THE SCHOOLS OF SIAM.
In Siam schools are made up of boys and girls,
just as they are in other countries. But the
boys and girls of Siam are not made of "sugar
and spice and all that's nice," but of fish and
fowl, of curry and rice, of onions and garlic, and
everything nice. And they seem to be very good
materials to make children of, too, for they are
usually very bright and clever.
They commit to memory more readily than the average American school-boy, but in studies requiring a process of reasoning or long-continued hard work they would probably fall behind. They usually begin a new study or work with great avidity, but often tire before it is half finished. The average Siamese boy of nine or ten years of age does not ask more than a day to learn all the large and small letters of the English alphabet, and a tiptop student will only want half a day. In a year afterward he will be able to read fluently in Wilson's Third Reader, and translate it all into his own language, and will
