not talk much in the newspapers, but they work silently. I am sure of having done more
work in England than in America.' And in another letter, written on November 13, to a
brother disciple in India: 'Every enterprise in this country takes some time to get
started. But once John Bull sets his hand to a thing, he will never let it go. The
Americans are quick, but they are somewhat like straw on fire, ready to be
extinguished.'
The Swami had been receiving letters from American devotees asking him to come
back; a rich lady from Boston promised to support his work in New York throughout
the winter. Before leaving England, however, he arranged that Mr. Sturdy should
conduct the classes in London till the arrival of a new Swami from India, about the
need of whom he was writing constantly to his brother disciples at the Baranagore
monastery.
On December 6, 1895, Swami Vivekananda returned to New York, after his two
months' stay in England, in excellent health and spirits. During his absence abroad,
regular classes had been carried on by his American disciples Kripananda,
Abhayananda, and Miss Waldo, who taught raja-yoga in both its practical and its
theoretical aspects.
Together with Kripananda he took up new quarters, consisting of two spacious rooms,
which could accommodate one hundred and fifty persons. The Swami at once plunged
into activity and gave a series of talks on work as a spiritual discipline. These talks
were subsequently published as Karma-Yoga, which is considered one of his best
books. In the meantime the devotees of the Swami had been feeling the need of a
stenographer to take down his talks in the classes and on public platforms. Many of his
precious speeches had already been lost because there had been no reporter to record
them. Fortunately there appeared on the scene an Englishman, J.J. Goodwin, who was
at first employed as a professional stenographer; in a few days, however, he was so
impressed by the Swami's life and message that he became his disciple and offered his
services free, with the remark that if the teacher could give his whole life to help
mankind, he, the disciple, could at least give his services as an offering of love.
Goodwin followed the Swami like a shadow in America, Europe, and India; he
recorded many of the public utterances of Vivekananda, now preserved in published
books, and thereby earned the everlasting gratitude of countless men and women.
The Swami spent Christmas of 1895 with Mr. and Mrs. Leggett at their country home,
Ridgely Manor, which he frequently visited in order to enjoy a respite from his hard
work in New York. But even there he would give exalted spiritual discourses, as will
be evident from the following excerpt from a letter written by Mr. Leggett on January
10, 1896, to Miss MacLeod:
One night at Ridgely we were all spellbound by his eloquence. Such thought I have
never heard expressed by mortal man — such as he uttered for two and a half hours.
We were all deeply affected. And I would give a hundred dollars for a typewritten
verbatim report of it. Swami was inspired to a degree that I have never seen before or