Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/103

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§4 LIFE OF HURISH CHUtfDER MUKHBRJE B. 80 years. In reply Hurish had said that his master (he did not know the name of the gentleman) had heen kind to him, (the speaker was informed that it was Colonel Champneys) and that xf he were to follow the business of a lawyer or a merchant, he would have to devote all his time to his desk. " I have," added he, "no money to give ; only my time and my labour." the reply was characteristic ; it at once spoke the man Mr. Montriou here related, in corroboration of the testimony borne by Baboo Ramgopal Ghose to the deliberation, and self- sacrificing character and habits of Hurish Chunder. A circums- tance which occurred some years ago, when an honorable and lucrative but secondary position was offered to him in con- nection with the public press, and the speaker had pointed out that, having created a field and a kingdom for himself (viz, the Hindoo Patriot) he should not forsake it to become even the prime minister of another sovereign, and that a day, afterwards Hurish Chunder accosted him with the phrase — *you have con- quered' — and he accordingly remained at his post. The speaker remarked, that Hurish Chunder was not, as many have been, made by or for an occasion ; he was eqnal to all occasions. Those who observed him closely, could not but acknowledge, that his superiority was intrinsic, and must have shown itself at any time and in any place. "If you plant an oak in a garden of cucumbers, it will still grow up an oak and spread aloft its branches."