Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1873-10-16
EDUC ALTON.


spector of schools, visited Tounooo in
February, 1873. he inspected p mo-
nastic schools that reported as having
In the rains an aggregate of 900 pu-
pills; and three lay schools with $50
pupils, 90 of whom were girls. The
population of the place is little short
of 10000, and estimating the boys as
one fourth of the whole, or $500, and
that two tifths of these were too young
to go to the kyoungs, there will re-
main 1900 boys who ought to 90 to
school, and 1000 of these or G6.G per
cent. are under actual instruction but
only 3.3 per cent. of the girls.
The first principles of arithmetic are
known to many, and there are Bur
mese books which teach all the ordina.
~ operations of arithmetic, even in
Guiding mensuration, but they are lit.
tie known and less studied
TEMPERANCE
The Burmans stand out in bold re-
lief on the panorama of all nations, for
their sobriety. In the early wears of
my missionary life, | visited every
town and village and dwelling in the
province of Tavoy with tract or por-
tion of Scripture, and never on any oc-
casion did | meet Burman intoxica-
ted or one who gave indications ofhav-
| my been using strong drink. Where
out of Burmah could tho like be affirm
| ed: 1t cannot be said however of
"British Burnah." A drunken Bur
man, rccling and raying, every now
and then passes the doors of my pres
ent residence, the fruit of English civ
IIlzatlon. There WAS nothing of the
kind seen in Toun9oo when we fist
came here in 1858.
The editor of the RanLooA Times
recently wrote: There is no doubt
that StoL drinking is on the increase
among our Burmese population. 4
4 drunken Burman in the old time would
be very nearly as great curiosity as
mermaid. and he would be sure to get
| paid oil for his pains by 4 sound fog-
glng from the Burmese governor. The
European doctrine of civilization is to
conclllate the people by offering them
grog, tobacco, muskets, powder, and
Shot.
Yet, after all, the Burmese may still
be set down a the most sober nation
in the world.
\ Perhaps in no civilized country are
there 50 few besgar, As in Burmah, al
though there are neither poOr-law,,
4 poOr-ratc-. nor poor-huuscs This is
4 owing largely 70 the temperate habit,
I OF the people, but much also IS due -
4 there being no Law Of prmo5enlturc.
Lands are divided and distributed
among all the heirs, and thu, i landed
/ arIstocracy of the few, and Il landlcs,
scridom oi the many, IS made impossl-
I bIe. In British Burmah the average
/ SIZE of landed estates has been e,lI-
mated at fifteen acres.
CIVILIZATION.
Many by 4 great mistake regard the
Burmese as harbarianS. We have on.
" 10 roll back the centuries AMI We
shall find civilized Europe where the
BurmanS are now.
When all europe was insane on
building churches and abbeys, Bur
nah was equally busy in erecting pa-
godas and monasteries displaying like
| artistic skill. In those days Europe
ans would have regarded the Burmese
as an average civilized people, and
| they differ now mainly in that while
Europeans have progressed. Burmans
| Il
carpenters and shipwrights, black
smiths, LlnSmlths, silversmiths, gold
smiths and copperSmiths. They make
iron and steel, and smelt silver AMI "a
lena. lhey make earthen ware and
iacquerrl ware; they are lapilarlcs
aud paper makers they cast bells and
gong, and make musical Instruments.
Incy are painters and engravers, cary.
els IN wood and sculptors OF marble.
They analyze the products Of nature
aud select from them the parts that
can be made useful Those who live
on the scacoast extract salt from the
81 t-water. and those who dwell in the
! interior extract it from the bitter lalies,
Inry ulg the earth in some localities
| for natron, in others for amber, and in
others they go down hundreds of feet
for petroleum. They wash the sands
Of The river for gold, and dig mines
! for precious stones. All their silk and
cotton clothing they make themselves,
gaining with the cocoon of the silk
moth and the pod of the cotton-plant.
Then again, Burman artisan is not
an ordinary genius. A Hindoo divides
and subdivides until it takes six men,
| OF rs many different trades, to do Job
of work; but Burman on the contra
ry rolls the arts Of six men into one.
know Burman carpenter who is
always ready to do anything set before
him. and he does everything passably
we'll, too. Were he called upon to
build house, all he would ask would
be the length and breadth, and the
house would loom up before him in all
its details, just as the antedlluyian
monster did to Cuvier when he was
presented with one of its bones.
This same man who is SO superior to
architects and plans, has just put Il
new bottom in an old cane-bottomed
chair, and done it as well as an Eng
lishman who had served seven years to
the ''art and mystery" would have done
| it and put new pane Of glass i'll the
window as we'll as professed glazier
could, buying the material in bazaar,
and making his own putty.
Ii called upon lie can build brick
house, plaster and whitewash it, max
| ing his own bricks out of the clay and
his own lime out of the rocks; and
when the house is done, he will furnish
it with good tables, chairs, bedsteads,
and bookcases, made by his own hand
out of the standing forests.
| When sometimes short of men, |
have called ON him to lend hand in
the printing office, and he would roll
on the ink as carefully and as skillful-
ly as an experienced pressman and
he is the best man | know of for
gardener. He works at all these
trades, and good many more for he
never says ''can't," without apparently
1