Penloe said: "While attending the University in Calcutta I made the
acquaintance of a young Hindu, who was a student there also. He was in
some respects the brightest of the students, for he had the faculty for
mastering his studies quickly and perfectly, was also very original in
character and full of resources. Though he was a born student, yet he
was well-balanced and did not always have his head in books or in the
clouds; neither did he indulge in social dissipation. While being social
in his nature, he always took sufficient physical recreation to keep
himself well and strong, but nothing more; he never let it get away with
him, as many do in the Western World. He lived up to the highest light,
regulating his conduct so as to make himself strong intellectually and
spiritually. I found him a very interesting companion, and our
friendship was of a very profitable character, in this way, that when we
saw the faults in each other we did in love what we could to help one
another. To overcome our weak points, we co-operated together for the
highest object, and it was our sacred purpose to always touch the
highest and noblest in each other's nature; and to-night it is with
pleasure that I call to mind the sweetness of his disposition, the
sincerity of his purpose, and the brilliancy of his mind.
"His family had outgrown caste, and when I first visited them at their
home I was introduced to his father and mother, also to a sister about
eighteen years of age, who made up the family. I noticed what a peculiar
expression passed over his sister's face when she looked into mine for
the first time. She had a dreamy, far-away look about her, and then
again I noticed later that she had the very opposite expression on her
physiognomy, being all 'right here'; intensely so, taking in everything
around her. I was very much attracted towards her in this way, not as a
youth would be towards a maiden--there was none of that feeling
whatever. I felt she was a mystic, a powerful one, and she interested me
greatly. When sitting in the room with all the members of the family, I
noticed at times she would eye me very closely; and if I returned the
gaze I saw such an expression in her face as if she did not belong here
at all, but was living on some other planet. She talked very little, and
such a thing as my coming near to her in conversation, or her saying
anything to bring herself near to me, was not to be expected, with her
peculiar makeup, and yet when she would give me her hand in receiving
me, she had such a peculiar sweet way of welcoming me, that one might
think we were very near to each other. And when I took leave of her with
the other members of the family, her partings seemed very pleasant as
she gave me her hand and wished me good-night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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