Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/405

362 than he followed him to the street, and enquired of him very politely if a post of 20 Rupees would suit his man. He also said that a situation of that value was lying vacant at his disposal, and he was prepared to offer the post to Vidyasagar's man, if it suited him. Vidyasagar smiled, and admired the magnanimity of the Mate. The man was accordingly sent to his office, where he was provided with the situation.

There are plenty of such instances in Vidyasagar's life. Whenever he was told that a certain person had condemned his conduct, he would at once say,—'Why should that man go to abuse me? I have never done him a good turn!' Vidyasagar was often heard to declare that whoever had been benefited by him the most, did him the most evil.

Immediately after his retirement from service, he had given no less than fifteen widows in marriage in different parts of the Hugli district in the course of one year. We have already said that he had to bear all the expenses of these marriages. He had, besides, to provide for the maintenance of the married couples and their families. His income from his business, alluded to before, was not sufficient to meet these demands, which made him contract debts. Though he was thus highly embarrassed, yet he could not economise his outlays. He was always liberal and charitable. He even went so far as to borrow money himself on his