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glance did she ever cast upon the past, but bravely looked upon the future, and her courage and confidence were justified.

I came back to Calcutta in June, 1875. What was I to do—how obtain a living and yet do some useful work for the country? The outlook was as gloomy as it could be. On all sides the door was barred. I could not join the Bar, whether as a vakil or a barrister—the professions were closed to me, there was no industry to which I could turn. But I began at once to take a part in public affairs. Soon after my return to Calcutta, a meeting was held in the theatre of the Medical College, to promote the Temperance movement. It was a crowded meeting. The Temperance cause excited much interest in those days. The labours of Peary Churn Sircar, the apostle of the Temperance movement in Bengal, were bearing fruit. It was a living movement; for the dangers of intemperance spreading among the rising generation were real and ominous. They had to be protected against the seductive influence of drink, to which some of the most illustrious men of the last generation had fallen victims. The interest in the question was great and the meeting was largely attended. I was asked to speak. It was practically my first public utterance at a great Calcutta meeting. I made a favourable impression and on the following morning was told by a friend that I had taken my place among our recognized public speakers.

Soon after, Pundit Iswar Chunder Vidyasagar offered me an appointment as Professor of English in the Metropolitan Institution, which I accepted. My speech had already made me popular with the students, and helped me, I think, to get the appointment. The salary was small, Rs. 200 a month, less than half of what I had been getting as Assistant Magistrate, but I was glad that I had something to do and that it afforded me an opportunity, of which I took the fullest advantage. I sought by every possible means in my power to kindle in the young the beginnings of public spirit, and to inspire them with a patriotic ardour, fruitful of good to them and to the motherland. In the lecture-room I attended to my immediate duties as Professor, but I felt that I had a higher call. The Students’ Association had already been organized. I became its most active member, and urged the establishment of branch Associations in the different colleges as feeder-institutions.

I soon helped to make student life instinct with a new spirit in Calcutta. I delivered lectures in Calcutta, Utterpara, Kidderpore and other places, upon such subjects as Indian Unity, the Study