ng missionaries, I learned the Persian
and Nagree characters, in which the languages of Northern India had
always previously been written; but the Roman character was very
convenient, and I regretted afterwards I used it so much.

This study of the language was felt to be a foremost duty, and was
prosecuted from day to day. This went on for months with little
interruption, except what was caused by the serious and continued
illness of Mrs. Lyon, which, to the great regret of all their friends,
led before the end of the year to the departure of Mr. and Mrs. L. for
Europe.

In the seventh or eighth month of my residence at Benares I wrote a
short sermon in Hindustanee on John i. 29, and read it at the native
service. Within a year I took my part regularly at that service, first
using my manuscript, and then extemporizing as I best could.

I must confess I regarded my new linguistic acquisition with much more
complacency at the end of my first year than at the end of my fifth or
sixth. On my way to Benares, as I have already mentioned, I spent a few
hours very pleasantly with Mr. Leslie, the Baptist missionary at
Monghyr. I mentioned to him that my friend Mr. Lyon had learned the
language, and was preaching in it. Looking me full in the face, he said,
to my surprise and chagrin, "Depend on it, Mr. Lyon may use the words of
the language, but no one can be said to acquire it in a year." I thought
this a hard saying, but years afterwards I was forced to feel its truth.
I had in a year got such a glimpse into the Hindustanee and Hindee
languages as to have some conceptions of their nature, to know their
tone, and to bring them into partial use; but I had a very limited
notion of their nice distinctions, their peculiar idioms, and their vast
vocabulary. I cannot say that the opinion on this subject I formed in my
first year was entirely reversed by my after experience, but it was
largely modified.

[Sidenote: STUDY OF NATIVE LANGUAGE AND CHARACTER.]

While studying the native language, I felt myself studying the native
character as well. My teacher was very patient, correcting my
mistakes--mistakes, I must confess, often repeated--without allowing
even the slightest surprise to appear in his countenance. He did not
smile at blunders at which, when I knew better, I myself heartily
laughed. When I showed the slightest impatience at being checked he at
once allowed me to go on as I liked, though, as I afterwards knew, I
need