Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/24

 felt cheered to find what he had not ‘suspected,’ the existence among the Hindus of an organised body that stood for a principle confirmatory of the already self-determining pointings of his own inner compass.

For University training he went up to the Madras Christian College, from which he graduated with physical Science for his Optional Subject in 1885. Even in those early days, as earlier still, his friends and professors marked him out for his fine spirit and intellectual capabilities. To his alma mater and to the benign personality of the illustrations Rev. Dr. Miller, Mr. Venkata Ratnam has always retained a passionate devotion, and year after year he takes a leading paid in the celebrations of the ‘College Day’ at Madras; while this premier educational institution of the South is justly proud of him as one of her most brilliant and representative products. He had the honour to preside over the said annual functions with general approbation in the year 1910.

It was while pursuing his collegiate studies that he joined the Southern India Drahma