Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/51

 unrivalled patience which is the gift of Heaven, and a forgiving spirit, were gloriously displayed in his conduct; and it seemed that he had followed his Divine Master, to illustrate in himself the working of His Spirit. Instances of such self-consecration are rarely found in this world. We in his Christian life clearly saw, and strongly felt, the sacred solemnity of the Lord’s Day. We ate very little on that day, and spent our time chiefly in prayer, solitary meditation, and the reading of the Book of God, and my grandmother as before, expecting to reclaim her son by means of persecution, would take unusual pains to wound his feelings, by doing everything in her power to interrupt him. But he patiently bore all this, and with a sad smile on his face, was heard to say, ‘Mother, you would never do this, if you knew what my Bible contains.’ My father’s patience was a wonder for all who observed it. They would say among themselves, ‘Whence has he got the patience, to put up with such ill-treatment from his mother?’”

Blessed are those children who have such a father enshrined in their memory. It is no wonder that a family in which a mother has once been worshipped as a goddess had a scion like Dwarkanath, so respectful to his mother in spite of the flame of persecution she kindled. It was for this excellent trait in his character, that during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, when the Christians in Agra — European and Indian — were foully massacred, Dwarkanath was screened from the fury of the fanatics by the Hindu residents of the city. It was of him, that the Rev. Mr Evans, the well-known advocate of temperance, who was his fellow-prisoner in the Agra Fort, thus speaks eulogistically, “He was meek as a lamb, humble as a baby, and true as steel.” Ramtanu greatly appreciated the excellence of his character, and was once heard to