A public meeting of the ladies of Bombay was held on Sunday [August 9] evening to express their sorrow and sense of loss to the country on the death of Mr. Tilak. Mrs. Saraladevi Chaudhurani presided. As the crowd was too great for the spacious hall of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya an overflow meeting was held in the compound, with the chairman having to address twice. Saraladevi in her address said that the wonderful funeral procession of Mr. Tilak testified the approximation by the people of Mr. Tilak’s love for his countrymen, a love that hoped highest and braved all and made him suffer repeatedly for their sake. Swaraj to him was a passion and he gallantly fought all his life for the interests of his country. She exhorted the audience to follow his simplicity of dress and manners and use nothing but swadeshi goods. The speaker deprecated the slavish imitation of following the latest Western fashions in dress and passionately appealed to all her sisters to show their love for the departed patriot by taking a vow for using nothing but swadeshi goods at least for some years, if not for ever.
