person of ordinary courage could have
dared it, but my brother unflinchingly wore the complete suit in broad
day-light, passing through the house of an afternoon to the carriage
waiting outside, indifferent alike to the stare of relation or friend,
door-keeper or coachman. There may be many a brave Indian ready to die
for his country, but there are but few, I am sure, who even for the good
of the nation