Of the Hefferans whose literacy was recorded, 62.6% could both read and write, 6.2% could read but not write, and 31.3% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 67% reading and writing against 57.3% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.