In India it is not good form to shave yourself. You ought to respectthe religious prejudices and social institutions of the people. Ifeveryone shaved himself, how would the Barber's stomach be filled?The pious feeling which prompts this question lies very deep in the heartof Hindoo society. We do not understand it. How can we, with ourcold-blooded creed of demand and supply, free trade and competition,fair field and no favour? In this ancient land, whose social systemis not a deformed growth, but a finished structure, nothing has beenleft to chance, least of all a man's beard; for, cleanliness andgodliness not being neighbours here, a beard well matted with ashesand grease is the outward and visible sign of sanctity. And so, inthe golden age, when men did everything that is wise and right, therewas established a caste whose office it was to remove that sign fromsecular chins. How impious and revolutionary then must it be for aman who is not a barber to tamper with his own beard, thus taking thebread out of the mouths of barbers born, and blaspheming the wisdomof the ancient founders of civilization! It is true that, during thebarbers' strike a few fortnights ago, the Brahmins, even of orthodoxPoona, consecrated a few of their own number to the use of the razor.But desperate diseases demand desperate remedies. When the barbersstruck, Nature did not strike. Beards grew as before, and threatenedto change the whole face of society. In view of such an appallingcrisis who would say anything was unlawful? Besides, British rule issurely undermining the very foundations of society, and I doubt ifyou could find a Brahmin to-day under fifty fortnights of age whose heartis not more or less corroded by the spirit of change. Your youthfulUniversity man is simply honey-combed: he can scarcely conceal hismind from his own mother or wife.