The instruction in the inner school was meager, and in the outer school probably even more so. Reading, writing, music, simple reckoning, religious observances, and rules of conduct constituted the range of instruction. Reading was taught by the alphabet method, as among the Romans, and writing by the use of wax tablets and the stylus. Much attention was given to Latin pronunciation, as had been the practice at Rome. As Latin by this time had practically ceased to be a living tongue, outside the Church and perhaps in Central Italy, the difficulties of instruction were largely increased. The Psalter, or book of Latin psalms, was the first reading book, and this was memorized rather than read. Copy- books, usually wax, with copies expressing some scriptural injunction, were used. Music, being of so much importance in the church services, received much time and attention. In arithmetic, counting and finger reckoning, after the Roman plan, was taught. Latin was used in conversation as much as possible, some of the old lesson books much resembling conversation books of to-day in the modern languages (R. 75). Special attention seems to have been given to teaching rules of conduct to the _oblati_, [1] and much corporal punishment was used to facilitate learning. Up to the eleventh century this instruction, meager as it was, constituted the whole of the preparatory training necessary for the study of theology and a career in the Church. In the convents similar schools were developed, though, as stated in the last chapter, much more attention was given to the education of those not intending to take the vows. SONG AND PARISH SCHOOLS. In the cathedral churches, and other larger non- cathedral churches, the musical part of the service was very important, and to secure boys for the choir and for other church services these churches organized what came to be known as _song schools_ (R. 70). In these a number of promising boys were trained in the same studies and in much the same way as were boys in the monastery schools, except that much more attention was given to the musical instruction. The students in these schools were placed under the _precentor_ (choir director) of the cathedral, or other large church, the _scholasticus_ confining his attention to the higher or more literary instruction provided. The boys usually were given board, lodging, and instruction in return for their services as choristers. As the parish churches in the diocese also came to need boys for their services, parish schools of a similar nature were in time organized in connection with them. It was out of this need, and by a very slow and gradual evolution, that the parish school in western Europe was developed later on.