IX Mother – Letters of Swami Vivekananda

To Mrs. G. W. Hale

DETROIT,

14 February 1894.

DEAR MOTHER,

Arrived safely night before last at 1 o’clock a.m. The train was seven hours late, being blocked by snowdrifts on the way. However, I enjoyed the novelty of the sight: several men cutting and clearing the snow and two engines tugging and pulling was a new sight to me.

Here I met Mr. Bagley, the youngest [Paul F. Bagley], waiting for me at the station; and, it being very late in the night, Mrs. Bagley1 had retired, but the daughters sat up for me.

They are very rich, kind and hospitable. Mrs. Bagley is especially interested in India. The daughters are very good, educated and good-looking. The eldest gave me a luncheon at a club where I met some of the finest ladies and gentlemen of the city. Last evening there was a reception given here in the house. Today I am going to speak for the first time. Mrs. Bagley is a very nice and kind lady. I hope the lectures will please her. With my love and regards for you all, I remain,

Yours sincerely,
VIVEKANANDA.

PS — I have received a letter from Slayton2 in reply to that in which I wrote to him that I cannot stay. He gives me hope. What is your advice? I enclose the letter [from Narasimhacharya] in another envelope.3

Yours,
V.

1. ^Mrs. John Judson Bagley (1833 – 1898) was one of Detroit’s most influential women, who had met Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. She was a great admirer and supporter of the Swami and was his hostess during this period. She honoured him with an enormous and gala reception to which the élite of Detroit were invited.
2. ^The Slayton Lyceum Lecture Bureau of Chicago, with whom the Swami had signed a contract for three years. Later he broke the contract after noticing that the Bureau had been cheating him.
3. ^Narasimhacharya of Madras was a delegate to the Parliament of Religions, held at Chicago in 1893, where he became acquainted with Swami Vivekananda. After the Parliament was over, he stayed for some months in the United States. He had written a letter to Swami Vivekananda from the Nicholson Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee, where he was stranded. The letter reads: “Dear Swami, I have come here, and without being able to get out am stopping; and I would be very much obliged if you would kindly send me $50 so that I can fix the whole thing and come over to Chicago, from which place I shall go back home. Please do so at once as I am in trouble. Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain, Yours sincerely, Narasimhacharya”.   Swami Vivekananda mailed this letter to Mrs. G. W. Hale on February 14, 1894, from Detroit with a line: “What do you advise, Mother? Vivekananda”.