At the end of three months he had learned to read.

This was not enough--he must now learn to write.

The priest had a writing teacher at Rome make three alphabets--one large, one middling, and one small; and pointed out to him that by the help of a sharp instrument he could trace the letters on a slate, and thus learn to write.

The same evening, when the flock was safe at the farm, the little Luigi hastened to the smith at Palestrina, took a large nail, heated and sharpened it, and formed a sort of stylus.
The next morning he gathered an armful of pieces of slate and began.

At the end of three months he had learned to write.