Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/143



now return to the appointment of Ramtanu Lahiri to the tutorial staff of the Hindu College. The modest salary of thirty rupees a month, which was all that he got at first from this appointment, enabled him not only to support his brothers in Calcutta, but also to receive as his guests several of his acquaintances in difficulty, who worked in the city on a very small salary, or were unemployed.

One of those whom he thus helped was Shama Charan Sirkar, afterwards known as the chief interpreter of the High Court, and a man of great talents. At the time of which we speak he was employed at Kidderpore under Mr Reid, at a salary of only ten rupees a month. In this state of poverty he often sought Ramtanu’s lodgings for help, and ultimately he became a permanent guest there, in the following circumstances:— One Manilal Khotta, cashier to Mr Reid, dismissed for certain misconduct, brought a suit against his employer for arrears of salary. The man had been paid his wages, but entered into litigation only to harass his former master. Mr Reid thought of citing Shama Charan as a witness for himself — a circumstance which filled the young man with the fear lest he might unintentionally slip into some falsehood, while giving his evidence, in spite of his determination firmly to stick to the truth. On account of this fear, he suddenly left Mr Reid’s service. From Kidderpore he came direct to Ramtanu Babu, and told him everything.