Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/130

Rh William College had to undergo monthly examianations. Vidyasagar's main duty was to examine their answer papers. Besides this, he had to teach Mr. Marshall Sanskrit. He had thus to come always in contact with the British. Hence was the necessity of his learning English. He had, moreover, to see the Hindi answer papers. A knowledge of Hindi was, therefore, absolutely necessary for him. Hindi, like Bengali, has its origin in Sanskrit, and bears much similarity to Bengali as well as to Sanskrit. So Hindi was not difficult for him to learn. He engaged a Hindi teacher on a monthly salary of ten rupees, and learned the Hindi language in a short time. But the acquisition of English, which was a foreign tongue, was not so easy. He had to spend a great deal of time and labour, and even some money, on it. Nothing was impossible with the persevering Vidyasagar.

Most of those that have been reputed as great geniuses, and who have immortalised their names by noble deeds, were bred and brought up in poverty. Nay, some of them were, in their early life employed in humble occupations. But they were, always far superior to the ordinary rank. No difficulty was insurmountable to them. They never gave up a task, simply beacuse it was difficult. Had they not been endowed with this superior merit, they could never have left such indelible, conspicuous footmarks for the guidance of their descendants. Garfield, one of the late Presidents of