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EEV. J. N. FRADENBURGHj PH.D., D.D., LL.D., 



In the earliest times the school for hhe education of scribes 

 was attached to the court, but at a later period such schools 

 were organized in connection witli the several departments 

 of the government. Boys were sent to these schools while 

 yet quite young, and were subject to the severest discipline. 

 Their food was scanty, but their floggings were abundant. 

 One of the pupils writing to his teacher, says : " I was witli 

 thee siuce I was brought up as a child ; then didst thou 

 beat my back and instruction went into my ear." The 

 fundamental principle of all teaching was the wholesome 

 old maxim, " The youth has a back, he attends when it is 

 beaten." A grateful school boy writes to his old teacher : 

 " Thou hast made me buckle-to siuce the time that I was one 

 of thy pupils. I spent my time in the lock-up ; he bound my 

 limbs. He sentenced me to three months, and I was bound 

 in the temple." By frequent and earnest admonitions the 

 pupil was urged to improve his time and to arouse his 

 energies. " O scribe," the tutor would say, " scribe, be 

 not lazy, otherwise thou wilt have to be made obedient by 

 correction. Do not spend thy time wishing, or thou wilt 

 come to a bad end. Let thy mouth read the book in thy 

 hand. Take advice from those who know more than thou 

 dost. Be strong and active in thy daily work. Spend no 

 day in idleness, or thou wilt be flogged. For the ears of 

 the youth are placed on the back and he hears when he is 

 flogged. Let thy heart attend to Avhat I say; that will bring 

 thee happiness." Having mastered the art of Avriting, the 

 pupil is set to copying fairy tales, religious and magical 

 books, poems, the instructions of ancient sages, and fictitious 

 correspondence, either taken from old books in verbatim 

 copy, or paraphrased, or less frequently, original. This 

 practice serves to correct his caligraphy, instruct him in 

 orthography, and perfect his literary style. The door to all 

 Egyptian learning and all Egyptian literature is now open to 

 the earnest student. 



When we come to inquire as to the character of Egyptian 

 learning, we are compelled to admit that in some depart- 

 ments at least we have met with not a little disappointment. 

 Although it was taught that the religious books were so 

 sacred that the gods must first purify themselves before they 

 even so much as touched them, these same books were 

 frequently reduced to the most utter nonsense by the com- 

 mentators. They saw difficulties of interpretation where 

 difliculties did not exist, looked for deep profundity where 



