A Peacemaker.

Young Samarendra Dass of Calcutta hoped to enter Government service as a Sub-Deputy Magistrate; but this ambition was thwarted by the sudden decease of his father, who left a widow and two sons entirely unprovided for.  After dutifully performing the sradh (funeral rites), he waited on the dead man’s uncle, Rashbehari Babu by name, with a request that he would support the little family until the sons were in a position to do so.  No good Hindu in comfortable circumstances ever turns a deaf ear to such appeals.  Rashbehari Babu at once invited the trio to take up their abode with him.  Having no nearer relatives, he had resolved to leave his whole fortune to Samarendra and his brother Nagendra; and long before his nephew’s death he had executed a will to that effect, which for obvious reasons was kept a profound secret.  The young men were, therefore, ignorant of the brilliant prospects in store for them, and worked hard to prepare themselves for earning a livelihood.  Samarendra was soon provided with a post as clerk, which yielded enough to provide the cost of his father’s funeral ceremony and also enabled him to pay Nagendra’s school fees.

One evening Rashbehari Babu went to bed supperless, complaining of indisposition.  At midnight, Samarendra was awakened by his groans and found him writhing in agony on the floor.  A doctor was summoned in hot haste; but ere his arrival the poor old man had expired in Samarendra’s arms.  His case was diagnosed as one of failure of the heart’s action.

Samarendra and his mother were prostrated by this sudden calamity; but there is no time to be lost in hot weather.  Calling in three or four neighbours, they had the body carried to Nimtala Ghat for cremation.  Sufficient money was given to the Muchis (low-caste men who serve as undertakers) for purchasing an abundant supply of fuel and ghi (clarified butter) with which a chilla (pyre) was constructed.  After the corpse had been laid reverently thereon, Samarendra performed Mukhagni ("putting fire in its mouth,” the duty of the eldest son or nearest relative).  Fire was then applied on four sides, and when the body had been reduced to ashes, Samarendra bathed in the Ganges with his companions, and returned home with wet clothes, shouting “Haribol!” (a cry used at funerals).

Next day Samarendra discovered the dead man’s keys, one of which opened a drawer where Rashbehari Babu kept his private papers.  Among them was a will, which made himself and his brother sole heirs to the deceased’s estate.  He ran with the glad news to his mother, who, in the exuberance of her joy, vowed to offer a sumptuous puja at Kali Ghat temple after the sradh had been duly performed.