Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/267

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ISVAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR.

whence it was finally removed to its present site in Cornwallis Street, where it has now a building, of its own. Bethune was a kind and generous man of respectable station and influence. He was, a sincere well-wisher of the natives. His idea was, that to raise the sons of the Hindus, one of the most ancient civilised nations of the world, from their fallen state, it was necessary that the females of the nation should be properly educated. His object was to give the pupils of his girl-school a decent instruction without the admixture of anything of Christianity with it. He had, therefore, given his school the name, "The Hindu Female School" which was subsequently changed to the "Bethune Female School," after the name of its founder.

When Bethune thus appeared in the scene of action, he was glad to find a black native co-operator and fellow-worker in the person of Pandit Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar. As president of the Education Council, Bethune had known him, for some time past, as a most talented, energetic, and painstaking worker, and had unbounded confidence in his words and actions. He was happy to find such a co-adjutor in the same field, and at once made him Honorary Secretary of his school. In this affair, Vidyasagar obtained assistance and co-operation of some of his friends and a few respectable, influential natives. Among them, the names of Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, Sambhu