that took place on the occasion of laying the foundation stone to Pachaiyappa's New School. Perhaps your modesty has forbidden you to mention whether you received any rewards on the occasion. It is highly gratifying to see that a handsome reward has been offered to the best essayist in the school, and still more gratifying it is to anticipate that you will invariably monopolise it."

When, in May 1846, the anniversary of the High School was celebrated and prizes were given away to the successful students, Sashiah came in for such a large share of the honours that it attracted the notice of one of the visitors, Sir Henry Montgomery, (the first) Revenue Secretary to the Government, who drew the young man aside, shook hands with him wishing him joy of his honours and asked him if he did not hail from the banks of the Kâveri. Such intelligence, he held, could come from that stream alone. His surmise proving correct, he felt doubly glad and told Sashiah that he would thenceforward watch his career with interest; and happening at this time to be on the look out for a private tutor to the sons of his protege, Mr. Gundappa Raoji, Head Sheristadar of Tanjore, Sir Henry secured the services of Sashiah. This tuition, for which he was paid Rupees twenty-five a month, continued from 1846 to the end of his school-days. Money flowed in upon him from various sources and thus, even

as a student, not only was he able to materially relieve his uncle, but he was in a position to send substantial aid to his family at Amarâvati. His father had died soon after Sashiah's removal to Madras, and his uncle died in 1847. But by this time, as we have already seen, Sashiah was more than equal to the burden of supporting two families. In 1847 a marriage was arranged between Sashiah and Sundari, a motherless girl, brought up by her uncle Ramaswami Aiyar, a native of Konerirajapuram, a village near Kumbhakonam. He, like Gopala Aiyar, had settled at Madras, and was earning a living as a broker in a small way. The betrothal took place at Konerirajapuram during the summer

recess.

Apropos of this event, Sashiah wrote to his friend V. Ramiah and jocosely described his young wife as an "ollock" of a girl. His friend was equal to the occasion and made a repartee that "ollock" would, in due course, grow into a measure.+

Sashiah's forte at school was English, and his attempts in English Composition at this period display a superior order of excellence. Mr. Powell in his annual Report wrote:

"In a knowledge of History and English Poetry, and in *The smallest measure known as in Tamil. Known as .

Essay-writing, or English Composition generally, I consider A. Sashiah, and perhaps V. Ramanujam, to be superior to most, if not all, of the Fourth Class lads of the year 1844

.I take the liberty of calling the attention of the President and Governors. . . . . . .especially to Sashiah's fifth answer in History, and the essay written off-hand by the same boy in the examination room, both of which I think worthy of considerable praise. If Sashiah were sound in Mathematics and Physics, I would not hesitate to recommend him for a certificate this year; but as it is, I think it will be more advantageous for him to wait till the next annual examination, when he will doubtless take a very honourable degree."

So Sashiah stayed on and earned a Proficient's degree with honours. Among other things, he set himself to correcting his stammer. A club was instituted in the school with Sashiah as Secretary, and extempore speeches were delivered by the members every Saturday. On Sundays, meetings were held in the house of V. Ramiengar, a senior student, and dramatic scenes were regularly acted out. Having read the anecdote of Demosthenes, Sashiah would walk along the deserted parts of the sea beach with his mouth full of pebbles and roar out at the top of his voice selected passages from the choicest specimens of British eloquence, till, under such persistent attack, the impediment in his speech yielded a great deal to his stubborn will, and became in later life a slight hesitation

which has added, if anything, a grace to the genial flow of his conversation.

On the 29th May, 1848, he took the Degree of Proficient in the First Scale of Honours, standing first among his fellows in the order of merit, and received the Ring, set with Emeralds, of a Proficient of the First Class.

Mr. Powell, when he sent Sashiah out into the world, wrote:

"I have a very high idea of Sashiah's integrity and would not hesitate to place the utmost confidence in him. I trust his success in life may be commensurate with his talents, industry and good conduct."

Mr. A. A. Gordon, M.A., Senior Professor, writing of Sashiah, says: "While a student within its walls, he endeared himself to all by his upright conduct and amiable disposition."

Yes. He had endeared himself to all, and in the inner circle of his friends and schoolmates his presence was a perpetual sunshine. With a merry twinkle in the eye that suggested peace at heart and good will to all, with a fund of humour ready at the slightest hint to burst out in sparkling wit or unoffending repartee, he was the very life of their meetings and no party of theirs was ever complete without him. There was, yet, a sterner side to his character-a plucky heart that rose with difficulties, a firm will that no

danger ever staggered, a manly reliance on self that scorned everything that savoured of meanness or dependence. At the early age of eight, when most boys would not dream of parting from their parents for a single night, he cheerfully chose to place between himself and the dear home he loved, a distance of over two hundred miles a distance traversed by days and days of weary trudging on foot over toilsome tracks (not one of which, except at Kumbhakonam, was then bridged). And in the High School, after a few months of struggling and generous help from his master, he was able, by steady application and earnestness of purpose, to win stipends and prizes and rewards in succession, by which he maintained himself at school and kept his family above want. We can thus trace, in the story of his early life, those germs which sprouting in the congenial soil of poverty and struggle developed into the sterling qualities, which have made of him an eminent public servant, a successful statesman, and a cheerful bearer of every burden that has fallen to his lot in private and social life.