V98 R জীবন-চরিত ! tion even in the long leap * that we (five) had from the 5th to the 2nd class, Senior Department. Modhu used to keep us in a perpetual stir, in a literary ferment as it were, by surprising us every day with a new sonnet or a fresh poem. D. L. R.t our beloved Professor, and the guiding angel to his Muse, used to touch up his poetical exercises during the tiffin hours. Modhu started a MS. Periodical that was an eye-sore to the jealous senior students :-nevertheless he was undeniably the Jupiter among the bright stars of the College. Modhu was given to taking us by surprise. One day he had cast off his usual apparel-dhuti and chudder, and appeared in boots, troysers and an achikan that he soon changed into a regular English cóat, and stuck to this costume ever afterwards in his life. He started the are C2.59 se as a feeler to do away with the aurani. Madhub Mittra, brother of the late Raja Degumber, one of our class chums, threw off his chudder, and used to appear in the College, and walk home In tight jama (9 foi) sans. urani. But Modhu was a genius. Even his foibles and eccentricities had a touch of romance and a taste of "the attic salt' that made them savoury and sweet. While we were in College, he used to see me frequently at my house One day he pressed me to an invitation at his house at Kidderpore, which I cordially accepted. When I arrived there at dusk, his father received me with a paternal welcome. He was 'seated on a couch, in front of which Modhu and I took our seats or attempting to answer any of them. Ie however took up one question, that about the reign of Charles the Fifth, on which he wrote a long dissertation which so much pleased the examiners that he not only passed with flying colours, but was given a list to the 2nd class. My friend Bholanath Chunder, the 'FIindu Traveller,' with a few others of his feather used to skulk away from the Mathematical examination. But under a peremptory message from Sir Edward Ryan, the President of the Public Instruction Committee, they formally went through the ordeal, and returned almost blank papers like Buncoo. Far from being affected by the consequences of failure, my friend Rholanath received the first prize of the College, then given to the best student in Literature. What a contrast this to the reign of 'Cram' in the present day !
- This unprecedented promotion was the result of the new system of examination that had been introduced that year. Two standards, the Senior Scholarship and the Junior Scholarship standards, were organised, the former for the first and second classes, and the latter for the 3rd, 4th and the 5th. The examination of the first two classes was superintended by such high men as Sir Edward Ryan, Chief Justice, the Hon’ble Mr. Cameron, Member of the Supreme Council, and others. The examination of the last three classes was conducted by the Bengal Government Secretaries, headed by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Frederick Halliday.
Captain David Lester Richardson.
