Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/100

84 In his later years Ramtanu suffered heavy domestic losses. First his son-in-law, a promising youth, then his daughter Indumati and finally his eldest son Nova Kumar were taken from him. For a man of his affectionate disposition in whom the home ties were so deeply rooted these losses were a heavy trial. Yet he bore them with splendid courage and resignation. Once when he had shown undue emotion at the loss of his daughter, he reproached himself and turning to his friends, said, "We say that God is good, but our conduct hardly tallies with what we say. I have now shown unbelief in shedding tears for Indu. Why should I weep for her when I remember that she is in His good keeping?"

Soon after the loss of his son and daughter, Ramtanu came to live in Calcutta in 1879, continuing to reside there with occasional visits to his home at Krishnagar for the remainder of his life. His circumstances were by no means prosperous and beyond his small pension of seventy five rupees a month he had little upon which to rely. The long illness of his children had been a heavy drain upon his resources and his open handed charity had taken little thought for the future. It was at this stage that his second son Sharat Kumar, now of an age to fend for himself, came with filial devotion to his assistance. Giving up his studies at the University he obtained the employment of Librarian at the Metropolitan Institution, a post he continued to hold