TCVAJDS BAXDA—BJUCA 173
tbf loss of four pots in one experiment Balak Bain's monkey
was up. His smiles disappeared and, looking sternly at the
furcr Delinquents, he bellowed forth:
"Do you think—you rogues—that the pots belonged to
yor.r grandfathers! I paid hard cash for them. Ton broke
them, careless imps! Go immediately to your parents and
get me one anna and a half each. Run away, quick. You
mnst be back with money by nightfall/1
The boys skulked a^ay never to show their faces again I
Another day a fresh batch came and the same story
was repeated.
Balak Bam vas -worrying for some days over a certain
overseer vrho had yielded up a couple of rupees at his first
onslaught of abuse, jtsst as in India a milch buffalo does
not yield milk unless beaten on the back by the stalk of
the plantain tree. He vas keen on giving a second trial to
the overseer, bnt the overseer knew better. Every messenger
sent by Balak Ram returned to report that he was not to
be found. So far as Balak Earn was concerned, the Deputy
Collector had proved an titter failure—no scent of him
again!
One night Ramdas asked him why he treated the
visitors with harsh abuse, and he replied with a sniff of
contempt:
"You see* sweet words and arguments are not for
donkeys. They need a stout stick to make them work. So
with these selfish and ignorance-ridden folk. I mean well
of them; their hide needs hammer blows to awaken them."1
"Yon are mistaken," Ramdas then told him, "there is
00 power on earth greater than love. By mildness and
gentleness you can conquer the world. Yon are ont as a
aadlm to know God* God is love and peace. An abusive
tongue and a mind filled with wrath are signs of ignorance.
Until love, compassion and forgiveness dwell in your heart
perfect peace in your mind* you cannot realise God.**
**Oh! hov yow wortte heal me; make me a better manC1