Note 25 — Chapter XIV

“The books employed,” says Mr. Crowe, “besides the gloomy character of their contents, are in bulk sufficient to discourage the most enterprising child. They are four or five in number, consisting of heavy volumes, which make an antique collection, heavy and dry enough to discourage adults. First ‘La Cartilla,’ containing the alphabet, the forms of prayer, and the commandments of the Church, with no attempt at gradation. The second, ‘El Canon,’ the third, ‘El Catecismo,’ and fourth, ‘El Ramillete.’ All these, which are much larger than the first, contain theological definitions, digests of doctrines, creeds, holy legends, and devotional formulas, addressed to the Virgin and the Saints. Through every one of these the unhappy scholar is doomed to wade from beginning to end; and so deep is his aversion to the task, and so great is the triumph when a child has overcome one of these obstacles to his progress, that the event is actually celebrated in his family by feasting.”—p. 287.