Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/44

 been raised to a first-grade college. The college department admits girls of all ages and nationalities; while the school is open only to girls of Hindu extraction, between six and eighteen years of age. The founder received hearty cooperation from some influential gentlemen, conspicuous among whom were Vidyasagar, Raja Radhakanto Deva Bahadur, Pundit Madan Mohan Tarkalanker, Ram Gopal Ghose, Sambhu Nath Pundit and Raja Daksina Rajnan. He himself contributed largely to the expenses, his sympathy being real and tangible. Hindus in general are exceedingly conservative in social matters and look upon all schemes of innovation with serious misgivings. It was no easy task that Mr. Bethune had undertaken. Yet in the face of opposition he made some genuine progress. He was not to be long connected with his cherished institution. In August 1851 while he was on a visit to a girls' school at Janai, some twelve miles from Calcutta, he was caught in a heavy shower of rain and chilled to