nd seldom or ever
read to the people;--that this book, or the Bible, would through the
invention of Printing, be distributed all over the world, and that rich
and poor, wise and simple, young and old, would be able to possess it,
and read it, and learn from it the Word of God:--he did not foresee
this; but he saw that there might be an easier and a quicker way of
making books, and this he felt would be a good and useful thing to bring
about, and he resolved that he would do it. He saw that instead of
spending so much time in shaping over and over again the same letters,
that it would be a great saving of trouble, if letters were to be carved
out of wood or any other hard substance, and then blackened with ink and
pressed or _imprinted_ on the parchment, for then the same letters
could be used many times in making different words in different books.

Hans saw this plainly. He was sure of it, and he was almost sure that no
one had ever thought of it before. With a very natural feeling, and
certainly not a wrong one, he determined that it should be himself who
should bring about this new method of writing. He would keep it secret
from every one until he could _prove_ that it was a great and
useful discovery.

In the meantime, however, he had much to do. First, he must learn to
read and spell, and then he must also be able to write well, so as to
shape all the letters correctly when he carved them. From that time Hans
lost no more time in play. His cross-bow was laid aside, and he seldom
or never joined the other boys of the village in their games of running
and wrestling, nor did he follow the hunters to the chase on the hills
as he had been accustomed to do, or spend time in loitering with his net
along the river side. Instead of all this, he would go on every possible
pretext into the town and to the monastery to visit his uncle and get
all the knowledge he could. And after some time he told his uncle of his
great wish to learn to read and to become a scribe, and begged him to
persuade his mother to let him follow out his wish.

Father Gottlieb was pleased with the boy's earnest desire. He was good
and pious, and when he saw how full of this high hope was the mind of
the young boy, he said, "It is the will of God. He makes the humblest of
us tools for the furtherance of his wise designs. His will be done!" And
he talked to the Frau Gensfleisch upon the matter, and though he did not
think it right to tell her that her s