Faith in the word of their teachers is absolutely the sole foundation and only source of their ability to read and write.

On "the word of another, and as his second, be he who he may," every one of them has accepted every intelligible word he speaks or writes.
There is living on Martha's Vineyard an old man who has never been off the island, and the extent of his knowledge is bounded by the confines of his home.

He has been told of a war between the North and South, but as he had never heard the din of battle, nor seen any soldiers, he considered it a hoax.

He is utterly unable to read, and is ignorant to the last degree.

A good story is told of his first and only day at school.