Lead, Kindly Light
by . Random House, $3.75.
After many years, Mr. Sheean follows up his famous Personal History with another — this time an account of his revelatory meeting with Gandhi, and his subsequent conversion. In Vermont, before he departed for India, Mr. Sheean did have visions of Gandhi’s assassination; so that in India, when he heard the shots, he knew without looking what had happened. At that point Mr. Sheean put his fingers in his mouth and his hand came away covered with what must be called psychosomatic blisters. All in all, Mr. Sheean had a. harrowing time, until a mystical peace settled on him. This is a most beautiful part of the book, written with the author’s old fervor and sincerity.
Lead, Kindly Light is about Gandhi, but it is much more about the effect of Gandhi on Sheean. That is how Mr. Sheean is. and the reader must know by now whether he prefers his matter with Sheean or without.