Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/565

518 dying from want of medical help. He heard that the Civil Surgeon in charge of the district had lent a cold ear to the pitiful cries of the poor. He informed Government of the terrible state of things. He was not content with mere writing. He returned to Calcutta and interviewed Sir William Grey, the then Lieutenant Governor of Bengal on the subject, and caused temporary hospitals to be opened in different parts of the infected area, under the charge of able medical officers. He also caused the apathetic Civil Surgeon of Burdwan to be removed, and a sympathetic man posted in his place. He then came back to Burdwan, and applied himself in right earnest to relieve the afflicted of their miseries. In his own private dispensary he made provisions not only for the supply of medicines and diet to the sufferers but also money in cash for the food of the convalescent and the unaffected poor, without distinction of caste or creed. He provided them also with clothes, which cost him nearly 2,000 rupees. He was moved to all these acts of benevolence not by any desire for a name or fame, but simply by the impulse of his naturally kind heart. Yet the Hindoo Patriot and other leading periodicals of the time spoke of him in highly complimentary terms and gave him loud cheers.

In this work of love and charity, he was greatly aided by doctor Ganga Naryan Mitra, a medical practitioner, nephew of Pyari Chand Mitra. Ganga Narayaa was placed in sole charge of Vidyasagar's