Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/198

 and he were giving to the rising generation; and, addressing Babu Ram Gopal Ghosh, he said, “See, Ram Gopal, the boys are being spoilt by us. After what we have seen of your relative this evening let us resolve entirely to give up wine, so that we may not be stumbling-blocks to any.” We do not know whether Ram Gopal Babu took this advice or not, but of this we are sure, that Ramtanu stuck to this resolution for a long time.

From Rassapagla Mr Lahiri was transferred to Barisal, as headmaster of the Zila School. Here he worked only for three months; but the impression he made on the minds of his pupils during this short time was as deep and lasting as if he had lived and worked among them for many years. He won their love and respect, and they used every evening to crowd around him, in spite of the opposition of their guardians, to discuss with him the questions of the day. Some of them are known now as men of distinction, and if anybody congratulates them on their success in life they invariably attribute everything they have to their great and venerable Guru, Ramtanu Lahiri.

Mr Lahiri came to the Krishnagar College for the third time in April 1861. He worked there till November 1865, when, his health failing, he applied for pension. Mr Alfred Smith, principal of the college, sent the application to the Director with the following remarks:—

“In parting with Babu Ramtanu Lahiri, I may be allowed to say that Government will lose the services of an educational officer than whom no one has discharged his public duties with greater fidelity, zeal, and devotion, or has laboured more assiduously and successfully for the moral elevation of his pupils.”

The main secret of Ramtanu’s remarkable success as a teacher was that his mind, instead of being stationary, was