The Count of Monte Cristo

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Palestrina to Borgo; every day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the
priest and the boy sat down on a bank by the wayside, and the little
shepherd took his lesson out of the priest's breviary. 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. The curate, astonished
at his quickness and intelligence, made him a present of pens, paper,
and a penknife. This demanded new effort, but nothing compared to the
first; at the end of a week he wrote as well with this pen as with the
stylus. The curate related the incident to the Count of San-Felice,
who sent for the little shepherd, made him read and write before him,