Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/72

 he spent a cold night in an ahrhur field. Once he received from the Guru such a cut on his cheek as to leave a mark there for years.”

Ramtanu writes in his diary that he too had often to run away from the patshala, for fear of being beaten; and that this grieved his father very much.

The Guru did nothing to improve the moral character of his pupils, but much to spoil it. He countenanced, nay, enjoined, petty thefts when they made him the gainer. The language he used was often vulgar and obscene; and no wonder that the boys under his training contracted this nasty habit from him. The majority of them, especially those enjoying the rank and privileges of senior students, were proud of stealing, lying, and imposing on others, and their examples infected those junior to them. We read in Mr Lahiri’s diary, that once a fellow-student induced him to steal. Kesava Chandra somehow or other came to know this, and upbraided him in the strongest terms. Instead of confessing or denying his fault, the young offender took to crying, implying thereby that he was innocent. Ah! he knew not then what a pang the recollection of this would in after years cause him!

As a boy, Ramtanu was very fond of riding; but neither he nor any of his friends had a horse. The desire to ride, however, was too strong for him to resist; and to gratify it he used to lay hold of strayed nags belonging to the hackney men. This sometimes caused him and his companions considerable trouble; for the owners, coming to know of their trick, pursued them with hostile intentions; and then they had to clear off with breakneck speed. At length the band of youngsters got a horse of their own, though by nefarious means. One of them purloined a large sum of money and a nice pony was bought. He