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contributed were mostly in English & some in vernacular. The number of the articles contributed comes to 28. This does not include most of the articles contributed by our President & the Assistant Secretary of the Conference who are both members of our Association.
This share of our contribution is not very little compared with the expectations entertained by our worthy President at the establishment of this Association; still he may fairly hope to receive a greater number of contributions during the next year. This idea must always be present to the minds of all of us that ours is a collection of persons who are regarded as & to a certain extent are an enlightened portion of our community, who owe a sort of moral debt to the backward classes of the community. Over and above personal obligations every body sherely by the force of the circumstances of birtir owes certain general duties which can be fulfilled either by supplying funds for the amelioration of the condition of the backward classes or by contributing to the enlightenment of the same. Circumstanced as we are, we can fulll our responsibilities more by resorting to the latter course of conduct than the former. Now, looking to the opportunities offered for the full vent of our energies & the field & scope of action lying open before us in the vast arena of intellectual programme, we have done very little. The reasons are manifold and I should like to advert to the possible explanations sought by our brethren. The poor appearance we are said to have made during the last year was due to the following reasons.
The reason sheltered under by some of us is quite justifiable. We are numbering 96, but three-fourth of the number form a class of fresh men, launching upon their worldly career & as competitive lines of this generation leave so very little of energy that at least a major portion can conveni. ently urge excuses on this ground. Especially to a beginner the strife of life is overtaxing. Of course if one has a mind to do a particular thing or to contribute three good articles to the Herald' during the whole course of one year he can do so at mid-night even; but practically this is not done. Another reason put forward by some of the members is the lack of religious education amongst us, the educated class. Of course to a man studying the philosophy of Kant & Aristotle ordinary understanding of 7 Nayas (14) or 4 Nikshepas ( 241 ) appears puzzling-is a wonderful thing, but that can be cured only by a little bit of study. I have seen friends of mine taking up the pen for writing some draft & then leaving it for the purpose of saving themselves from the hunniliationi consequent upon a weak contribution. This is rather due to a want of strength of character. There are others who do not lift their pen simply owing to idleness. All these are excuses not standing the test of real order of things. One may expect at least ordinary articles from the trained minds on questions educational
