THE PARK. 119 



of foot," and erect in bearing. There was a happy 

 mixture of benevolence and austerity in his counten- 

 ance, and in him, the polish and elegance of a scholar 

 and a gentleman united with the bluffness and seventy of 

 an anchorite. His sympathies were wide and catholic, 

 so that, if there was any case of sickness anywhere 

 within reach, he was sure to be there ministering to the 

 wants of the patient, and to all such his very presence 

 was a benediction. He was the invariable arbitrator 

 in all family disputes, and there was hardly any who 

 ever objected to cheerfully abide by his council. Gifted 

 by nature with a superior intelligence and an acute 

 power of observation he had improved both by study 

 and travel, and it was always a pleasure to hear him 

 talk about his experiences of the various parts of India. 



Ever ready to take ignorance by the hand he would 

 begin talking upon a subject, draw us into discuss- 

 ing the matter with him, and would let the moral 

 come from the conversation naturally without making 

 obtrusive efforts to force the truth into our minds. A 

 distinguished graduate lately remarked to me that, in 

 his youthful conceit he had imagined himself as a 

 young man of finished education and culture, but a 

 fortnight's intercourse with the good and gifted Svamiji 

 undeceived him. He quickly came to perceive that 

 while he had acquired a certain proficiency in what for 

 a better expression may be termed "book-learning," his 

 faculties of observation remained wholly undeveloped, 

 and that lie was shamefully ignorant of the commonest 



