Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/85

selections for the students of this country. Two of his chief works were a Grammar and a Geography in Bengali. Other men of education contributed their quota to the formation of a school library. On the 1st of September the next year another Society was formed, the object of which was to found schools, English and Vernacular, in different parts of Calcutta. Mr Hare and Radhakanta Deb were its joint-secretaries. The former might be said to be its very life. He laboured hard in its cause; so much so, that he hardly found time to attend to his business of watchmaking. That he might work uninterruptedly in this new field he disposed of his business to one Mr Grey; and with the proceeds of the sale he bought a piece of ground the produce of which supported him, and helped him to devote himself entirely to the training of the young. Schools were soon established at Thunthania, Kalitolla, Arpuli, and other localities in Calcutta; and it was Hare’s favourite practice every morning after breakfast to take his rounds in a palanquin, inspecting his own schools and patshalas, visiting such poor boys in their homes as were ill, and providing them with whatever they might want. Last of all, he went to the Hindu College and there watched the boys collectively and individually doing their work. The work of the day being finished, he returned home in the evening, there to enjoy the consciousness of having done something for the good of the people among whom he lived. We have heard from some of the men of his time that the boys that knew him and their guardians regarded him as their great benefactor; and his name was sacred in almost every home. He was a father to his pupils, and he tried his best to amuse and to instruct them. He was especially kind to his free boys; and Ramtanu, being one of them, had always a son’s place in his affection.