The book is the Quran, which the Muhammadans think was dictated by God to Muhammad through the Archangel Gabriel. It would not be surprising if the Persians, being Muhammadans, wished all their boys to learn what they believe to be God’s Word; but the book is written in Arabic, which Persian boys do not understand, and even the letters are not quite the same as in Persian; so when the little pupil reaches the end of the book he can read the Quran with the proper intonation, but he can read nothing else, and he cannot understand the Quran. The Muhammadans, however, think that reading the Quran, quite apart from understanding it, is a very good action, so the little Persian boys work away at it, and they do not think it hard lines because they know all the men, and big boys began in the same way, so it seems the natural thing to do. And perhaps it is a little consolation to know that when they reach certain points they will be given sweets. One little boy, who was asked how far he had got in the Quran, said that he had just got to his first sweets. Having finished the Quran our little Persian boy goes on to Persian books. These, too, he studies in much the same way as he did the Quran, but it is more useful, because now he understands what he reads. After plodding through the Quran it is a pleasant change for little Ghulām Husain to turn to the War between the Cats and Mice, the Hundred Fables, or Stories of Husain and Hasan (Muhammad’s two grandsons). Later on he reads the poems of Hāfiz and Sa’adi, and other great Persian poets, for there is a great deal of beautiful poetry in Persian. There is no convenient desk or table for Ghulām Husain to write on. He sits on the floor and holds the paper in his hand or on his knee. His pen is a bit of fine cane, cut like a quill, but with a slanting end. As he holds it the handle points directly to the right and it is the horizontal lines which he must make broad, while the up and down strokes must both be fine. [Illustration: A PERSIAN SCHOOL] Ghulām Husain never spills his ink. Each boy has his own inkpot, which contains a tangled piece of silk soaked in ink. It dries up between the lessons, so when Ghulām Husain wants to write he moistens it with water so that the silk is thoroughly wet, but there is no water lying in the inkpot. In among this wet silk he dips his pen. If you look into Ghulām Husain’s pen-box you will find pens cut to various breadths for large or small writing, a penknife, and a little slab to rest the pen-point on for the final cut; an inkpot, and a tiny brass ladle for adding water.