ce for the teachers, their eagerness really to learn, and their
quiet, attentive behaviour were indeed worthy of admiration. But it must
be well understood that these angelic traits are confined to the
school-days only. When they leave school the "angelic" wears off very
soon, and the boys, unluckily, drift into the old and demoralized ways
with which Persia is reeking.

There are about a dozen public schools in Yezd, but the one conducted on
most modern lines is the new school started by the Mushir. If I
understood aright, the Mushir provided the buildings and money to work
the school for a period of time, after which if successful it will be
handed over to be supported by the city or by private enterprise.

The school was excellent. There were a hundred pupils from the ages of
six to fifteen, and they were taught Arabic, Persian, English, French,
geography, arithmetic, &c. There was a Mudir or head master who spoke
French quite fluently, and separate teachers for the other various
matters. The school was admirably conducted, with quite a military
discipline mingled with extreme kindness and thoughtfulness on the part
of the teachers towards the pupils. By the sound of a bell the boys were
collected by the Mudir in the court-yard, round which on two floors were
the schoolrooms, specklessly clean and well-aired.

While I was being entertained to tea, sherbet, and coffee, on a high
platform, I was politely requested to ascertain for myself the knowledge
of the boys--most of whom had only been in the school less than a year.
It was rather interesting to hear little chaps of six or eight rattle
off, in a language foreign to them and without making a single mistake,
all the capitals of the principal countries in the world, and the largest
rivers, the highest mountains, the biggest oceans, and so on. And other
little chaps--no taller than three feet--summed up and subtracted and
divided and multiplied figures with an assurance, quickness and accuracy
which I, personally, very much envied. Then they wrote English and French
sentences on the slate, and Persian and Arabic, and I came out of the
school fully convinced that whatever was taught in that school was
certainly taught well. These were not special pupils, but any pupil I
chose to pick out from the lot.

I visited another excellent institution, the Parsee school--one of
several teaching institutions that have been established in Yezd by the
Bombay Society for the amel