Chapter 2

Chapter II

    While at “The Meads”, Swami Vivekananda wrote a report to the “Brahmavadin.” Swami Saradananda was writing it and reading it out to Swamiji in a sing-song voice. “Do you think you are reciting the Chandi?” he asked him. “Read simply and clearly.” One day he was in a buoyant mood, light-hearted, and a hilarious scene took place in which the two stout swamis tried to mount and ride a bicycle, in the field in from of Miss Muller’s house. That day he was his boyish self, all jokes, and sang in a sweet voice a Bengali song: “Who set me adrift on the waves in the boat of desire? At morn the boat went floating and I thought this was a grand play of the water, and the spring breeze would blow sweet. I would go floating in joy.”
    Swamiji usually wore a collar which buttoned in front, i.e., an ordinary collar. Although a preacher, he did not use the clerical collar, nor did he wear a tie; his jacket came up high and close around the throat.
    He would tire of the monotonous food and would decide to go to the kitchen and cook some hot curries.
    It was here that he said to Swami Saradananda, “Why don’t you write a short life of Sri Ramakrishna?” Miss Muller had written to Prof. Max Muller for arranging an interview for Swamiji on a fixed day. Swami Saradananda had quickly set to work to produce the desired short life, which he read to Swamiji. The latter made some few alterations but he
liked it. The next day they took this account of the life with them when the three went to visit Max Muller. From that the professor took many incidents into his own writing and even the language in places.
    They all came back to the Margesson house at 63 St. George’s Rd. [Dates are almost never given.] It was a five-storey house. As one entered, on the right front was the parlor, back of it a couple of small rooms, in one of which Swami Vivekananda slept; beyond that a small lavatory. Mounting the stairs one came upon a large first-floor room [British reckoning; it was the American second floor, and not very large], beautifully decorated [or “furnished”], suitable as a lecture or drawing room. It was in two sections, one smaller, and the other, being above the parlor and passage, larger. The sections were separated only by iron pillars supporting the ceiling. On the street side of the room stood a table and chair. Standing by these, Swamiji used to give his lectures. On the right of this, i.e. the visitors’ left, in the middle of the wall was a fireplace. In the corner between this and the street was a table where Goodwin would sit and take the notes, his back to the room. About 150 people [?] could be seated. As one entered the room one found on the left wall some bookcases full of books and along the back wall was a large spring sofa.
    On the next floor were the rooms Miss Muller lived in. Between the first [second] and second [third] floors was the bathroom. The kitchen was in the basement, with storeroom, servants’ quarters, boiler etc. Going upstairs a bit farther one found a large room in which two or three persons might sleep, with iron beds. Near the street wall was a rocking-horse for children. This room became Swami Saradananda’s and Mohendra’s bedroom. A round table in the middle of the room and three chairs kept company with a large fireplace. Above this room was a long room with the roof as ceiling, sloping on the sides so that one could stand up only in the very middle of the area; this was the “garret.”
And this is where J.J. Goodwin enters the scene. He had brought all his belongings to this room in his bags. He was only twenty-three or -four years old, but he looked thirty-five because he had already had a hard life. His heart was very simple and sweet. He loved verbal jousting and if he got no chance to argue with someone, he wasn’t happy. He would say to Swami Saradananda, “You kooky Swami, devil Swami, blacky Swami! You close your eyes and meditate and think, ‘when will it be lunch time? When will the food bell ring?’”