Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/696

Rh departed from this world one by one, leaving him alone to pine away the last days of his existence. Dinabandhu Mitra was a great Bengali writer and Vidyasagar's most sincere friend. His lodgings stood very close to our hero's house in Sukea's Street. The two families were so intimately connected in friendship, that though they belonged to different castes, they made no distinction in friendly intercourse. When, on Dinabandu Mitra's death, his poor widow with a number of helpless, little children, saw nothing but a blank vacuum all round her, it was only Vidyasagar who comforted her with assurances, and provided for the education of her sons. But for our benevolent hero, God knows what might not have happened to them.

In April, 1890, the looseness of his bowels took an alarmingly serious turn. He had been suffering from its effects for upwards of six years past. He had lost the strength of his digestive powers. These six years he had taken only one meal a day, composed of a little quantity of boiled rice and some fish-juice. Milk he had had to give up altogether. But from the beginning of 1890, his stomach could no more assimilate even such light food, as a small quantity of parboiled rice. A little barley-water or sago was his only diet In the latter part of the year, he was advised by his medical attendant, doctor Hira Lal Ghosh, to live a retired, secluded life. Vidyasagar said,—'That