Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/99

 $0 LIFE OP HURISH CHTJNDER MUKHERJEE. him from the Subordinate Judge of Alipur, and his house was attached and put to the auctioneer's ham* mer. All this took place immediately after his deathj but he knew all this before he shuffled off the mortal coil. He died on the memorable day of 16th June^ 1861, at the early age of 36, leaving his widow> mother and a brother as so many beggars irt the streets of Bhowanipur. Every farthing Hurish Churi- der spent in helping the ryots, and conducting his pet journal robbed his poor surviving mother and wife of the provision he should have made for them ; and Hurish Chunderdid this knowingly, for in his eyes the claims of his countrymen and of the poor Indigo serfs of Bengal upon him were held superior to those of his surviving relatives. Gentle reader ! if this is not self-sacrifice in its noblest and highest feature, we do not know what it is. Hurish Chunder will live in the pages of history as a great lover of his country or his love stood the test and was found ge-. nuine. He sacrificed his self, his pleasures, peace, comfort, health and what not at the altar of his country. As long as the memory of the Mutiny and the Indigo, crisis will last, so long Hurish wiU be remembered as the benefactor of his country, and the people of Bengal will rue his untimely death in the language of our Poet- "Untimely did Hurish die, and Long was sent to prison, and the golden Bengal was set on fire by blue planters." The following letter kindly addressed to us by Babu Raj Narain Base of the Adi Brahrao Somaj will throw further light on the character of *Hurish Chander. , (1) u Hurish was once travelling in a railway carriage with a friend seated opposite the bench on which he wafr. A military gentleman was on the bench on which Hurish sat and stretched forth His leg towards that on which HarisheV friend was, placing it close to his body* Hurish beckoned him