Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/147

 the papers of the youths of Fort William College with undue leniency, even to win the favour of his official chief. He was the patron of struggling merit and unpretending worth. Possessing as he did a clear insight into the educational needs of his countrymen, he set up at his own charge many free schools both for boys and girls, and for the children of husbandmen started free night schools. In order that the lessons might be made easy and impressive he composed many useful books. Bengali translations of English and Sanskrit works, selections from standard English authors, editions, annotated or otherwise, of Sanskrit classics, formed the bulk of his literary composition. His Primers did immense service to the literature of the province. The classification of Bengali alphabet into vowels and consonants was of his own devising. The Upakramanika was a work of far greater originality; the method of treatment followed being quite new. It went far to popularise the culture of Sanskrit. The