Camp Hardoi,
October 12th, 1929
Henry S. Salt, Esq.,
21 Cleveland Road,
Brighton (England)
Dear Friend,
I was agreeably surprised to receive your letter. Yes indeed your book which was the first English book I came across on vegetarianism was of immense help to me in steadying my faith in vegetarianism. My first introduction to Thoreau’s writings was I think in 1907 when I was in the thick of the passive resistance struggle. A friend sent me Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience. It left a deep impression upon me. I translated a portion of that essay for the readers of Indian Opinion in South Africa which I was then editing and I made copious extracts from that essay for the English (?) on that paper. That essay seemed to be so convincing and truthful that I felt the need of knowing more of Thoreau and I came across your life of him, his “Walden” and other short essays all of which I read with great pleasure and equal profit.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. Gandhi