( lxviii ) of the people inhabiting the Gangetic valley and no band more ready to relieve the misery of their fellow creatures, No wonder then that those who feel pleasure in killing liviag things, created by God to adorn the air with their plumage of the brightest hues, to beautify the water with the sheen of their silvery scales, or to swiftly move through trees of forest lands like flashes of lightning in the azure sky, should despise the abhorrence which the Bengali feels for bloodshed and should call by the name of cowardice the mercy which fills the Bengali breast. In every village are to be found men who, to the best of their ability, have devoted their lives to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, nursing the sick, and relieving the misery of others without making any distinction of creed, colour or caste, For it har been said in the Hindu Scriptures :– "These man who comes to one's house is always to be treated as an honoured guest, be he young or old, of high-caste or low-caste, for the gods reside in the body of the guest, and a disappointed guest takes away all the credit for virtuous deeds performed by the householder, leaving instead his sins behind.' These'men perform their noble deeds withoutpomp or ostentation, harbouring in their mind no hope for reward, and their left hand knows not what their right hand does. Though their charity begins with those around them, it does not end there. In many old, families, though partition and litigation have reduced their opulence and dimmed their past
