Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/421

 for the turn-coat friends on whom he had relied for support but whose deplorable change of front at the last hour shook his confidence in his countrymen for ever. Thus at the risk or expense of health and wealth, position and popularity, he wrestled almost single-handed with many a social hydra; and although the monster might have proved too-many-headed for this dauntless Hercules, wherever worth is appreciated, patriotism is esteemed, philanthropy is honored and heroism is revered, the name of Vidyasagar is cherished as that of a noble-minded, tender-hearted and high-souled son of India whose entire life has been one love-offering unto the sons and, especially, the daughters of his mother-country. In enriching his native tongue — in which he takes rank with the honored names of Rammohan Roy, Akshay Kumar Dutt and others, in promoting education among his countrymen, in succouring the poor and relieving the distressed, in weaning the minds of his sisters from the ignorance of generations, in rescuing