Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/164

Rh would lie on his way, he would leap across it by way of sport, and then ask his second brother, Dinabandhu, to follow his example. In trying to do so, Dinabandhu often threw himself down into the ditch, which raised a roar of laughter from the company. Vidyasagar engaged himself in various sportive merriments of this nature with his younger brothers.

It is said, that on one occasion, he was walking to Calcutta, as usual, from Birsingha. When he reached a field, he saw an old cultivator standing there with a load on his head. The load was too heavy for the old man, and the old man was too weak to walk with the load. On enquiry, Vidyasagar learned from him that his house was 5 or 6 miles from the place, and that his son, who was a young man, had charged him to carry the load home. The sight of the poor, old man's condition, and the tale of his son's conduct moved Vidyasagar's kind heart, and tears flowed in torrents from his eyes. He at once took over the load from the old man's head on his own head, and, thus equipped, followed the aged cultivator, with slow steps, to his home. He then retraced his steps, and reached Calcutta rather later than usual.

Whenever there was an occasion of presenting winter-cloth to any body, the charge of purchasing the cloth was intrusted to Babu Braja Nath De, the Suprintendent of the Metropolitan Institution.