Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/299

256 intimate friendship with Vidyasagar. His brother, Kali Krishna Mitra, was also familiar with him. Vidyasagar used now and then to visit Navin Babu. The doctor was a great smoker of tobacco. One day, as he was engaged in conversation with Vidyasagar, the page presented a hookah to smoke from. The host requested his visitor to smoke, but the latter declined. At last, at the earnest solicitations of his friend, he drew in a little smoke to oblige him. The next day, when he called again, he himself ordered the page to get tobacco ready. The boy presented the hookah, and he consumed the tobacco to ashes, without offering his friend to smoke out of it. He thus formed his habit of smoking tobacco. But he never disturbed his servants and maids in their sleep or when they were busy with some other work, either for tobacco or betel. Sometimes he prepared both, for his use, with his own hands. He used to have small bits of divided betel-nuts and other spices ready at hand, and he prepared and chewed betels at pleasure, without any body's assistance. He never threw away surplus bits of nuts or other spices, but put them into phials for future use. Though he was very liberal in charities, yet in his own house, he was most economical. His maxim was 'Waste not, want not.'

Babu Nilambar Mukharjt, late minister of the Cashmere Raj, and present Vice-Chairman of the Calcutta Municipality, was one of the scholars of the Sanskrit College in Vidyasagar's time, and was