romantic about the Swami and said to him, 'Swami! You are my Romeo and I am your
Desdemona!' The Swami said quickly, 'Madam, you'd better brush up your
Shakespeare.'
As already stated, Swami Vivekananda was particularly friendly with Mr. and Mrs.
Hale, of Chicago, and their two young daughters and two nieces. The daughters were
named Mary and Harriet, and the nieces, Isabel and Harriet McKindley. He
affectionately called Mr. Hale 'Father Pope' and Mrs. Hale 'Mother Church.' The girls
he addressed as 'sisters' or 'babies.' A very sweet and warm relationship grew up
between them and the Swami. His relationship with Mary was especially close. He
wrote to her many light-hearted letters. In a letter to the sisters, dated July 26, 1894, the
Swami said:
Now, don't let my letters stray beyond the circle, please — I had a beautiful letter from
Sister Mary — See how I am getting the dash — Sister Jeany teaches me all that —
She can jump and run and play and swear like a devil and talk slang at the rate of five
hundred a minute — only she does not much care for religion — only a little....Darn it,
I forget everything — I had duckings in the sea like a fish — I am enjoying every bit of
it — What nonsense was the song Harriet taught me, 'Dans la Plaine' — the deuce take
it! — I told it to a French scholar and he laughed and laughed till the fellow was
wellnigh burst at my wonderful translation — That is the way you would have taught
me French — You are a pack of fools and heathens, I tell you — How you are gasping
for breath like huge fish stranded — I am glad that you are sizzling (Referring to the
summer heat of Chicago.) — Oh! how nice and cool it is here — and it is increased a
hundredfold when I think about the gasping, sizzling, boiling, frying four old maids —
and how cool and nice I am here — Whoooooo!!!...
Well — dear old maids — you sometimes have a glimpse of the lake and on very hot
noons think of going down to the bottom of the lake — down — down — down —
until it is cool and nice, and then to lie down on the bottom, with just that coolness
above and around — and lie there still — silent — and just doze — not sleep, but a
dreamy, dozing, half unconscious sort of bliss — very much like that which opium
brings — That is delicious — and drinking lots of iced water — Lord bless my soul!
— I had such cramps several times as would have killed an elephant — So I hope to
keep myself away from the cold water —
May you all be happy, dear fin de siecle young ladies, is the constant prayer of
Vivekananda.
One realizes how deeply Swami Vivekananda had entered into the American spirit,
when one sees how facile he was in his use of American slang. Surely this letter is an
example. As we have stated before, the Swami also needed diversions of this kind in
order to obtain relief from his intensely serious life and thinking in America. One
recalls that Sri Ramakrishna, too, would often indulge in light talk in order to keep his
mind on the level of ordinary consciousness.