Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/96

Rh ardour. Their very privations tend to make them hard-working, painstaking, persevering, patient and ever-cheerful. Ritcher said:—"I cannot but choose to say to poverty,—'welcome, so thou come not too late in life.'"

Speaking of the great Spanish writer, Servantes, one man remarked that the world had been enriched by his poverty, meaning, that he had done an immense good to the world by his books.

Carlyle said:—"He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he, who would stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision waggons, or even rest unwatchfully, abiding by the stuff."

Isvar Chandra bore his hardships with patience and cheerfulness. But even this would not save him from his rigorous father. The slightest accidental failing on his part was sure to bring down on his head his parent's wrath. He looked upon his father with the greatest awe and dread. It so happened, that Isvar Chandra, had forgotten the Sandhya-Mantras (prayers to be told at different parts of the day). He merely feigned the Sandhya by making an apparent show of the outward formalities and gestures. When Thakurdas came to know, that his dear son, Isvar Chandra, was such a hypocrite, his rage knew no bounds, and he gave the little boy a sound thrashing. Isvar Chandra was then made to re-learn the Mantras on the spot