Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/80

 province. Spirituous liquors which were eating into the vitals of the people were entirely forbidden to the members of this institution. At the first meeting several gentlemen spoke bitterly against the vice. Vidyasagar was also requested to say something, but he declined with a negative shake of his head. He was not accustomed to make a speech in public.

On February 26, 1864 the Government put forth a proposal to remove the burning ghat from Nimtala and set up an engine crematorium outside the town. It appeared to Vidyasagar that Babu Ram Gopal Ghose, the renowned orator of Bengal, was the man to oppose the scheme. Knowing full well that Ram Gopal was devoted to his mother and never disobeyed her, he interviewed the old lady and convinced her of the inexpediency of the proposed measure. She then extracted a promise from her son to oppose it by all means. Though personally he felt no religious scruples against the scheme, he thus sided with the orthodox