Life of Ahmad — Page 707
as THE WALL 707 same way where the wall is erected. Before the erection of the wall the guests took their meals with me morning and evening, and offered their prayers with me and received instruction for which I have come from God. If they now come up, it is a great inconvenience for them to come by the long way. The weak and the infirm are unable to join with me in the Fajr and ‘Ish a ’ prayers. Guests come here to learn religion. But when they are put to all this trouble on account of the wall I am pained and shocked. It raises difficulties in the work which I want to do. I have no words to describe these troubles. The guests are on one side and I am on the other side. They are deprived of what they come here to seek, and I cannot do the work for which I have been sent. It is not possible to come the other way in the rainy season. I see the 'copy' and the proofs produced by the printing press; the workers thereof have to come to me four or five times a day. The wall upsets everything and causes delay and harm. The expenses of my Langar Kh a na range from one to two thousand rupees a month and the permanent expenses of the press are Rs. 250 a month. Before the erection of the wall I used to go out by the same way. I do not go generally through the ladies’ part of the building because there are lady guests inside. Not to disturb them I always take the upper way.