EDUCATION AND LITERATURE.
The education of the Siamese is necessarily limited and the standard
low, when compared with that of European countries. The temples or
monasteries are the common schools of the country. Every priest can
take to the temple with him as many pupils as he can teach, so that at
almost every temple can be found a nice collection of boys, making a
very respectable school. These boys besides being taught the rudiments
of their own language, and the tenets of the Budhist religion, act
also as servants to the teacher, propelling his boat when he goes out
on the river, and doing other like menial turns for him. They live on
the surplus rice which is left, after the priests are satisfied. Every
pupil is taught to hold his teacher in special reverence, which lasts
through life. The males are all thus gathered in when boys, and taught
to read and write their own language, and the simple rules of
arithmetic, as the Siamese knowledge of that art does not extend
beyond the simple rules. It is consequently rare that a male can be
found who cannot read and write his own language, and on the other
hand it is just as rare that a female is found who can. No provision
has yet been made there for the education of females. Indeed the
feeling in high quarters has hitherto been against it, but not near so
strong as in India, and many other places, but that feeling is now
happily passing away. It used to be said that if woman could read she
would become too tricky for man. The females, amongst the common
people especially, are the drudges, and become wives and mothers so
early, that there is but little time for their education. Some of the
women of the higher classes have in some way learned to read, and the
missionary ladies have managed to teach some few others to read,
whilst employed in their families, but aside from these few exceptions
the great mass of the women are ignorant of letters. The late king
made one or two spasmodic efforts to have the women of the palace
taught English. Soon after he ascended the throne he employed some of
the missionary ladies to go to the palace regularly and teach, but
soon became alarmed lest they should teach too much religion, and
requested them to stop. A few years previous to his death also, he
employed an English governess in the palace, who, after about three
years rather arduous labor succeeded in giving the women and children
of the palace some knowledge of English, and perhaps a smattering of
some of the sciences. The higher order of education amongst the males
consists of a correct knowledge of their own language, and a
smattering at least of the Pali or sacred language. Some few who
remain sufficiently long in the priesthood make considerable
proficiency in the Pali. Their standard of education is also rather
depreciating than rising. Missionaries now find it difficult to secure
a young man sufficiently educated to make a good teacher. One reason
of this is that since the country has been opened to foreign commerce,
opportunities to make money are more common than previously, and young
men do not now remain sufficiently long in the priesthood to become
good scholars, but leave it to go into business.
The Siamese language proper is monosyllabic and rather
poverty-stricken. It has however, been enriched from time to time from
the Pali, and from the languages of the surrounding nations, and by a
few words from the Chinese. Titles of nobility and distinction are all
taken from the Pali. Many of the words used in addressing the King,
and others high in authority, have been transferred from the Pali, and
some few from the Sanscrit. The late King professed to be proficient
in the Sanscrit, and some of their learned men now make pretensions in
that way. It is doubtful, however, whether the late King, although the
most learned man in the kingdom, had anything more than a smattering
of Sanscrit, and I do not suppose there is any one now in the kingdom
who knows anything about it worth naming.
The Siamese alphabet consists of forty-four consonants, with several
vowel-points, diacritical marks and abbreviations. The alphabet is
divided into three classes, and there are also seven tones, so that
words beginning with a certain class of letters are spoken with a
raised tone, whilst others are spoken with rather a depressed tone.
Some of the consonants too, are spoken with an aspirate, whilst in
others the aspirate is withheld. This putting on the tone and the
aspirate in certain instances, and leaving them off in others, makes
it very difficult for one not born to it to acquire the language
correctly, _"Kai,"_ with an aspirate, means an egg, but by leaving off
the aspirate it is a chicken. Although spelled somewhat differently,
the sound to an unaccustomed ear is exactly the same. In these things
foreigners make some ridiculous mistakes. You have all probably heard
of the missionary lady somewhere, who, whilst in her garden, told a
servant to bring her a knife, as she thought, but was surprised to see
him coming out with a table on his head. I once heard a missionary,
otherwise good in the language, but who could never manage the
aspirates and unaspirates correctly, announcing to his audience that
there would be services at such an hour in the Siamese language, but
unfortunately he left off the aspirate, and announced that there would
be services in the _dead language_. Still the audience understood from
the connection what he meant.
The literature of the Siamese is very meagre. They have a history of
their country which commences in fable, but after a few pages are
passed, it becomes a correct and reliable history of the kingdom. It
is written in a condensed style, and couched in good language. They
have also tolerably reliable histories of the neighboring countries,
such as Cambodia, Pegu, and Birmah. They are exceedingly fond of
fiction, and have a fabulous history of China, which has been
translated into Siamese, and is very popular. The Regent and Foreign
Minister have both been recently engaged in translating additions to
that fabulous history. If they would take as much pains in translating
the histories of the different countries of Europe and of America,
their people would soon become well informed in regard to the great
transactions of the world. The remainder of their literature consists
in vile and disgusting plays, in which they take great delight, both
in reading and seeing them performed in their theatres. They are also
very fond of a kind of jingling verse, and will listen for hours to
the mere jingle, caring little or nothing for the sense, of which it
is generally devoid.