Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/100

 SIS CHARACTER. 91 to come to the side on which he sat Oa his doing the same? he occupied his friend's seat on the other side, and stretched" his leg towards the great son of Mars with the greatest sangfroid; imaginable as if he were the Viceroy, orrather the Governor- General, there being no Viceroy at the time. The military gen- tleman went down from the carriage at the next station, mutter* ing : " Let me be damned if I ever- enter a railway carriage without a pair of pistols in my pocket." (2) Hurish being a practical man was still very fond of metaphysics and highly conversant with that branch- of know-, ledge. This was an astonishing trait of his mind: I had a; talk with him in 1S59 about my rf Dharma Tuttwa Dipika*~or the " Lamp of Religious Truth " which is a highly metaphysical work on the subject of the philosophy of religion, and very much appreciated in Brahmo circles. On that occasion he told me that he did not know that a man 1 breaks down so early as thirty-five (he was of that age at the time) in Bengal, but his decline is to be attributed more to his free indulgence in the- wine cup and his exoessive mental exertion than to* the climate of our country. (3) His generous office master (I forget his name, he was a military gentleman) wanted to fit' up the room in which he worked during his office hours in a grand style, but he modest- ly declined the kind offer saying "The Bengalee needs very little in the shape of luxury. " (4) His mother was a very kind lady. She used" to cook with her own hands food for the poor ryots who freely flocked to Hurish's house to represent their grievances to him, and he offered his assistance to them very liberally. (5) Some of his neighbours at Bhowanipur were very jea-- lous of his success and used to say that it required but a com- mon stock of attainments to- edit a newspaper. Alas I they were ignorant what a giant they had in their midst. (6) Anglo-Indians at the time of the Mutiny used to abuse