পাতা:বংশ-পরিচয় (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড) - জ্ঞানেন্দ্রনাথ কুমার.pdf/৫৯৯

एछख' ङौमुन्नश् भव ●心哈 GENTLEMEN, Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for having elected me your President to-night. When the organisers of this meeting approached me for the purpose, I hesitated as no one was more conscious than myself about uny defeats and shortcomings and being a follower of a different religion, I thought ly ideas would not be acceptable to this assembly. But when my friend Mr. Abul Hossain Khan Choudhury asked me to say a few words on general lines only, could not, with any propriety, decline the offer. Further, gentlemen, this is probably the first opportunity which has come to line to acquire a firsthand knowledge of the beauties of a sister religion which claims amongst its devotees full forty crores of population. Interchange of ideas is almost always a fruitful source of fostering mutual love and admiration and the more such mutual -opportunitie are offered, the more will there be a unity of thought and action. Gentlemen, although an orthodox Hindu, I passed Iny younger days in close company of friends belonging to your religion. My first teacher w i is a Miah omedan, my est class-mate was a Mahomelain, and inny early life was spent anaidst environinents of pi eponderatingly Mohaniedan character so much so that