Among the many gaps in the biographies of Swami Vivekananda is one which appears after the Parliament of Religions and extends over the period comprising the last part of 1893 and almost the whole of 1894. This gap, to be sure, is not total. We know, for instance, that Swamiji toured through the Middle West and East, lecturing in many cities, for a time in connection with a lecture bureau and later independently, and also we catch distant and disconnected glimpses of him as he went from place to place. But when we consider the hundreds of conversations he must have held during this period, the scores of lectures and the many private interviews he must have given, to say nothing of the innumerable spiritual experiences he must have had, we cannot help feeling dissatisfied with the meagerness of our present knowledge. This current chapter, however, and those to follow throw a little more light upon Swamiji's post Parliament activities.

The unknown young wandering monk of India had suddenly become a famous man of his time; but it was not as if Swami Vivekananda had been yearning for name and fame. From his letters written immediately after the Parliament, as well as from his recorded conversations, we learn how often he intensely longed to return to the days of his lonely wanderings, of his meditation and his studies. The divine mandate, however, had ordained otherwise: he was to preach the message of the Lord in various lands as a world teacher and to sacrifice himself in the process. And behind all his undertakings was his limitless faith in God and his firm resolve to move and act according to His will. Moreover, the question of how to bring about the uplift of India and to remove the poverty of his people always occupied his mind. Thus, although in the early part of his stay in America his accustomed manner of thinking and living was in conflict with Western ways, he soon realized. That it was possible to live according to Indian ideals even in this strange environment.

In connection with this period we are fortunate enough to have two heretofore unpublished letters that he wrote to Professor Wright. These are, I believe, among the most valuable of his letters, for they not only supply facts regarding his activities but convey something of his luminous state of mind during the early days of his American mission.

The intellectual friends of Miss Conger's aunt might well throw up their hands. Around this time Swamiji was associating with some of the greatest scientists of the world, who had gathered in Chicago for the International Electrical Congress. According to the Life, "immediately following his appearance at the Parliament," he was the guest of honor at a vegetarian dinner given by Professor and Mrs. Elisha Gray at their home in Highland Park, a suburb on Lake Michigan, just north of Chicago. Among the guests invited to meet him were (as recounted by the Life)3 the famous scientists Lord Kelvin (formerly William Thomson), Professor von Helmholtz, and Ariton Hopitallia.*_x000d_ _x000d_ *Elisha Gray, the famous electrical inventor, was chairman of the International Electrical Congress, which had been held toward the end of August in conjunction with the Columbian Exposition. Evidently some of the foreign delegates had remained in Chicago for a time. Kelvin and Helmholtz were, of course, delegates from, respectively, Scotland and Germany. As for Ariton Hopitallia, whoever he may have been, historians, biographers, and encyclopedists do not seem to have remembered him. Let us note here, however, that the name of the delegate from France to the International Electrical Congress at the World’s Fair was Professor Edouard Hospitalier.

Because of the various congresses held in connection with the World's Fair, Chicago was at this period a meeting-place of some of the best minds of the day. Inevitably, the Swami came in contact with many thinkers, famous and influential in their own fields. In September of 1893, immediately following his appearance at the Parliament, he was introduced to a group of noted scientists who had gathered in the city to attend the Electrical Congress, held from August 21 through 25. A vegetarian dinner was given especially in his honour by Professor Elisha Gray, the inventor of electrical equipment, and his wife in their beautiful residence in Highland Park, Chicago. Among the distinguished guests invited to meet him were Ariton Hopitallia, Sir William Thomson, afterwards Lord Kelvin, Professor Hermann von Helmholtz, the last two of whom were eminent in the field of physics. The Swami's knowledge of electricity amazed the scientists, and his shining repartee bear-ing on matters of science was greeted with sincere pleasure. With one voice they acclaimed him a sympathetic confrere.

. . . Vivekananda lingered in Chicago for several months after the great Parliament of Religions closed, studying many questions relating to schools and the material advancement of civilization in order to carry back to his own people as convincing arguments regarding America as he brought to this country concerning the morality and spirituality of his own people.

While "lingering in Chicago" Swamiji could have seen and studied a great deal. Indeed there was perhaps no better place for him to take his first close look at Americans and American institutions than this city still in the exuberance of its youth. Everything about Chicago was new, venturesome, and expanding with enormous activity. Although many of its districts were still undeveloped and sparsely settled, its population had grown in less than sixty years from one hundred and fifty to over a million, and its industries, its institutions, and its ambitions had grown as fast. If Chicago lacked mellowness, as it surely did, if it was not so polished and knowledgeable as the older cities of the East Coast, it made up for its want of tradition and sophistication by its immense vitality. With the crush of horse-drawn traffic rattling over the congested streets of its business district, the crowding of tugs and barges on its sludgy river, its grain elevators, stockyards, and factories, its Board of Trade and network of great railways, with its university and its new Art Institute, not to speak of its great World's Fair, which remained open and in full glory until October 31, Chicago offered Swamiji a picture of late nineteenth-century America such as did not exist in so pure and unrelieved a form elsewhere. The city even contained slums that in wretchedness were second to none in the country and a settlement house that was to become world famous.

One of the schools that Swamiji visited was the Cook County Normal School, whose principal was the well-known Col. Francis Wayland Parker. Even before the influence of John Dewey had been felt in America, Colonel Parker had in¬troduced progressive educational principles in Boston and in 1883 had brought them to Chicago. Although it is not certain that the following description of Swamiji's visit to Colonel Parker's school belongs to the present period, it is not likely that in "studying many questions relating to schools" he would have overlooked the most progressive school in the city. And thus a child's glimpse of his visit can as well be quoted here as elsewhere.

I think of Vivekananda always as "Vivekananda the Vivid." And perhaps that is so because for a few brief moments I looked into his eyes. It happened when I, a small child, was a pupil in the school of which Col. Francis W. Parker was the head. Several of our schools are named after him, and his influence on education and thought was so great that he may be classed as a prophet of education. His work was known in far countries, and children came to his school from many lands with their parents who returned to their foreign homes to teach his methods. Among this group of foreign students was a Hindu family, the son being in my class. Each morning the entire school assembled for Chapel and often a brief talk by some distinguished visitor was heard. On one of these occasions we were all fascinated by the spectacle of our tall Col. Parker ushering in another stately man who was dressed in flowing robes and turban. We sang, and Col. Parker read a prayer. Then the Swami spoke to us. I was too little to remember what he said, but I do re¬member how quiet the big room was, and how brilliant his eyes and vibrant his voice. When his talk was over he too said a prayer, and then he and Col. Parker walked down together from the platform through the assembly hall. The Hindu boy next to me sat in an aisle seat, and, as the Swami passed him, bent and kissed his robe. I was so surprised at such a thing that I whispered to the boy, "Why did you do that? Who is he?" "The man is Swami Vivek¬ananda, a great saint from my country," he said. "But," said I, "there are no saints any more." "Not here in your country," he replied, "but we still have them in India.

During the two months or so that Swamiji remained in Chicago he not only absorbed all kinds of information regarding the workings of Western civilization but lectured in the city and in nearby towns. The Chicago correspondent of the Critic, Lucy Monroe, whose article of October 7 was quoted in the last chapter, again wrote about him on November 11. Lucy Monroe was a sister of Harriet Monroe, the poetess, whose vivid description of Swamiji has been earlier quoted. Unlike Harriet, Lucy Monroe went to hear Swamiji more than once, not merely because of her duty as a reporter but, to judge from her articles, because of her personal appreciation of him.

THE CHICAGO LETTER_x000d_ _x000d_ . . . It was an outgrowth of the Parliament of Religions, which opened our eyes to the fact that the philosophy of the ancient creeds contains much beauty for the moderns. When we had once clearly perceived this, our interest in their exponents quickened, and with characteristic eagerness we set out in pursuit of knowledge. The most available means of obtaining it, after the close of the Parliament, was through the addresses and lectures of Suami Vivekananda, who is still in this city. His original purpose in coming to this country was to interest Americans in the starting of new industries among the Hindoos, but he has abandoned this for the present, because he finds that, as "the Americans are the most charitable people in the world," every man with a purpose comes here for assistance in carrying it out. When asked about the relative condition of the poor here and in India, he replied that our poor would be princes there, and that he had been taken through the worst quarter of the city only to find it, from the standpoint of his knowledge, comfortable and even pleasant.

A Brahmin of the Brahmins, Vivekananda gave up his rank to join the brotherhood of monks, where all pride of caste is voluntarily relinquished. And yet he bears the mark of race upon his person. His culture, his eloquence, and his fascinating personality have given us a new idea of Hindoo civilization. He is an interesting figure, his fine, intelligent, mobile face in its setting of yellows, and his deep, musical voice prepossessing one at once in his favor. So it is not strange that he has been taken up by the literary clubs, has preached and lectured in churches, until the life of Buddha and the doctrines of his faith have grown familiar to us. He speaks without notes, presenting his facts and his conclusions with the greatest art, the most convincing sincerity; and rising at times to a rich, inspiring eloquence. As learned and cultivated, apparently, as the most accomplished Jesuit, he has also something Jesuitical in the character of his mind; but though the little sarcasms thrown into his discourses are as keen as a rapier, they are so delicate as to be lost on many of his hearers. Nevertheless his courtesy is unfailing, for these thrusts are never pointed so directly at our customs as to be rude. At present he contents himself with enlightening us in regard to his religion and the words of its philosophers. He looks forward to the time when we shall pass beyond idolatry-now necessary in his opinion to the ignorant classes; beyond worship, even, to a knowledge of the presence of God in nature, of the divinity and responsibility of man. "Work out your own salvation," he says with the dying Buddha; "I cannot help you. No man can help you. Help yourself."

Although Swamiji remained in Chicago for so long a time, speaking before literary clubs and in churches, the only definite information we have at present regarding his lectures in the city comes from his letter quoted above, in which he says: "Tomorrow [October 27] I am going to lecture on Buddhism at the ladies' fortnightly club which is the most influential in this city."

This club, founded twenty years earlier and known then and now as the Fortnightly of Chicago, was, as Swamiji said, the most influential in the city and was also one of the most exclusive. Its membership of some one hundred and fifty women was drawn from the upper and professional classes and included, naturally, Swamiji's friend Mrs. Potter Palmer. The club's object, as stated in its early bylaws, was "intellectual and social culture."

Unhappily for our purpose, the Fortnightly has traditionally avoided publicity, and thus one fails to find even a resume of Swamiji's lecture in the Chicago newspapers. Two weeks earlier, however, a small news item appeared in the Tribune to the effect that the fortnightly Club had held its first meeting and lecture of the season at the Hotel Richelieu (on South Michigan Avenue;. Swamiji's lecture; which is recorded in the Fortnightly yearbook for 1893 as the "History of Buddhism," was no doubt also delivered at the Richelieu, one of the city's most elegant hotels, long since demolished. This is all we know to date of Swamiji's lecture engagements during his stay in Chicago.

While Swamiji was in Chicago, word of his great and saving spiritual power spread from person to person, and very likely many came to him for private interviews, seeking help and guidance and finding in his presence not only the solace of profound and unjudging wisdom, but, as well, the understanding friendship of one who was not divorced from an interest in the life around him. He was father, son, teacher, and friend.* _x000d_ _x000d_ * A story of one such interview, recounted by Mme Emma Calce, the famous operatic singer, in her autobigraphy My Life, has been quoted in the Life. In the first two editions of the present book an extended version of Calve’s first interview with Swamiji was related in this chapter. But now that his itinerary is more fully known, we find that the meeting could not have taken place in 1894. In that year Mme Calve was singing in Chicago with the Metropolitan Opera Company between March 12 and April 12 (and only then), during which weeks, we now know, Swamiji was first in Detroit and then in New York, and not for a moment in Chicago. Since the account of their first meeting doest not, then, belong in 1894, and therefore not in the present chapter, I have given it in Appendix A, where the reader will also find Mme Calve’s account of Swamiji’s meeting with Mr. John D. Rockefeller, the date of which is now also open to question.

From the few facts we know of his days in Chicago after the Parliament we can form some sort of picture of what he must have been like. We see him in the vigor of youth, his face shining with divine light, fulfilling many lecture engagements, and no doubt many social engagements, taking a keen interest in Western life and institutions, and explaining India's life and culture in their true significance. That fraction of his mind with which he attended to the world was brilliantly alert indeed, was in itself far more than a match for the keenest intellect.

But we see also that this fraction was informed and illumined by a far larger part that lay quiet and untouched beneath the surface, always absorbed in God, ready to pour out blessings upon and alter the lives of those who came to him. How often Swamiji verged upon nirvikalpa samadhi, only to be drawn back ,by Sri Ramakrishna, or by his own love and compassion for man, in order that he might fulfill his mission here, we cannot know; but we can assume that he always lived on the border line between the relative and the Absolute, as a prophet of his supreme eminence must.

One can be fairly certain that Mr. Slayton, the head of the lecture bureau under which Swamiji placed himself, knew that he had a prize on his lists. If he had not known it from reading the Chicago newspapers, he learned it from the following letter, written to him by the Reverend Dr. W. H. Thomas, a Congregational minister. Mr. Slayton was later to use the text of the letter by way of advertisement.

Dear Mr. Slayton: Of the many learned men in the East who took part in the great World's Parliament of Religion, Vivekananda was the most popular favorite, and when it was known that he was to speak thousands were turned away for want of room. Nor was it curiosity alone that drew the masses; for those who heard him once were so impressed by the magnetism of his fine presence, the charm and power of his eloquence, his perfect command of the English language and the deep interest in what he had to say, that they desired a11 the more to hear him again. It will be the opportunity of a life time for the cities of our land to see and hear this noble, earnest, loving Brahman dressed in the costume of his order, and telling the true story of the religions and customs of his far off country. Affectionately, W. H. Thomas.

Mr. Slayton somehow persuaded Swamiji to sign a three year contract. It is in a sense difficult to understand this, for although Swamiji was uncertain of the future at this time, he had little intention of remaining in America for three years, and certainly would not have wanted to commit himself to do so. It is also difficult to understand why no one warned him that almost as a matter of course attempts would be made to exploit him, unless it were that his friends were as naïve in this respect as was he. In any case, if one is to believe what one reads in newspapers, he did sign a long term contract. This information is to be Found in the Appeal Avalanche of January 21, 1894, a Memphis, Tennessee, newspaper. "He is under contract with the `Slayton Lyceum Bureau,' of Chicago," this paper reported, "to fill a three-years' engagement in this country."

One thing that should perhaps be of some consolation to those who would like to see all the gaps filled in the story of Swamiji's life is that his brother monks and friends in India had an even more difficult time than we in attempting to keep track of him. The following letter of some poignancy was written at the direction of friends who longed to hear of the doings and triumphs of their beloved Swamiji in this strange land. It was addressed to Thos. Cook and Son, Calcutta, and dated March 28, 1894:

Dear Sirs¬-_x000d_ _x000d_ Swami Vivekananda_x000d_ Care Mr. Geo. W. Hale_x000d_ 54I Dearborn Ave_x000d_ Chicago_x000d_ The above Hindu monk has been travelling under Messrs Tho. Cook & Sons Agency. Your Bombay people arranged last year for his passage to America where he went to represent the Hindu religion at the Parliament of Religions held in connection with the World's Fair at Chicago---Swami Vivekananda is reported to have delivered several Ictuses in America, a few of which only are reproduced or noticed in the Indian papers-But as the extracts and notices that appeared here are believed to be unsatisfactory, the brother monks and admirers of Swamiji are anxious to obtain all the American papers or cuttings thereof as most convenient containing all the speeches that have been delivered in and about Chicago, and in fact wherever he spoke in America, these to include all newspaper notices or criticisms both for and against that are known to have appeared, but not to include the Report of the Parliament of Religions issued by the Secretary of the Chicago Exhibition, a copy of which has already been secured from here. Under the circumstances the undersigned on behalf of the brother monks and admirers of Swami Vivekananda shall be very much obliged if you will kindly arrange, owing to the excellent facilities you possess on a/c of your numerous agencies and branches, with your people at Chicago for the collection of papers and pamphlets named above together with one or two copies of photos if they are in circulation, and have them all forwarded to your care, the express thereof shall be paid by Swamiji's admirers through the undersigned. Further the only address known of Swami Vivekananda is noted as above. It is quite possible that Swamiji has or will have left the place ere this reaches your Chicago Agent, therefore I beg to ask you to kindly write and inform your Chicago Agent to put himself in communication with Mr. Hale or any other party regarding the movements of Swami Vivekananda, who according to the rules of Hindu Sannyasi (ascetic) will not write and inform of his whereabouts, which information however is so anxiously looked for by his admirers and brother monks¬_x000d_ Yours obediently21_x000d_ Kali Krishna Dutta

However, one finds that on February 18, 1894, Swami Ramakrishnananda wrote to Munshi Jagmohanlal, the private secretary of the Maharaja of Khetri, giving him a resume of the first, recently-received, letter from Swamiji.* Swami Ramakrishnananda's resume goes into some detail, and there can be no doubt that it refers to the same letter as that which has all along been dated March 19; nor can there be any doubt that this letter was written not in March but probably around the middle of January, the mail taking in those days about a month to go from America to India.**

* Swami Ramakrishnananda’s lettet to Munshi Jagmohanlal was first published in Swami Vivekananda – A Forgotten Chapter of His Life by Beni Shanker Sharma. The date of this important letter has long been uncertain, but recent examinations of the original have shown the correct date to be February 18, 1894. In connection with the date of Swamiji’s first letter from America to Swami Ramakrishnananda, it may be noted that in its opening paragraph Swamiji mentions a letter from Haridas V. Desai which, we learn elsewhere (Complete Works 8:297), he had received “a few days” before January 29. This tends to confirm that Swamiji’s letter to his brother disciple was written in the latter half of January. It was, incidentally, not Swamiji who misdated his letter March 19; the original Bengali letter bears no date at all, as was often the case with his letters to his brothers. There is evidence that the date March 19, 1894, should very probably be assigned to the second letter Swamiji wrote to Swami Ramakrishnananda (Complete Works 6 : 282), which is also undated.

** On December 27, 1893, the Indian Mirror printed a letter to the Editor from “Trigunatit” (Swami Trigunatita, one of Swami Vivekananda’s brother disciples). The letter contained quotations from the New York Critique (Critic) and the New York Herald in praise of Swamiji. One might infer from this taht Swamiji had sent these clippings to his brother disciples to let them know of his doings. It is more probable, however, that the clippings, or the quotations from them, came to the knowledge of Swami Trigunatita through Swamiji’s letter of November 15, 1893 (wrongly dated November 15, 1894, in the Complete Works, volume eight), to Haridas V. Desai, which contained these same quotations exactly, no more and no less. “I cease from quoting more, “lest you think me conceited; but this was necessary to you who have become nearly frogs in the well and would not see how the world is going on elsewhere. I do not mean you personally, my noble friend, but our nation in general.”

Dear Adhyapakji,_x000d_ I do not know what you are thinking of my long silence. In the first place I dropped in on the Congress in the eleventh hour. And quite unprepared and that kept me very very busy for some time. Secondly I was speaking almost every day in the Congress and had no time to write and last and greatest of all-my kind friend I owe so much to you that it would have been an insult to your Ahetuka (unselfish) friendship to have written you business like letters in a hurry. The Congress is now over._x000d_ Dear brother I was so so afraid to stand before that great assembly of fine speakers and thinkers from all over the world and speak but the Lord gave me strength and I almost every day heroically (?) faced the platform and the audience. If I have done well He gave me the strength for it if I have miserably failed-I knew that before hand for I am hopelessly ignorant. Your friend prof. Bradley was very kind to me and he always cheered me on And oh! Everybody is so kind here to me who am nothing that it is beyond my power of expression. Glory unto Him in the highest in whose sight the poor ignorant monk from India is the same as the learned divines of this mighty land. And how the Lord is helping me every day of my life brother-I sometimes wish for a life of million million ages to serve Him through the world dressed in rags and fed by charity._x000d_ Oh how I wished that you were here to see some of our sweet ones from India the tender hearted Buddhist Dhammapala the orator Mazoomdar and realize that in that far off and poor India there are hearts that beat in sympathy to yours, born and brought up in this mighty ¬and great country._x000d_ My eternal respects to your holy wife and to your sweet children my eternal love and blessings._x000d_ Col Higginson a very broad man told me that your daughter had written to his daughter about me and he was very sympathetic to me. I am going to Evanston tomorrow and hope to see prof. Bradley there._x000d_ May He make us all more and more pure and holy so that we may live a perfect spiritual life even before throwing off this earthly body._x000d_ Vivekananda

I am now going to be reconciled to my life here. All my life I have been taking every circumstance as coming from him and calmly adapt myself to it. At first in America I was almost out of my water I was afraid I would have to give up the accustomed way of being guided by the Lord and cater for myself and what a horrid piece of mischief and ingratitude was that. I now clearly see that He who was guiding me on the snow tops of the Himalayas and the burning plaines [sic] of India is here to help me and guide me. Glory unto Him in the highest. So I have calmly fallen in my old ways. Some body or other gives me a shelter and food some body or other comes to ask me to speak about Him and I know He sends them and mine is to obey. And then He is supplying my necessities and His will be done._x000d_ "He who rests [in] Me and gives up all other self assertion and struggles I carry to him whatever he needs" Gita._x000d_ So it is in Asia So in Europe So in America for is He not here also? And if He does not I only would take for granted that He wants that I should lay aside this three minutes body of clay-and hope to lay it down gladly--¬

We may or may not meet brother. He knows. You are great learned and Holy. I dare not preach to you or your wife-but to your children-I quote these passages from the Vedas¬-_x000d_ "The four Vedas, Sciences, languages, philosophy and all other learnings are only ornamental the real learning the true Knowledge is that which enables us to reach him who is unchangeable in His love"_x000d_ "How real, how tangible, how visible is He through whom the skin touches the eyes see and the world gets its reality"_x000d_ _x000d_ "Hearing Him nothing remains to be heard_x000d_ Seeing Him nothing remains to be seen _x000d_ Attaining Him nothing remains to be attained" _x000d_ _x000d_ "He is the eye of our eyes the ear of our ears the _x000d_ Soul of our Souls."_x000d_ _x000d_ He is nearer to you my dears than even your father and mother-you are innocent and pure as flowers-remain so and He will reveal Himself unto you. Dear Austin when you are playing there is another playmate playing with you who loves you more than anybody else and oh He is so full of fun. He is always playing-sometimes with great big balls which we call the sun and earth and some¬times with little children like you and laughing and playing with you._x000d_ How funny it would be to see him and play with Him my dear think of it._x000d_ Dear Adhyapakji, I am moving about just now-only when I come to Chicago I always go to see Mr. and Mrs. Lyons [Lyon] one of the noblest couples I have seen here. If you would be kind enough to write to me kindly address it to the care of Mr. John B. Lyons 262 Michigan Ave Chicago._x000d_ "He who gets hold of the One in this world of many. The one constant existence in a world of flitting shadows ¬the One life in a world of Death He alone crosses this sea of misery and struggle. None else none else" Vedas_x000d_ "He who is the Brahman of the Vedantins Ishwara of the Naiyayikas, Purusha of the Sankhyas, cause of the Mimamsakas Law of the Buddhists absolute zero of the Atheists and love infinite unto those that love, may [He] take us all under His merciful protection" _x000d_ _x000d_ Udayanacharya_x000d_ _x000d_ (a great philosopher of the Nyaya or Dualistic school and this is the Benediction pronounced at the very begin¬ning of his wonderful book "Kusumanjali a handful of flowers" in which He attempts to establish the existence of a personal creator and moral ruler of infinite love independently of revelation.) '_x000d_ Your ever grateful friend1_x000d_ Vivekananda

During the months Swamiji remained in Chicago after the Parliament of Religions he must have been the house guest of various friends. He himself writes of this period: "Many of the handsomest houses in this city are open to me. All the time I am living as a guest of somebody or other." As we have seen, one home that was always open to him and where he stayed both during and after the Parliament was that of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Lyon at 262 Michigan Avenue, and to judge from the fact that a letter dated November 19, 1893, which he wrote to Mrs. Tannatt Woods (see chapter four) was written on stationery bearing the letterhead "George W. Hale, 541 Dearborn Avenue, Chicago," it is almost certain that he was a guest of the Hale family for at least a part of the time.* _x000d_ _x000d_ * A letter to an Indian friend, dated November 15, 1893, was also written on the Hale’s stationery (Original Letters, Belur Math).

c/of J. Lyons 262 Michigan av. _x000d_ Chicago_x000d_ 26 October '93_x000d_ _x000d_ Dear Adhyapakji ._x000d_ _x000d_ You would be glad to know that I am doing well here and that almost everybody has been very kind to me, except of course the very orthodox. Many of the men brought together here from far off lands have got projects and ideas and missions to carry out and America is the only place where there is a chance of success for every thing. But I thought better and have given up speaking about my project entirely-because I am sure now the heathen draws more than his project. So I want to go to work earnestly for my own project only keeping the project in the background and working like any other lecturer._x000d_ He who has brought me hither and has not left me yet will not leave me ever I am sure. You will be glad to know that I am doing well and expect to do very well in the way of getting money. Of course I am too green in the business but would soon learn my trade. I am very popular in Chicago. So I want to stay here a little more and get money._x000d_ Tomorrow I am going to lecture on Buddhism at the ladies' fortnightly club which is the most influential in this city. How to thank you my kind friend or Him who brought you to me for now I think the success of my project probable and it is you who have made it so._x000d_ May blessings and happiness attend every step of your progress in this world._x000d_ My love and blessings to your children_x000d_ Yours affly ever10_x000d_ Vivekananda