Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/673

626 of widow marriage who persecuted him. Thakurdas smiled, and said,—'Vidyasagar lives in Calcutta; he might have spoken to you from hearsay. Do not do anything from such hearsay. I have nothing to complain against these people; towards me they always behave in a friendly manner.' With this, he pacified the Deputy Magistrate on the one hand, and on the other, he sent for the villagers privately, and warned them that the Deputy Magistrate had heard of the outrages of the opponents of widow marriage and that he had asked for their names, but that he (Thakurdas) had given no names. He therefore advised them to pay him friendly visits before the Deputy Magistrate, which would serve to soften the embittered feelings of the judicial officer. Are not such instances of noble and forgiving patience rare in this world?

On the second day of his father's death (i. e. on the 12th April, 1876), Vidyasagar had a very severe Diarrhoea with the symptoms of Cholera. His relations and friends at Benares were afraid of his life. His immediate removal to Calcutta was decided upon by them. He at first refused to be removed, because his beloved father had desired him to perform the Sraddha ceremonies at the sacred place of the last days of his life. But the use of medicines being forbidden during the prescribed period of a Hindu's mourning for his parent, the disease took a serious turn, which compelled him