country is what they gather from the newspapers. Generally speaking, our journalists, not to speak of the English journalists, are writers of this same class. So whatever information about the country may be had in their writings could just as well be dismissed as an error like—to use a phraseology from Philosophy—the delusion of a rope for a snake. I do not want to say that no Bengali writer has travelled through villages; in fact, many of them have, but they have not been amongst the people, and if they have not, what worth, pray, is the knowledge they have acquired?
In this respect Dinabandhu should be given the foremost place among the writers of Bengal. In discharge of official duty Dinabandhu had to undertake repeated journeys from Manipur to Ganjam, and from the Himalayas on the north to the seas on the south. In course of his travels he not merely saw roads and cities, but had to go from village to village for supervision of work at different Post offices. He possessed an uncommon capacity for being at home with the people, and he did so gladly with its different classes. A daughter of an illiterate rustic like Khetromany, an elderly village woman like Aduri, a ryot like Torapa, a village elder like Rajib, country boys like Nashiram and Rata; and then again a 'cultured drunkard' of the city like Nimchand, a city-roving country gentleman like Atal, a city vampire like Kanchan, spoilt children like Naderchand and Hemchand who are partly of the town and partly of the village, a deputy like Ghatiram, the Dewan of the Nilkuthi, Amins, Oriya bearers, Dule bearers, and Kaorani, the mother of Pencho—Dinabandhu knew all about them, even their innermost secrets. He knew what they did and what they said, and his pen faithfully followed his thoughts. No writer of Bengal could do it so well as he did. I have seen many an Aduri exactly of the type he has created, I have seen many a Naderchand and many a Hemchand who are prototypes of his creations. I have seen many a Mallika, too—each one the same blooming 'Mallika' of Dinabandhu. Like a trained sculptor or painter Dinabandhu would make his characters in the image of living ideals before him. If ever he saw an ape in human shape seated on the tree of the society, he would pick up his brush and portray him from his crown to the end of his tail. So much about his Realism. On the other hand he had considerable capacity for idealization. Keeping a living model before him, he would unlock the chamber
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