Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/521

 to the Paikpara Raj-bati. He was generally heard to say,—'If I place a Darwan at my gates, the beggar shall be deprived of his handful rice, and the visitor shall be prevented from having an easy interview with myself. Death is by far preferable to that.' Sometimes he warned his grandsons,—'If I ever hear that a visitor has been prevented by any one of my house from coming up to me, I shall at once drive the offender out. I have witnessed inconveniences caused by the placing of Darwans at rich men's gates and I do not wish to bring those inconveniences into my own house.'

He never put the slightest obstacle in the way of a visitor's easy entrance into his house. On one occasion, as he was sitting one day at about noon-time with a hookah in hand after dinner, a man with a very irate appearance appeared hurridly before him, and enquired for Vidyasagar. It is needless to say that the man did not know Vidyasagar in person, but only in name. The man was an inhabitant of East Bengal, and had come to Calcutta on business. He had, that day, tried to have an interview with two or three wealthy persons of the city, but had failed to see them, and hence had lost his temper. Vidyasagar asked him to take his seat. But the man said, not until he could see Vidyasagar. He also said that he had been baffled in his endeavours to have interviews with some other great men of