DISCIPLE OF GHANDI

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3303, 30 May 1931, Page 3

DISCIPLE OF GHANDI

Miss Madeline Slade, the former Society woman who renounced everything to become a disciple of Gandhi in his ashram (or refuge) near Ahemdabad, may come to England with the Indian agitator later in the year. That she should pay a visit to London to further his teachings has long been a project of Gandhi's. In view of the fact that Gandhi proposes to attend the final conference in London to settle the details of the new federal constitution in India it is extremely likely that he will bring Miss Slade with him as one of his principal supporters. Five years ago Miss Slade, who is the daughter of the late Admiral Sir Edmond Slade, caused a sensation by declaring that she had decided to renounce her position in Society and become an active follower of Gandhi. She took vows of physical and mental celibacy for life, garbed herself in garments of native cloth, cropped her hair close to her head, and quickly became one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Indian revolutionary. " I am living in a well-organised ashram which houses two hundred Indian men, women, and children of the best type," she wrote in a letter to the Sunday Chronicle. " They all describe Mahatma Gandhi as Bapu (father) and look to him as a spiritual guide and moral and social reformer."

After three years of study she became a trained worker in Gandhi's refuge and took the Indian name of "Mira Bel." Miss Slade has never lost touch with her friends in London, with whom she keeps up a frequent correspondence.

They are wondering what influence she is going to exercise on the affairs of India in the near future."