Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/367

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ISVAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR.

the man came to know the true source of his good fortune, he, one day, waited upon Vidyasagar, and requested him to see that he did not lose his appointment. Vidyasagar smiled and comforted him, assuring him that he had no fear on that account.

Some say that Premchand Tarkavagis, his former teacher in the Sanskrit College, whom he looked upon and revered as if he was his own father, once tried to dissuade him from his attempts at the innovation which was not consonant with the feelings of the Hindu Society in general, and which they would neither adopt nor approve of. But Vidyasagar was immovable. He said that it was his life-long aim, and that he was prepared to sacrifice his all, even his life, for the furtherance of the cause. And he practically kept his word.

CHAPTER XVII.

Retirement from Public Service.

Although Vidyasagar was thus engaged in various toilsome works, he never lost sight of writing Bengali School books. On the 13th April 1855, appeared his Varna-Parichaya, Part I., and on the 14th June of the same year, appeared his Varna-Parichaya, Part II., both of which were elementary Readers, intended for the use of the beginners. He was the pioneer of the systematic classification of the Bengali Alphabet into Vowels