e
cuckoos in Magdala?--Father doesn't know. His grandmother could not tell
him, but she was willing to make inquiries, but before any news of the
egg had been gotten the hope to possess it seemed to have drifted out of
Joseph's mind and to seem even a little foolish when he looked into his
box, for many of his egg shells had been broken on the journey. See,
Granny, he said, but on second thoughts he refused to show his chipped
possessions. But thou wast once as eager to learn Hebrew, his
grandmother said, and the chance words, spoken as she left the room,
awakened his suspended interests. As soon as she returned she was beset
by questions, and the same evening his father had to promise that the
best scribe in Galilee should be engaged to teach him: a discussion
began between Dan and Rachel as to the most notable and trustworthy, and
it was followed by Joseph so eagerly that they could not help laughing;
the questions he put to them regarding the different accomplishments of
the scribes were very minute, and the phrase--But this one is a Greek
scholar, stirred his curiosity. Why should he be denied me because he
knows Greek? he asked, and his father could only answer that no one can
learn two languages at the same time. But if he knows two languages,
Joseph insisted. I cannot tell thee more, his father answered, than that
the scribe I've chosen is a great Hebrew scholar.

He was no doubt a great scholar, but he was not the man that Joseph
wished for: thin and tall and of gentle appearance and demeanour, he did
not stir up a flame for work in Joseph, who, as soon as the novelty of
learning Hebrew had worn off, began to hide himself in the garden. His
father caught him one day sitting in a convenient bough, looking down
upon his preceptor fairly asleep on a bench; and after this adventure he
began to make a mocking stock of his preceptor, inventing all kinds of
cruelties, and his truancy became so constant that his father was forced
to choose another. This time a younger man was chosen, but he succeeded
with Joseph not very much better than the first. After the second there
came a third, and when Joseph began to complain of his ignorance his
father said:

Well, Joseph, you said you wanted to learn Hebrew, and you have shown no
application, and three of the most learned scribes in Galilee have been
called in to teach you.

Joseph felt the reproof bitterly, but he did not know how to answer his
father and he was grateful