Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/73

36 In India many such poor boys have found shelter with kind-hearted noblemen, who have taken great care to bring up and train these helpless boys. Some of these poor boys are known to have become great men and to have left an everlasting name. Who is there in Bengal who has not heard the name of Ramdulal Sarkar, the then great millionaire of Calcutta? And what was he in his early years? He was only a poor, helpless urchin, wandering in the streets of the large city, with no one to care for him. But how did he then succeed in amassing such immense wealth, and rising to such eminence? He found shelter with the benevolent Dattas of Hatkhola, a highly noble family in Calcutta, who not only fed and clothed him, but also brought him up as became the son of a gentleman. He was then provided by them with a suitable employment, and, gradually, by dint of his honesty, truthfulness, and business-capacity, he soon became one of the foremost and wealthiest native merchants of Calcutta. When we think of the utter destitute and helpless state of the poor boy, Ramdulal, and the kind and generous treatment he received from the Dattas, we forget that the world, we live in, is wicked. On the contrary, it appears to be a heaven, and its inmates, angels.

After Isvar Chandra had been three months in Calcutta, he had a sudden attack of acute dysentery of a very severe type. The stools were too