Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/46

 knife, little sister the while looking on amused. From lambs to sheep, to black cattle, and to man the steps are easy.

Paraguay instances the truism, that you may learn reading, writing, and the four first rules of arithmetic, yet you may know nothing. The Commonwealth had, according to Colonel du Graty, 500 primary schools, and a total of 20,000 pupils. The census of 1845 registered 16,750 male pupils, which, according to the proportions calculated in the United States, represents $1⁄90$th of male population—this remark was made by M. T. M. Lasturria (Chilian Minister to the Platine Republics and the Brazilian Empire). Assuming Azara's computation regarding the difference of sexes, 16,750 boys would be the equivalent of 18,041 girls who are not educated. Since 1861 the justices of the peace were ordered to send to school all children between nine and ten who had no excuse for staying away. Each district had its school, but only those of the principal places were subsidized by the State. The usual pay to the teacher was one riyal (sixty-five cents) per month irregularly paid by paterfamilias; consequently the schoolmaster was despised almost as much as amongst the gold diggers of Australia.

Instruction was made, as everywhere it should be, another truism—elementary, compulsory, gratuitous, universal. Unfortunately, it was not made purely secular. As usual in South America, Paraguay indulged herself in the luxury of a State religion—namely, the Catholic, Apostolic, and Holy Roman, modified by the presence of a second and a stronger Pope, in the shape of a President. The amount of religious instruction was, however, confined to the "Christian doctrine," an elementary catechism learned by heart; in fact, they acquired theology enough to hate a heretic neighbour, without knowing the reason why. No Paraguayan was allowed to be analphabetic—a curious contrast