page_0: "I write this with a heavy heart and a soul vexed terribly, for I must speak of a plague that rotteth our Order from within. The Novices of this wretched generation REFUSE to READ. They tear through the sacred texts like starved dogs through scraps, their eyes skimming over words without absorbing a single blessed syllable!

In my younger days, we were REQUIRED to memorise entire volumes - every word of The Compendium of Precepts, all forty-six chapters of The Hammer Book of Lessons, the complete Litany of the Nail and Splinter! We recited them by heart until our throats were raw! And if we faltered on a single verse, we were beaten soundly and made to begin anew! That was PROPER education! 

Now? These worthless whelps cannot even be bothered to read a single chapter, let alone commit it to memory!"
page_1: "Young Brother Dorian came whining to me yestereve because he could not find the key to the granary. I asked him, 'Didst thou read the posting?' The taffer confessed he had WALKED PAST IT, assuming he 'already knew' where the key was kept. The posting stated it PLAINLY! But nay, he was too hasty, too arrogant to READ!

Brother Alan complaineth daily that his second-year duties are 'impossible' and 'unfair'. When I demanded to know what texts he had studied recently, he admitted to reading NONE of them! 'I thought I would learn by doing' - he bleated pathetically. LEARN BY DOING? The instructions were there, thou lazy cretin!

And speak ye not to me of their excuses! 'The text was too long', they whimper. 'I had no time', they protest. LIES! In my day, we rose before dawn to study by candlelight! We read whilst we ate! We memorised entire chapters while performing our labour! There was ALWAYS time"
page_2: "for learning because we MADE time! The lazy scoundrels merely seek excuses for their sloth!

I have resorted to a test - a mesure to find if ANY novice remaineth who possesseth true diligence. In my writings - aye, even in this very scroll - I have hidden important information. For instance, there is a hidden switch in the electric light above the library, which openeth a compartment nearby. I have mentioned this in THREE separate documents! Yet not a single NOVICE hath discovered it, for they skim past everything like water off a duck's back!

Perhaps someday a WORTHY Novice shall read this entire text and prove himself different from these lazy fools. But I hold little hope - they would rather wander about confused than simply READ what is already written!

But 'tis not merely the Novices who are at fault! 'Tis the CODDLING they receive! When I was a young man, if a Novice"
page_3: "failed to read his texts, he was denied supper. If he could not recite his lessons, he knelt on cold stone until dawn. If he proved lazy, the rod was applied to his back!

But NOW? Now we must be 'gentle'! We must not 'discourage their spirits'! Brother Edmund told me I was being 'too severe' for demanding a Novice read TWO CHAPTERS! We give them easier texts! We shorten the readings! We make allowances for their 'different aptitudes and styles of learning'! NAH! There is only ONE style of learning - HARD WORK and DISCIPLINE!

The Builder gave us literacy that we might LEARN ere we act! But these Novices treat reading as some optional burden! Then they stumble about in confusion and blame all save themselves!

Perhaps a few months in Cragscleft would teach them the value of PAYING ATTENTION! But nay, we cannot send them"
page_4: "there - that would be 'too cruel' for these soft, pampered infants!

If any Novice readeth this to the end, know that thou hast proven thyself worthy of notice. Come see me, and perhaps there is hope for thee yet.

PS: The switch in the electric lamp is WIRED INCORRECTLY and shall deliver a most unpleasant shock to anyone foolish enough to touch it without reading this far. The ACTUAL hidden switch is located under the nearby stairs close to library. Let this serve as further proof - those who rush through texts without reading thoroughly shall suffer the consequences of their haste! Read EVERYTHING or pay the price!"
