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 to his grandmother for her answer.  Joseph isn’t an idle boy, Dan, but his nature is such that he cannot learn from a man he doesn’t like.  Why don’t ye give him Azariah as an instructor?  Has he been speaking to thee about Azariah?  Dan asked.  Maybe, she said, and Dan’s face clouded.

CHAP.  II.

We are to understand, Son, Dan said, on hearing that the fourth preceptor whom he had engaged to teach his son Hebrew had failed to give satisfaction, that you cannot learn from anybody but Azariah.  Now, will you tell us what there is in Azariah more than in Shimshai, Benaiah or Zebad? and he waited for his son to speak, but as Joseph did not answer he asked:  is it because he looks more like a prophet than any of the others?  And Joseph, who still dreaded any allusion to prophets, turned into his corner mortified.  But Rachel came forward directly and taking the child by the shoulders led him back to his father, asking Dan with a trace of anger in her voice why he should think it strange that the child should prefer to learn from Azariah rather than from a withered patriarch who never could keep his eyes open but always sat dozing in his chair like one in a dream.