Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/629

582 Vidyasagar.—'Nyayratna, this youth is very sharp, indeed!'

Rakhal Das Nyayratna and the other visitors unanimously complimented the young Tarkaratna in eloquent terms. At last, Vidyasagar said,—'What is the end of all this praise? Nothing, but beggary. At this young age, he has finished the Nyaya and other philosophies; it is a high compliment, no doubt. But what will he do? Let him go home and starve.'

In the beginning of 1873 Vidyasagar had to face a most dire calamity. On the 4th February of that year, his eldest son-in-law, Gopal Chandra Samajpati, died of cholera at Benares, where he had gone in company with Vidyasagar's nephew, (sister's son), Beni Madhav Mukhopadhyay, for a change, as his health had already been much impaired. The news came upon our hero like a thunderbolt. He loved the son-in-law most dearly. Gopal Chandra was a young man of handsome and lovely appearance. He had a profound scholastic education and a poetic genius. His manners were most affable and courteous. Vidyasagar was most grievously afflicted at the loss of such a beloved relation. But to console his dear, widowed daughter, he had to assume the appearance of external composure, which served to rend his tender heart the more. He sympathised with his daughter most sincerely. She led a rigidly austere life; Vidyasagar also did the same. She had to give