Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/141

 became unconscious. On Tuesday the 28th July 1891 all hope of recovery was given up. He had been speechless and in a stupor for four days past, yet he suddenly turned his head from the north to the west in order to face the portrait of his mother hanging on the eastern wall. Tears streamed down his withered cheeks as he intently gazed at the picture, the last object he saw in life. All perceived that the end was drawing nigh. A few minutes after two on the morning of Wednesday the 29th July he ceased to breathe and entered into rest.

First outburst of grief over, friends and relations of the deceased hastened to prepare against the funeral. The body of the lamented Pundit clad in pure white was placed upon the bed he used to sleep on. A large crowd soon assembled to accompany the cortege to the Nimtala burning ghat. Before daylight the melancholy procession started slowly, the bier being borne by the family mourners. On the way it