"Doctor Bronson says girls are rarely taught to read, except among the wealthy inhabitants, and not always even them. One of us asked him if there were no schools at all for girls. "'Yes,' he answered, 'but there are not many, and it is only within a few years that they have been established. One of the wives of Ismail Pacha took hold of the matter, and opened a school in an unoccupied palace of the Khedive. Invitations were given for parents to send their daughters to be educated, but for three weeks not a pupil came. Gradually the prejudice was overcome, and in a few months there were three hundred pupils hard at work, while a great many who wished to come were unable to obtain admission for want of room. There are now several schools for girls in Cairo, and there is hardly a large town in Egypt without one or more.' "We next asked what was taught in the schools for girls. "'More than half the time,' said the Doctor, 'is devoted to instruction in household duties, embroidery, and plain sewing, so that the girls can become intelligent servants or wives. Then they are taught to read and sometimes to write, and if they show any marked aptitude for music, there are music-teachers for their special benefit. It was the idea of Ismail Pacha that the best way to improve the condition of his people was to make them intelligent, and to begin the work with the girls who are to be the mothers of the next generation of Egyptians. "'It was also his idea that the abolition of slavery would be hastened by training a class of household servants to take the places of the slaves. The indications thus far are that his idea was an excellent one, and the education of the girls of the working-classes of the people will go far in the right direction. [Illustration: SCENE IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL.] "'The Khedive also did much toward giving Egypt a system of public schools like those of Europe and America. He appointed two Europeans to superintend the matter, and gave large sums of money for establishing schools that could be free to all, in addition to the primary schools already described. Foreign teachers were employed, together with the most intelligent native ones that could be found, and the system has already made great progress. The course in the lower schools covers four years of study, and after that the pupils may enter one of the higher schools and study medicine, engineering, surveying, law, mechanical construction, and the like. Those who can pay for their instruction may do so, but any pupil can enter whether he has money or not. Those who do not pay are liable to be called into the government service, and many of them are assigned to teach in the lower schools.