Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/84

 evening, and after that, he cooked food for himself and his son. All this time Isvar Chandra had to read his lessons, or repeat them to his father. If accidentally he fell asleep, either from exhaustion, or any other cause, his father was sure to thrash him. The beating was sometimes so severe, that the other inmates of the house were aroused by the loud, pitiful cries of the little boy, when the kind Raimani, Jagaddurlabh Babu's sister, mentioned above, hastened from her inner apartments, and saved Isvar Chandra from further chastisement. It is said that, on one occasion, Thakurdas beat his son so severely with a huge fire-wood, that lay close by, that Isvar Chandra fled from the house, and took shelter with Babu Ramdhan Ganguli, the then clerk of the Sanskrit College. Ramdhan Babu comforted the boy by kind and gentle words, and after feeding him, took him to his father. When the tale of this incident reached Jagaddurlabh Babu's ears, he was very sorry and displeased with Thakurdas. He remonstrated with Isvar Chandra's father on the impropriety of his conduct, and even threatened to remove him from his house, if he continued to beat the little boy so heavily. This had the desired chastening effect on the father, who henceforth lessened the severity of his treatment towards the boy. Isvar Chandra, too, grew every day more careful. He took great care to keep himself awake till his father slept. For this purpose, he poured into his eyes mustard-oil, which caused