Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/70

 HIS SELF- CULTURE, 61 Bengal in these capacities while retaining the post of a Keranee in a Government Office. As a journalist, hie ruthlessly attacked the annexation policy, and exposed the hasty and ill-matured steps the Government took during the Mutiny time, but the Government and its officials instead of checkmating him, shewed him all the indulgence worthy of a paternal Government. Colonels Champneys and Goldie his immediate superiors, far from throwing obstacles in his way, treated him with all the kindness and respect he deserved. But times have considerably changed, and an embargo has been put by Lord Northbrook and Sir George Campbell since the year 1875, u P<>n the Go- vernment servants taking part in Indian politics, or writing for the Press. But let that pass. , CHAPTER II. HIS SELF-CULTURE. Since leaving school where he learnt very little, he assiduously applied himself from his fourteenth year to the acquirement of useful knowledge. He bor- rowed books from his masters, Colonels Champneys and Goldie, and read them with care and ' patience. Bitterness of circumstance served as a motive power in acquiring more knowledge than what had been pick- ed up in the Union School. He exercised the utmost economy in saving money from his small income of Rs. 10 per month, as a bill-writer in Messrs Tulluh and Company's Office, to buy books with. ' And at - last, when he secured a more lucrative post in the Military Auditor General's Office, he became a regular subs- criber to the Calcutta Public Library, and began to read with the avidity of a scholar. In the ab- sence of authentic information, it is now impossible for us to dwell upon the manner in which he used to read. The Hon'ble Raja Peary Mohun Mukherji, tells