American Children Through Their Books 17001835

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Kiefer

American children through their

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AMERICAN CHILDREN
THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

A title page of 1817

AMERICAN
CHILDREN

through their
BOOKS

1700-1835

By MONICA KIEFER

FOREWORD
By DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER

PHILADELPHIA

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

London: Geoffrey Cumberkge

Oxford University Press

1948

Copyright 1948

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Manufactured in the United States of America

To my Father
ANDREW J. KIEFER

FOREWORD

THIS admirably conceived and skillfully executed book comes to break a
historical impasse between the new modern, serious interest in children,
and the pretty complete absence of authentic material about the boys and
girls who grew up to be our great-great-grandfathers and grandmothers.
Here for the first time we see the book-diet of those long-ago children,
and get a glimpse of the psychological pressures put upon them.

The reader's first impression on looking into this unique volume is
surprise that it was not written earlier. His second thought is great
satisfaction that nobody did it before, because it might not have been done
as well. Children were not, by our ancestors, even by our relatively speak-
ing modern fathers, let alone grandfathers, considered important enough
phenomena for able intellectuals to pay much attention to them; or to
write down and have printed what little they had observed of them. But
modern psychology tells us that children are the future of the race, that
what children are now decides what human society will be twenty years
from now; that the experiences of boys and girls influence and mold them
far more intimately, more unescapably than what happens to them in
later life. This fact was well known centuries ago to those skilled edu-
cators, the Jesuits. Longer ago than mere centuries, every mother intui-
tively felt it. But only of late years have real scientists, real educators, lent
the weight of their prestige to such a feeling.

It is now an axiom that the way the children of any generation are
treated deeply colors the life of the next generation. But now it is too late
for historians to find reliable information about how little boys and girls
were treated long ago; because mostly children were left to the care of
women, and mostly in those days women were either illiterate or silenced
by the prevalent idea that what women thought was of no consequence
save to their own families.

Here, in this volume, we find fresh and authentic material on this
point. For the first time we can look over the shoulders of those children
of the past and see what they saw. More people than ever before now
know something about interpreting data connected with child life. We
shall never have more interesting material to try to interpret and under-
stand than is offered us in this book.

DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER

PREFACE

MY chief pleasure in writing this book lies in the opportunity it affords
to acknowledge indebtedness to the numerous persons who have helped
in the research. It is my first desire to express sincere gratitude to the
members of my Community, the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the
Springs, Columbus, Ohio, and in particular to the Reverend Mother
Stephanie, O. P., and her Council for granting me the time and privi-
lege of pursuing the study. Grateful acknowledgment is also due Dr.
Richard Harrison Shryock, of the University of Pennsylvania, under
whose inspiration and guidance this work was begun, and whose criticism
and encouragement have been invaluable in its completion. Had it not
been for the generosity of Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, who permitted me
to use his valuable collection of early American children's books, this
study could hardly have been written. I wish, therefore, to thank him
sincerely for the privilege of handling these treasures. For providing
ready access to the Rosenbach collection, as well as a convenient study
in which to examine the books, I am deeply indebted to the courtesy
of Mr. F. H. Price of the Free Library of Philadelphia and to the efficient
services of the staff of Pepper Hall. I wish also to express my gratitude
to the staff of the Children's Department of the New York Public Library,
of the Boston Public Library, and of the Library of Congress, as well
as to the librarians of the rare book department of the Yale University
Library, the Ohio Archeological and Historical Library, and the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Library, for their cooperation and assistance in
locating materials.

M. K.

Albertus Magnus College
New Haven, Connecticut
'November, 1947

CONTENTS

Chapter Page

FOREWORD vii

PREFACE ix

INTRODUCTION

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN .... 6

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 28

THE ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 69

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 106

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 161

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 191

I

SUMMARY 225

BIBLIOGRAPHY 230

INDEX 245

ILLUSTRATIONS

Title page of My Childhood, 1817 Frontispiece

Facing Page

From The True Mother Goose, by G S. Francis,
Boston, 1832 14

From Evenings at Home, ca. 1820 15

Title page of War With the Devil by Benjamin Keach, 1707 . . 30
From The History of the Holy Jesus, 1749 31

Title page of the 1754 edition of The School of Good Manners,
edited by Eleazer Moodey 72

From My Father 73

From the New England Primer, 1775 no

Title page of The History of America, 1795 in

From Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, New York, 1830 . . . .214
From Punctuation Personified; Or Pointing Made Easy ) 1831 . . 215

INTRODUCTION

THIS study is an attempt to trace the changing status of the American
child in the Colonial and early national periods as it is revealed in
juvenile literature. The general movement o the child's escape from a
submerged position m an adult setting at the beginning of the eighteenth
century advances slowly towards the recognition of his rights as a distinct
personality by 1835. This evolution is traced through the record of the
various aspects of child life, including religion, manners and morals,
education, health, and recreation, in the hope of determining the place
of the child in the church, in the home, in the school, and in the com-
munity at large. In analyzing these trends, the author has consciously
invoked the European heritage and the American setting as the two
major forces at work, An attempt has been made to distinguish the
influences of the several European traditions and to take into account
the sectional differences of the American colonies and states. Recent
scholarship has given increased attention to the history of the family as
a vital part of social history. For this reason a study of the status of the
child within the family is an essential part of that record. If one were to
judge by the scant attention paid in historical works to the child in the
past, his emergence from oblivion would seem to have been delayed by
the traditional indifference under which childhood languished in the
early eighteenth century.

It is necessary to set boundaries to an almost limitless field, hence
this study is confined to the period from 1700 to 1835. The analysis of
the emancipation of the child from his early status of "total depravity"
to his position as a cherished factor in the social life of the nation falls
naturally into two parts. The first, from the beginning of the eighteenth
century to the opening of the Revolution, marks the theological age
an era of stern pietism during which the child was constantly impressed
with the fact that he "was born not to live but to dy," and that his
time and talents were to be focused on the proper fulfillment of this
eternal end. The note of fear and repression, which dominated every
phase of Colonial childhood, is clearly apparent to the most casual reader

2 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

of the literature provided for the young. The second period, from the
close of the Revolution to the middle of the eighteen thirties, describes
the influence of a utilitarian philosophy. This trend, stressing the value
of industry and wisdom, fostered a more benign and worldly view of
life one which humanely permitted the child a certain amount of
legitimate pleasure en route to his heavenly home.

Status, sociologically defined by Ralph Linton in his work, The Study
of Man, is taken to mean the polar position of an individual or of a
group in reciprocal behavior patterns. According to Linton, status in
this study may mean the position of a child in a particular social group,
or the sum of all his participations in various groups. Simply stated, the
status of the child will be treated as the aggregate of those rights and
duties which commonly found expression in some special set of circum-
stances and thus shaped his mode of existence. Thus the status of a
juvenile member of early American society will be derived from his rela-
tive position as a member of a family and of a church, as a pupil in a
school, as a playmate among his equals, and as a potential citizen of the
nation. 1

Students of society have recently emphasized the significance of status
systems in the development of American culture, in the study of per-
sonality, and in the socialization of the child. In regard to the changing
status of the child in the last half century, Professor James H. S. Bossard
o the Department of Sociology at die University of Pennsylvania asserts
that the outstanding change in the recent history of children has occurred
in the minds of their elders, but that this change is "so significant as to
take its place among the great revolutions of history." 2

Although child study was an unknown science in Colonial days, and
the American society of 1700 was probably unconscious of such charac-
teristics, recent scholarship has defined two types of statuses in the early
social system. The achieved statuses of individuals or those requiring
special qualities were not assigned at birth, but left open to be attained
later in life through competition and personal effort. Ascribed statuses,
on the other hand, were those assigned to individuals without reference
to native abilities. Both Linton and Davis emphasize the ascribed statuses
and take them to be the socially defined goals of childhood as ordered
to systems of age, sex, and family relationships. 3

Since the ascription of statuses with relation to sex was basic in Colonial
and early American society, this study will examine the different attitudes
and activities prescribed for boys and for girls. It will be noted that in
the family, church, and school, as well as in community life, the male
was trained for the superordinate roles, while the female was generally

INTRODUCTION 3

assigned to subordinate positions. This training was accomplished by
universal insistence upon sex-appropriate language, clothes, work, and
recreation.

Closely allied to sex as a point of reference in establishing status was
age. Like most social groups, the early Americans recognized three age
levels: child, adult, and old. In most considerations of age, cultural
factors predominated in determining the content of status. This fact was
best illustrated by the accepted status of the child in the home, where
it will be found he was expected to be seen but not heard, where he
slept in a trundle bed or on a straw tick in a loft, and where he ate his
single dish, seated on a stool at a side table, while his elders and betters
enjoyed the limited luxuries of the times as well as the obsequious defer-
ence of the young.

Birth placed the child immediately within the range of a variety of
social patterns which related him to his parents, to his brothers and
sisters, and to his parents' families. Since the life of the early American
child, for the most part, was restricted by lack of communication and
travel to intercourse with this narrow circle of blood relatives, his status
in the family was of prime importance and will accordingly be treated
in its various phases.

Class relationships were but the extensions of intimate family and
clique connections, and thus narrowed the environment of the child's
training to those groups with whom he could freely associate. Even
in this limited scope, the number of class controls which the child had
to maintain in order to satisfy the demands of his family's status as a
unit will probably seem formidable enough to the modern reader. Class
training ranged from the various types of educational opportunities
presented by the home, the church, and the school to the proper style
of dress and address or to the accepted types of recreation permitted the
child.

No attempt has been made to define the term "child" in the sense of
exact age-limits. As a matter of common sense, these limits have been
so set as to begin at the time when a small child could talk and under-
stand a simple conversation, and are then carried through to include
early adolescence. But the phraseology in this respect seems to have
changed, for such references as "young people" or "youth" were once
applied to boys and girls in their childhood. It is to be understood that
the use of these phrases here implies this older connotation. The limita-
tions of space permit only the position of white children to be considered
in the discussions of this study, with no reference to the status of the
Indian or Negro child.

4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

An attempt has been made to analyze and interpret the mass of con-
temporary juvenile literature by an examination of hundreds of tiny
volumes written especially for children and for their training, but the
author is under no illusions that this is a complete estimate of child
life. A definite study would have to employ further types of sources,
such as technical, legal, and medical works, as well as material relevant
to child labor and to institutional care; but the limitations of time and
space again did not admit of these in the present work. For the same
reason, travel books and general biographical material have not been
used; but this loss may not be so great as at first supposed, since
most foreign travelers failed fully to record juvenile life in America;
and the section devoted to youth in most biographies relating to these
periods is brief and unsatisfactory. Other types of literature, pertinent
to the history of the child in the period following 1835, had no consider-
able development until after that date. This is notably true o juvenile
magazines; for even the Youth's Companion, which was first issued in
1827, was concerned in its early years mainly with morbid accounts of
dead or dying children, and it was not until after 1835 that it provided
domestic stories about a family of real boys and girls. Our Young Fol^s
and Saint Nicholas also offer the historian of this later period a wealth
of material on child life. At the earlier date, the delightful autobiographi-
cal works, such as the New England reminiscences of Thomas Bailey
Aldrich or such stirring adventures of frontier youth as sketched by
Mark Twain, were also lacking.

In terms o the sources actually used children's books and guides for
parents other limitations of research may be readily conceived. The
scarcity of juvenile books at this period, the customary habit of passing
the most popular ones in turn to each new member of the family, and
the traditional vandalism of most children as far as books are concerned,
combine to explain the absence of some valuable materials from this
study.

Certain definite impressions of bygone days are lost in a study o this
type, because it is impossible to reproduce adequately, even to a sym-
pathetic reader, the soul o these little books and the message imparted
by their very physical make-up. Titles, quotations, and prefaces, while
quaint and informative, do not suffice to carry the scent of old ink, the
feel of faded leaves, the lack of perspective In the grotesque illustrations,
and the curious flowered or gilt bindings of these tiny treasures; nor can
they reproduce the touching inscriptions and crude sketches made long
ago by childish hands on flyleaves or margins. Even with this loss the
books are used as valued sources, for they reflect more accurately than

INTRODUCTION 5

any other class o literature the spirit of the times and the lives and
customs of their young owners.

1 Ralph Linton, The Study of Man, p. 113.

2 James H. S. Bossard, Marriage and the Child, Chapter n; Kmgsley Davis, "The
Child and the Social Structure/' The Journal of Educational Sociology (December
1940) pp. 217, 230; Allison Davis, "American Status Systems and the Socialization
of the Child," American Sociological Review (June 1941), pp. 345-54-

3 Lmton, loc. cit.; Allison Davis, "American Status Systems and the Socialization
of the Child," pp. 347-50.

Mental Pabulum
OF

GODLY CHILDREN

THE changing status o the early American child may be given tangible
expression by the books provided the "little men and women" for the
period 1700 to 1835. The very appearance o the small volumes indicates
not only an evolution in American tastes and customs but also a transition
in adult response to the needs of childhood. The content of juvenile
publications depicts even more clearly the formal, tortured existence of
these "godly children."

The earliest coverless works with their crooked, faded lettering and
crude woodcuts bear such religious titles as Remember Thy Creator in
the Days of Thy Youth and Spiritual MilJ^ for Boston Babes. These fragile
relics are followed by others more securely bound in curious wooden
covers with backs of coarse leather and burdened by such long, quaint
titles as War with the Devil; or The Young Man's Conflict with the
Powers of Darkness. Fascinating miniatures or thumb books in silver,
gilt, or variegated bindings eclipse their less imposing neighbors and hold
the stories children cherished from Revolutionary days to the end of the
century. The History of Goody Twoshoes, with the Means by Which
She Acquired Learning and Wisdom is among the most attractive works
of this class.

A brilliant array of yellow, blue, pink, and marbled covers for fairy
stories and "histories" such as Mother Goose's Melody or Sonnets for the
Cradle stand next in line. These charming works are succeeded by the
drab cloth bindings of such anemic moral tales as The History of Betsey
Brown, the Robber's Daughter: Shewing the Utility of Sunday Schools.
This drabness was relieved only at rare intervals by such works as Peter
Piper in its bright orange wrapper, or by the Peter Parley tales bound
in cream boards and red leather backs. A pall of dejection encompassed

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 7

nearly all juvenile books until the days of Alice in Wonderland, whose
sheer nonsense and fantastic illustrations broke the spell of gloom.

The only literary diversion recommended for children before the
American Revolution was the reading of stories of a purely religious
nature or tales of a didactic and moral character. 1 Such tales as Jacf^ the
Giant Killer, Tom Thumb, and Guy of WarwicJ^ were, at least orally, a
common tradition of the first colonists. They were probably used as bed-
time stories by many mothers in the South, even though they were
frowned upon in the other colonies. 2 Among the Puritans and Quakers
and other pietist sects of the Middle Colonies any books that provided
entertainment, or that stimulated the child's imagination by opening the
door even a little to the "Land of Make-Believe," were looked upon as
vain and wordly. 3 John Croker, a Quaker, warned his children in 1721:
"Read not in foolish books, with which the nation abounds, but read in
the Holy Scriptures in which there is a great deal of comfort." 4 In a
Puritan publication of the same period, a father gave his six-year-old
child this solemn advice: "Child, the Bible is your rule of life . . . which
being the Word of God, you are to read it with reverence, regard it with
faith as the word of God and obey it as your rule." 5

No period in the history of American juvenile literature is therefore
so bleak and uninspiring as the" first seventy-five years of the eighteenth
century. During this time no real effort was made either in the colonies
or in England to provide suitable reading material for the young. Chil-
dren everywhere were treated not as undeveloped beings but as ignorant
men and women, and nothing was written especially for the needs of
the immature mind. Instead, little ones were expected to digest as best
they could the heavy literary diet of adults. Even those few writers who
did devote some of their time to the writing of primers and "pabulum" 1
were apologetic for thus wasting their talents. John Bunyan, for instance,,
in 1688, began his Boo\ for Boys and Girls with the words:

To those who are in years but Babes I bow
My Pen to teach them what the letters be,
And how they may improve their A B C. 6

Almost eighty years later Isaac Watts wrote in reference to his Divine
Songs for the Use of Children: "Some of my friends imagine that my
time is employed in too mean a service while I write for babes." 7

None but the most arbitrary distinctions can be made between English
and American literature for children at this time, because a majority
of the publications used in the Colonies were prepared in England, and
the few American productions current followed British models so closely

8 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

as to have no distinct individuality. This barrenness in the field of
American juvenile literature is readily understood, for not only did the
colonists lack the tradition of providing reading material at the child's
level, but the intense physical activity necessary for the successful planting
of the Colonies destroyed any literary aspirations they may have had, 8
Native authors, in those rare moments given to writing, produced books
of an instructive type. Catechisms, primers, spellers, Latin grammars,
and books of good manners were among our first American publica-
tions. 9

Attempts were made by some publishers to adapt English works to
the American scene, as shown in the preface of the American Instructor,
or the Young Man's Best Companion, in which the printers, "B. Franklin
and D. Hall/' have written: "In the British Edition of this Book, there
were many Things of little or no Use in these Parts of the World: In
this Edition those Things are omitted, and in their Room many other
Matters inserted, more useful to us Americans." 10

No change was made m the general character of these works, for
even die arithmetics and spellers were permeated with a morbid pietism
which confined the childish imagination to those channels connected
with the awful duty of an early conversion as the prelude to an untimely
death. An excellent example of this type is found in Cotton Mather's
A Family Well-Ordered; or } An Essay to Render Parents and Children
Happy in One Another: "You must know Parents that your Children
are by your Means born under the dreadful Wrath of God: and if they
are not New-Born before they dy it has been good for them, that they
had never been born at all." 11

Mather also gave expression to the educational aims of his time and
indicated the types of books needed for Colonial children:

Tis very pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ, that our Children should be well
formed with, and well informed in the Rules of Civility, and not be left a
Clownish, and Sottish and Ill-bred sort o Creatures. An unmannerly Brood
is a Dishonour to Religion. And there are many points of a good education
that we should bestow on our Children; They should Read, and Write, and
Cyphar, and be put into some agreeable Calling: not only our Sons but our
Daughters should also be taught such things as will afterwards make them
useful in their Places. Acquaint them with God and Christ and the Mysteries
of Religion, and the Doctrines and Methods of the Great Salvation. 12

Books to carry out this program were a costly luxury, since colonists
had to import most of them from England, After 1775 they printed
their own and some pirated works on the presses of Boston, Philadelphia,
and New York. Following the counsel of men like Mather, and in keep-

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 9

ing with the advice of John Locke, who knew no study aids "out of the
ordinary road o the Psalter, the New Testament, and the Bible," the
colonists used hornbooks and primers of a rudimentary sort, reprints
of sermons, miniature Bibles, and catechisms "expounding the precepts
of the Christian religion" to prod the child up the weary road to learning.
These guides, Locke said, "engage the liking of children and tempt
them to read." 13 If youthful , climbers faltered in the ascent, they had
but to cast their eyes on such popular selections as the following to spur
their lagging steps:

Let all backsliders of me warning take,

Before they fall into the Stygian Lake;

Yea, and return and make with God their peace

Before the Days of Grace and Mercy cease;

For mine are past forever, Oh! condole

My sad Estate and miserable Soul.

My Days will quickly end, and I must he

Broylmg in Flames to all Eternity. 14

The Bible was in every home not only the chief source of religious
instruction, but also the text used for teaching reading and spelling.
The Scriptures were indeed the "key of instruction" by which the chil-
dren were taught to worship God, to order their conversation aright,
and to perform their duty to their neighbor. 16 In the course of this train-
ing, little thought was given to the devastating effect which some pas-
sages of the Bible might have on the nervous system of a sensitive child.
Indeed, there were a few who studied versions of the Children's Bible,
but the usual method of reading the Scriptures for children as well as
adults was to begin with the first book of the Old Testament and to
proceed by stated assignments to the end, with no expurgations.

Next to the Bible, the New England Primer was another fruitful
source of theological knowledge. This tiny text, just big enough to fit
snugly in a child's pocket, was immensely popular in all the Colonies
and went through numerous editions even in the nineteenth century.
Although this primer, too, was deeply religious in tone, the crude wood-
cuts and the cruder rhymes illustrating the alphabet must have been a
welcome diversion to children forced otherwise to study reprints o
drowsy sermons of interminable length. Added charm lay in the primer's
few extremely pious stories of such martyrs as John Rogers, or in some
of Watts's hymns, even though the search for such treasures led through
exhortations not to lie, not to cheat at play, not to be a dunce, and to
love school. 16

Michael Wiggleworth's Day of Doom, as a supplement to the New

io AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

England Primer, reflected the same somber aspects of religion and edu-
cation for children. This book, printed on sheets like a common ballad
and hawked about the country., apparently held out but one small hope
to unregenerate "infants":

You sinners are, and such a share as sinners may expect,

Such you shall have; For I do save none but mine own elect . . .

Therefore in bliss you may not hope to dwell,

But unto you I shall allow the easiest room in Hell. 17

The Eoo\ of Martyrs by Fox was deemed a most desirable work for
children in Colonial days, and was repeatedly recommended for use
in schools. Other works especially intended for the young introduced
martyrologies with a wealth of revolting detail. 18

The almanac, which held place with the Bible and the New England
Primer as an integral factor of the Colonial library, was published by
local printers in great variety. The abundance of almanacs and the great
diversity of important and useful data packed between their covers,
probably tempted children to read them with the same avidity as did their
parents and elders. Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard" deeply engraved
pithy maxims on the minds and hearts of young Americans, and helped
in no small measure to establish those habits of prudence and thrift
characteristic of the new nation. 19

English-speaking children since 1700 have taken for their exclusive
use four world-famous books not intended originally by the authors
as juvenile literature. The first of these, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,
published in 1688 for adults, was eagerly seized upon by children. Its
illustrations and forthright style particularly pleased them, while Pilgrim's
difficulties in the Slough of Despond or with the Giant Despair were
agreeable contrasts to the martyrs' deaths and the horrors of fire and
sword in their usual reading. 20 Robinson Crusoe, appearing in 1714, was
immediately appropriated by the little folk in the same way. 21 Gulliver's
Travels was composed by Swift in 1726 for satirical purposes, but children
reveled in the controversy of the foolish Big Endian and Little Endian
which agitated the kingdom of Lilliput, "wherein eleven thousand per-
sons suffered death rather than break an egg at the smaller end." 22
Finally, Munchausen in 1785 derided the extravagances of travelers'
tales; but again, children responded to its extraordinary adventures and
made it their own. 23

English chapbooks or reprints of the little volumes sold by wandering
British peddlers began to deluge America about the middle of the
eighteenth century. The wide range of subjects covered may have been

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN n

responsible for the popularity of these works. In the chapman's pack
could be found ABC books, nursery rhymes, fairy stories, fables, primers,
riddle books, song and hymn books, lives of heroes, historical abridg-
ments, travels, religious histories, and abstracts of popular novels. This
motley array reflected the moral tone of the times, for many of the
earlier chapbooks were crude in thought as well as inartistic in physical
design. The incongruity of giving abridgments of such novels as Field-
ing's Tom Jones to children who were denied Mother Goose is difficult
to comprehend. Peerless among the shorter stones unfit for children's
reading was the Prodigal Daughter; or a strange and wonderful relation,
shewing how a gentleman of vast estate in Bristol, had a proud and
disobedient Daughter, who because her Parents would not support her
in all her extravagance, bargained with the Devil to poison them. How
an Angel of the 'Lord informed her parents of her Design. How she lay
in a trance for four days; and when she was put into the grave, she came
to life again, etc? 4 ' Other books treating of witchcraft and fortune-telling
may have left their mark on certain inhuman proceedings in the history
of those times.

The majority of books were in small octavo, about five-and-one-half
by four-and-one-half inches, but those particularly designed for children
were even smaller or about two-and-one-half by three-and-one-half inches.
One of the first of these miniatures, published in Boston, was printed
by William Seeker, and had the amazing title: A Wedding Ring Fit for
the Finger; or the Salve of Divinity on the Sore of Humanity. These
little books contained four or a multiple of four pages, up to twenty-four
or thirty-two, were printed in a rude manner on very coarse paper,
bound in wall-paper wrappers, and "adorned" with woodcuts which
had at best only a remote reference to the text. Engravers were scarce
in the colonies, and the art of woodcutting little practised; so the same
cut was used over and over again, sometimes with grotesque results.
The History of the Holy Jesus, published in Boston in 1749, showed the
cut of the "Wise Men Come from the East," consisting of a group of
Puritan men gazing through telescopes at a comet but not noticing the
moon or stars that filled the rest of the sky. Another extraordinary cut
in the same work, representing Christ teaching the multitude, depicted
Him in the gown and bands of a Puritan preacher in a pulpit before
which stood three Puritan men on one side and three Puritan women
on the other.

The waning of Puritan fervor and the ferment of skepticism about
the middle of the eighteenth century caused the emphasis in juvenile
literature to shift from works of a purely theological character to more

12

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

practical books of moral instruction in which stern dogma was sup-
planted by humorous examples o right living. To supply children with
this new type of reading material John Newbery, the famous printer
of St. Paul's Churchyard, London, in 1744 began the publication of
dozens of quaint rhymes and stories filled with playful humor. Many
of these books that would amuse as well as instruct have maintained
their popularity with boys and girls to the present. It is believed that
Dr. Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith assisted Newbery m his venture into
the land of youthful mirth and nonsense. Newbery frequently referred
in his little gilt volumes to his friend Goldsmith as "the very great writer
o very little books." 25 Goldsmith, on the other hand, has described
Newbery's infectious enthusiasm for the mass production of "interesting
and amusing little books for children": "He was no sooner alighted
but he was in haste to be gone; for he was ever on business of the utmost
importance, and was at that time actually compiling materials for the
history of one Mr. Thomas Trip." 26

Dr. Johnson, during his interest in Newbery's publications, records
an incident in which he "withdrew his attention'* from a noted con-
temporary who bored him and "thought about Tom Thumb." Johnson's
escape was not only from dull facts into a dream-world, but from
formalism of words into simple realism; for to him, as to children, the
experiences of the tiny creature, Tom Thumb, were logical. The great
and the childish mind alike could grasp the magic of the dwarf who not
only slept in a walnut shell, or feasted three days upon a single hazel-nut,
but who wore an oak-leaf hat, a spider-woven shirt, and hose and doublet
of thistledown. 27

Newbery began his project with quaint imitations of such periodicals
as The Tatler, The Spectator, and The Rambler. These works, embody-
ing the aims and methods of the English philosopher, John Locke, he
published under the tides The Little Pretty Pocket-Bool^ and the Lillipu-
tian Magazine. Almost a half-century before, Locke had not only recom-
mended the use of picture books as a study aid, but had also endorsed
such works as Msop's Fables as desirable reading for children. Locke
thus proposed pleasure as a new element in reading and learning, since
he declared that the fables which were "apt to delight and entertain a
child may yet afford useful reflections to a grown man; and if his memory
retain them all his life after, he will not repent to find them there
amongst his manly thoughts and serious business." 28 Although Locke
placed virtue as the first aim of juvenile reading, in contrast to the Puri-
tanical "other-worldliness," he also sought to plant deeply in "infant
minds" the seeds of absolute truth and common sense under the genial

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 13

sun of "innocent amusement." 29 His influence is clearly discernible in
the preface of the Little Pretty Pocket-Bool^ which contains a letter to
parents and guardians laying down rules for making children strong,
healthy, virtuous, and happy. 30

Benjamin Franklin, editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadel-
phia, recognized the genius of Newbery as early as 1750 by "importing
parcels of entertaining books for children," and by advertising them for
sale to the "little Masters and Misses" of the Colonies. One such allotment
included: A New French Primer, the Royal Battledore, the Pretty Eoo\
for Children, and the Museum or a Private Tutor. Franklin may not
have been in full accord with the new technique of combining amuse-
ment and instruction in the training of the young, but he sold quantities
of the Museum at one shilling a copy, as prizes to "dutiful children for
excellence in scholarship." 31 The Museum, practically a library in itself,
was eminently suited to this purpose, for it contained not only directions
for reading with "eloquence and propriety," but also accounts of the
"ancient and present state of Great Britain," instructions on the solar
system, geography, rules of behavior, religion, and morality, admonitions
given by great men "just quitting the stage of life," and descriptions of
the Seven Wonders of the World. 32

Hugh Gaines, publisher and patent medicine vendor, a decade later
was selling wholesale and retail many of Newbery's books at the Bible
and Crown Bookshop in New York. Poems for Children Three Feet
High, Tommy Trapwit, Trip's BooJ^ of Pictures, The New Year's Gift,
and the Christmas Box stocked his shelves and found their way to eager
little readers. 33

In form and style, the Little Pretty Poc%et-Boo\ was typical of the
new attempt to "amuse" children by special books. Like most juvenile
texts of his design, it was in tiny format and in small type with embossed
gilt paper covers. Children were evidently expected to have good eyes,
for miniature volumes of this kind were common since it was thought
that they were most convenient for small readers to handle. 34 Although
the illustrations at the top of the p^ges were crude in quality and lacked
true perspective, in quantity they were numerous enough to please
eighteenth-century children whose treats of this kind were exceedingly
rare.

The "amusement" in this type of book is thinly scattered and all but
obscured by the poorly disguised morals attached to the fables. In keep-
ing with the traditions of the times, the author employed little subtlety
but pinned his moral plainly in sight and pointed to it steadily. It was
natural that the first coating of entertainment should be spread rather

i 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

thin. One would think now that the section on good manners must
have been discouraging. Cuts o polite children illustrated the product
of the rules set down for direction of "juvenile conduct at home and
abroad." 35 A well-bred child was cautioned: "Attend the Advice of the
Old and the Wise." In the "alphabet of useful copies," he also found
exhortations for the practice of self-control: "Be not angry nor fret, but
forgive and forget." 36

Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, Massachusetts, the American counter-
part of Newbery, began in Revolutionary days to reprint pirated books
to amuse children. In these publications Thomas reflected the new in-
terest in child life that had begun to manifest itself in the colonies.
Youngsters had been admonished to be good in order to escape by the
narrowest margin the eternal pains of hell. Such precepts by 1776 gave
way to counsels cautioning the young to be virtuous because such con-
duct made for a successful life in this world. Children glowing with a
sense of righteousness and wide-eyed with interest heard how "Little
King Pippin" reached his exalted state by an early application to his
lessons; and how Giles, who had learned the alphabet from gingerbread
letters, was rewarded by a fine gentleman for spelling "apple-pye" cor-
rectly. 37 Goody Twoshoes was also a shining example of learning and
wisdom, and she was "set forth at large" for the benefit of those

Who from a State of Rags and Care,
And having shoes but half a Pair,
Their Fortune and their Fame would fix,
And gallop in their Coach and Six. 38

]ac\ Dandy s Delight, a juvenile natural history written for Newbery
by Oliver Goldsmith and pirated by Thomas for his American patrons,
is another example of the new utilitarian attitude. The author, employing
a new technique, pokes fun at children:

The monkey mischievous
Like a naughty boy looks;
Who plagues all his friends,
And regards not his books. 39

Newbery and his disciple Thomas repeatedly protested that their books
for children were always of a high moral order, but some of these works
were more candid in tone than would be tolerated today; others were
not only foolish, but their dull jokes transcended the child's understand-
ing. An illustration of the failure to bring humor to the level of a child
is found in Be Merry and Wise; or, The Cream of Jests:

HEAR WHAT MA'AM' GObSE SifS!
BT d*&Jr little Bteoms, there are tew til this world, and always
will t*e ? a great many grannies besides myself, both in petticoat s and
ptt&taloonS|8QU!ea{leai younger to be surej but all suwstrons wise,

and of mj own failf name* Tkene old W0sie% wlio never had
etskk &0r child of thai* ow^ but wto always kaow how to bring up
peopi J $ children, will leli yuu with ?erj kmg faees! that mj

ing folume s my ail-sulcieni anodyne fo|^
s ? oaght to be laic! askfe
for mn leaned tex&a, mth m tktsy co^M select and publish.
Fudge f I tell jm thai aH their fNitterin^ can't delke my kanii^

Dior tWr wfee pratings equal mj wiser pmitlisgs j and all imttaiors

t$,mj Tel^iaittf songs pigkt as well wnte a new Billy Shakespeare

u anotte Mother Gcme : we two great poets were

I nud we $k il go mi of tbe world tAgvttai

If 0, 00, my Melodies will Bever die,
'While nurses Hig. lakes ry*

From THE TRUE MOTHER GOOSE, 1832

From EVENINGS AT HOME, ca. 1820

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 15

A certain doctor having raised a pretty fortune by irregular practice was
desirous of purchasing a coat of arms to adorn his chariot, and accordingly
asked a friend's advice, what he had best for them? "Oh! Doctor," said he,
"nothing will suit you better than three ducks, and let the motto, if you please,
be Quack, Quack, Quack." 40

American children owe much to France for contributing Charles
Perrault's Histoires ou Contes du Temps passe. This collection of well-
loved nursery tales was first published in 1697 in a small volume whose
frontispiece pictured an old woman with her distaff, seated by the fire,
telling stories to a group of children. On a scroll in the background
were the words Contes de ma Mere I'Oye^ In that form it was brought
to England about 1729, where it was translated and reprinted as the
Tales of Mother Goose. 42 This then was the first use of that renowned
name; and it was not taken, as legend has it, from a Boston lady, Eliza-
beth Goose, the mother-in-law of the printer Thomas Fleet. 43

The idea of editing these old nursery rhymes presumably originated
with John Newbery about 1760, but he was no doubt assisted by Gold-
smith, who was doing hackwork for him at that time, and whose favorite
song, "There was an old Woman toss'd in a Blanket" was included in
the preface for no apparent reason. This English version bore the tide
Mother Goose's Melodies: or Sonnets for the Cradle; and in the intro-
duction Goldsmith clearly indicates that the melodies had long been in
use among the British nurses:

The custom of singing these songs and lullabies to children is of great antiquity.
It is even as old as the time of the ancient Druids. Charactatus, King of the
Britons, was rocked in his cradle in the Isle of Mona, now called "Anglesea"
and tuned to sleep by some of these soporiferous sonnets. We cannot conclude
without observing, the great probability there is that the custom of making
Nonsense Verses in our schools was borrowed from this practice among the old
British nurses; they have, indeed, been always the first preceptors of the youth
of this kingdom, and from them the rudiments of taste and learning are
naturally derived. Let none therefore speak irreverently of this ancient mater-
nity as they may be considered as the great grandmothers of science and knowl-
edge. 44

Perrault's contributions are simple in structure and universal in appeal;
and as such they belong to the class of folklore which has parallels in
nearly every language. Eight fairy tales have been particularly immor-
talized in the English collections. These, translated into English about
1729, are: Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty,
Bluebeard, Diamonds and Toads, Tom Thumb, and Riquet with the
Tuft. Beginning about 1785, Isaiah Thomas gave American youth numer-

16 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

ous editions of these tales of wonder and enchantment. Bound securely
in gleaming covers, the story books were welcomed by children as the
best reward for proficiency in their small tasks, or were prized as gifts
from a beloved grown-up who understood the needs of young hearts. 45
No doubt the philosopher or the anthropologist can explain why the
magical outlook on life expressed in these fairy tales continued to fascinate
children at the very time it was being abandoned by their elders.

The American spirit began to pervade textbooks for the children of
the new republic by 1790. But independence had to be asserted in the
juvenile as well as in other literary forms. The schoolmaster had the
particular duty of fashioning the mind and heart of the young, accord-
ing to the ideals of the Founding Fathers, and it was he who set about
revising the old British textbooks: Even the New England Primer gave
up the couplet:

Whales in the Sea

God's voice obey.

and substituted for it:

By Washington

Great deeds were done. 46

American writers prepared a number of small United States histories
under the conviction that children must have their imaginations prop-
erly stirred to appreciate their country. These little works not only gave
the spirit and atmosphere of Colonial and Revolutionary times, but
also inspired an interest in a subject which had formerly been confined
to chronology or to a study of the ancient and medieval periods. The
authors of the new texts showed an enthusiasm for describing the beauties
and resources of the various states and sections, with the result that these
historical works also contained much geographical information. This
novel compilation of native lore extended the mental horizons of boys
and girls beyond the boundaries of their neighboring hills, and doubtless
did much to awaken a spirit of national pride and stimulate hope in
the future greatness of America.

Noah Webster's Elements of Useful Knowledge, containing an His-
torical and Geographical Account of the United States provided one of
the first outlines of American history. Among the early biographies of
our national heroes, The Life of George Washington, Commander in
Chief of the Army .during the Late War, and Present President of the
United States was published in Philadelphia in 1794. It also contained
selections on "The Vanity of Youthful Hopes," '"The Federal Prayer,"
and an "Epitaph on a Poor but Honest Man." 47

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 17

Another work. The History of America, abridged for the use of chil-
dren of all denominations, which appeared in Philadelphia in 1795, con-
tained the woodcuts and accounts of discoverers and heroes, and of the
various governors of the states. 48 An ingenuous combination of patriotism
and obedience is found in The Child's Instructor written by John Ely,
"a teacher of little children in Philadelphia," in 1791. Since the seat of
government was located in that city at the time, a special story centered
around the President and one Billy a precocious child of five who
remarked that "if you would be wise you must always attend to your
vowels and consonants." When Washington took up his office in the
city, Billy was requested by his mother to address some of her callers
on the merits of the first President; he did so in these terms: "Americans!
place constantly before your eyes, the deplorable scenes of your servitude
and then the enchanting picture of your deliverance. Begin with the
infant in the cradle; let the first word he lisps be Washington." The
ladies, gratified at hearing Billy speak so well, predicted that eventually
he would be a lawyer or even the president of the country; but the boy
replied that he could be neither "unless his mamma gave him leave." 49

The teaching of Jean Jacques Rousseau, that the chief aim of education
was to develop the child according to the laws of nature, manifested
itself toward the close of the eighteenth century in a new impetus given
to child study. Juvenile literature as a result came under the control of
the didactic school of writers. In England and subsequently in the United
States, Rousseau's theories had even more effect on the actual life of
the family than on books. As children were relieved of the old restric-
tions, they began to develop their individuality of action and powers of
self-control; and parents, on their part, tended to make friends rather
than philosophers of their boys and girls. This social progress was under-
scored in books by the make-believe accounts of impossible children and
perfect parents. Most writers of juvenile books became theorists, who
sought to make life fit their theories. 50

Thomas Day, who wrote The History of Sandford and Merton in
1789, was one of the most widely read of the English didactic writers.
His work emphasized the value of human life and the dignity of labor
by denouncing artificial standards. Two six-year-old boys, Harry Sand-
ford and Tommy Merton, exemplified* the sharp contrast so familiar
to eighteenth-century children. Harry, the "child of a plain, honest
farmer," had a just sense of values; while Tommy, a horrible example
of soft, effeminate rearing, was frivolously engrossed in worldly interests.
In this ideal setting for moralizing, the tiresome remarks of Mr. Barlow,
the tutor, covered a wide variety of subjects ranging from ghosts and

j8 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

toys to theology, geography, biology, astronomy, and political science.
Despite its stilted language and priggish patterns, this work continued
to have a wide circulation among American boys and girls for more than
a century, and for years was considered one of the best books ever written
for children. 51

The evolution of children's books in England and America during
the first half of the ninteenth century faithfully mirrors a change in the
knowledge and aspirations of the social world. In the first two decades
of the century, the utilitarian works of English female writers became
immensely popular in the United States and threatened to eclipse the
budding efforts of native authors. 52 From their experience as teachers
or mothers these "well-informed" women definitely made a place for
themselves in children's literature. As exponents of the didactic school,
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Martha Sherwood, Sarah K. Trimmer, and
Maria Edgeworth soundly condemned fairy stories and all nonsense such
as Mother Goose rhymes; while in the task of making children upright,
generous, and resourceful, they confined themselves to staid tales of
exact literal truth. 53 Their philosophy was clearly set forth in many
prefaces like the following:

Such a creature as Jack Frost never existed, any more than old Santaclaw
[sic] of whom so often little children hear such foolish stories; and once a
year they are encouraged to hang their stockings in the chimney at night, and
when they arise in the morning, they will find in them cakes, nuts, money,
etc., placed there by some of the family, which they are told Old Santa-claw has
come down the chimney and put in. Thus the little innocents are imposed on
by those who are older than they, and improper ideas take possession which
are not by any means profitable. 54

One of these works entitled The Seasons takes advantage of the oppor-
tunity offered by "Gathering Apples, an Autumn Occupation" to deliver
the following homily on drink:

Cider is a cheap, pleasant, and wholesome drink, much to be preferred to
strong spirits, which are wonderful in their operations; for they will unroof
barns, fill windows with old pillow cases, pull down fences, make cattle lean,
children ragged and ignorant, break the hearts of tender mothers and af-
fectionate wives, bring shame and disease, fill gaols and state prisons, and often
bring men to the gallows: it is feared to eternal ruin. 55

Mrs. Barbauld's most popular work, Evening Tales, is a good example
of a juvenile miscellany that had a wide circulation in the United States
in the early nineteenth century. Conversational in tone, it closely followed
the Socratic method of teaching, for it was partly in the form of a
dialogue between parents and children or tutor and child. These dia-

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 19

logues handled such topics as deportment, character traits, geography,
natural sciences, and manufactures. 56 Besides the real loss in the banish-
ment o fairies and elves, another disaster was a revival of the allegory
in such works as Mrs. Barbauld's Order and Disorder: A Fairy Tale.
The heroine of this story was assisted by the good fairy Order in repairing
the damage caused by the bad fairy Disorder who had formerly been
the girl's companion. Works describing the activities of such pseudo-
fairies as Order plagued childhood for decades. 57

This eviction of the fairies did not take place without protests from
grown-ups as well as from children. The Child's Annual, published by
Allen and Ticknor in Boston in 1834, gave "A Lament for the Fairies"
in which the weakness of early nineteenth-century literature for children
was ascribed to the absence of these fantastic folk:

They meet no longer by the light

Of moonbeams 'neath a tree;

Why! one might walk abroad all night

And not a fairy see!

One would but catch a cold or fever

Before the dawn of day;

And these are things that happened never

Till fairies went away.

Farewell to all the pretty tales,
Of merry elfins dining
On mushroom tables, in the dales,
Lit by the glow-worms shining;
And tripping to the minstrel gnat,
His jocund measure singing,
While o'er their heads the lazy bat
A silent flight was winging,

Farewell! like theirs, my song is done:
But yet once more Fll say
There never has been any fun,
Since fairies went away.

Charles Dickens, decades later, deplored this literary tragedy which had
struck childhood in the opening years of the century, and wrote to this
effect in Household Words for October 1885:

It would be hard to estimate the amount of gendeness and mercy that has
made its way among us through these slight channels [meaning fairy tales].
Forbearance, courtesy, consideration for the poor and aged, kind treatment of
animals, the love of Nature, abhorrence of tyranny and brute force many such
good things have been nourished in the child's heart by this powerful aid. It
has greatly helped to keep us ever young, by preserving through our worldly

20 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

ways one slender track, not over-grown with weeds, where we may walk with
children, sharing their delights.

Mrs. Sherwood, who was preoccupied with the thought of death, con-
tributed the Fairchild Family, a collection of stories to prove the necessity
of religious education. After a quarrel among his children, Mr. Fairchild
illustrated the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" by taking the culprits
for what he said would be a pleasant walk, and casually showing them
a crossroad gibbet on which hung the body of a murderer. On another
occasion the father took them to visit a dying farmer lad, who told the
children his particular preparations for death had included a trip to
the cemetery and an inspection of the family vault. 58

Mrs. Trimmer made more agreeable contributions to child life in such
works as her Fabulous Histones, or, The Story of the Robins, in which
she represented Dicksy, Flapsy, and Pecksy, not as birds but as human
beings capable of thinking and speaking. Written from a child's point
of view, the story sought to inspire in thoughtless and even brutal chil-
dren an idea of the kindness due birds and animals as a part of God's
creation. 59

Maria Edgeworth, the greatest of the moralists, was a friend of Thomas
Day, the author of Sand ford and Merton, and like him an admirer of
Rousseau. In her work of educating the young, Miss Edgeworth was
not dedicated to the idea of furnishing them informational material,
but rather in improving their mode of living by a harmless and decidedly
moral literature. Her treatise Practical Education embodied somewhat
progressive ideas and methods for play and study. She recommended that
those toys should be selected which would develop in the child a maxi-
mum of creative and constructive activity. 60 Opposed as she was to im-
probable fiction for children, Miss Edgeworth applied her genius to
the production of the Parent's Assistant f a collection of realistic tales.
Her father, in the preface, showed that the purpose of the book was to
correct the weaknesses of the moralistic-didactic school of writing by
the use of the suspense element: "To prevent the precepts of morality
from tiring the ear and mind, it is necessary to make stories, in which
they are introduced, in some measure dramatic; to keep alive hope, fear,
and curiosity by some degree of intricacy." 61

This "intricacy" diverted the child's attention from the moral of the
story, and the result was a greater plot development than was usually
found in such tales. The young reader could not predict so readily the
ending of Miss Edgeworth's stories; hence the use of the new suspense
device must have been intriguing. Another distinctive feature of her
work was the realistic settings for her pictures of child life. Miss Edge-

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 21

worth may thus be considered a pioneer in writing for the young. Such
stories as "The Purple Jar," "Lazy Lawrence," "Waste Not, Want Not,"
"Simple Susan," and "The Orphan" gave to children, if not fairies, at
least a host of benevolent noblemen, gracious ladies, and philanthropic
merchants, who always appeared at the right moment to make awards
or to point a moral. 62

Juvenile poetry, produced by the English school of moralists and re-
printed in this country at the turn of the century, reveals the low opinion
many writers had of the child's appreciation of finer things. The purpose
of this poetry approximated that of the didactic stories to cultivate
morals, to polish manners, and to communicate some useful knowledge
to the young. 63 Ann and Jane Taylor, and Adelaide O'Keefe, the first
of this group of British writers to devote themselves exclusively to juvenile
verse, were forced by their convictions to disregard everything in their
writings except the literal truth, moral ideas, and the elements of poetic
form. They addressed children in endearing terms and kissed and
caressed them, but there was plainly a lack of the genuine tenderness
found in the cradle songs of "the good old nurses." 64

In Rhymes for the Nursery f babies in the process of being put to bed
were lectured about their well-being and allowed a smug acceptance
of the good things of life. Their good parents, the joys of home, and
play with a puppy were compared to the hard lot of poor children, but
never with a suggestion of remedial measures that might lie within a
child's reach. Instead of evoking compassion for the wretched, these
works fostered in the fortunate child a complacent enjoyment of his
comforts. Even more obnoxious than this smugness was the ghoulish
advice to little children to learn of the uncertainty of life by a visit to
a graveyard at twilight, there to read what "the grey mouldering stone
tells of the mouldering dead." In the epitaphs pointed out by the Taylor
sisters, one sees a revival of the Colonial attitude towards death, but
with more emphasis on its repugnant physical aspects:

You are not so healthy and gay
So young, so active, and bright,
That death cannot snatch you away,
Or some dreadful accident smite.

Here lie both the young and the old,
Confined in the coffin so small,
The earth covers over them cold,
The grave-worms devour them all. 65

Certainly in Original Poems, the infant horror stories of these women
reached their zenith in depicting the little boy who fished for sticklebacks

22 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

in his father's pond and met with swift and awful punishment for his
crimes :

Many a little fish he caught.

And pleased was he to look,

To see them writhe in agony,

And struggle on the hook.

At last when having caught enough,
And also tired himself,
He hastened home intending there
To put them on the shelf.

But as he jumped to reach a dish,
To put his fishes in,
A large meat hook, that hung close by
Did catch him by the chin.

Poor Harry kicked and call'd aloud,
And screamed and cried and roared,
While from his wounds the crimson blood
In dreadful torrents poured, 66

The little fisherman was rescued by a maid, but he remained a dread-
ful example even to children whose fathers earned a livelihood at fishing.
Justice never lagged in overtaking the culprit in these tales. Wicked
children always came to grief; the good invariably escaped perils. Besides
the danger of developing a false conscience, the constant repetition of
the omnipresence of an avenging God was another emphasis which
would now be viewed as harmful in its psychological effects:

In every place by night and day
He watches all you do and say.

With this conception persistently stressed, the child could have had no
idea of God as a kind and loving father, but must have cringed under
the all-seeing eye of the stern judge who spied on all his actions. In all
these didactic precepts there was little to engender pity, hope, and love.
By their incessant hammering on trivial faults, these stories offered
children no opportunity to trace the effects of more serious sins on others,
and then to make the proper application to their own lives.

Eliza Lee Pollen, another English verse writer, unhappily attempted
early in the century to reproduce the old Mother Goose tales without the
nonsense. In the preface of her miniature book called Little Songs for
Little Boys and Girls, Mrs. Follen gives enlightening insight into the
prevailing opinions of adults about children's readings:

It has been my object ... to catch something of that good humored pleasantry,
that musical nonsense which makes Mother Goose so attractive to children of

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 23

all ages. Indeed, I should not have thought of preparing a collection of new
baby songs . . . if I had met with another book of this kind adapted to the
capacity, taste, and moral sense of children, so I have attempted to imitate its
beauties, and what is a far easier thing, to avoid the defects of Mother Goose
melodies. 67

Like every other attempt to supplant Mother Goose rhymes, this work
failed miserably; the contrast between the enduring force of the old
verses and the wretched weakness of the new ones shows the futility
of this effort. Children loved the melodious language and pleasing
sounds of a Mother Goose story which gave rise to tramping and clap-
ping as well as happy mood:

One misty, moisty morning
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man
Clothed all in leather.

He began to compliment

And I began to grin

'How do you do?' and 'How do you do?'

And 'How do you do?' again! 68

As a substitute for this jingle, Mrs. Pollen presented one with the proper
moral perquisites:

The poor man is weak,

How pale is his cheek!

Perhaps he has met with some sorrow;

Let us give him a bed.

Where his poor weary head

May rest, and feel better tomorrow. 69

Fortunately this strict diet of moral tales was considered too heavy by
some English writers, who made an attempt to amuse rather than in-
struct or preach to children. William Roscoe inspired a host of imitations
by writing a sprightly poem, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's
Feast, for his little son's birthday in 1807. This tiny classic, one of the
first in which the child's imagination plays with the life of the animal
world, began with the words:

Come take up your Hats and let us haste,

To the Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. 72

Children in the company of other guests, such as the frog, the squirrel,
and the dragonfly, could easily enjoy the hospitality of the "Land of
Make-Believe/' where they found fairylike preparations for the feast:

A Mushroom their table, and on it was laid
A Water-dock leaf, which a Table-cloth made.

24 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

This little poem not only set a vogue for fantastic verse in whi
animals and insects played the roles of human beings, but it also inti
duced the bright-colored pictures in which children took delight f
the next thirty years. According to the advertisement on the back cov<
the work sold for "one shilling plain and sixteen pence coloured." T
tints were applied by a group of children working together, each arm<
with a brush and a pot of paint; and each child was responsible f
applying his own color where it belonged on the humorous illustratio
Thus the red, blue, and yellow patches appeared as the print pass<
from hand to hand. 71

In 1822 Clement Moore, a New York educator, wrote for his ovs
children the famous Christmas ballad, 'Twos the Night Before ChrL
mas; A Visit from St. Nicholas. He thus unwittingly produced what h
been termed the first truly original story of lasting merit in the juveni
literature of America. 72 In this beloved tale, Santa Glaus, the jolly patrc
of children, happily began his mission to the public of the United State
Mr. Moore's ballad was not only free from the restrictions of the mon
ists, but was brimming with spontaneous mirth, and in this respect w
fifty years ahead of its time. It enchanted children from the very begi
ning by the extravagance of its expression and by the striking sour
imitations in such lines as:

Up on the house-top, click, click, click,

Down through the chimney, good Saint Nick . . .

Ever since Dasher and Dancer brought good Saint Nick to celebra
Christmas as a national feast, children, excited by the tinkling bells ar
fragrant greens, have reveled in delightful anticipation of this holida

This survey shows that for the first quarter o the nineteenth centu]
Americans followed their old tradition of reprinting English bool
exactly as they came to this country or at best with a few changes. N<
only were stories with English settings published for American childre
but descriptions of British flora and fauna, games and customs, almo
excluded those of the United States. With the achievement of comple
national independence and the growth of confidence in the improv
ment of the education system, demands were made for books emphasi:
ing distinctly American characteristics.

Samuel Goodrich, whose pen name was "Peter Parley," was chief]
responsible for the elimination of the British background from mo
juvenile books used in America. Like the British moralists whom he suj
planted, Goodrich violently denounced such stories as Red Riding Hoo
and such nonsense rhymes as "Hey Diddle Diddle" as being unchristia

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 25

and unwholesome food for young minds. Beginning with the Talcs of
Peter Parley about America in 1827, he devoted thirty years of his life to
writing over a hundred volumes of history, geography, science, and
travel all of which rivaled in interest the best English publications. 73 The
appeal of these works was so great that Goodrich had many imitators
at home; while spurious Peter Parleys sprang up even in England, where
his simple factual stories had made him popular.

Besides the enthusiasm for perfecting the educational system by a
better understanding of the child, other influences such as religion and
the development of youthful aesthetic tastes and values were brought
to bear on books for boys and girls. The steady decline of Puritanism,
the gradual realization that the morbid tone and inartistic character of
much of the old juvenile literature was harmful to the young, the revolt
against the banishment of fairies, together with an increased regard for
children and a more sympathetic understanding of their needs, com-
bined by the sixties to form a new conception of child life that soon
expressed itself m children's books. By this time the notion had crystal-
lized in adult thinking that literature for the young was not only to be
directed to moralistic or to utilitarian ends, but was also to afford the
child happiness and entertainment. This change, which now seems
sudden, was accelerated by a few remarkable books published after the
Civil War. The first and greatest of these was an English work, Lewis
Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, or what has been termed the "spiritual
volcano of children's books." Its author made no apologies for the lack
of moral preaching, and this enchanting tale permanently established
the precedent that fun and nonsense were legitimate and desirable in
juvenile literature.

Subsequently the natural child with his faults as well as virtues
was to become the hero of juvenile literature. On this side of the Atlantic,
before 1900, Aldrich gave us his Story of a Bad Boy, while in England
E. Nesbit composed her delightful tales of healthy, imaginative English
children. 74 In time it was found that young readers and some old ones-
delighted particularly in the very pranks and backslidings that had
shocked the earlier generations. Both Mark Twain and Kipling made
heroes of their "bad boys." And American radio audiences today enjoy
the accounts of the "fresh" hopeful who actually gets the best of his
elders. So the pendulum of adult attitudes towards children seems to
have swung from one extreme to the other in the century between 1840
and 1940. But the latter phase is beyond the province of the present study.

26 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Rosalie V. Halsey, Forgotten Eoo\s of the American Nursery, p. 3.

*lbid., p. 8.

3 Walter J. Homan, Children and Quakerism, p. 72.

4 As quoted in Friends Library, XIV (1727), 12-13.

5 As quoted in Sanford Fleming, Children and Puritanism, pp. 78, 79.

6 As quoted in Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, p. 117.

7 As quoted in Algernon Tassin, "Books for Children/' Cambridge History of
American Literature, II, 401.

8 Charles Welsh, "Early History of Children's Books in New England," in New
England Magazine, XX, 147,

nbid., XX, 148.

10 George Fisher, The American Instructor, Preface.

n Cotton Mather, A Family Well-Ordered, p. n.

lbid., pp. 17-18,

13 As quoted in Welsh, op. cit., 148.

14 Benjamme Keach, War with the Devil, or the Young Man's Conflict with the
Powers of Darkness, in a Dialogue Discovering the Corruption and Vanity of Youth,
the Horrible Nature of Sin, and the Deplorable Condition of Fallen Man, p. 177.

15 Douglas Campbell, The Puritans in Holland, England and America, I (1892),
440.

^New England Primer, Further Improved with Various Additions. For the Attain-
ing the True Reading of English. To which is added The Assembly of Divines
Catechism, pages unnumbered; See also Paul L. Ford, The New England Primer,
p.i.

17 As quoted in Tassin, loc. at.

1S E. M. Field, The Child and His Boo^, p. 193.

19 Welsh, op. cit., p. 153.

20 Halsey, op. cit., p. 10.

^Welsh, op. cit., p. 155.

22 Field, op. cit., p. 232.

lbid., p. 239.

^Anon., The Prodigal Daughter, p. i.

^Florence V. Barry, A Century of Children's Boo^s, p. 63; See also Blanche E.
Weekes, Literature and the Child, pp. 51, 52; Emelyn E. Gardner and Eloise Ramsey,
A Handboo\ of Children's Literature, p. 173.

26 Barry, op. cit., pp. 38, 39.

21 Ibid., pp. 59, 60.

lbid., p. 10.

lbid., p. 9.

The Little Pretty Poc^et-Boo^; Being a New Attempt to teach Children the Use
of the English Alphabet by Way of Diversion, Reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, pp. 7-14.

31 Rosalie V. Halsey, op. cit., pp. 60, 6r.

Ibid., p. 62.

**lbid., p. 63.

34 Quite the reverse of this opinion holds today, for the smaller the child the larger
the book and the type provided for his use. Experiments have proved, moreover,
that the diminutive volume does not appeal as strongly to a little boy or girl as a
larger book; see Florence E. Bamberger, Effects of the Physical Ma%e-up of a Boo\
upon Children's Selection, p. 131.

^The Little Pretty Poc\et^Boo\, p. 15.

37 Halsey, op. cit., p. no.

38 Oliver Goldsmith, The History of Little Goody Twoshoes, reprinted by Isaiah
Thomas, tide page. *

MENTAL PABULUM OF GODLY CHILDREN 27

59 Oliver Goldsmith, ]ac\ Dandy's Delight: or the History of Birds and Beasts; in
Verse and Prose, reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, p. 3.

*Be Merry and Wise; or, the Cream of Jests and the Marrow of Maxims for the
Conduct of Life. Published for the use of all Good Little Boys and Girls, by Tommy
Trapwit, Esq. Reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, p. 46.

^Halsey, op at., p. 219; Barry, op. cit., pp. 41, 42.

^Charles Welsh, op. cit., p. 159.

4S Walter Taylor Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 216, 217.

^Mother Goose's Melodies: or Sonnets for the Cradle, reprinted by Isaiah Thomas,
Preface, pp. v-x.

45 Alice M. Jordan, "Early Children's Books," Bulletin of the Boston Public Library,
XV (April 1940), p. 187.

^The New England Primer, pages unnumbered (Boston, 1749) ; The New Eng-
land Primer (Hartford, 1800).

4T Noah Webster, Elements of Useful Knowledge. For the Use of Schools,

^History of America, abridged for the use of children of all denominations; W. D.
Cooper, The History of North America (Philadelphia, 1795).

49 John Ely, The Child's Instructor, consisting of easy lessons for children; on sub-
jects familiar to them, in language adapted to their capacities, p. 48.

60 Barry, op. cit., p. 105.

51 Weekes, op. cit., p. 55.

52 Gardner and Ramsey, op. cit., p. 184.

53 Weekes, op. cit., p. 56.

^False Stones Corrected. Preface.

>The Seasons, pages unnumbered.

56 Anna Letitia Barbauld, Evening Tales, pp. 22-30,

57 Annie E. Moore, Literature Old and New for Children, pp. 186, 187.

5S Ibid., pp. 205-9.

59 Weekes, op. cit., p. 56; See also Gardner and Ramsey, op. cit,, p. 176.

e Moore, op. cit., pp. 195, 196.

61 Maria Edgeworth (M. E.), The Parent's Assistant; or Stories for Children, 3
Vols. (1796), Preface. Reprinted many times in the United States.

62 Barry, op. at., pp. 175-93; See also Moore, op. cit., p. 199; Weekes, op. cit., p. 59.

63 Moore, op. cit., p. 287.

^Ibid., p. 71 ; See also Laurence Clay, "Mental and Moral Pabulum for Juveniles,"
Manchester Quarterly (January 1914), p. 71.

65 Jane Taylor, Select Rhymes for the Nursery, p. 24.

66 Adelaide O'Keefe, Ann and Jane Taylor, Original Poems for Infant Minds. By
several young persons, pp. 32, 33.

67 Eliza Lee Follen, Little Songs for Little Boys and Girls, Preface.

68 C. S. Francis, The True Mother Goose, p. 96.

69 Follen, op. cit., p. 13.

70 William Roscoe, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast; see also Barry,
op. cit., p. 218.

^A. S. W. Rosenbach, Early American Children's Boo fa p. 198; See also Kirkor
Gumuchian, "From Piety to Entertainment in Children's Books," The American
Scholar (Summer 1941), p. 348.

72 Halsey, op. cit., pp. 147, 148,

75 Weekes, op. cit., pp. 66, 67. See also Gardner and Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 184, 185.
Treasure See\ers, The WouU-Be-Goods, etc.

WAR

WITH THE

DEVIL

RELIGION was the precipitating factor in the establishment of the Ameri-
can Colonies, and its influence extended to every phase of child life. In
the war with the devil against the allurements of the world and the
weakness of the flesh, the young were instructed to turn in fear to the
Word of God found in the Bible. As additional weapons of defense
they were to utilize sermons, catechisms, primers, and the lives of holy
children. Little ones were cautioned to appreciate this spiritual arsenal:
"I am to regard with Reverence the awful Threatening contained therein,
in order to deter me from sin and Vanity." Children of all creeds and
sections were expected to "walk in the ways of the godly"; consequently
the juvenile literature issued by any sect generally illustrated the religious
attitudes common to all denominations.

The policy of the Mother Country at the beginning of the Colonial
era in matters ecclesiastical had been to plant the Established Church
in all sections except where dissenting sects predominated. 1 But the
dissenting colonies might well have copied the pamphlet of the Virginia
Council which declared that religion was the "maine and cheefe pur-
pose" of the settlement. 2 The boundaries of the various colonies by 1700
not only set political limits, but also separated settlements of conflicting
religious persuasions. 3 From the standpoint of creed alone the spiritual
status of the young varied, for Puritanism dominated the religious ex-
periences of the New England child just as Anglicanism did that of
the youth of the Southern Colonies, while a variety of faiths including
the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and the pietist sects of Penn-
sylvania served to complicate religious life in the Middle Colonies. As a

WAR WITH THE DEVIL

29

whole the picture was predominantly Protestant, for penal laws in all
the Colonies made the open practice of Roman Catholicism practically
impossible except among the Quakers of Pennsylvania and for a brief
period in Maryland. 4 Hence this study will not include a consideration
of the religious life of the few Catholic children, since for the most part
that life has left no traces in the juvenile literary productions of the period.
The temper of the times set rigid theological standards as the norm
for all children regardless of the type of Protestantism dominant in a
particular colony. Children's books for the period 1700 to 1776 bear
witness to the fact that the religious requirements of most Protestant
sects throughout this country were consistently uniform in their stern
demands for an exact adherence to definite beliefs and practices on the
part of the young. The children of this era, as a result, grew up in an
atmosphere of fear and repression. For example, William Penn, an affec-
tionate father, thus admonished his children:

Fear God; That is to say have an holy Awe upon your minds to avoid that
which is Evil and a Strict Care to embrace and do that which is Good. ... Be
of the number of his true self-denying Followers, to take up your Cross for his
sake, that bore his for yours. 5

The reason for the general severity of tone in addressing children is
difficult to determine at this distance, but religion in all the Colonies
was in a state of flux; because here, as in England, the ferment of the
seventeenth century manifested itself in a perceptible relaxation of the
old order be it Episcopal, Quaker, or Independent. Although it is true
that few deistic or skeptical works circulated in the Colonies during this
period, yet the fiery religious enthusiasm of the first settlers had waned
with their death. The generation of 1700 showed signs of a weakening
faith in the old religious codes based on hopes of heaven and fears of
hell. Writers, in desperation, sought in the most terrifying manner to
warn "reprobates," however young, of the approaching "Day of Doom"
with its attendant terrors for the depraved and unrepentant sinner. The
prevailing apathy against which the spiritually minded shattered their
lances is reflected in the nervous apprehension and the vehement language
of children's books and sermons. A typical example of the exhortations
addressed to those who had not been converted to God is seen in the
following:

Believe it while you have no interest in Christ, while you do not love God, and
delight in his Service, you are in Danger every Moment o falling into Hell.
. . , Yes, die cold hand of Death may seize you, lively, gay, and merry as
you are. And Oh! Where are you then?*

3 o AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

As little difference in tone or attitude is found in the various Protestant
sources, the usual thesis that New England Puritanism exerted a pre-
ponderant influence on our national thought and development, particu-
larly as it affected child life, is of doubtful validity. The evidence certainly
shows that Colonial thought patterns were universally theocentric. The
Anglican of Virginia and the Quaker or Presebyterian of Pennsylvania
displayed the same courage and singleness of purpose as did the Puritan
of New England. It is safe to say then that the variations of emphasis
in minor points of dogma and practice were induced by a divergence
of cultural heritage.

Most "godly" children pursuing the path of virtue began with the
Bible and read it in its usual form from cover to cover. Less valiant souls
perused the few juvenile versions, 7 "reduced to the tender capacities of
little Readers ... so as under God to make those excellent Books take
such a firm hold of their young minds ... as no Accidents of their
future Lives will ever be able to blot out." 8 The authority of the Bible
was upheld even in books of manners:

The Scriptures of divine authority
A perfect rule for all men to walk by,
From them we learn the living God to know,
And what the duty is to him we owe. 9

Quaker children were given a concise explanation of the end for which
the Scriptures were written: "All scripture given by the inspiration of
God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fur-
nished unto all good works." 10 In the Child Well-Instructed, Colonial
youth learned to appreciate the place of the Scriptures in his life: "I am
to learn in them my Duty respecting God, My Neighbour, and my Self;
together with what I must shun and avoid, with respect to each other." u

Dozens of catechisms prepared for the children of the various sects
supplemented the study of the Bible. Foremost in this rank stood the
New England Primer, designed to impress on the minds and hearts of
youth the stern principles of Calvinism, since in its "Shorter Catechism
of the Assembly of Divines" it mirrored the Puritan mood with absolute
fidelity, A precise spiritual code was embodied in 107 questions which
children could learn and accept as soon as they reached the age of dis-
cretion. This volume thus helped to forestall the threats to unity of belief
that individualism admitted.

Cotton Mather counseled mothers to drill their children unsparingly
in this catechism every day, and added: "You may be continually drop-

* -f f ** - si/* * ** P H

with the 1^Q4K^*4-^

fo+vt^ OR, THE /}$%*

/ Toung Mans Conflict

*' /f^ W I T H T H E

Powers of Darknefs,

a Dialogue

Diicovering tlic Corruption and Vanity of
Youth, the horribfe Natur of Si f and Deplo-
rable Conditioner Jrallem

Alfo, A Defciiptlon of the Power and

An AfptxdiXi containing a Dialogue be-
tween an OW Af&$*** and

WVrthy the perufa! of afl f tut chieiiitemied fair

n of the

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A title page of 1707

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WAR WITH THE DEVIL 31

ping something of the Catechism upon them: Some honey out of the
Rock!" He described parental instruction as one of "the two Handles
to be laid hold upon; the one is the proper Catechism and the other is
the Public Ministry." On this twofold process he advised parents to
"hear them say by rote the answers in their Catechism, question them
very distinctly over again about every clause in the answers, and then
what they hear in the Evangelical Ministry, do you apply it unto them
after their coming home." 12

Samuel Fuller, the Dublin Quaker, wrote in the preface of his cate-
chism: "For good and early impressions on tender minds, often prove
lasting means of preserving them in a religious life even to old age;
and as they grow up, let us watch over them for good., and rule over
them in the Fear of God, maintaining our authority in love. . . . " 13

The Children's Catechism for the use of Scotch Presbyterians likewise
exhorted parents to exert the utmost solicitude for the spiritual training
of their children: "The Lord's language to Parents, with respect to every
Child he gives them is, as the Daughter of Pharaoh said to the Mother
of Moses, Exod.ii.p. 'Take this child and nurse it for me. For lo, Chil-
dren are an Heritage of the Lord's.' " 14

Thomas Vincent in his "Epistle to the Reader" began with the in-
formation that the "Popish Axiom" "ignorance is the mother of devo-
tion" has long since been exploded, and he went on to say that "the
world doth now see that without knowledge the mind is not good." 15
He counseled parents that the best way to conquer ignorance was to
have the family in joint sessions commit the Catechism to memory in
the following manner:

It is advisable that after the question in the Catechism is propounded, an
Answer without the Book is returned by one of the Family, the same person
or some other be called upon to read the explanation of it, the rest reading
along with him in several books; by which means their thoughts (which are
apt to wander) will be the more intent upon what they are about. 16

Besides the wandering thoughts referred to here, the reader finds many
other unintentional revelations of the normal frailties of Colonial chil-
dren. Such a reference occurs in the sermon of Samuel Davies preached
to the children of Hanover, Virginia, about whom he complained:

You are gay, merry, and thoughdess; and cannot bear to fix your thoughts on
such disagreeable Subjects (Sic); and flatter yourselves it is time enough for
you to submit to the Mortification of attending to them, as you advance into
life. Your passions and appetites are strong and unruly: Your hopes warm
and sanguine. And therefore I am afraid sundry of you will hardly allow me

32 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

a serious hearing, tho' but for an hour. However, whether you hear or whether
you forbear, I must endeavor to deliver my message to you in the name of God. 17

Lest the impression be given that unruliness was confined to the South,
we find this advice from Cotton Mather on the question of children's
obedience: "Lay your charges upon your Children. Parents charge them
to work about their own Salvation. To charge 'em vehemently, is to
charm 'em wonderfully. Command your Children, and it may be they
will obey" 1 *

Impelled by the fear that the numerous catechisms might eventually
supplant the Scriptures in the religious education of children, Samuel
Fuller wrote the following to urge a more assiduous use of the Bible
in child-training:

Now tho* we of this generation in these protestant countries, are so signally
favour' d with the free and undisturb'd use of this large and most excellent
volume ... yet seeing such incessant labours and pams are taken both early
and late to propagate the pernicious doctrines of infidelity, deism, profaneness,
and atheism; we esteem it both imprudent and dangerous to delay the first
seasoning of the minds of our dear and tender offspring, with the fundamentals
of the Christian doctrine, till they are of a capacity and ability to collect and ex-
tract from thence the same for themselves, 1 ^

The author went on to explain that since his book was intended prin-
cipally for the use of children, " 'Twas not thought convenient to amuse
their tender minds, at first, with too many sublime and controverted
points," which he said, "can be thoroughly assimilated only late in
life." 20

Sermons couched in graphic language and delivered in ringing tones
were a device used by the ministers of the various denominations to
plant salient truths deeply in the hearts of the young. Such subjects as
the total depravity of youth, the fear of God's judgments, and the duty
of obedience to parents were usually discussed. Sometimes, incidentally,
pride in one's own province, or its neighbors, found expression in these
theological exhortations. Thus Samuel Moodey thundered in Massa-
chusetts: "Turn ye, turn ye, from your Evil ways, for why will ye die,
O children of New England? Poor Hearts; You are going to Hell indeed:
but will it not be a dreadful thing to go to Hell from New England,
from this Land of Light to that Dungeon of Eternal Darkness?" 21

Funeral elegies and "histories" o godly children were also mighty
instruments employed by the ministry to illustrate the meaning of life
and death to trembling young sinners. A typical example of the hundreds
of this type was preached by Benjamin Colman in Boston in 1714. He

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 33

reminded his young audience at the beginning of his discourse o the
ravages disease had made in their numbers during the preceding year,
and then added:

You have seen many of your own age buried in the Winter past; divers of
whom died hopefully, and made a gracious End. You have been sick (most of
you) your selves; and many of you remember the Religious Frames you were
then in, and the holy Desires and Purposes you then had. Some have been so
wrought upon by their Danger, that I hope truly they have been brought home
to Christ. I wish the number of such were greater. 22

By far the most popular history of pious children who died early
deaths was the Janeway Tol^en, an English work reprinted in the
colonies. It began with the words:

You may now hear (my dear Lambs) what other good Children have done,
and remember how they wept and prayed by themselves; how earnestly they
cried out for an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Would you be in the
same condition as naughty Children? O Hell is a terrible place, that is a
thousand times worse than Whipping. God's Anger is worse than your
Father's Anger. 23

A Legacy for Children, a collection of the "last expressions and dying
sayings" of the little Quakeress, Hannah Hill of Philadelphia, was an-
other morbid work, approximating the To\en in tone. Among other
things, the young reader learned that Hannah had an extraordinary
"gift in reading the Holy Scriptures, and other good books, in which
she took much delight; and if any Friend gave her a book, she would
not seem satisfied until she read it through; and would sometimes get
much of it by heart." 24

In the early eighteenth century, memorizing of hymns was consid-
ered the most effective means of giving "children a relish for virtue
and religion." Foremost among such works ranked The Divine Songs
of Isaac Watts, for the author, like St. Paul, attempted to be "all things
to all men." He stated in his preface: "As I have endeavoured to sink
the language to the level of a child's understanding ... so I have de-
singed [sic] to profit all (if possible) and offend none." 25

In moments of temptation these songs "this constant furniture of
the mind" were to be a buckler against the onslaughts of the Evil One
because they gave children "something to think about when alone and
to sing over to themselves." Since it was believed that "what was learnt
in verse was longer retained in the memory and sooner recollected/'
the songs "by running through the mind" were an "effectual means of
keeping off temptation, when a word of Scripture was not upon the

34 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

thoughts." 26 By giving their thoughts a "divine turn" the songs might
raise a "young meditation." As a result, children would not be made
to seek relief for an "emptiness of mind out of the loose and dangerous
sonnets of the age." As an integral part of the morning and evening
family devotions, these hymns too played their role; and for the greater
convenience in this respect the author confined the verse to the most
useful of the Psalm tunes. 27 The proper attitude of humility desired in
a child toward God is detected in the closing verse of the first hymn:

My heart resolves, my tongue obeys,
And Angels shall rejoice,
To hear their Mighty Maker's praise
Sound from a feeble voice. 28

All denominations in the external observances of religion afforded
the child practically the same status that of an actual or potential
member but the performance of the spiritual duties involved by such
membership varied with individuals in different sections of the country.
In the first place, children everywhere were expected to attend public
worship with the same regularity, attention, and devotion that marked
the practice of their elders on the Lord's Day. In the South, where the
population was purely agricultural and widely scattered, with the nearest
chapel perhaps twenty or thirty miles from the child's home and the
common mode of travel by horseback or in canoes, it is logical to suppose
that few children actually attended public services with any degree of
regularity. It does not necessarily follow from this fact, however, that
the Anglican or Presbyterian child lacked instruction in his religious
obligations, for this duty was usually performed by the mother or tutor
in the home. 29

In the New England and Middle Colonies, where churches were more
numerous and at a reasonable distance, minor inconveniences were not
sufficient to excuse a child from his obligation of attending Sunday
services. This can be seen in the diary of Anna Green Winslow, a girl
of twelve, who records for March 4, 1771 : "We had the greatest fall of
snow yesterday we have had this winter. Yet cousin Sally, miss Polly,
& I rode to & from Meeting in Mr. Soley's chaise both forenoon and
afternoon, & with a stove was very comfortable there." 30 A few weeks
later she relates that the "snow is near gone in the street before us, &
mud supplys the place thereof," and that on Sunday morning she "made
shift to walk to Meeting" but fortunately was given a ride home in a
chaise. She adds that her aunt walked over and "she sais thro' more
difaculty than ever she did in her life before. Indeed had the stream get

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 35

up from our meeting house as it did down, we might have taken boat
as we have talk'd some times o doing to cross the street to our opposite
neighbor Soley's chaise." 31

The right of membership in all denominations brought with it an
implied obligation for children to make a public profession of their faith
or of their religious experiences as soon as possible after they had attained
the use of reason or could distinguish between right and wrong. This
manifestation could take the form of a "baptismal covenant/' or the
public avowal of a conversion of the heart and mind to God, or the more
mature pledge of fidelity to a particular code of religious principles by
the ceremony of confirmation. Hence it is that the "Short Baptismal
Covenant" was subscribed to and kept by many children "for their use
and comfort." This formula for a first profession of faith was composed
for the use of Congregationalists, but since it contained only the broad-
est principles of Protestant theology, it was also used by other denomina-
tions in Colonial America:

I take God the Father to be my chiefest Good and highest End.

I take God the Son to be my Prince and Saviour.

I take God the Holy Ghost to be my Sanctifier, Teacher, and Comforter.

I take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions.

And the people of God to be my people in all my conditions.

I do likewise devote and dedicate to the Lord, my whole self, all I am, all I
have, and all I do.

And this I do deliberately, and as far as I know my own heart sincerely, freely,
arid for evermore; depending always on the sovereign Grace of God and
the Merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, for assistance and acceptance. 32

Puritan children were taught in their infancy that the "church is a
Congregation of Saints joyned together in the bond of the Covenant to
worship the Lord, and to edifie one another in all his holy Ordinances." 33
Since the Puritan ideal was a regenerate church, all of whose members
had experienced particular operations of the divine grace, even children
were required to give before their congregation a detailed account of
their conversion experiences. 34

For the pietist sects, particularly the Quakers, conversion meant not
so much a sudden, emotional turning away from evil, but rather a grow-
ing appreciation of the "Light of Christ within" which would lead the
child, they believed, to all truth and right living. With the help of his
parents or elders, every child was to make an examination of conscience
to see the possibilities of good and evil which lay before him. To do this
he had to know the effects of sin in the soul of the individual, and also
the power of the "Inner Light." As the child acquired this wisdom, he

36 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

gradually became converted and reached the state of the inner or second
birth. 35

The Anglican infant shortly after birth was "born again" by baptism
in which through his sponsors he vowed a life of faith and obedience
to their creed, renounced Satan and all his works and pomps, and im-
plored the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Trinity. Only later,
after he was safely within the fold, did the child learn the fundamental
truths of his spiritual rebirth that man had lost his divine heritage by
the sin of our first parents, but that he had been redeemed by Christ's
passion and death. To gain the fruits of redemption, the child must
become a member of Christ's mystical body by baptism, a sacrament
which brought him a title to the grace of the Holy Spirit, the promise
of resurrection and immortality, the acceptance of God's will, and pardon
for sin. 86

In the strictly spiritual matters pertaining to the inner life of the
soul, the attention of children was concentrated primarily on three great
conceptions: the nature and attributes of God, the duties of the child
to his Creator, and the means to be employed for salvation.

It would seem that the Protestant child's conception of God was rather
briefly stated, for in describing the nature and attributes of the Almighty
he was given this summation: "God is a spirit, Infinite, Eternal, Un-
changeable in His Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness,
and Truth." 37 Although the Holy Trinity was a mystery or a truth which
could not be clearly understood, the offices of the persons of the Holy
Trinity were quite simply defined in the child's Catechism. This ex-
plained God the Father as the author of his being and the maker of all
things, to whom the child as a member of the human family must submit
his will in all cases. 38 Christ, the Son of God and the Redeemer of Souls,
was to be the exemplar for holiness of life; for the child read that Jesus
was "humble and meek, and contemned the vanities of the world; he
was charitable and compassionate to men's souls and bodies; he was
patient under afflictions and pious and devout towards his God and
Father; he was obedient to his laws and resigned to his good pleasure
in all things." 39 The Holy Ghost was described as the "Spirit of the
Father and of the Son, the Comforter and Sanctifier of all God's people,
and that which reproves the world of sin, and these Three, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, are one God, blessed forever." 40

In contemplating the omniscience and omnipotence of God, the attri-
butes so frequently stressed in their little books, children received not
only an incentive to a good life, but also a deterrent to evil. The con-
fusion and humility of the childish soul under the searching eye of the

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 37

Creator is recorded in the verses of Dr. Watts entitled "The All-seeing
God":

Almighty God, thy piercing eye

Strikes through the shades of night,

And our most secret actions lie

All open in thy sight.

There's not a sin that we commit,
Nor wicked word we say,
But in thy dreadful book 'tis writ
Against the judgment day.

Lord at thy foot ashamed I lie,
Upwards I dare not look;
Pardon my sins before I die,
And blot them from thy book. 41

"The Compendious Body of Divinity," which Puritan children memo-
rized a few lines at a time, contained, besides the general truths of
Christianity, a resume of the relation of the soul to God:

God is Pure Spirit, Infinite,

In Truth abundant, of great power and might . . . .

We all do from polluted Parents spring

And in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing.

None righteous are, but all of every sort,

Have sinn'd and of God's Glory are come short.

But God so loved us that he did give,

His only Son that thro' him we might live. 42

The duties of the child to his Creator bound the youth to "honour
God, to love him above all things, to fear him, to put his trust in him,
to pray to him, to praise him, to give him thanks, to be obedient to his
laws, and to resign himself to God's holy will in all things." 43 On further
inquiry, the child discovered that by a faithful performance o these
duties he could be happy and in God's favor; yet by reason of the fall
of Adam and Eve, all men fail in the fulfillment of their duties: "God
made man upright; but hearkening to the Sollicitations of the Old Ser-
pent, which is the Devil, he quickly rebelTd against his Maker . . .
whereupon ensued such a corrupt Principle, as disposed him to Rebellion
ever after.** 44

If his faults were only involuntary, the child could plainly expect in-
dulgence, but quite soon did he learn that no man is free from voluntary
error, nor does anyone acquit himself perfectly of his duty to God. Such
voluntary sins as might have been avoided certainly made him liable to
punishment. 45

38 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

On the question of forgiveness o sin and the means of salvation the
greatest divergence of Protestant opinion lay. At one extreme, the Cal-
vinists held that since forgiveness o sin was a gratuitous gift, far above
the deserts of any, God was entirely free either to bestow it or withhold
it. His grace was given only to a few of the elect, chosen from all eternity
by His love and good pleasure. 45 These elect or children of God recog-
nized their "effectual calling" by the conviction of their own sin and
misery; then being enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, they freely
embraced His will as revealed in the Gospel. The next step for them on
the road to salvation was "Justification," or "an act of God's free grace,
wherein He pardoned all their sins, and accepted them as righteous,
through the merits of Christ received by faith alone." 47

The subsequent operation of grace in the chosen soul was "Adoption,"
whereby "he was received into the number and enjoyed the right to all
the privileges of the Sons of God." 48 Sanctification of the soul followed
in which the "whole man was renewed after the image of God, and
enabled more and more to die to sin, and to live unto righteousness." 49
The benefits to be enjoyed in this life from such a regeneration were
the "assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost,
an increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end of life." Accord-
ing to this doctrine, the souls of believers were at death made perfect
in holiness and immediately passed to glory; while their bodies, being
still united to Christ, rested in their graves to await the resurrection. 50

The ultimate joy of this conversion after the trying ordeal of purifica-
tion can be readily appreciated:

Oh! Happy I, and blessed be the day,

That unto Truth and Conscience I gave way,

I would not be in my old state again,

If I thereby some thousands might obtain.

From Wrath and Hell, my Soul is now set free

For I don't doubt that I converted be.

The Word with power, so to me was brought,

A glorious change within my Soul is wrought. 51

Samuel Moodey explained the fate of the many unregenerate thus:
"This doctrine of Predestination has an ungrateful sound in some Ears:
Predestination does not make men guilty of death; does not force them
to Sin, and throw them to Hell: No, impenitent Unbelievers precipitate
themselves into the place of Torment. Tis therefore their own Place." 52
Hence it was that Puritans sought by "thoughts that breathe and words
that burn" not only to prepare the tender hearts of youth for the work
of conversion, but also to prevent the young from relapsing into the ways

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 39

of the ungodly. Since the doctrine of predestination was taught to a
large percentage of American children in Colonial times, juvenile books
stressed the element of fear. "Youth," in a very popular Work, gave ex-
pression to his religious conviction in these words:

But I am call'd of God and do obey

The Voice of Truth and Conscience every day.

God's called Ones, Fm sure you can't deny,

But they are such whom he doth justifie:

Therefore tis clear and very evident,

That Grace alone hath made me penitent.

My heart is sound, My Grace true also,

My Confidence there's none shall overthrow. 53

"Truth" then warned the boy that fear was the proof of conversion:

Thou seemest too confident, 'tis a bad sign;
For fears attend where saving grace doth shine.
I tell thee (Youth) that many called be,
But few are chosen for eternity. 54

To inspire a salutary fear in youthful hearts, ministers posed such
frightening questions as: "What kind of place is hell, which sinners
are hastening to as their home?" The answer followed directly with
horrible precision: "It is for dimension a very large place ... a bottom-
less pit. It is also large and wide for it must afford lodgings for many
Worlds of People, of all which tho* as the Sand of the Sea for Multitude,
a Remnant only will be saved . . . the Almighty King and Judge him-
self who hath and keeps the keys of hell, shuts and none can open, locks
the brazen gates upon his prisoners." 55 With this frightful image in
mind, children could find little spiritual security even in the performance
of the ordinary Christian virtues, for they were given repeated warnings
of their impending doom: "... though you pray and fast, deal justly
with all, and give liberally to the poor, yet if you know not the truth
as it is in Jesus, you can never get to Heaven. And till you discover
that you are in the Wrong Way you will not so much as Enquire the
Right." 56

The beliefs of the Quakers and other pietist sects were diametrically
opposed to the Puritan theory of predestination and total depravity. The
Pietists held that the child was born neither good nor bad, but in an
unmoral state with capacities for future good or evil, so that in time
he must make a deliberate choice between right and wrong. This volur>
tary turning to God under the inspiration of his "Inner Light" was the
only conversion required of the young. It was simply a safeguard cast

40 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

about the child's original state of justice. 67 Accordingly, Quaker boys
and girls were taught that the saving grace of God is given to all men,
but that some are lost although the grace is sufficient, "because they do
not obey the blessed discoveries of light and truth; but turn from them
to wantonness like truants from this saving school of grace. . . . Such
who rebel against and quench the good spirit of God are the cause
of their own destruction." 53 It must have been a source of consolation
to these children to learn that their eternal happiness depended simply
on a sincere repentance for their sins induced by a deep love of God, and
accompanied by an honest endeavor to obey His holy laws.

Anglicans and Lutherans were among those denominations support-
ing a theory of salvation for the child at some point between the extremes
of the Puritan doctrine of total depravity on the one hand, and the
Quaker belief of infant amorality on the other. This more moderate
group recognized in the doctrine of original sin the sad effects of man's
fall, and saw in it also the evil that vexed the souls of children during
their earthly pilgrimage. This sin it was that darkened the childish
understanding, weakened the will, and inclined young hearts to evil.
Since these denominations were united in their purpose of blotting out
the stain of sin thus inherited from our first parents, and of restoring
the child as quickly as possible to his lost state of "original justice/' they
made use of infant baptism. Thus little ones, by the saving grace re-
ceived in this sacrament, were early armed with a powerful weapon
against the temptations that beset them even from childhood. It was
their belief that although the fall of mankind was a universal tragedy,
salvation is an individual responsibility. Each child must work out his
salvation for himself; for by the redemption the supernatural graces he
required were supplied him* Although faith was the prerequisite to
justification, the Church, the divinely appointed organism for the ad-
ministration of the sacraments, supplied the grace necessary for the young
ultimately to attain eternal life. Accordingly, through the redemption of
Christ and by the operation of grace in the soul, the way was opened
for these children to achieve heaven and eternal happiness with God.
Perhaps it was this spiritual security that has permitted the history of
these moderate denominations to be eclipsed by the graphic Puritan or
Quaker records of "juvenile conversions." In this regard, a missionary,
the Rev. Mr. Currie, wrote at Radnor, Pennsylvania, in 1741 : "The people
of the Church of England gave themselves up to none of those wild
Notions and enthusiastic ravings, which some people practiced so much;
but by their very sobriety in such unsettled times increased their fol-
lowing." 59

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 41

The Colonial child in his battle for righteousness was "duty-bound"
to God, to his neighbor, and to himself by a stern religious code. This
varied in emphasis in different localities, but everywhere it held the
child to a high standard of theological observance. That not all children
attained the desired degree of perfection was of course admitted as evi-
dence of the depraved state of fallen men. In the face of occasional
casualties, the war against evil was never relaxed, nor were the victories
of the heroes left unsung,

His duty to God bound the child to obedience to the divine will as
contained in the Ten Commandments, and to an exact knowledge of
the Holy Scriptures. 60 Part of this duty demanded a stringent observance
of the Sabbath. Even a cursory examination of juvenile literature indi-
cates this, for verses intended to produce the proper Sabbath mood were
among the first to be learned:

This is the day when Christ arose
So early from the dead:
Why should I keep my eye-lids clos'd,
And waste my hours in bed?

Today with pleasure Christians meet,
To pay and hear thy word,
And I would go with cheerful feet,
To learn thy will, O Lord. 1

The Assembly of Divines set rigid rules for Sabbath observance when
they decreed:

The Sabbath is to be sanctified by an holy resting all that Day, even from
such worldly Employments and Recreations, as are lawful on the other Days,
and spending the whole Time in publick and private Exercises of God's Wor-
ship, except so much as is to be taken up in the Works of Necessity and
Mercy. 62

Violators of this commandment were believed to meet with the sum-
mary judgment of God and man. This belief was supported by such
accounts as the incident of "fourteen Young Persons who on a Lord's
Day in the winter time would go to play at Football on the Ice, but
that broke under them, and they were all drowned." It was further
reported as a horrible example to wavering youth that "two Young
Men, belonging to New England, would be so profane as to ride a race
on the Lord's Day, but when they were on their Horses Backs, God
smote 'em with a strange kind of palsey of which they both died, after
they had been for several months in a very miserable condition." The
report goes on to say that "Sabbath breakers expose themselves to that

42 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

which is worse than any temporal judgments, viz., To Spiritual and
Eternal Judgments." 63

Another duty of children to God required the daily recitation of certain
prayers both in union with the family and alone, an obligation which
was expressed in such counsels as: "Sanctify God in your heart daily,
make him your fear, your love and delight," 64 and "Perform daily duties
both in Family and Closet (especially these three of Prayer, Meditation,
Reading) with serious intention, heat of affection, diligence, and de-
light." 65 The Quaker Catechism gave this advice about prayers: "They
are to be fervent, short and sound, to proceed from the Spirit, and with
good understanding, in deep humility, in the Name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, with purity, charity, fervency, and constancy." 66

Prayer was defined as "the offering up of our desires to God, for
things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession
of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his Mercies." Although
three parts of prayer were thus acknowledged petition, confession, and
thanksgiving it was universally accepted by the various sects of this
country that "prayer most properly doth consist in petition." 67

The Lord's Prayer, divided into seven parts, was the chief devotion
of all denominations; but other forms were also used. Samuel Fuller
tells children that prayer is "speech or earnest breathing of the soul to
the Almighty whether exprest in words or not." 68 This included then,
on the part of the child, not only spontaneous ejaculations, but also such
formal petitions as the "Morning and Evening Prayers" included in
the catechisms and primers. A typical evening prayer of the times is
found in the Thumb Bible, Verbum Sempiternum:

Forgive me dearest Lord for Thy dear Son
The many ills that I this day have done,
Teach me to live that I may ever dread
The Grave, as litde as I do my Bed.
Keep me this night, O keep me King of Kings
Secure under thy own Almighty Wings. 69

The love and respect that all children were bound to pay their parents
or those whose "authority by nature or providence had a just claim
to their submission such as guardians or tutors" was a sacred obligation
next in importance to serving God. To these "superiors" children were
required to be humble, submissive, and obedient at all times, and "to
let their bodies be pliable and ready to manifest in due and becoming
ceremonies the inward reverence they bore to those above them." 70
Catechisms told children how to honor their parents "to love them,
to obey their commands; to conceal their infirmities; to maintain them

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 43

when old and in want; and to submit to their admonitions and correc-
tions." 71 Little readers were not only counseled in the paths of filial
reverence, but also were solemnly warned "of the heavy curse o God
that would fall upon children who made light of their parents." In
terrifying terms they read that "there is a secret Blast of God upon
Undutiful Children; they are afflicted in their Estates, in their Bodies,
they are followed by one plague after another. And if Undutiful Children
ever live to have Children of their own, God pays 'em in their own
coin." 72 To stamp this lesson clearly in the young mind, little boys and
girls were taught the hymn:

Have we not heard what dreadful plagues
Are threatened by the Lord,
To him that breaks his Father's law
Or mocks his Mother's word?

What heavy guilt upon him lies!
How cursed is his name!
The ravens shall pick out his eyes,
And Eagles eat the same. 73

Charity or love of neighbor was held to be the badge of a Christian,
but one can gather from books and sermons that it was not practised
to any heroic degree. Nevertheless little ones learned by heart the Saviour's
words: "This is my commandement that ye love one another, as I have
loved you." William Penn, on this point, advised his children: "Be
natural; love one another and remember that to be void of natural affec-
tion is a mark of apostacy. ... It is a great fault in families of this
day." 74

The practice of the Golden Rule was strongly recommended in most
juvenile books. It was found in verse in all the primers:

Be you to others kind and true,
As you'd have others be to you:
And neither do nor say to Men,
Whatever you would not take again. 75

Children were also taught to retire for secret prayer and a diligent
examination of conscience "every day that came over their heads." For
this office they read such cheerless exhortations as: "Be sensible of thy
Original Corruption daily, how it inclines thee to evil, and indisposeth
thee to good; groan under it and bewail it as Paul did. Also take special
notice of your actual sins, or daily infirmities in Thought, Word, Deed.
Endeavour to make your peace with God for them before you go to
bed." 76 In an Anglican catechism, the master or mistress was advised

44 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

to instruct the child to "confess and bewail in particular every sin which
may have been committed by him or her in the day past; whether Lying,
Taking God's Name in Vain, Stealing, Quarrelling, Stubbornness, or
any other." 77 An example of such introspection is seen in the case of
Elizabeth Butcher, who was born in Boston in 1709. When she was
about two-and-one-half years old, "as she lay in her cradle, she would
ask herself the question, 'What is my corrupt Nature?' and would make
answer again to herself, 'It is empty of Grace, bent unto Sin, and that
continually/ She took great delight in learning her Catechism and would
not willingly go to bed without saying some part of it." 78 Young
Nathaniel Mather, in one of the "directories" which he drew up for
himself, wistfully recorded the hope: "O that I might lead a spiritual
Life, wherefore let me regulate my life by the Word of God." 79

Cotton Mather in the preface of his New England ToJ^en made these
searching inquiries of his young readers: "Do you do as these children
did? Did you ever see your miserable state by Nature? Did you ever
get by yourself and weep for sin and pray for grace and pardon?" 80 Chil-
dren were thus obliged to search their hearts and by an earnest self-
analysis to ascertain signs of their spiritual progress and to discover
the extent of their submission to the will of God. Samuel Davies, after
exhorting a group of school boys to do good, said: "You are now in
your tender forming Age, most likely to receive good impressions. And
now is the Time when God is wont to display His Grace in converting
young Smners. . . . Spend a little time this evening in Prayer, in examin-
ing whether you have come to Christ or not, in meditating on the condi-
tion of your souls." 81

Whether one can explain or even justify the harsh theological code
taught these Colonial children would seem to be a matter of opinion.
It might be held that a people facing a hard world were aided, as a
matter of morale, by stern religious teachings even in their youthful
years; and if we are to believe the record, some children found joy in
this code. On the other hand, it would seem to many a modern critic
that the children of pious families were unnecessarily terrified. One is
inclined to think that the emphasis upon a God of Wrath was such as
to hide from the little ones that God of Love to whom modern Christians
usually turn. This conclusion, of course, leads to a criticism of the Cal-
vinistic tradition in general; but it may at least be suggested that the
harsher elements in that tradition bore most heavily on such little ones
as were inclined to heed them.

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 45

The American Revolution not only changed some of the established
churches of Colonial times, but also popularized such rationalistic philoso-
phies as deism. This cult, repudiating revelation and the divine inspira-
tion of the Scriptures, developed the idea of a benevolent God whom
man served best by doing good to his fellow men. The Revolution also
revived the old Unitarian concepts that denied the dogma of the Trinity,
the deity of Christ, and endorsed the increasing interest in humanity.
As a result of this ferment, a new "live and let live" spirit entered
American thought at the close of the eighteenth century. This change
was accelerated by ideas of liberty and the rights of man, and furthered
by the spread of nationalism and the growth of religious lethargy. 82 To
counteract this growth of materialism, most writers of religious books
for children not only advocated a spirit of toleration, but also blurred
the sharp theological distinctions either by compromising with dissenters
or by omitting supposedly minor points of dogma.

Another influential source of the new trend in child life from 1776
to 1835 was the gradual relaxation o the rigid Puritan standards. This
mitigation of standards may be explained by the defection of the middle
class from the doctrine of predestination. In the early days, Puritanism
had provided the New Englanders with a theology that had apparently
sustained them in their sufferings by supplying them with a moral basis
for earthly success. As a social power in the new republic, it had fostered
a morality for these people which allowed men to improve their spiritual
standing by worshiping God on the Sabbath, and by serving Him the
rest of the week through a shrewd management of their worldly estates.
Although Puritanism is thus said to have idealized acquisitiveness as
a Christian duty, it could not survive an era of commercial activity; for
the "elect" Puritan could not successfully carry on business with "un-
regenerates" if he insisted on reminding them of their sinfulness. 83 Hence
it was that the merchants of Puritan New England finally realized that
toleration for other creeds was necessary to stimulate trade and com-
merce. This was to be the basis of their nineteenth-century prosperity. 84

Once the barrier of intolerance was broken the main stronghold o
Puritanism collapsed, for the doctrine of predestination then came under
the attack of skeptics. Disbelief in the doctrine of election for the few
and damnation for the masses was widespread at the opening of the
nineteenth century. A humanized liberalism had introduced a new and
more hopeful note into the religious life of Puritan New England.

In keeping with the new spirit of liberal Christianity which empha-
sized the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, it is not sur-
prising to find in a popular juvenile book of the times an account of a

46 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

father advising his children to cultivate an "enlarged charity" for all
mankind, however they might differ from others in religious opinions.
Although he urged them to show respect to the ministers of every
persuasion, he warned them never to seek direction of conscience from
these ministers as that procedure might undermine their own faith. It
is significant of the trend of the times to find that on the same page in
which the father advocated toleration he also deplored the spiritual
lethargy which had infected the rising generation "the coldness and
listlessness in whatever relates to religion." 85

Two very different methods were at hand by which the churches
could deal with the rapidly developing secularism of the late eighteenth
century. The one was to meet it with the vigorous resistance employed
by the early American Calvinists, a scheme that would have plainly
proved self-defeating; the other was to compromise with the enemy by
harmonizing the old theological standards with the current scientific
knowledge, and thus to evolve a new code of ethics and politics based
on reason. The latter process, which was eventually chosen by the liberal
leaders of America, not only diluted theological tenets by blending them
into the enure mass of cultural concepts, but also led directly to the
growth of natural religion and deism. 86

Under the more comfortable tenets of natural religion as conceived
by liberal Anglicans, the Christian had no severity to fear, for the basis
of ethics was changed from a sense of sin to a desire for happiness. Since
this code held that a man from birth possessed the inclination to brother-
hood and cooperation, his salvation did not require a conversion, but
simply an ordering of his life according to the universal law which his
reason would dictate. Quite logically, the doctrines of Calvinism were
abhorrent to these new humanists, who denounced predestination as a
perversion of the truth that all men were aided by the inner light of
reason; and who argued that it was inconsistent with the benevolence
of God to create a human being destined for an irretrievable hell. The
general deduction reached by this reasoning was that a well-ordered
inner life presupposed a well-ordered outer life, under the mild direction
of such an organization as the Anglican Church. 87

Although liberalism in America was thus originally a humanitarian
and not a theological movement, natural religion under the name of
deism tended to supplant Christianity instead of strengthening it as first
proposed. Deism repudiated the idea of evil as a part of the natural order,
for it held that since an all-wise and all-good God had created the uni-
verse, the creation must be a reflection of his goodness. The evils found
in human society were therefore temporal and accidental, induced not

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 47

by man's perverted will but by his ignorance. In this particular doctrine
lay the germs of the Unitarian and Universalist theories, which likewise
stressed the ideas of "the benevolence of the Deity and salvation for all
men/* thereby eliminating the dogma of hell from their creed. 88 Although
it may be criticized as having overrated the inherent goodness of human-
ity, deism by Revolutionary days had become a far-reaching gospel of
intellectual and spiritual importance. Nearly all the leaders of political
liberation were deists with the possible exception of John Adams, Roger
Sherman, and John Hay. 89

By 1776, four of the colonies, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Delaware largely under the control of the Baptists or Quakers
were unhampered by the restrictions of an established church. In this
respect they had for more than a century been the exceptions among
the colonies. With the opening of the war, insistent demands for the
separation of church and state, especially in Virginia and New England,
eventually resulted in dissociating political and religious institutions
throughout the country. 90

The outcome of the Revolution necessitated certain changes in the
Anglican Church in America. The first was to change the name to
"Protestant Episcopal" in order to emphasize its relationship to other
Protestant groups. The next change, of necessity, was that of trans-
ferring its allegiance from the King of England as its head to that of
a governing body, the General Convention, which was analogous to
Parliament. The Convention consisted of a House of Bishops, and a
lower house of ministers and clergy elected in equal proportion from
every diocese. In the case of the Prayer Book, alterations were made
discarding the Athanasian Creed, and a prayer for the President replaced
the prayer for the King, but the substitute was never widely used.
Although the Episcopal Church, from the beginning of the Republic,
was transformed into a decidedly American institution, its membership,
which was confined mainly to the more comfortable classes, remained
comparatively small. 91

The Presbyterian Church in the United States was undeniably an
American institution, but its Calvinistic doctrines of predestination and
election were diametrically opposed to the optimism of the nineteenth
century. In order to strengthen the position of their church the more
conservative Presbyterians formed a "Plan of Union" with the Congre-
gationalists in 1801, and thus in a common endeavor until 1837 carried
on their missionary expansion in western New York and in the Old
Northwest Territory. The body of conservative Presbyterians could never
bring themselves to accept the conditions of Protestant success in evan-

48 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

gelizing the frontier; namely, the subordination of dogma, the use of
ministers not formally educated, and the excitement of revivalism.
Standing firm, they preferred to lose their most flourishing western
community, that of the Cumberland Presbyterians of Kentucky, rather
than to concede what now seem to have been minor points of discipline
and dogma. In prosecuting that decision they spent much vital energy
in doctrinal quarrels that otherwise might have been devoted to spread-
ing their beliefs in the West. As a result of this lost opportunity to
dominate the religious scene on the expanding frontier, the Methodists
and Baptists were given added scope for their missionary activities in

that region. 92

Roman Catholics, with the growth of tolerance that marked the close
of the Revolution, were gradually freed from the civil disabilities which
had harassed their existence and limited their numbers in the Colonial
era. Consequently there was no effective opposition when the Holy See
appointed John Carroll as the first Roman Catholic bishop with his resi-
dence in Baltimore. 93

Bishop Carroll's diocese at the time of his induction included only
thirty thousand Catholics, hence he readily recognized the fact that as
a minority group his church would have to look to immigration for its
growth and strength. Immigration was to prove a fruitful source of
membership, since the attraction which the new country had for sub-
merged laboring classes brought a steady stream of workmen from the
Old World. Economic betterment impelled numbers of German Catholics
to seek homes in this country; while religious oppression also intensified
this movement by driving thousands of Irish to find refuge here in the
decade after 1820. With the exception of occasional groups of French
political refugees, Ireland and Germany furnished nearly all the Catholic
immigrant population to the close of our era. 94

Most of these newcomers were either destitute or had but small re-
sources, and so were forced by lack of means to settle down in an
American port instead of moving westward. As a result, eastern cities-
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore became the chief cen-
ters of Roman Catholic influence. 95

The aftermath of the Revolution brought not only the wave of skepti-
cism already noted, but also a decided decline in fervor among orthodox
Christians. This indifference was indeed evident along the Atlantic
seaboard but more particularly so in the almost creedless western frontier.
There where men were free from the usual restraints of settled com-
munities, fighting, gouging, intemperance, profanity, and general law-
lessness were the order of die day. Even among the gentle Quakers of

WAR WITH THE DEVIL

49

Pennsylvania, irreligion seemed to lay hold of youth. A plaintive protest
to this apathy was raised in a letter to the "children and youth o the
Society of Friends/' written in 1805 by Frederick Smith, in which he
deplored the growing negligence of Quaker parents in regard to the
religious education of their children. He pointed out that as a result
of this carelessness the Society had lost much of the plainness which
had distinguished their ancestors, and the rising generation had devel-
oped an alarming tendency to conform to the world. The indulgence
of parents was blamed for the defection of the children, who were evi-
dently fast acquiring a distaste for the religious duties of their faith and
were gradually uniting with the more liberal Christians. 96

This ebb in religious feeling did not last long, for the reaction to it
in the hearts of many noteworthy religious leaders fired them with a
burning missionary zeal. After 1795 Protestant home missionaries under
the direction of such men as Bishop Asbury rode the circuit and aroused
a new interest in religion. Catholic priests also, particularly the Domini-
cans under Bishop Flaget of Kentucky, traversed the states north of the
Ohio River and kept alive the faith of Catholic families scattered on
the frontier. 97

In contrast to the quiet religious revival which was taking place in
the eastern states, the awakening of the West was accompanied by such
extraordinary manifestations as the country had never before witnessed.
Camp meetings conducted by evangelists met not only the religious but
also the social and emotional needs of the "saints and sinners of every
age and of every grade" who dwelt on the fringe of settlement. 98

Although the fundamental principles of Christianity previously de-
scribed as the basis of the child's religious life did not change perceptibly
from 1776 to 1835, nevertheless a growing tendency towards a more
benevolent attitude in the treatment of children is clearly discernible
in the moderate type of religious instruction given American neophytes.
Since the "greatest good for the greatest number" was the spiritual as
well as the material goal of most Americans, little books for children
contained numerous pleas for tolerance and also warnings to parents
that "care should be taken not to press too closely upon children such
non-essential points as form the distinguishing peculiarities of the various
sects of Christians." 99 Not only were the differences in creeds to be over-

50 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

looked in religious teaching, but the belief was definitely expressed that
it was "better for the mind to be left in perfect freedom to choose its
own creed; if the feelings are religious God will enlighten the under-
standing; he who loves what is good will perceive what is true." 100

It is not to be supposed from these remarks that dogma was discarded
by the various Protestant denominations under the pressure of ration-
alistic trends. Parents were often advised to strike a middle course by
teaching their children the doctrinal points of theology which had been
traditionally embraced by the family; but to allow the young to reason
and examine and form opinions for themselves. This new liberal policy
is reflected in the book, Advice to Christian Parents:

Do not teach them to be bigots: to believe that everyone that differs from
them and their father is a heretic. , . . We do not wish to see either you or
your children possessed of a wavering mind, and an unsetded judgment, and
borne about by every wind of doctrine; but we do wish you to form their
sentiments upon the foundation of God's word and reason. 101

Among the first expressions of the new trend was a work published
in 1788 by Isaiah Thomas, the famous printer of Worcester, which bears
the title A Curious Hieroglyphic^ Bible; represented with Emblematical
Figures for the Amusement of Children: designed chiefly to -familiarize
tender Age, in a pleasing and diverting Manner, with early Ideas of the
Holy Scriptures. In the gloom of the Colonial period just past, the idea
of amusing little Christians by any religious device would have been
denounced as an inspiration of the devil. Children were expected to
approach theological truths in the same spirit as their elders. No sugar-
coating even with "emblematical figures" was ever applied to any morsel
of dogma, however bitter it might have been to the childish taste. Hence
the opening words of this miniature Bible must have struck a pleasant
but surprising note for the younger members of post-Revolutionary
society, since the author noted that there "appeared not to have been
any work of this kind yet offered for their amusement." He proceeded to
give parents the novel warning: "Do not compel Children to learn certain
Tasks in certain measured Hours, for such Compulsion or Restraint is
oftener an Obstacle than an Encouragement towards learning the neces-
sary and useful sciences." 102

Popular as this small Bible was, young readers were frequently ex-
horted in the new illustrated catechism to spend more time in a diligent
study of the ordinary version of the Word of God the mainspring of
their spiritual life. That the book was easily accessible to children may
be inferred from the following lines:

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 51

That sacred book inspir'd by God,

In our own tongue is spread abroad;

That book may little children read,

And learn the knowledge which they need. 103

To counteract disobedience to authority, religious instructors used
the Bible as a source of examples for filial obedience. 104 In one of the
new juvenile treatises on the Bible, the story of Solomon's reverence
for his mother, Bethsheba, was cited for the edification of American
boys. The tone is quite different from the old admonition to the un-
dutiful child which warned him that a "peculiar curse" pursued the
disobedient child in this world and that eventually "ravens would pick
out his eyes and eagles eat the same." After describing Solomon's cordial
greeting to his mother and how he had caused a seat to be placed for her
at his right hand, the following deduction was made from this "amiable
example of one of the greatest and most accomplished men that ever
lived":

A young man however high be his birth, who is habitually disrespectful to his
mother, deserves to be ranked among ill-bred clowns: While on the other
hand, there is scarcely any surer mark of good nature, good breeding, and
good sense, in a young man, than his habitually behaving towards his mother
with respectful attention. 105

Parents on their part were urged to be diligent in religious instruction
and circumspect in their example because children formed their senti-
ments and manners by an imitation of others. To support the theory that
the young "not only discover their intellectual powers, but acquire many
sentiments of good and evil in the early years of their life," the elders
were given the example of St. Augustine, whose youth was described
as "very loose and disorderly." It was pointed out, however, that the
prayers of his pious mother, Monica, had wrought a miracle of grace;
by her saintly example the profligate youth was changed from a "disgrace
to society" to one of the "most eminent champions for evangelical
truth." 106

The failure of compulsion in dealing with children was tacitly acknowl-
edged in another small book of the times, Nurse Trudoves New Year
Gift, which actually counseled bribing the child to learn the New Testa-
ment by the gift of a little speller or a pretty gilt book. This delightful
volume, in its very title, proclaimed the utilitarian philosophy that was
subtly seeping into child-training. According to the new code, children
were to practise virtue, not primarily to escape hell-fire or to gain heaven,
but for the same reason that prompted the making of this little book

52 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

to merit a temporal advantage. The book was to be presented "to every
little Boy who would become a great Man, and ride upon a fine Horse;
and to every little Girl who would become a fine woman, and ride in
a Governor's gilt coach." 107

The child was also told that he could promote the glory of God in
three ways: first, by acknowledging Him as the author of his being;
second, by loving his fellow creatures, and doing every possible good
for their persons, characters, and spiritual interests; and thirdly, by living
temperately with respect to eating and drinking, and by subduing his
passions when he found them unruly. 108 In this manner the new optimism
of the day provided for the peace and happiness of youth in their relations
to God, to their fellow beings, and to themselves. Although the New
Year Gift was in advance of its times, since the ideas that it contained
were more common at the turn of the century, nevertheless it indicates
the trend of adult thinking in matters of child discipline.

Another popular work of this type bore the title, Ta\e Your Choice:
or The Difference between Virtue and Vice, Shown in Opposite Charac-
ters. The very first comparison was made between "Industry" and "Idle-
ness"; but in spite of the title, neither subject was considered from the
point of view of vice or virtue and their respective connotations, but
only from the standpoint of expediency. Industry was represented by
a good little girl who had been educated in those principles which estab-
lished all "the amiable properties in female character," such as affection
for her nearest friends, respect for all mankind, a love of study, and
"no small attention to useful industry." In glaring contrast, the girl
Idleness, although endowed with "a beautiful face and form" and a
quick mind, repeatedly shocked her friends by wasting her time and
failing to learn her lessons, for which omission she was often "set in the
corner of the classroom with the cane down her back and spurned by
all her classmates as a great dunce." 109 These practical didactic tales in-
creased in popularity because they filled so nicely the behavior patterns
of the young nation engaged in a program of territorial development.
Children's stories stressing the excellence of morality portrayed temporal
success as the usual recompense of an industrious youth. The following
"short sermon" on "How to Make Money" epitomized the philosophy
that shaped the thinking of American children during the decades when
busy brains and hands were exploiting the resources of the vast new
country:

If he has good health and is industrious, even the poorest boy in our country
has something to trade upon: and if he be besides well educated, and have
skill in any kind of work, and add to this moral habits and religious principles,

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 53

so that his employers may trust him and place confidence in him, he may then
be said to set out in life with a handsome capital, and certainly he has a good
chance of becoming independent and respectable, and perhaps rich, as any
man in the country. 110

One of the first distinctly American textbooks published at the close
of the eighteenth century gave children an interpretation of the pleasures
of a devout Christian life that was in sharp contrast to the spirit prevail-
ing in 1700:

I have formerly (with the world) accounted the spirit of a Christian, to be a
melancholy spirit: and the ways of holiness unpleasant paths, leading into the
deserts of sad retiredness; but . . . now I see there is a heaven on the way
to Heaven, and one look of faith yields more comfort and content than all
the pleasures and delights the world can afford. 111

Many of the female writers of children's books who began their activi-
ties early in the nineteenth century agreed on the necessity of cultivating
the minds of the young in the things of the spirit. These women believed
that the religious principles children imbibed, and the habits they con-
tracted in their early years, were of the utmost importance; for proper
training not only gave children's character a unique quality in the first
years o life, but generally stamped the form of their whole later conduct
and even their eternal state. Hundreds of volumes were produced to
underscore the great lesson o child life the capacity of knowing, loving,
and serving God here, as a preparation for a blissful eternity. In driving
home their great points, these authors sought to mold warily the

tender minds so susceptible of impression, to lead them imperceptibly to virtue
by such methods as seemed rather to amuse than to instruct, to excite their
attention with natural images, and to enlarge their ideas with such stories as
were calculated for giving them delight, and at the same time were capable
of imprinting on their tender minds sentiments of religion, justice and virtue. 112

In contrast to the writers of an earlier period who overworked the
proverb, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," or who
warned children that "heaven and hell are no trifles," the new school
renounced this Hebraic interpretation of man's relations to his Maker.
It taught that true religion had "nothing to terrify its youthful votaries";
that its aspects were mild and placid, its sentiments pure, liberal, and
enlivening, and that it forbade no innocent gratifications. 113 Children
were gently advised to study the life of Christ in the New Testament,
and thus to "avert that most alarming of all human miseries, a con-
science at war with itself" by concentrating on the mercies of their Re-
deemer, and by trusting in the love of the Saviour whose precepts were
to guide their lives. 114

54 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

The new writings sought to impress on tender minds a sense of con-
fidence in the ever present Deity and to show little ones that if dangers
threatened, their Almighty Protector was always near. The love o God
had been mentioned in most children's works prior to 1800, but this
attribute of the Almighty was often eclipsed by the emphasis placed on
His power and wrath. In contrast, a Catholic textbook of the later period
gave this interpretation of the place of love and fear in the child's spiritual
life:

If the greatness of God obliges us to fear and honour him with a profound
respect, his goodness engages us as much to love him. We must fear God by
reason of his greatness, which renders him infinitely adorable; and we must
love him because of his goodness which makes him infinitely amiable; we
must not separate these two virtues, love and fear. He that is without fear
cannot be justified. He that loveth not abideth in death. 115

To overcome the fear of being left alone, children were impressed with
the necessity of living in the presence of God, and of being cautious of
their words and actions. The habit of living under the immediate eye
of Almighty God was believed to be an antidote for cruelty, lies, and
stubborn temper those common faults of early childhood so difficult
to eradicate. This lesson of reverence for the presence of God, the cer-
tainty that "life meant looking up to Someone greater than himself,"
the idea of a state far above his own which yet encompassed his earthly
existence, was later described by a child of the period:

The thought of God seemed as natural as the thought of my father and mother.
That he should be invisible did not seem strange, for I could not with my
eyes see through the skies beyond which I supposed he lived. But it was easy
to believe that he could look down on me, and that he knew all about me. We
were taught very early to say, "Thou, God seest me;" and it was one of my
favorite texts. Heaven seemed nearer because someone I loved was up there
looking down on me. A baby is not afraid of his father's eyes. 116

Many adults by 1800 whose spiritual lessons had been "painfully
learnt and darkly understood" advocated that religious education in
early life should be addressed to the heart rather than to the mind. In
keeping with this plan, the affections were to be filled with love and
gratitude to God, but no attempt was to be made to introduce doctrinal
opinions into the understanding. To that end, the child's ponderous
"Compendium of Divinity" used in former days was much abridged
and simplified. It was thought enough for the child to be told that God
was his father, that everything in the world was formed by His wisdom
and preserved by His love. No opportunity was lost of impressing on the
child's mind that God loved the children He had made, that the wicked

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 55

removed themselves from God, but that He never withdrew from them.
An important point in the code was the teaching that since grace was
always shedding its holy beams upon the human soul to purify and
bless it, only the perversity of the individual could prevent the effective
operation of that divine influence. 117

The optimistic advocates of a "natural religion/' or those who sought
to find in nature the normal and only final answers to all philosophical
problems, again and again warned parents that the prayers of children
should be simple and suited to their understanding and state of mind;
that the young in any event should not be expected to enter into the
spirit of prayer with the feelings and reactions of adults. A love for the
sublime and beautiful works of nature was to be cultivated early in
childhood, not merely to afford a source of enjoyment, but to promote
a devotional spirit, and to elevate the mind "by raising the views 'through
things which are seen' to Him who is invisible." 118

The attempt to reach a knowledge of God through a contemplation
of His works led a number of early nineteenth-century writers, particu-
larly women, to focus unusual interest on nature study. Impressed by
the grandeur and order of nature, they arrived at the conviction that
life is essentially good and that the universe is controlled by a benevolent
God whom man may approach by various avenues of worship. Hence
some of the juvenile aids for religious instruction written by these advo-
cates of "sense-experience" used nature study to prove the transcendental,
as in Emerson, and often incorporated pantheistic ideas in their lessons
for boys and girls. One wonders what the reactions of young minds may
have been, for example, to this suggestion in Mrs. Barbauld's Hymns in
Prose:

Child of reason . . . what has thine eye observed and whither has thy foot been
wandering?

I have been wandering along the meadows, in thick grass; the cattle were
feeding around me. . . .

Didst thou see nothing more? Return again, child of reason, for there are
greater things than these. God was among the fields; and didst thou not
perceive him? His beauty was among the meadows; his smile enlivened the
sunshine. God was amongst the trees, his voice sounded in the murmur of the
water; his music warbled in the shade; and didst thou not attend? God was in
the storm, and didst thou not perceive him? God is in every place; he speaks in
every sound we hear; he is seen in all our eyes behold. 119

A general recognition of the child as a distinct personality could not
be effected by the exponents of the new school of spiritual thought until

56 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

the nineteenth century was well on its way. The humanitarian Gallaudet,
in his Child's Boo{ on the Soul counseled adults that the inquiries made,
the difficulties stated, or the doubts expressed by the child should be
treated with the greatest consideration, for he added, "They who would
teach children well, must first learn a great deal from them. 5 ' 120 This
author, as late as 1831, expressed the opinion that there was a great deal
too much complexity in the early religious instruction of children. To
correct this evil he urged the teaching of but one simple truththat the
child possessed a soul, distinct from the body, which would survive it
and live forever. He declared that this truth could be taught from an
observation of natural phenomena such as animals, flowers, and pebbles.
From this observation the child was to be made to feel that he was not
a mere animal, for as an intellectual, moral, and accountable being
destined to an endless existence beyond the grave, he had higher enjoy-
ments than those which were sensual. 121

Much of the theological instruction of the early nineteenth century
did not register permanently in young minds, nor was it of a uniform
character; nevertheless children in general were taught that certain deeds
such as disobedience to parents, lying, and stealing were forbidden by
a "Power" that was not to be challenged. Public opinion then rarely
excused youth, thus morally equipped, who deliberately defied or even
evaded these fundamental precepts. 122

Juvenile authors reflected in their writings the unyielding attitude
of the righteous towards the willful and unpardonable "crimes of youth."
Stories abounded in which the punishment for disobedience swiftly
overwhelmed the obdurate child. Whatever zeal may have inspired some
of these writers, their works could hardly have failed to have disastrous
effects not only on the minds of small readers, but also on their relations
with their parents. For example, one such tale, utilizing the horrible-
example technique in relation to the sin of disobedience, told the sad
experiences of "Little Fanny," a child of an age to play with dolls. This
child's criminal career began after she had been denied permission to
stroll in the park in order to show off her own finery; she subsequently
violated her parents' wishes by stealing out with her nurse. She was
then kidnapped from her wicked maid for the sake of her fine clothes,
became a "dirty beggar," and as such "dwelt with vice which doubled
all her pain." Eventually Fanny became a street vendor and cried "Fish
to sell!" but she soon turned to the milk and egg business as a cleaner
occupation. The unfortunate girl kept the thought of her home and
parents constantly in mind, and the childish reader must have been
amazed to learn that all this time "her mother's watchful eye followed

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 57

her close/' but that "prudence withheld maternal love" from rescuing
the daughter until a longer trial had proved Fanny's virtue. After a
sufficient purgatorial process, Fanny was restored to her family by being
sent to deliver butter and eggs at her mother's new home. The reader
was assured that the prodigal was no longer idle, vain, and eager to
maintain her own opinion, but a pious, modest child beloved by all. 123

The ultimate value of fictitious reading for children was widely de-
bated. "To tell a story" was the common expression for lying, and for
the lovers of absolute truth the term embraced not only actual falsehood
but the delightful old fables, fairy stories, and poetic legends as well. 124
What now seems a source of much pleasure and profit for children was,
as a result of this rationalization, bound up by a fine-spun theological
thread and withheld from the enjoyment of the young. Advocates of
literal truth deplored the fact that "stories of fairies, hobgoblins, and
the like must fill the mind with improper ideas." 125

To underscore this interpretation of truth, the child was given the
"histories" of good children who had "died and gone to heaven" in
which the little reader could learn that such chos'en souls had always
preferred tales of truth. For example, "Little Edward," who was born
in Philadelphia in 1831, had found books his chief source of amusement
from his fourth year. The point was made that although he had read
a great deal for one so young, nevertheless if he "knew a story was not
all true, he did not care about reading it." 126

In regard to the external observances of piety, there was still a uni-
versal agreement on the fitness of silence, self-abnegation, and a serious
deportment both at family and at public worship. The idea was steadily
gaining ground, however, that little ones should not be compelled to
attend church services until they were capable of behaving in a proper
manner. 127 Fear was expressed that children might develop a dislike for
the Sabbath, and a want of reverence for its sacred character. There is
no question that those who still clung to the old traditions of the Sabbath
restrained children from what now seems a natural and innocent ex-
pression of gayety on that day. If boys and girls laughed or jumped or
touched their playthings, they were told that it was wicked to do because
it was the Lord's Day. There is evidence that the day indeed became
hateful to certain children, for they learned to consider it a period of
gloom and privation and thus to associate the Bible and attendance at
church with other distasteful experiences. 128

An increasing number of adults also realized that, since small children
could not sit still and read all day, they should not be bound to the adult
code of Sabbath observance which on the part of many children was

58 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

naturally resisted as a state of bondage. Religious observance was to
be made as pleasant as possible and oppressive rules and prohibitions
avoided. Theodore Dwight dared to write the following advice to fathers
about the "Sabbath going" of their offspring:

Children should be made as comfortable as possible at church. They cannot
comfortably sit long in one position, especially in seats made for persons four
times their size. We should never forget what "church going" is to them.
Let us be set at a table five feet high and four feet wide, with high walls
before and behind us, for three or four hours for time is longer to them,
without permission to see or ability to understand; certainly it would be
poor comfort to tell us, after unspeakable fatigue and endurance, that we were
so good we might go again in the afternoon. Children cannot keep from
restlessness or slumber in such circumstances and they should be lifted up
and laid down, and always kindly treated. If quite small a few sugar plums
may be taken to guard against a turn of crying. If they cannot be seated on a
little high and narrow bench as to look a little about them, they may be
allowed to stand up on the seat for a short time, and occasionally be held up
to see a baptism, the organ, or the choir. 129

Although medical authorities had warned against terrifying children,
some juvenile works still exploited the easily aroused emotion of fear
by a surfeit of horrifying tales. As long as the frightful physical phases
of death were stressed in children's books there was naturally an interest
in the "histories of godly children" of the Janeway variety, which had
been so popular in the previous century. One such book, A Memorial
for Children, Designed as a Continuation of Janeway s To\en t frankly
admitted this influence in its title; but the fact that most of the accounts
were of recent occurrence seemed to justify its publication. The section
addressed to living children might easily have had the effect of driving
young readers into ways of wickedness in order to escape an untimely
death since the good always seemed to die young! After listing the
virtues practised by the youthful paragons of perfection who had happily
passed so soon to their reward, the author posed tremendous questions
for his young readers: "Don't you wish to be like them, and to die as
they did? That it may be so, you must do as they did: you must pray
that the Lord would make you his children." 130

Mary Pilkington wrote biographies of pious boys and girls in the
same strain of spirituality as the work just described; and not only
enumerated for children the blessings of an early death but also offered
the virtuous youth but small hope for longevity. Her "moral and in-
structive examples for the female sex" contain a disturbing warning to
the girlish reader:

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 59

Beauty, nor wit, nor sense can save.
From death's imperial dart:
'Tis virtue makes an early grave,
Gives comfort to the heart. 131

Boys could also draw alarming inference from an epitaph by this same
writer which formed the closing chapter of a devout boy's life:

Struck by stern death's unerring dart,
When every virtue bloomed;
When rich perfection graced his brest [sic]
Then was his heart entombed, 132

George Burder, in his Early Piety: or Memoirs of Children Eminently
Pious, obliquely questioned the influence that descriptions of the edifying
deaths of youths might have on the behavior patterns of normal children
still attracted to the pleasures of this life. In referring to the models of
early sanctity depicted in his work, Burder cautiously remarked:

Many of them died very young, (not that they died the sooner because they
were good; but being good, they were the sooner fit to die); now, you yourself
may die young too, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord, for the pardon of
all your sins, and beg for grace to make you fit to live, and then you will be
fit to die. 133

The fact that the author himself doubted the value of these disquieting
"histories" doubtless accounts for their contrast to those of the Janeway
school. Much of the vigor and fire of the old "memoirs" of godly Colonial
children engrossed in the analysis of their "corrupt nature" is wanting
in the new work, while the villain of the piece, "a sad and miserable
child, Jack Perverse," is far from convincing. His history reveals that
by 1812 the fear of the master's rod had supplanted the dread of a
wrathful God even among the "eminently serious":

Though his parents sent him to a very good school, yet he was such a dunce
that he could not learn a single verse in the Testament without blundering;
and when he was reproved, used to answer again with impertinence; and was
so sulky and obstinate, that correction only made him worse. When any mis-
chief was going forward at school, he was sure to be found at the head of it;
by which means his task was left undone, and then to avoid punishment, he
would play truant, the consequence of which was that he was not only well
flogged, but a heavy log was fastened to his leg, and a great fool's cap was
put on his head; so that he became the sport and derision of all that beheld
him. 134

The Lilliputian Masquerade "lashed the follies of the age" and repro-
duced the "dance of death" motif a skeleton with an arrow in one

60 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

hand and a letter o summons in the other. This work warned the child
that however grim the mask might appear, death ought to be esteemed
as a friend, for by thinking of it often he might pass his life profitably
and at last be "relieved from a troublesome world to partake of the
pleasures of one where sorrow is not known." 135

The Taylor sisters, however, put the last ghoulish touch to the solemn
picture of a small child's contemplation of death. In their verses "About
Dying" and in "Lines on a Snowdrop," instead of dwelling on joys
of holy souls in the presence of their God, these writers stressed the re-
volting physical aspects of death those most likely to have disastrous
effects on the youthful imagination. In "Lines on a Snowdrop," the
fate of the poor little child, doomed forever to the "pithole," must have
left weird impressions upon sensitive young readers. Witness, for example,
the following dialogue:

Child

Tell me, Mamma, if I must die,
One day as little baby died,
And look so very pale and He
Down in the pit-hole by its side.

Mamma

'Tis true, my love, that you must die,

The God who made you says you must

And every one of us shall he,

Like the dear baby in the dust.

These hands and feet and busy head,
Shall waste and crumble quite away;
But though your body shall be dead,
There is a part which can't decay. 136

Gradually a benign attitude on the part of other adults mercifully
spared the child the more revolting details of his dissolution. After he
had been impressed with an idea of God's love he was led by degrees
to know about the final trial of life. 137 More humane writers took chil-
dren in spirit beyond the grave and gave them a foretaste of the delights
awaiting those who loved God. A new note of hope was found in the
contemplation of millions of their fellow creatures who had finally
reached that haven of ''everlasting rest, at which all have it in their power

to arrive." 138

The horrors of death were sometimes softened in children's works to
foster the faith "that looked beyond die tomb"; nevertheless the solemnity
of the subject was still emphasized. Children were urged to meditate
frequently on death to forestall any terror that a casual reference to the

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 6r

subject might bring. 139 Since associations of grief were common in the
frequent deaths of large families, a forthright acceptance of the facts of
life and death was regarded as a much-desired virtue. Parents were
exhorted to speak of the departed as being alive and waiting for the rest
of the family to join them in an endless eternity of love. 140

The Sunday school in the United States was of English origin and
had for its primary aim the instruction of the poor in the rudiments of
secular knowledge. By the opening of the nineteenth century this institu-
tion had been adapted to the American scene with a slight change of
objective "to perfect the children o the Congregation, or others, in the
knowledge of the Catechism of the Church; to promote the reading of
the Holy Scripture; and to teach those to read who were not otherwise
taught." In this statement made by the Episcopal Church of Hudson,
New York, in 1822, one notes in tie words "or others" the growing
"live and let live" spirit of American churches. In the rest of the declara-
tion one may recognize the shift in the responsibility for the religious
instruction of the young from the home to church institutions.

The literature of the Sunday school during this age of declining theo-
logical zeal further reflects the change not only in the spiritual status
of the child but also in the general Protestant tendency to lower denomi-
national barriers in the decades after 1825. Each church early in the
century had its own apologists and publications which expounded with
a lively zeal a definite code of doctrine acceptable to young aspirants of
that particular creed. The American Sunday School Union had been
formed in 1824 by merging the resources of various denominations, and
thus provisions were made for a confederated system of religious instruc-
tion. 141 To execute this program of consolidated religious education on
a nation-wide scale, auxiliary branches of the Union soon sprang into
existence in almost every state and territory. In 1830 the Union resolved
to establish Sunday school in every neighborhood in the western states
that was without one, and in 1833 it adopted a similar resolution with
respect to the southern states. For this purpose it employed about 350
missionaries, many of whom were students in theological seminaries, to
traverse the country and to revitalize decaying schools or to establish

new ones. 142

The object of the Society was twofold: to provide the young with
oral instruction, and to furnish suitable juvenile reading material to be
used in the schools and at home. The Union consequently published
hundreds of volumes for its libraries, exclusive of an infinite variety
of educational works, magazines, and journals. 143

These publications were compelled to drop their distinct sectarian

62 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

teachings, and the best sellers became either those that inculcated only
broad religious principles agreeable to all Protestants, or those entirely
devoid of dogma. 144 Accounts of conversions, directions for the observance
of the Lord's Day, temperance propaganda, stories stressing the duty
of charity to the poor and kindness to animals, and warnings against
idleness and frivolous play were the subjects most commonly treated.
Many of the publications reflected the new note of cheerful hope that
characterized this era, as the following reveals: "Do remember that re-
ligion is so far from being gloomy, that it renders its possessors cheerful
in hours of great trial. Surely it is far more pleasant to walk in the light
of truth than in the darkness of sin." 145

Under the revivalist influence, innumerable accounts of "hopeful con-
versions" formed an important part of this literature, as manifestations
of grace were recorded for the general edification. In speaking of the
"good fruits," the report for 1826 read as follows:

In one of the Sunday School Unions, more than thirty scholars have become
pious during the past year. One little girl, ten years old, who thinks she has
found grace to choose the good part which shall not be taken from her, has
often retired, in the time between school hours, with her little companions, into
some silent place in the woods, to kneel down and pray to speak to Jesus
the friend of little children. 146

Much of the temperance literature lacked subtlety and conviction
because the most commonplace occurrences of life or even the ordinary
pleasures of childhood were made to serve propaganda purposes. Minor
human frailties such as spending pennies at the confectioner's, thrilling
to the wonders of a spring circus, or holding a spoonful of brandy in
the mouth for toothache, after sweeping condemnations, were used as
springboards from which an unwary youth plunged into a drunkard's
grave. Statistics with their peculiar persuasive powers were brought to
bear on the situation: and the young were told that in the Mad River
district of Ohio alone more than four million gallons of whiskey were
manufactured in a single year, or enough for two gallons for every man,
woman, and child of that state! After admitting that much of the liquor
was destined for exportation, the writer warned the "whole world to
avoid Ohio Whiskey as they would the pestilence!" 147 The fact that more
than thirty thousand people died every year "of strong drinks" in this
country, and that the Bible said such would not inherit the kingdom
of God, was considered sufficient grounds for a prolonged warfare against
the "vice that most disgraced mortal man." 148

The spirit of reform in Sunday school literature further manifested
itself in hundreds of horrible examples of the unhappy fate reserved

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 63

for those merciless children who were cruel to animals. The punishment,
which was always swift in overtaking the youthful culprits, was fre-
quently of an immoderate severity, out of all proportion to the malice
intended. In most cases the retribution meted out made no provisions
for the mischievous nature of normal children. For example, in a story
prefaced by the remark, "Children are very apt to be cruel," an account
was given of a small boy who during a ride in a cart with other children
yielded to the temptation of "pricking the poor horse on the back to
make him go faster." With lightning speed his punishment came; for
"the poor animal plunged with pain, and darting suddenly around a
corner, the boy was thrown out and crushed to death!" The author con-
cluded this grim tale with the moral: "He had gone out from his parents'
house in health and spirits. He was now returned a stiff cold corpse. And
cruelty to an animal caused his sad death." 149

With the old Colonial theological code of the child's religious life
disrupted by a variety of influences social and religious the trend of
the times was plainly sketched in books for children and in the manuals
used by their parents as guides for spiritual instruction. Theological
concepts were gradually displaced in religious training either by exam-
ples and rules for good conduct or by moral stories calculated to preserve
the peace and prosperity of American society by a timely cultivation of
the natural virtues. Even the prayers for little children took on a new
tone and strikingly contrasted to those early petitions filled with terrifying
allusions to a God of Wrath and the tortures of the damned:

Give us a humble active mind,
From sloth and folly free;
Give us a cheerful heart, inclin'd
To useful industry.

A faithful memory bestow.

With, solid learning store;

And still, O Lord, as more we know,

Let us obey thee more. 150

1 William W. Manross, A History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 40.

2 As quoted by William Warren Sweet, The Story of Religions in America, p. 44.

3 Thomas C. Hall, The Religious Background of American Culture, p. 44.

4 Theodore Maynard, The History of American Catholicism, p. 91.

5 William Perm, Fruits of a Fathers Love. Being the Advice of William Penn to
His Children Relating to Their Civil and Religious Conduct, p. 2.

6 Samuel Davies, Little Children Invited to Jesus Christ, A Sermon Preached in
Hanover County, Virginia, May 8, IJ5&, p. n. Davies succeeded Jonathan Edwards
as president of Princeton College. For infant minds such passionate proddings
sounded the approach of the "Great Awakening," a movement which transcended
political as well as religious boundaries.

64 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

7 Anon., The Children's Bible, or an History of the Holy Scriptures, Title Page.

*lbid., Preface. Besides the Thumb Bibles containing scriptural verses and prayers,
so popular with the children o this country, there were also other works such as the
tiny book called The History of the Holy Jesus which gave naive interpretations of
the New Testament and closed with the solemn admonition:

Keep close to his most just Commands,
In all things please him well;
Then happy it will be with you
When thousands go to Hell.
A Lover of their Precious Souls, The History of the Holy Jesus, pages unnumbered.

9 Eleazer Moodey, The School of Good Manners, Containing Principles of the
Christian Religion, fifth edition, p. 72. This was an American variation of a British
work, English Exercises by J. Garretson, first published in London in 1685; see
A. S. W Rosenbach, Early American Children's BooJ(S, p. 22.

10 Samuel Fuller, Some Principles and Precepts of the Christian Religion by One of
the People called Quakers, pp. 24, 25 (Quoting II Tim. 3: 16-17).

n Samuel Phillips, The Orthodox Christian: or, A Child-W ell-Instructed in the
Principles of the Christian Religion, p. 79.

12 Cotton Mather, A Family Well-Ordered, pp. 19, 20.

13 Samuel Fuller, op. cit., Dedication, pp. ni-v.

14 John Muckarsie, The Children's Catechism, p. 23.

15 Thomas Vincent, An Explicatory Catechism: or, an Explanation of the Assem-
blies Shorter Catechism, Preface, p. i.

Wild., p. ii.

17 Davies, op. cit., p. 4.

18 Mather, op. cit., pp. 25, 26 (author's italics) .

19 Fuller, op. tit., Introduction, pp. vi-xi.

21 Samuel Moodey, Judas the Traitor Hung up in Chains. To give Warning to
Professors that they Beware of Worldly mm dedness, and Hypocrisy; Preached at
Yor% in 'New-England, p. 3.

22 Benjamin Colman, A Devout Contemplation of the Meaning of Divine Provi-
dence, in the Early Death of Pious and Lovely Children. Preached Upon the Sudden
and Lamented Death of Mrs. Elizabeth Wainwright, Who departed this Life, April
8, 1714. Having just completed the Fourteenth Year of Her Age, Preface, p. iv.

^James Janeway, A Tofyen for Children, Being an Exact Account of the Conver-
sion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several "Young Children.
Preface to the original English edition. Cotton Mather added the To\en for the
Children of New England.

^A Legacy for Children, being some of the Last Expressions and Dying Sayings.
of Hannah Hill, Jurn. of the City of Philadelphia, in the Province OF Pennsylvania,
in America, Aged Eleven Years and near Three Months f p. 32.

^Watts, op. cit., Preface, p. ii.
, pp. Hi, iv.

lbid., p. v.

M S. D. McConnell, History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 87.

30 Alice M. Earle, Diary of Anna Green Winslow, A Boston Girl of ijji, p. 39.

^Ibi d., pp. 54, 55.

32 Eleazer Moodey, The School of Good Manners, pp. 32, 33.

33 John Cotton, Spiritual Mil\ for Boston Babes, p. 10.

34 Cotton Mather, Magnolia Christi Americana, pp. n, 56-62.

35 Walter J. Homan, Children and Quakerism, pp. 40, 41.

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 65

36 Clifton H. Brewer, A History of the Religious Education in the Episcopal C hutch
to 1835, p. 77.

^The Reverend Assembly of Divines, A Shorter Catechism, p. 2.

88 Henry Heywood, Two Catechisms by Way of Question and Answer' Designed
jor the Instruction of the Children of the Christian Brethren . . . who are commonly
\noivn and distinguished by the name of Baptists, p. 67.

^Ibid., p. 33.

40 Samuel Fuller, op. cit., pp. 30, 31.

41 Isaac Watts, op. cit., pp. 13-14.

42 Eleazer Moodey, op, cit., pp. 72-76.

43 Henry Heywood, op. cit f , pp. 20, 21.

44 Samuel Phillips, op. cit., p. 20.

45 Henry Heywood, op. cit., p. 23.

46 John Mackarsie, The Children's Catechism (Presbyterian), p. u.

41 The Reverend Assembly of Dimnes, Shorter Catechism, pp. 13-15.

lbid., p. 15.

^Ibid., p. 16.

^The Reverend Assembly of Divines, Shorter Catechism, p. 15.

51 Benjamin Keach, War with the Devil, pp. 38, 39.

52 Samuel Moodey, op. cit., p. 10.

53 Benjamin Keach, op. cit., p. 45.

^Ibid., p. 46.

55 Samuel Moodey, op. cit., pp. 26, 27.

Ibid., p. 60.

57 Walter J. Homan, Children and Quakerism, p. 32.

58 Samuel Fuller, op. cit., pp. 21, 23.

59 As quoted in Clifton H. Brewer, A History of the Religious Education in the
Espicopal Church to 1835, p. 60.

60 Isaac Watts, op. cit., pages unnumbered.

61 Watts, op. cit., p. 30.

^The Reverend Assembly of Divines, The Shorter Catechism, p, 26; Early in the
eighteenth century, the Puritans in America developed a trend towards individualism
which was implicit in all dissent and especially in Congregationalism. Alarmed by
the diversity of belief and by the indifference displayed by many parents in catechis-
ing their children, the General Court of Massachusetts adopted the longer and
shorter catechisms that were drawn up in London about the middle of the century
by the great Westminister Assembly of Divines. Although these works had been
compiled by Presbyterians, the Congregationahsts of this country seized them as the
only escape from the schism that threatened to split each congregation into small
factions. See Paul L. Ford, The New England Primer, pp. 10-12.

63 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., p. 42.

of the New Creature, p. 12.

66 Fuller, op. cit., pp. 52, 53.

67 Thomas Vincent, An Explicatory Catechism, p. 296.
68 Fuller, op. cit., p. 53.

^John Taylor, Verbum Sempiternum, The Third Edition with Amendments,
pages unnumbered.
70 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., p. 27,
71 Henry Heywood, op. cit., p. 47.
72 Cotton Mather, op. cit., pp. 41-43.
73 Isaac Watts, op. cit., p. 27.
74 William Penn, op. cit., p. 27.
The New England Primer, pages unnumbered.

66 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

76 Anon., The Rule of the New Creature, p. 3.

"John Lewis, The Church Catechism Explained by Way of Question and Answer
and Con-firmed by Scripture Proofs, tfth edition, p. 105.

78 James Janeway, op. at., p. 132.

nibtd., p. 87.

*>lbid., Preface.

81 Samuel Davies, op. cit., p. 24.

82 Thomas C, Hall, The Religious Background of American Culture, pp. 126-46. See
also Herbert M. Moraid, Deism m Eighteenth Century America; Edwin A. Burtt,
Types of Religious Philosophy, John H. Hough, The Christian Criticism of Life, pp.

84-94.

83 In the catechism, Spiritual Mtl\ for Boston Babes, children were taught in regard
to the Commandment "Thou shalt not steal" that they were to "get their goods
honestly, to keep them safely, and to spend them thriftily"; John Cotton, Spiritual
Milk, for Boston Babes, p. 5,

84 Joseph Haroutunian, Piety Versus Moralism, The Passing of New England
Theology, Introduction, pp. xiv-xviii.

85 John Gregory, A Father's Legacy to his Daughters, pp. 13, 14*

86 Ernest S. Bates, American Faith, Its Religious, Political and Economic Founda-
tions f pp. 218-20.

87 Ernest S. Bates, op. cit., pp. 222-23.

88 Joseph Haroutunian, op. cit., pp. 181-87.

89 Ernest Bates, op. cit., p. 226

*>Ibid., p. 283.

91 William W. Sweet, The Story of Religions in America, pp. 283-88.

^Ibid., pp. 305-8.

m lbtd., p. 293

M James A. Burns, The Growth and Development of the Catholic School System
in the United States, pp. II, 12.

95 William W. Sweet, op. cit., p, 390.

Since the Catholic Church in this country, especially beyond the ^ Alleghenies,
was in its formative stage before 1835, the status of the Catholic child will not figure
prominently in this study; even at the close of this era few distinctly Catholic books
had been published in this country. Parents and teachers made use of European
publications, especially those from Germany and England, although a few American
publishers made reprints of the textbooks prepared by the Brothers of the Christian
Schools in Ireland. In this respect it is worth noting that the shift in the basis of the
child's spirituality from a theological to a moral emphasis did not hold true for the
Catholic child. In the few Catholic textbooks of the i82o's now available, at least
three-fourths of the material presented rested on a foundation of theology. Although
the contents of these books were milder in tone, they were quite as dogmatic in
theory as similar Protestant texts of the preceding century. James A. Burns, op. cit.,
pp. 136-40.

96 Frederick Smith, A Letter to the Children and Youth of the Society of Friends,
pp. 3, 4; William W. Sweet, op. cit., pp. 322-31.

^Ibid., pp. 321-26.

n lbid., p. 332.

"Hoare, op. cit., p. 151.

100 Child, op. cit. f p. 74.

101 John Hersey, Advice to Christian Parents, p. 46.

102 X Curious Hieroglyphic Bible, Preface, pp. vii-viii.

103 Phillip Doddridge, The Principles of the Christian Religion: Divided into
Lessons, and adapted to the Capacities of Children, p. 6.

WAR WITH THE DEVIL 67

., p. ii. See also, Wisdom in Miniature or The Young Gentleman and Lady's
Magazine. Being a Collection of Sentences Divine and Moral, pp. 7-10; J. G., A Small
Help Offered to Heads of Families for Instructing Children and Servants.

105 Ezra Sampson, Beauties of the Bible, being a selection from the Old and New
Testaments with various remarks and brief dissertations, designed for the use of
Christians in general, and particularly for the use of schools, and for the improve-
ment of youth, Preface, p. m.

106 John Witherspoon, A Sermon on the Religious Education of Children, Preached
in the old Presbyterian Church in New Yor^ to a very numerous audience f pp. 2-4.

^Nurse Truelove's New Year Gift, or, The Boo% of Boo fa for Children, Adorned
with cuts, Preface.

e Your Choice: or, The Difference between Virtue and Vice, Shown in
Opposite Characters, pages unnumbered.

The Youth's Friend, XL (1838), p. 19.

ni Enos Weed, The American Orthographer, in three booty by a Physician and
Surgeon in difficult Cases, p. 43.

^Mrs. Richard Griffith, Letters Addressed to Young Married Women, p. 65.

113 Mrs. Bonhote, The Parental Monitor, p. 121; Wilham Mason, The Closet Com-
panion, or an Help to Serious Persons, p. 45.

114 Mrs Bonhote, op, cit., p. 124. See also Bielby Porteus (Bishop of London), A
Summary of the Principal Evidences for the Truth and Divine Origin of the Christian
Revelation Designed for the Use of Young Persons, pp. 47-56.

115 W. E. Andrews, The Catholic School Boo\, containing easy and familiar lessons
for the instruction of youth of both sexes, in the English language and the paths of
true religion and virtue, p. 173.

116 Lucy Larcom, A New England Girlhood, p. 63.

117 Lydia Maria Child, The Mother's Eoo\, p, 73; see also Sunday and Adult School
Union, Mill^ for Babes or a Catechism in verse for the use of Sunday Schools, p. 17.

118 Mrs. Louisa Hoare, Hints for the Improvement of Early Education and Nursery
Discipline, p. 142.

119 Anna Letitia Barbauld, Hymns in Prose for the Use of Children, pp. 18-19.

^Thomas H. Gallaudet, The Child's Boo\ of the Soul, Preface, p. vii.

The History of Little Dic\, Preface.

The History of Little Fanny, exemplified in a series of figures, pp. 7-15.

124 Lucy Larcom, op. cit., pp. 74-78.

125 The Seasons, Preface; False Stones Corrected, Preface; Garden Amusements,
Preface.

126 Committee of Publication, American Sunday School Union, Memoir of an
Infant Scholar, p. 17.

1S7 Child, op. cit., p. 64; Hoare, op. cit., p. 148.

138 Child, op. cit., pp. 64, 65. There is an interesting account in this connection of
a small girl who after much coaxing was unwisely permitted to attend a performance
of Der Freyschutz, a German play in which wizards, devils, and flames predomi-
nated. The child's terror increased until her loud sobs compelled her parents to take
her home. When asked by her grandmother if she did not like to go to the theatre,
she replied, "Oh, no Grandmother, it is a great deal worse than going to meeting!"
Hoare, op. cit., p. 64.

129 Theodore Dwight, Jr., The Father's Boo\: or, Suggestions for the Government
and Instruction of Young Children on Principles Appropriate to a Christian Country,
p. 93.

130 George Hendley, A Memorial for Children: being an authentic account of the

68 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Conversion, Experience, and Happy Deaths of Eighteen Children. Designed as a
Continuation of Janeway's ToJ^en, pp. 65-66.

131 Mary Pilkmgton, Biography for Girls: or Moral and Instructive Examples -for
the Female Sex, p. 21.

132 Mary Pilkington, Biography for Boys; or Characteristic Histories, calculated to
impress the youthful mind with an admiration of virtuous Principles, and a Detesta-
tion of Vicious Ones, p. 23.

133 George Burder, Eatly Piety: or Memoirs of Children Eminently Serious, Inter-
spersed with jamiliar Dialogues, Prayers, Graces, and Hymns, Preface, p. iv.

134 Burder, op. cit., pp. 32, 33.

105 T^<? Lilliputian Masquerade, Occasioned by the Conclusion of Peace between
those potent Nations, the Lilliputians and the Tommy thumbians, p. 60.

136 Ann and Jane Taylor, op. cit., p. 24.

137 Mrs. Richard Griffith, op. cit., p. 101.

13S Mrs. Bonhote, op. cit., p. 124.

139 Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Letters to Mothers, p. 285.

140 ^ Father to His Daughter, The Daughter's Own Boo^, or Practical Hints, p.

237-

14 W<sw Jersey Sunday School Journal, I (1827), p. 8.

142 /&', p. 29.

143 Mrs. Isabelle Mayo, The Aspects of Religion in the United States of America, p.
172.

144 American Sunday School Union, "First Lessons on the Great Principles of Reli-
gion, Designed to be used in Infant Sabbath Schools and Private Homes, p. 56.

145 American Sunday School Union, The Youth's Friend, XXXIII (1826), p. 84.

^Ibid., p. 90.

14T Committee of Publication for the American Sunday School Union, The Glass of
Whiskey (1885), p. 8; The Six-Penny Glass of Wine (1833), p. 24; Youth's Penny
Gazette, III (1845), p. 33; Philadelphia Publications.

148 John S. Abbott, The Child at Home; or the Principles of Filial Duty Familiarly
Illustrated, p. 71.

^The YoutVs Friend, XXXIII (1826), p. 131.

150 The American Tract Society, A New Picture Bool^, p. 13.

DECENT BEHAVIOUR

The manners o American children Were basically conditioned by the
grim determination o Colonial parents to pass on to coming generations
the habits and customs of their European ancestors. These colonists,
banded together on the fringe of forests inhabited by savages, were
beset by a very real fear of seeing their society lapse into barbarism.
Despite limited contacts with their former European culture, early
Americans used every available means of developing the "art of decent
behaviour" to perpetuate their traditional social amenities. This was true
whether one considers the English of Virginia and New England, the
Dutch of New York, or the Germans of Pennsylvania.

The Colonies boasted few wealthy families, hence social betterment
here meant incessant toil, thrift, and saving, for children as well as for
adults. The dangers and privations of those early days required health,
courage, and unlimited endurance. Harsh conditions of life fostered a
peculiar social code, under which the individual American uniformly
abhorred weakness in himself or in his neighbor. Springing from the
rigors of this Colonial "proving period," a new dynamic force entered
the character of the people, and was reflected through succeeding genera-
tions in the manners and customs of American child life. 1

The Bible, in every colony, served as a basis for a rigid code of manners
and morals that was intended to preserve for children the sacred traditions
of their forbears. Europe, too, set standards for a patriarchal family
government based on the Old Testament. The family with the father
as the guiding spirit early became the basic unit of American life and
the focal point of moral training. 2 The Colonial father exercised supreme
authority over his wife and children, and from all accounts took his
administrative duties seriously. It was the father who propounded the

yo AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

law of the home with the inflexible strictness of a judge. He dealt with
his children as he expected God to deal with him with less of mercy
than of justice. Paternal discipline, reinforced by the Bible and strength-
ened by threats of damnation for undutiful children, made a great point
of unhesitating, explicit obedience. 3

That children should "mind" was generally a foregone conclusion.
Technically at least, there was no parleying, no giving excuses, no
revocation of command; but the father's will, once expressed, implied
obedience at all costs. Against the autocracy of that will, even the mother
might set herself futilely, and the children weep and plead in vain. The
father's exercise of highest authority in the family was everywhere ac-
cepted as part of the religious faith of the times. Fatherhood was regarded
as a sacred, God-appointed trust, for the discharge of which the head
of the family owed a strict accountability to the source of his authority. 4

The influence of the mother in the Colonial family was passive, but
was generally more immediately attractive to the children than the father's
tyrannical sway. Although the law failed pitifully to protect her rights,
and customs relegated her to an inferior position in the home circle, the
mother seems to have left deep impressions on the character of society.
Consciously, by precept and word, and unconsciously, by manner and
example, she established herself as the resistless influence which shaped
the laws of childhood. 5

This mode of family government, which seems harsh today, was con-
sidered by many even in 1700 as too severe. It was a rule in which affec-
tion held no place against decrees of stern justice. There was something,
however, to be said for this code, since children trained under it were
taught to fear God, to reverence authority, to respect old age, and to
honor virtue.

The starched models of Colonial childhood drilled in the school of
good manners were often not only formal and precise in their relations
at home and abroad, but unnatural even in the company of those of
their own age. Frequently, too, they were pinched and narrow in their
ideas of what constituted a good life. Most children, nevertheless, imbibed
certain sterling qualities from this rigorous home training; for boys and
girls accustomed to its instant obedience usually became law-abiding and
self-respecting citizens. 6

This position of the child, which demanded him to pay respect and
"civility" to his elders and betters, was defined by Christopher Dock, the
gentle master of the Skippack school in Pennsylvania, who wrote in
his "One Hundred Rules of Conduct":

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 71

Thy love for thy parents cannot be better expressed than by a willing obedi-
ence, doing their bidding, accepting their punishments, bearing their weak-
nesses with patience, and never intentionally offending them. . . . All this thou
owest to thy grand-parents, step-parents, guardians, and other superiors. 7

Even with child life dominated by adult authority and moral precept,
the lot of Colonial youth was ameliorated in some degree by the innate
tenderness of most grown-ups. This fact is sometimes disregarded in our
reconstruction of an era which was generally bleak and cheerless for
the young. Although the spontaneity of childhood must have been sup-
pressed to some degree, as the very names "Submit," "Content," and
"Patience" carefully stitched into early samplers might suggest, actual
brutality was uncommon in Colonial homes. 8

Cotton Mather warned parents on this score: "Our authority should
be tempered with kindness and meekness and loving tenderness, that
our children may fear us with delight, and feel that we love them with
as much delight." 9 Parents were given a precise method of correction
to be employed as the first resort when children "do amiss." He counseled:
"Call them aside; set before them the precepts of God which they have
broken, and the threatenings of God which they provoked. Demand of
them to profess their sorrow for their fault, and resolve that they will
be no more so faulty." 10

When this procedure actually failed, another more drastic was con-
veniently at hand. Then it was that the "plentiful supply of warm
birches" was to be used in accordance with the biblical injunction: "With-
hold not correction from the child; for if thou beateth him with the rod,
he shall not dy; thou shall beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his
soul from hell." 11 This action was to be the last resource of the father,
who was cautioned: "Never to give a blow in a passion. Stay till your
passion is over and let the offenders plainly see that you deal with them
out of pure obedience." 12

William Penn, in the matter of family discipline, likewise admonished
his married sons and daughters against a coarse and clamorous method
of enforcing obedience, which he denounced as a vulgarity that should
never disgrace the behavior of parents. Although those responsible for
good order were told to make their children feel the power they had
over them, he earnestly advised parents to try all the milder methods
first:

If God give you children, love them with wisdom, correct them with affection;
never strike m passion and suit the correction to their age as well as fault. . . .
I know the methods of some are severe corrections for faults, and artificial

72 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

praises when they do well, and sometimes rewards; but this course awakens
passions worse than their faults; for one begets base fear if not hatred;
the other pride and vain glory, both which should be avoided. 13

Curiously enough, even under the rigid disciplinary code of the day,
children contrived to be "spoiled"; and the variety of "humours" recorded
for the Colonial "infant" has an amazingly familiar ring to the modern
reader. One author asked, for example: "How comes it that the most
sprightly talkative child cannot be prevailed upon to shew its tongue
to the doctor; yet the moment his back is turned he will loll it out twenty
times?" 14 The writer's litany of despair included a child who would not
sleep but on a lap; another who gave no peace to the household unless
rocked in a cradle; a third cried when the cradle was taken away, and
to show why it cried was quiet the minute it was brought back; a fourth
"swilled tea or some other improper liquid out of all measure and time";
and the last unhappy culprit "ate trash until he could eat nothing else,
nor that itself." To the recorder, the reason for this infantile criminality
was plainly evident "Parents do not teach their children to obey. Instead
of compulsion or reason they use flattery, bribes, and deceit." 15

It is in the light of the foregoing discussions that the rules for good
manners must be read. Beneath the formality and stilted language was
the earnest desire on the part of parents to follow literally the biblical
injunction so frequently seen in books of the period "Train up a child
in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
The preface of the widely circulated School of Good Manners, compiled
by Eleazer Moodey, a Boston schoolmaster, opened with the sentence:
"It is acknowledged by (almost) every One, That a good Carriage in
Children is an Ornament, not only to themselves, But to those Whom
they descend from." 16 On the other hand, the editor remarked: "Chil-
dren of but mean, careless or ill Breeding, brings Disgrace on their
Parents, as well as Contempt on Themselves." Colonial social standards
scathingly denounced a "clownish and unmannerly" child as the saddest
sight of the times. The following exhortations explain the ideal sought
in juvenile conduct:

1. Let thy Thoughts be Divine, Awful, and Godly.

2. Let thy Talk be Little, Honest, and True.

3. Let thy Works be Profitable, Holy, and Charitable.

4. Let thy Manners be Grave, Courteous, and ChearfuL

5. Let thy Diet be Temperate, Convenient, and Frugal.

6. Let thy Apparel be Sober, Neat, and Comely.

7. Let thy Will be Compliant, Obedient, and Ready.

8. Let thy Sleep be Moderate, Quiet, and Seasonable.

9. Let thy Prayers be Devout, Often and Fervent.

r

*

THE

SCHOOL 1

OF

Good Manners.

Compofed for the Help of Parents
in Teaching their Children how
to carry it in their Places dur-
ing their Minority.

B Q S T N :
|f Re-Piiotec! ami Sold by T. & J.

h at die Hmrt & Crown ia Cornhill

t.
V

Title page of the guide to "decent behaviour"
first edited by Eleazer Moodey in 1754

WKo coaxed me.pkysie for to take,
Givii^ me sugar plums and cake,
If 1 would drink it for liis sake ?

Fattier

Who placed me on His foot to ride
While anxict'sly my Mo the* cried.
To Kold Ker Boy lest lie sKould slide

From MY FATHER

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR

73

10. Let thy Recreations be Lawful, Brief, and Seldom.

11. Let thy Meditations be of Death, Judgment, and Eternity. 17

The solemnity with which adults had surrounded childhood was
mainly responsible for much conduct that was unchildlike or precocious.
The gloomy pall of severity that hung over many Colonial homes was
unfortunately sanctioned by such writings as those which Lord Chester-
field, in 1738, addressed to his little son: "I do not recommend upon all
occasions a solemn countenance. A man may smile, but if he would be
thought a man of sense, he would by no means laugh." 18 Not only was
laughter thus summarily banished from the life of the well-bred boy,
but he was also reminded that "romping, punning, joking, mimicry and
waggery" would render any one contemptible in spite of his knowledge
or merit. 19

For generations the shocking example of a little girl who smiled in
Midway Church was presented to children by grown-ups as the antics of
one possessed of "hoofs and horns." 20 To acquire the gravity desired
by genteel Christians, children were occasionally advised to strike a
happy medium: "Let thy Countenance be moderately chearful, neither
Laughing nor Frowning. Laugh not aloud, but silently smile upon
occasion." 21 Keen-witted children doubtless felt the effects of such ill-
advised efforts to suppress unseemly mirth. Boys and girls must have
wearied also under the attempts adults made to develop in them the
"certain dignity of manner" which was supposed to mark the refined
"little men and women whose one solid pleasure in life was duty." 22

Boys and girls were inevitably prepared for their social responsibilities
by a variety of "Don'ts" and "Musts" found in little manuals of conduct
so popular in the eighteenth century. The task of fitting children for
their places in society rested primarily with the. parents whose example
and precept taught their little ones to accept these principles of right
and wrong, and to appreciate the fact that ill-breeding, as well as bad
conduct, brought unpleasant consequences. The method used in drilling
children in their lessons frequently stifled not only bad habits rudeness,
untidiness, or lack of courtesy to strangers but often warped the per-
sonality of the young. Despite the fact that the code of manners was
depressingly negative and all-embracing in its treatment of child life,
it illuminates for us today many interesting crannies of the Colonial
child's apparently tedious existence.

Books on children's behavior invariably gave first place to proper
religious decorum at the "Meeting House." One o the most widely
studied manuals admonished the little Christian "to sit where thou art
ordered by thy Superiors," and to "lend thy place for the easing of

74 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

anyone that stands near/ 5 and in the meantime to listen to the words
of the minister "that thou mayest remember." The first and last rules of
this section tell a tale of patient endurance, and obliquely reveal glimpses
of a normal childish reaction to boredom:

i. Decently walk to thy Seat or Pew; run not nor go wantonly.
9. Be not hasty to run out of the Meeting-House when the Worship is
ended, as if tJbou wer't weary of being there. 23

Such formal rules of behavior presumed that the child should be solemn
and sober in the presence of older persons; for even in domestic life,
the laws of courtesy were intimately blended with religious obligations.
The resulting attitudes and conventions were of great importance in
shaping the social standards of the nation at a time when neighborhood
life comprised for most people the whole of their outside world. Without
these precise customs, life in the sparsely settled Colonies would un-
doubtedly have degenerated, as many feared, into a semi-barbarous state.
The dignified religious tone and the prim polish of a Colonial boy's
correspondence to his parents can be seen in this model letter of the time:

Honoured Father and Mother.

Your Kindness calls for my Dutiful Acknowledgement: I wish I could better
answer your Love to me, and your Cost upon me: The increase of my Learning
is by me endeavoured, and in some measure pressed after, I hope I shall
have the constant assistance of your Prayers, for the Accomplishment thereof;
in the confidence of which I humbly take my leave, and rest,

Your Dutiful Son,

T. R.
Cambridge, May i

Further illustrations of the "awful respect" for his elders and of the
stiff, ceremonious relations between parents and children can be found
in such advice as the following: "Never sit in the Presence of thy Parents
without bidding, tho' no Stranger be present. Never speak to thy Parents
without some Tide of Respect, Sir, Madam, etc. according to their
quality." The child was also told to bear without murmuring or sullen-
ness his parent's reproofs, "even though they might be causeless and
undeserved." 25

Although rather primitive forms of serving and eating meals prevailed
for the most part in the Colonies, considerable formality in this family
ritual was required of children. Since some homes did not have a suf-
ficient supply of wooden or pewter trenchers or of drinking cups, the
joint use of these articles by the junior members of the family was com-

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 75

mon. In many homes all the children could not be conveniently seated
on the ordinary narrow bench or form, but were compelled to stand
at a side table during their entire meal, from which, with trenchers in
hand, they returned to the great table for additional helpings. The custom
that seems still worse and that prevailed among people of low social
standards demanded that children stand behind their parents, and re-
ceive, like privileged paupers, the food handed back to them. 26

The ideal in table manners for children was apparently to eat in silence
at the greatest convenient speed and to depart from the table the minute
the last mouthful had been swallowed. At these joyless repasts the little
ones were never permitted to take their seats until a blessing had been
invoked, and their parents had requested them to be seated. Even then
they were not to ask for anything on the table, but were to "tarry" until
it was offered to them. 27 Their youthful sense of justice must have been
outraged too. They were told not "to murmur or frown" if their parents
or strangers were served special dishes in which the children did not
share. 28

Some of the more detailed rules for table manners throw light on
the lack of furnishings, as well as on some of the interesting customs
which called forth such singular admonitions. One rule was as follows:

Bite not thy Bread but break it; but not with slovingly Fingers, nor with the
same wherewith thou takest up thy Meat. Gnaw not Bones at the Table but
Clean them with thy knife (unless they be very small ones) hold them not with
a whole hand, but with two Fingers. Drink not nor speak with anything in
thy mouth. 29

The child was told to keep his food to his own side of the trencher,
and not to take salt with a greasy knife, not to "rake" his mouth with
his fingers, nor to throw bones or rinds under the table. The need for
refrigeration was reflected in the admonition: "Smell not thy meat, nor
put it to thy Nose: turn it not the other side upward to view it upon
thy Plate or Trencher." 30 The status of the child in the home is clearly
established by a final word of advice on table manners:

As soon as thou shalt be moderately satisfied; or whensover thy Parents
think meet to bid thee, rise up from the table, tho' others thy Superiors sit still.

When thou risest from the Table, take away thy Plate; and having made a Bow
at the side of the Table where thou sattest, withdraw, removing also thy seat
(if removable) .

When thanks are to be returned after eating, return to thy Place, and stand
reverently till it be done; then with a Bow withdraw out o the Room, leaving
thy Superiors to themselves (unless thou art bidden to stay.) 31

76 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

In his relations abroad, respect for a superior was demanded with
the greatest firmness, for courtesy required that the child walking in
the garden or on the street with an older person must give him the
right hand. The youth was also cautioned, "Walk not even with him,
Cheek-by-jole; but a little behind him." Just how much was exacted
in this matter of respect, or how far the child's patience was tried, is
painfully indicated in the rules on discourse:

If thy Superior speak anything wherein thou knowest he is mistaken, correct
not nor contradict him, or grin at the hearing of it. If thy Superior be relating
a Story, say not I have heard it before, but attend to it as if it were to thee
altogether new; Seem not to question the truth of it; If he tell it not right,
snigger not, nor endeavour to help him or to add to his Relation. 32

In all sections of the country, children were well grounded in personal
consideration for the old and afflicted members of society. Hence to be
courteous to the meanest and poorest was considered the true index of
a great and generous mind an attitude which functioned in the place
of modern organized charity. 83

Conduct at school and among other children was naturally given
special attention in the training of the Colonial child, whose social con-
tacts were so narrowly restricted. Among the more reasonable instruc-
tions for the amenities of school life were injunctions "not to run hastily
in the street, or to go too slowly; wag not to and fro or use any antick
or wanton posture either of thy Head, Hands, Feet or Body. Throw not
anything in the Street as Dirt or Stones." To regulate his actions within
the school, the boy was counseled "to bow at coming in pulling off thy
Hat, at no time to quarrel or talk in school, or to bawl aloud in making
complaints." Provisions were also made for receiving the inevitable
school visitor: "If a stranger speak to thee in school, stand up and answer
with respect and ceremony, both of word and gesture, as if thou spakest
to thy Master." 34 While due allowance was granted for human frailties,
they were limited to certain bounds as indicated by the warnings: "Spit
not in the Room but in the Corner or rather go out and do it abroad.
If thou canst not avoid yawning, shut thy Mouth with thine Hand or
Handkerchief before it, turning thy face aside." 35

As undue levity was always frowned upon, it is not surprising to find
boys enjoined not to go * 'Singing, Whistling, nor Hollowing along the
Street." The existence of a spirit of school rivalry is implied in the warn-
ing not "to jeer nor affront the scholars of another school, but to show
them love and respect, and to let them pass quietly along." In speaking
of the deadly feuds of schoolboys in 1771? for instance, Samuel Breck
recounts the many bloody battles fought on Beacon Hill between the

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 77

boys of the north and south ends of the town of Boston during which
"slings and stones were very skillfully used."* 6 Protected by the sanctity
of his office, the teacher was not involved in this warfare. Among the
ironclad rules for juvenile deportment., the diplomatic treatment advo-
cated for the master of a rival school was classic: "Especially not affront
the Master of another School, but rather, if thou knowest him, or if he
live either near thine House or School, uncover thy Head to Him, &
bowing pass by him." 37

Having discharged this salvo of admonitions at defenseless youth, the
author assured them that the observance of these rules would deliver
them from the disgraceful titles of "sordid and clownish," and would
moreover "intail upon the mention of their names, the honour of Genteel
and Well-bred Children." In parting he warned them: "Be always
obsequious and respectful, never bold, insolent or sawcy either in Words
or Gestures." 38

Colonial children were consistently denied the right of self-expression,
but no amount of repression ever succeeded in stiflling completely
their spirit. If, in defiance of public opinion and propriety, he could not
give vocal expression to his emotions and sentiments, his smoldering
passions often found escape in the leaves of his diary. The personal
record of little Sally Fairfax of Virginia vehemently testifies to this fact:

On Friday the 3d of Jan. that vile man Adam at night killed a poor cat of
rage, because she eat a bit of meat out of his hand & scratched it. A vile
wretch of New Negrows, if he was mine I would cut him in pieces, a son of
a gun, a nice negrow, he should be killed himself by rites. 39

Another diary, that of Nathaniel Ames, a student at Harvard in 1761,
gives an account of the temporary suspension of one Joseph Cabot and
shows the heights to which youthful fury could rise when sufficiently
provoked. Nathaniel wrote of his friend: "As soon as the President said
he was rusticated, he took his hat and went out of the Chapel without
staying to hear the President's speech out. After Prayers he bulrags the
Tutors at high Rate & leaves College his Mother faints at the news." 40

The opposite pages in the diary or "Monitor" of Mary Osgood Sumner
were headed, "White Leaf" for her good deeds, and "Black Leaf" for
her faults. On a "Black Leaf," she recorded this confession of childish
wrongdoings: "I left my staise on the bed. Spoke in haste to my little
Sister. Spilt cream on the floor in the closet. I got vexed because Sister
was a-going to cut my frock. Was not diligent at learning at school.
Part of this day I did not improve my time well." 41 Fortunately the
good deeds listed in this "Monitor" far outnumbered the bad; and the

78 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

"White Leaf* began with a typical entry: "I went and said my Catechism
to-day. Came home and wrote down the questions and answers, then
dressed and went to the dance, endeavored to behave myself decent." 42
When youthful piety and vanity made their respective impacts on
the heart of Anna Green Winslow of Boston, she faithfully kept the
record of her conflict in a diary which she sent by installments to her
parents in Nova Scotia. While she admitted that a "Miss of 12 could
not possible do justice to nice Subjects in Divinity," she proceeded to
sermonize her parents at long range in the following manner:

I must tell you, how cource soever it may sound to your delicacy, that while you
are without holiness, your beauty is deformity you are all over black, & defiled,
ugly and loathsome to all holy beigns, the wrath of the great God lie's upon
you, & if you die in this condition, you will be turn'd into hell, with ugly devils,
to eternity. 43

Ten days later Anna had fully recovered from her preoccupation with
"ugly devils" and was afraid she might be mistaken for a peddler. With
all the vanity natural to a girlish heart, the child wrote in nervous anxiety
to her mother:

I hope aunt wont let me wear the black hatt with the red Dominie for the
People will ask me what I have got to sell if I do, or, how the folk at New
guinie do? Dear Mamma, you dont know the fation here I beg to look like
other folk. 44

With the limited means of communication and travel the average child
had but little knowledge or contact with the world beyond his family
circle or the village boundary. Foreign news in the scantiest measure, and
usually about some European catastrophe, filtered into the Colonies
months after the events had happened. Hence no effort was made in
the children's books to include world maps or descriptions of foreign
peoples. The best informed were those youth who lived in the seaport
towns, where they were regaled by the sailors at the wharves with color-
ful tales of adventure among strange peoples. Ordinarily the home, the
church, the school, and the residences of close relatives and friends com-
prised the narrow orbit in which Colonial child life revolved. 45

Masculine rights and interests predominated the circumscribed life
in which children moved. The lot of the girl was usually confined to
commonplace domestic duties as a preparation for the fulfillment of her
future obligations as wife and mother. A comparison of the sexes in 1755
may be found in an earnest injunction addressed to a small boy: ** Wran-
gling and quarrelling are the characteristics of a weak mind, leave that to
the women, be you always above it." 46

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 79

Girls repeatedly heard the lesson that the "virtues which make a figure
in the world" do not fall to the lot of women. It was pointed out that
"feminine virtues are of a simple and peaceable nature; but the great
virtues are for men." 47 Since women were allowed nothing but the single
merit of being obscure, they were thought to have a particular need for
the support and consolations of religion. To underscore this point, a
father wrote to his daughters: "Your whole life is often a life of suffering.
You must bear your sorrows in silence. You must often put a face of
serenity and cheerfulness when your hearts are torn with anguish." 48 It
was deemed especially desirable for the young girl to be pious; for she
was told that "men considered her religion as one of the principal securi-
ties for that female virtue in which they were most interested." 49 It was
in reaction to this one-sided moral theory that a mother wrote plaintively
to her young daughter:

The virtues of women are difficult, because they have no help from glory to
practice them. To live at home; to meddle with nothing but one's own self and
the family, to be simple, just, and modest are painful virtues because they are
obscure. One must have a great deal of merit to shun making a figure, and a
great deal of courage to bring one's self to be virtuous only to one's own
eyes. 50

The girl, in the process of acquiring womanly accomplishments, was
expected to maintain a certain dignified restraint which has been defined
in a child's book as "one of the chief beauties in a female character,
that modest reserve, that retiring delicacy, which avoids the public eye,
and is disconcerted even at the gaze of admiration." 51 Since the existence
of "reasoning and good sense" in the feminine mental equipment was
a moot question with male authors, girls were duly warned: "Be cautious
in displaying your good sense. . . . But if you happen to have any learn-
ing keep it a profound secret from the men who generally look with
jealous and malignant eye on a woman of cultivated understanding."
Wit was thought to be the most dangerous talent a girl could possess,
since it was considered so flattering to vanity that those who possessed
it usually became "intoxicated and lost all self-command*" Although it
was conceded that "humor" in a girl would make her company much
solicited, the young maiden was prirnly warned that since this gift was
a great enemy to "delicacy," and a still greater one to dignity of character,
it might sometimes gain its possessor applause but never respect. 52

Good health was counted among the greatest blessings of life, but
the absurd delicacy imposed on the female world directed the girl never
"to boast of it, but to enjoy it in grateful silence." The idea of female
"softness and delicacy" was so naturally associated with a corresponding

8o AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

delicacy of constitution, that when "a girl spoke of her great strength,
her good appetite, or her ability to bear excessive fatigue, the male world
recoiled in disgust." 53

The desire for attention and the love of power at times caused Colonial
children to vex one another and to tease even those they loved, in spite
of the fact that such tendencies were summarily checked. The list of
social evils usually included the childish yearning for notice and his
indulgence of bad temper, both branded as deeds of darkest dye. One
such display of temper on the part of his young son was recorded by
Judge Sewall in his diary: "Joseph threw a knop of Brass and hit his
Sister Betty on the forehead so as to make it bleed and swell; upon
which, and for playing at Prayertime, and eating when Return Thanks,
I whip'd him pretty smartly." 54 Although a generous amount of civility
to the "feminine sex" had from the earliest days characterized American
manhood, evidence shows that good breeding and the cultivation of
polite manners in this respect was frequently a painful process for the
normal boy. In an account of the activities of a village school, it was
recorded that high-spirited boys not only beat and kicked one another,
or administered an occasional bloody nose, but so far forgot the traditions
of their fathers as to kick some little girls who were picking "daisies
and butter-flowers in the meadow, in order to make them pipe." 55

While the ideals of "decent behaviour" were high during this period,
the average child was not, in spite of some evidence to the contrary,
inordinately hampered in his joy of living or in the normal pursuit of
happiness. In a society as deeply imbued with a love of freedom as this,
junior members were as clever as their elders in devising techniques
for escaping insupportable restrictions in their daily routine. Pithy nota-
tions from the diary of Nathaniel Ames, a Harvard boy, verify this
statement: "Fit with the Sophomores about Customs. Did not go to
Prayers. President sick, wherefore much Deviltry carried on in College." 56
Richard Hall, who was attending a school in Boston, left a record testify-
ing to his boundless energy and ill-tempered behavior. Not only was
he perpetually at play in the streets; but he grieved his thrifty aunt most
by knotting up his good linen handkerchiefs into cudgels to beat his
companions. After they had served that purpose he had heedlessly dis-
carded them. Finally, in desperation, the long-suffering lady wrote to
his father:

Richard wears out nigh 12 pairs of shoes a year. He brought 12 hankers with
him and they have all been lost long ago; and I have bought him 3 or 4 more
at a time. His way is to tie knottys at one end & beat ye Boys with them and
then to lose them & he cares not a bit what I shall say to him. 57

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 81

Notwithstanding the fact that youth o Colonial days generally ful-
filled to the letter such restraining injunctions as: "Among Superiors
speak not till thou art spoken to, and bid to speak," 58 nevertheless these
children, in spite of their dull, drab "company manners," were not always
models of propriety. Records tell of the noisy disorder of the boys' gallery
or the boys' pew in the meeting-house, of young culprits playing ball
or flying kites in the streets and thereby frightening horses, of "wicked
boys" robbing bird nests and orchards, or throwing stones and snowballs
at people in the streets. It follows that rules really did not bear too
heavily on youthful consciences, for boys could readily rationalize such
as the following:

Quarrel not with any Body thou meetest or overtake; abuse not thy Com-
panions by word or deed, if thy Companion be a little too gross or sarcastical
in speaking, yet strive not to take notice of it; deal justly among Boys thy
equals, as solicitously as if thou wert a Man and about Business of higher
importance. 59

Like modern maidens, little girls of that gloomy era were often over-
come by attacks of giggling. This weakness is evident in the diary of
Anna Winslow, who was "suddenly shaken by a fit of unruly mirth
during a futile attempt to spell wednessday." Of this she wrote: "My
aunt says, that till I come out of an egregious fit of laughterre that is
apt to sieze me & the violence of which I am at this present under, neither
English sence, nor any thing rational may be expected of me." 60

Regardless of his motives, Cotton Mather excused some mischievous
lads who had broken windows of King's Chapel during their play:

All the mischief done is the breaking of a few Quarrels of Glass by Idle Boys,
who if discove'd had been chastis'd by their own Parents, They have built
their Chapel in a Publick burying place, next adjoining a great Free School,
where the Boyes (having gotten to play) may, some by Accident, some in
Frolick, and some perhaps in revenge for disturbing their Relatives' Graves
by the Foundation of that Building, have broken a few Quarrels of the Win-
dows. 61

The Colonial interpretation of "decent behaviour" presupposed on the
part of the child the recognition of just authority by a meek submission
to "superiors," and a thorough training in all the rules that it behooved
him to know. In addition, habits of self-control and the practice of self-
renunciation in the fulfillment of a duty were considered everywhere
as the earmarks of good breeding for boys and girls. This moral disci-
pline was not easily acquired by children, for it was the outgrowth of a
habit the result of repeated acts of virtue. Parents therefore used their

82 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

acknowledged authority as the most effective means o securing good
order and the observance of duty.

Many who were responsible for shaping the customs and characters
of American children recognized by 1776 the predominant weakness of
the traditional training in the "art of decent behaviour." These believed
that the old method of rearing and ruling the child by the rod was an
act of great injustice, because the element of fear in this procedure en-
gendered cunning and deceit, and accustomed the child to control his
senses rather than to use his reason. The new dispensation of the School
of Good Manners made nice distinctions in courteous conduct by telling
the young that politeness was the expression of natural refinement, and
good breeding the form of artificial civility. Good breeding restrained
the child from giving offense; politeness empowered him to receive and
give pleasure. 62

* # * * * *

A study of the manners and customs of American youth during the
transition period from 1776 to 1835 embraces the ideas of two oppos-
ing schools of thought. As there was a divergence of opinion on the
status of the child, the author of juvenile books were divided between
those conservatives who would literally have the child "seen but not
heard," and their opponents, the humanitarians, who sought to give
youth opportunities for self-expression. Although the stern standards of
Colonial child-training still had many supporters in the early nineteenth
century, this era also marked the growth of a special interest in the
peculiar rights of childhood. There was an increasing tendency on the
part o many progressive adults to regard the child not as an inferior
but as an equal. As a distinct personality in the family or community
he was to be accorded certain rights and privileges demanded by his
immaturity and lack of worldly wisdom.

In the turmoil of conflicting theories on child-training that stirred
social thought in the early days o the Republic, the ideas of such reform
writers as James Burgh steadily rose to dominance in our behavior pat-
terns. Boldly and frankly, this group, who borrowed many of their ideas
from Rousseau, deplored the "unhappy restraint" imposed by adults on
the Colonial child. Even such details as the chiding lectures read to little
boys and girls about holding up their heads, putting back their shoulders,
turning out their toes, and making bows and curtsies were roundly con-
demned as factors in "disgusting the poor children against what is called
behaviour." 63 It was pointed out to parents that even in grown people
gracefulness consisted in "an easy and natural motion and gesture, and

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 83

in an expression denoting kindness and good-will to those with whom
they conversed." It was also claimed that if a child's heart and temper
were formed to civility, the outward expression of it would appear in
due time. 64

As a result of this philosophy, much of the form found in the old "art
of decent behaviour" gave way to moral suasion and to the practise of
concealing the child's rules of conduct in didactic tales. Instead of the
formal precepts that called for "courtesies and leg twenty times in a
quarter of an hour/* 65 the child of the nineteenth century found his guide
for social amenities in the Juvenile Biographies and in ubiquitous tales
of "good children" which gave closer attention to shaping the mind
and heart of the young.

Discipline and rules of conduct were less frequently enforced by the
rod. It was demonstrated that the spirit of contradiction so strong in
those children who had been irritated by harsh control led them to
seize the first opportunity to oppose their elders regardless of the con-
sequences. Some parents still persisted in the rigorous management of
their offspring on the grounds that such discipline fortified the spirit
against the unavoidable trials of life; others held that wisdom, common
sense, and honesty forbade those in authority to do evil that good might
result. The reformers of child-training urged that adults make allow-
ances for "puerile incapacities," and on this point wrote: "We have never
been able to make ourselves just such as we wish to be, and shall we
require an infant to surpass us in exertion and self-command? By de-
manding too much we shall disgust or discourage him from performing
what he might find practicable under more cheering influence." 66 It was
suggested that the denial of pleasure might have a more permanent effect
than the use of the rod.

A more independent development of American behavior patterns
kept pace with the growth of the new republic, and - gradually there
came to be less slavish imitation of European manners and morals. It was
commonly believed that juvenile politeness, either of feeling or of man-
ner, could never be taught by set maxims; but that everyday influence,
unconsciously exerted, was the all-important factor in forming the charac-
ter and manners of children. Little ones were no longer required to
memorize the exacting rules in the School of Good Manners, for the onus
of responsibility was shifted to grown-ups. Parents were now told that
if they were habitually polite, their children would become so by mere
force of imitation without any specific directions on the subject. 67

Naturalness of manner was now desired in preference to the pompous
formalities of the early days, and parents were urged to practise in the

84 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

home such manners as they wished their children to have in company,
in order that the young could apply their training with ease and grace. 68
As a result of this early training in resourcefulness and independence,
American children were often misjudged by Europeans who, mistaking
their disarming fearlessness for impudence, charged our youth with a
want of courtesy and fine feelings. 69

Native prophets of woe also chanted their jeremiads for the spoiled
children of the early nineteenth century, and vehemently blamed the
new standards of family government for the "depravity, luxury, and
corruption" of the age. Parents were often charged with starting too
late with the course of instruction and discipline that would insure a
willing obedience to their authority. Among the opponents of the new
order was John Hersey, a disciple of John Wesley, who exhorted parents
to return to the old methods of child training:

Break their wills betimes. Begin this work before they can run alone, before
they can speak plainly, or speak at all. Whatever pain it cost, conquer their
stubbornness; break their wills if you would not damn the child. . . . Therefore
let a child from a year old be taught to fear the rod, and ^ cry softly. At all
events at that age make him do as lie is bid, if you whip him ten times
running to do it; let none persuade you it is cruel to do this. . . . 70

This same author lamented the great amount of vice found in the
streets of towns and cities, which necessarily tainted and corrupted young
minds that came within its influence. Listed in the variety of snares
laid for youthful morals, we find included not only the influence of
dissolute, lazy children, but such "sinks of iniquity" as "tippling shops,"
oyster houses, billiard and gambling rooms, and the most alluring of
all confectionery shops! Bitterly he complained that by some strange
but culpable derangement of municipal law, the confectioner could with
impunity keep his door half or entirely open on the Sabbath. Since his
"plums, sweetmeats," and various other delicacies were eagerly sought
by youth, the temptation to steal their parents' or employers' money to
satisfy that taste was thought to be an ever-present evil. Without reserva-
tions, Hersey sweepingly condemned all such "houses of traffic" as the
source of that stream of vice that overflowed the country, and left its
sediment in the jails and almshouses. Parents were accordingly warned
that if they did not wish to murder their children morally, they must
keep them out of the streets except when they were "on their way to or
from business." 71

At the opposite pole of thought on disciplinary measures were those
romanticists who believed that a child's feelings were as sensitive as a
man's, but that the little one's powers of discretion and self-defense were

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 85

much weaker. Hence this school upheld the theory that a child would
gradually learn to correct his own impoliteness,, whereas the interference
o an adult might permanently injure his character. As it was believed
that if a child were let alone he would correct many faults out of self-
respect, adults were to help the young acquire this quality by being
respectful to them. That there was no better way to teach a child good
manners than to practise politeness towards him became a new social
axiom in the United States. A Moravian work stressing this idea gave
the following analysis of the new status of the child:

A great deal is said of the necessity of breaking a child's will. Why need a child's
will be broken? He will have use for it all. The difference between strength of
will and weakness of will is often the difference between efficiency and in-
efficiency. Train a child to self-control, so that his will may be his strong point,
but do not break his will. . . . While essential obedience should be secured,
wide margin should be granted for the expansion of a child's own individu-
ality, for his peculiar mental action and for the cultivation and the gratification
of his tastes. 72

While the advocates of this system realized that such an approach to
child-training might easily lapse into a weak and vicious indulgence,
even that state was considered no worse than the arrogant and tyrannical
exercise of power characteristic of the previous century. No cognizance
of the child's individuality had been taken by adult authority which, by
making itself felt alike in great and small matters, had exacted from
the young perhaps at best only a grudging service. The more enlightened
parents of the new era avoided both extremes, and recognized that neither
license nor slavery, but liberty, was a good thing for children as well as
for adults. 73

In reply to complaints about juvenile delinquency, the humanitarians
asserted that many of the young went astray, not because there was a
want of prayer or virtue at home, but because the home lacked sufficient
gayety and affection. On the grounds that children required smiles as
much as flowers needed sunshine, the reformers accounted for the "crime
in the city streets" by explaining that since the young were little given
to analyzing a situation, they simply avoided what displeased them if
they did not find home congenial. According to the new code, then, it was
the sour faces, harsh words, and continual fault-finding in the home that
drove youth into the city streets. Not the wiles of the infamous confec-
tioner, but the lingering shadows of Colonial gloom and the old ideas
of childish depravity were perverting the young people of our growing
republic. 74

The most important publisher of moral tales for molding youthful

86 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

manners was Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, whose "books to amuse" were
printed late in the eighteenth century. These little gilt volumes were
mainly responsible for changing the tone of children's reading from the
religious to the didactic. In one of his first works, Be Merry and Wise;
or the Cream of Jests, and the Marrow of Maxims for the Conduct of
Life, he endorsed the new techniques to be applied in the moral training
of youth: "Mould your arguments into questions rather than dogmatical
assertions: seem as if you were putting people in mind of what they had
forgot, not as teaching them what they knew not. Many are willing to
be informed that hate to be excelled." 75

In the preface to the Little Pretty Poc\et-Roo\, the author called upon
indulgent parents to "subdue their children's passions" by curbing their
tempers. This was not to be done by chiding, by whipping, or by severe
treatment, but by reasoning and mild discipline. When parents saw a
child's temper aroused, they were advised to take him aside, to point
out to him the evils that befell passionate people, and to show him that
although their love as parents might make them overlook his faults,
nevertheless giving way to an unruly temper "was so heinous a sin that
they could no longer bear the sight of him." The little culprit was then
to be shut off from all company for five or six hours; and after he had
asked pardon for his offense and had promised amendment they were
to forgive him. This method, regularly pursued, was believed to conquer
the child's temper and to subdue it to reason. 76

Enticing children to perform their little duties by bribes a habit
roundly condemned in previous decades was approved by some of the
new juvenile books. The theory was advanced that whatever stimulated
children to a love of virtue or to learning ought always to be applied.
An analogy was drawn, that the experienced physician "gilded the pill
not only to attract the eye, but to take the nauseous taste away." Since
"coaches and horses, sugarplums and baubles" were the things that at-
tracted the attention of children, and were the only "blessings the infant
understanding was capable of comprehending," if it were an evil to
promise these things, it could be only a partial evil, which would wear
away as the judgment of the child became better informed. 77

As certain little individuals were not to be won by promises, their
parents were advised to make use of threats suited to the childish under-
standingonly those, however, that would excite "tremendous ideas, and
would make an impression on the mind." It was evident to the new
moralists that the period for giving children serious threats was brief;
for no matter how solemn the adult might be, little ones in a short time
would scornfully regard all that might be held over them as "bugbears

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 87

to frighten babies." Unusual punishments were advocated for children
to produce a lasting impression and to stimulate an appreciation of
sublime truths and good conduct in later life. 78

Some of "Mr. Crop's" stories of bad boys reveal the subtleties of the
new trend toward moral suasion in the training o children. He told
his young readers that after the holidays certain boys had been "very
unwilling" to return to school, and that someone had to excuse them
to the master for not doing their home assignments during the vacation.
This procedure taught the boys bad habits. 79 By such practices, these
boys would eventually lose not only three months out of twelve, and
thus be "looked upon as great dunces," but they would also let younger
boys get ahead of them. What was worst of all, they would be obliged
to go to school until they were fifteen or sixteen years old, and this was
regarded in 1786 as a "very sad thought indeed!" 80 Since the purely
theological aspects of such sins as sloth were almost lost sight of in this
era, the punishment for idlers was just as materialistic as was the ration-
alization of their offense:

Those who love to loiter and play,
And good advice will throw away;
They must without a supper go,
And lose their share of plum-cakes too. 81

The famous juvenile Goody Two shoes denounced tales of ghosts,
witches, and fairies as the "frolicks of a distempered brain," and assured
children that good sense and a good conscience were the inevitable cures
of these imaginary evils. Little boys or girls who were "good and loved
Almighty God" and kept his commandments could sleep as safely in a
churchyard as anywhere else (if they took care not to get cold); for
Goody was sure there were no ghosts to frighten such children. 82 On
the irresistible subject of death, Goody gave sage advice: "Therefore,
play, my dear children, and be merry; but be innocent and good. The
good man sets death at defiance, for its darts are only dreadful to the
wicked." 83 Having delivered this brief hoinily, the author permitted the
children to bury a litde dormouse. When Goody asked them to write his
epitaph, she received the following pious result :

Ye sons of verse,

While I rehearse,

Attend instructive rhyme:

No sins had Dor

To answer for;

Repent of yours in time. 8 *

88 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

The Juvenile Biographer of this later period, in contrast to the New
England To {en of the early part of the century, further reflected the
changing status of the child. By 1787, the awesome pious "histories"
of the "godly youths" had vanished; but so too had much of the vitality
and conviction of the older volumes. 85 Among the new models offered
for childish imitation or for a horrible example were such obvious charac-
ters as Miss Betsey Allgood, a pretty little miss of seven, "who worked
at her needle to admiration"; Master Billy Bad-enough, who robbed
orchards and went birdnesting; and Master Dickie Sprightly, noted for
his politeness, learning, and affability. The story of Miss Betsey Pert
rather thinly veiled the current disrepute of boarding schools by dire
warnings to the proud young females who came forth from those insti-
tutions. Betsey's case revealed that she had received a boarding-school
education, in the course of which she had become so "puffed up" that
she had no idea of any kind o industry because she had left that to
those whom she considered poor and ignorant 86

Wisdom in Miniature, one of the most serious juvenile books published
by Isaiah Thomas, contained selections from the writings of "many
ingenious and learned authors both ancient and modern," and was con-
sequently intended not only for the use of schools but also as a "pocket
companion for the youth of both sexes/' 87 In a section of "Time, Business,
and Recreation," the child found sage advice on subjects dear to the
American heart:

Time is the most precious, and yet the most brittle jewel we have; It is what
everyone bids largely for, when he wants it, but squanders it away most
lavishly when he has it.

Rise early to your business, learn good things, and oblige good men; these are
three things you shall never repent of.

It is the great art and philosophy of life to make the best of the present, whether
it be good or bad; and to bear the one with resignation and patience, and enjoy
the other with thankfulness and moderation.

Let your recreation be manly, moderate, seasonable, and lawful: the use of
recreation is to strengthen your labour and to sweeten your rest. 88

Isaiah Thomas also printed for American children one of their first
books of nonsense verses Mother Goose's Melody those songs that
belong to the realm of folklore. Although the rhymes were nonsense,
the satirical maxims and notes appended to them were perhaps the ex-
tenuating features of the book in the judgment of most American par-
ents; thus the work was admitted to a permanent place in the juvenile

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 89

library. 89 The following verse and moral, for example, contained the
lesson of silence which the adult world had long required of the child:

Ride a Cock Horse

To Banbury Cross,

To see what Tommy can buy;

A Penny white Loaf

A Penny white Cake,

And a Two penny Apple Pye.

There's a good Boy, eat up your Pye and hold your Tongue; for Silence is the
first sign of Wisdom. 90

Among the other lessons in nonsense form, the song "Hush-a-bye-
Baby" served as a "warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so
high that they generally fall at last." The story of the "little pig who
went to market," proved to the child by some vague reasoning that if
he did not "govern his passions, his passions would govern him." 91 The
verse, "Dickery, Dickery, Dock, The Mouse Ran up the Clock," plainly
pointed to the old maxim that "Time and Tide stay for no Man/' 92 To
the children of the towns, such as New York and Philadelphia, who
frequendy heard such cries in their own streets, the "Seasonable Song"
must have had a peculiar appeal:

Piping hot, smoaking hot,

What I've got,

You know not,

Hot, hot Pease, hot, hot

Hot are my Pease, hot.

There is more Musick in this Song on a cold frosty Night, than ever the Syrens
were possessed of, who captivated Ulysses; And the Effects stick closer to the
ribs.

Huggleford on Hunger. 98

Jac%y Dandy's Delight: or the History of Birds and Beasts promised
truthful little boys and girls "plumbpudding or hot apple pye," while
it reserved a whip for naughty children who told false tales. The birds
and beasts in this tiny volume had much to say about the manners and
morals of youth. 94 Since the dog was undoubtedly the favorite pet of most
little ones, it was readily accepted by them as a pattern for the faithful
performance of their duties, as these lines might indicate:

The Dog that's trusty in his kind,
With gratitude should fire your mind;
Mark well his service, his faithful way,
And in your service copy Tray. 95

90 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

On the other hand, the parrot was held up to ridicule along with
many silly boys and girls, because he talked without thinking; and thus
he "knew not why or wherefore he prattled":

The chattering Parrot prates away,
Or cries, "Poll's sick, alack adayl"
Resembling those who when at school,
Delight like him to play the fool. 96

Respect for the advice of experienced older persons was still the theme
of many stories; hence the Sugar Plumb, published by Thomas in 1787,
included a delightful tale to underscore the child's lesson of reverence
for the aged. An old mouse, at the point of death, assembled her "numer-
ous family" and told them how to escape the dangers of the big house
in which they all lived. Scarcely had this wise old mouse breathed her
last, when her young family congratulated one another on being rid
of the "Old Dotard," as they disrespectfully called her. Despising the
good advice she had given them, they made their way to the pantry
where they soon devoured a "pot of sweetmeats," and then began to
celebrate their escape from the dangers of which they had been warned.
But their mirth was short-lived, because a cat and two traps were posted
in the pantry, and in less than a week not a mouse was left of those who
has despised the experience and wise instruction of their grandmother. 97

One of the best instances of the new "horrible example" technique used
to impress certain precepts of manners on the youthful mind was found
in a Worcester publication, Vice in Its Proper Shape. This work was
based on the ancient Brahmin proverb, "Example is more powerful than
precept." It invited young ladies and gentlemen into the author's little
apartment to be "eye witnesses to the mortifying consequences of an
ill-spent and vicious life, even to those who had not yet arrived at the
age of manhood." 98 Among the wonders of this tiny volume were the
surprising tales of the transmigration of "Jacky Idle into the body of an
Ass," and of "Master Greedyguts into a pig"; while among the minor
allusions were accounts of Jacky Fidget and of Polly Giddybrains. 59

Little girls must have found in the fate of Miss Dorothy Chatterfast
a powerful antidote for tale-bearing and common sins of the tongue.
The body of a multi-colored, loquacious magpie was shown to them
as the involuntary residence of the "late" Dorothy, who had been a
notorious little gossip. Indeed, it was said that before she was three years
old she could lisp out a tale in very intelligible language. Later she was
equally attentive to every trifle at the school where she was sent "to
learn the art of reading and the use of her needle." The moment she

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 91

came home and before she had entered the parlor to make her curtsy,
her little tongue began to "rattle like a mill clack." The author predicted
that his little readers would turn away in disgust from this small bird
who wagged her tail with surprising agility and clattered so rapidly as
to frighten them. 100 1

In contrast to the early rules for good conduct, with their forthright
appeal to authority, one finds in the new order obscure gems of polite-
ness hidden in dull verses of the following type:

Good litde boys should never say,
"I will," and "Give me these;"
O, no' that never is the way,
But, "Mother, if you please."

And "If you please," to sister Ann
Good boys to say are ready;
And "Yes, Sir," to a gentleman,
And "Yes, Ma'am/' to a lady. 101

In the first decade of the nineteenth century, books of model letters
were published which served to "encourage children at their first attempts
in this pleasing and important art," and to give the modern reader inti-
mate pictures of the era. Since the letters were supposed to have been
written by the members of the families who were traveling or away at
school, they contain interesting commentaries on the life and customs
of the times. One of the most informative of these books was that com-
piled by Caleb Bingham, entitled Juvenile Letters, being a correspond-
ence between children from eight to fifteen years of age.

For example. Miss Sophronia Bellmont of Boston, in 1801, kept a
travelogue for her friend, Miss Caroline Courtland. Sophronia gave an
account of her first day's travel, which consisted of a ride in a stagecoach
from Boston to Providence, "a handsome town in Rhode Island," con-
taining about seven thousand inhabitants, a college "commodiously
situated on a hill," and some elegant churches with the handsomest
steeples she had even seen. 102

Having left Providence, Sophronia passed through many pleasant
towns such as Norwich, New London, and Saybrook. At New Haven
she made a "short tarry" to visit Yale College and the Library of that
"delightful place." From that city her party took a packet for New York,
and the girl gave an account of the fortitude with which she battled
her first attack of seasickness. This unpleasant experience was soon for-
gotten in the five days she spent "rambling about the city, and spying
out the curiostiries." She was highly delighted with New York because
she found the buildings far superior to those of Boston, while the streets

92 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

were wider and better paved, and the people distinguished by great
kindness. 103

After a journey by stage to Philadelphia, Sophronia spent six days
enjoying the sights of that town, which was larger and more regularly
built than New York. Among the attractive features for her were the
Franklin Library and Mr. Peak's Museum; but she was most impressed
by the character of the "sect of Quakers or Friends," whom she judged
to be "some of the excellent of the earth." Before sunrise she was taken
to see the market, the largest in the country, which was quite full, as
it was fashionable for the ladies to do their own marketing. 104

By stage and packet the young girl proceeded to Baltimore, "the resort
of strangers," and thence to Washington, the capital of the United States.
Two days' residence there made her homesick, for it was "really a dull
place," though what "length of years might make it," she granted, was
not for a miss just entering her teens to predict. The public buildings
were superb, and the rooms in the Capitol magnificent. She found
Alexandria a "very pleasant place," and declared that had it "lain with
her," she would have built the federal city there. Mount Vernon failed
completely to arouse her enthusiasm, and she dismissed the historic spot
with the remark that "whatever nature had wrought in its favor," it
appeared to her gloomy in the extreme. After she had walked pensively
for an hour or two over the solitary grounds, and had "dropped a tear
on the patriot's tomb," she silently took her leave. 105

To compensate her little friend for the "information and entertain-
ment" of the travelogue, Caroline Courtland kept a diary and faithfully
recorded the local news of Boston. One such item concerned the ideas
expressed "in a circle of ladies" when the conversation turned to the
subject of books suitable for children. The observations of a "respectable
mother of a large family" are of particular interest for this study:

We all wish that our young folks should love reading; and the fondness for
books is a mark of sense, and may be conducive to improvement. But how
few books are fit for the perusal of the very persons for whom they are de-
signed! Even of the few people, whose sentiments one would be willing they
should imbibe, who will be at the pains to print? Those who do have no
children of their own, either do not concern themselves about their prin-
ciples or conduct, or have no knowledge of the avenues to their little hearts.
They know not how very simple a tale ought to be; how very plain and short
a moral; nor indeed are aware of the importance of supplying children with
food for their curiosity, which will not vitiate their minds. And the married
have but little time to make books. 106

One of the best descriptions of city life was found in a little book
published in 1825, called the Picture of New Yor%. The frontispiece o

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 93

this work gave a "distant view of the city," and described the "houses
as packed together and as thick as trees in the forest/' although none of
the buildings in the picture was over three stories high, and only an
occasional church steeple broke the low skyline. The author, in friendly
fashion, told his little readers that if he had some good little girl and
boy by the hand, he could show them the museum with its wonderful
collections of animals and curiosities from different parts of the world.
He could also point out the great City Hall that cost a half million dol-
lars; or he might lead them through the beautiful Park to Broadway
to see the splendid shops displaying a variety of "fancy goods, tastefully
dressed off in the windows tempting people to buy." The little reader
was warned that walking through the "extensive streets where many
objects constantly presented themselves to view'* would soon tire young
people. 107

Peter Parley also marveled at the sights of Broadway, where crowds
of people, old and young, of all countries and all conditions, speaking
English, French, Dutch, and even Chinese, bewildered visitors from the
small towns and isolated farms. Class distinctions were sketched with
surprising sharpness. Peter Parley remarked that there were by contrast
"ladies covered with silks and ribbons, and barefooted girls whose parents
could not provide them with shoes"; also "gay young men carrying their
heads aloft with pride, and poor chimney sweeps covered with soot and
wrapped in miserable blankets." 108 American children could thus early
trace the lights and shadows of the new urbanization.

Little books of Cries, of which those of New York and Philadelphia
were the most revealing, were equally suggestive of the status of city
children. Accompanied by short homilies encouraging small peddlers
"in the laudable example of application and industry," these Cries covered
a wide range of juvenile activities. In them were sketches of little girls
with baskets on their arms or heads, busy at different times of the day
calling from door to door to see who would buy their radishes, cherries,
tea-rusks, or matches, Boys also went through the streets calling, "Hot
Muffins!" or "Spiced Gin-ger-bread!" either o which, accompanied by
"a moderate dish of tea," was a common supper of the citizens. 109

One of the most interesting cries in the New York version was repre-
sented by a cut of a young girl with a dish of corn on her head passing
along the streets crying, "Hot corn! hot corn!" A note to the reader
explained that in the fall of the year this cry "was abundantly heard"
all over the city from children whose business it was to gather pennies
by distributing corn to those . "disposed to regale themselves with an
ear." Another commentary stated that this corn, boiled in the husks

94 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

while green and seasoned with a little salt which the girls carried with
them, made "very pleasant eating." 110

At the end of a description of a little match girl and her cry, "Do you
want any matches? O buy my matches!" the Philadelphia book humanely
recommended that "all good children" should remember that every
comfort they enjoyed was produced in part by the labor of the poor, who
"were entitled to much humanity and no ill nature." 111 The Cries also
deplored the sight and sound of the young chimney sweeps as a reproach
to civic pride and humanity. Both works expressed pity for these suffer-
ing children exposed to cold and hardship and compelled to spend their
childhood in the most debasing work; but they declared that the "un-
necessary bawling of these sooty boys grated on the ears of the citizens."
Indeed, the wonder was expressed that in "such noisy places/' where
every needless sound should have been "hushed" such disagreeable ones
were carelessly permitted. 112

The development o a distinctive mode of dress for boys and girls
marked the gradual emancipation of American childhood through the
decades to 1835. As children of Colonial times were expected to behave
like adults, they quite logically wore clothes appropriate for the role.
Little ones of the upper classes, in particular, were dressed like miniature
adults and allowed little freedom of movement. Fashion decreed that
the small boy should wear a wig, a tricorn hat, a flowered waistcoat,
tight knee-breeches, and high-heeled shoes; that the little girl, like her
mother, should be encumbered with ankle-length skirts, voluminous
cloaks, and heavy bonnets, as well as massive head-rolls. 113 A child's
diary thus describes a little girl of twelve as she was clothed for one of
the decorous "routs" of that time: "I was dressed in my yellow coat, my
black bib and apron, my pompedore shoes, the cap with ribbons on it
and a very handsome loket in the shape of a hart the past pin my Hon.
Papa presented me with in my cap, My new cloak and bonnet on, and
my pompedore gloves." 114

The reaction to these unsuitable fashions came after the Revolution,
when enlightened parents began to dress their little ones more like
children. Short hair became the vogue both for boys and girls. Boys
were put into rather loose long trousers, and short coats and shirts with
low necks; but girls retained for some years their mother's models, al-
though in a somewhat simpler form. 115

Children's books joined the crusade against the prevailing "pride and
affectation in dress," and little girls in particular were regaled with
alarming examples to prove that "prettiness is an injury to a young lady,
if her behaviour is not pretty likewise." The finger of scorn was pointed

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 95

at such foolish young creatures as "Miss Fanny Fiddle Faddle, a very
pretty, gentle child about seven years of age, who did not want a tolerable
share of good sense," but whose vanity was revealed in the Juvenile
Biographer:

Miss Fiddle Faddle would not be seen in the morning with a Night-cap on,
however decent it might be, no not for the World. All the Forenoon is spent
at her glass, which she is sometimes ready to break in anger, because she cannot
put her Cap on to her mind; and she has already been near an hour picking
upon the proper Part of her Face to stick that Pach on. When she is in the
Company of little Females of her Acquaintance, her whole Discourse turns
upon the prevailing Fashion of Headdress. 116

The French Revolution brought a change in the fabrics used for chil-
dren's clothing; printed calicoes and loosely woven cottons took the place
of the heavy silks and velvets of previous years. Since dress designs had
to change to suit the materials, skirts slowly became shorter and less
full, and dainty cotton fabrics lawns, organdies, and percales were
woven with interesting sprig designs and dotted patterns to relieve the
simplicity of the cloth. Colors became less vivid than they had been;
and children in their "company clothes" were dressed in white or pastel
shades, although coats and cloaks were usually made in darker colors. 117
The traditional long-skirted dress for little girls was replaced by the
shorter Empire frock of childish simplicity. As the girl's feet and ankles
were then visible for the first time in the century, the square-toed buckled
shoes gave way to a lighter type of slippers similar to modern pumps. U8

Fashions for small boys also changed slightly. Their coats were usually
worn open down the front to show the white frilled shirt, and the long
trousers were buttoned onto a blouse just under the arms. Older boys
wore tailcoats of the same cut as their fathers', with flowered waistcoats
and cravats, and either knee breeches or long trousers. 119

A new epoch in the history of children's clothing was ushered in after
1825 by a return to the burdensome fashions of former years. This craze
reached its peak of absurdity by 1830. The filmy materials of the first
quarter of the century were replaced by heavier fabrics; the charming
simplicity of the clinging skirt was no longer possible, and all trace of
the Empire costume disappeared. Skirts became fuller and shorter and
were braided and tucked; the normal waistline was once more empha-
sized by a tight belt. Well-dressed girls wore ruffled or lace-trimmed
pantalettes flapping over the tops of their shoes, cart-wheel hats laden
with ribbons and flowers, tight bodices, lego'-mutton sleeves, and high-
plaited collars standing around the face. Although hoops were not gener-

96 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

ally used, skirts were held out by four or five corded petticoats starched
to crinoline stiffness. 120

The dress o small boys, in the medley of incongruous fashions, be-
came more and more feminine, a trend clearly indicated by the long
curls that replaced the short manly haircut of the previous decades. The
full tunic reached to the knees, and the tight belt at the waist gave the
boy a new silhouette. The trousers underneath the tunic were ruffled
and tucked as much as those worn by the girls, while a ridiculously
large tam-o'-shanter hat or peaked cap with a tassel, and the starched
frill of cambric around his neck must have been constant annoyances
to a normal boy. 121

Little girls sat for hours, like martyrs of old, strapped to wooden back-
boards with their feet in stocks to develop a straight posture. The modern
reader learns from those condemned to such extremes in fashion that
when these genteel females in their "company clothes," burdened with
layers of petticoats, encompassed with stays, and balanced on spike-heeled
shoes, attempted to pay their respects to "superiors," they could bob
their bodies in a curtsey, but by no means bend them, just as they might
walk a little, but never run. 122 Oliver Wendell Holmes has left us a
description of the torture inflicted on the children of that age in the
efforts made to develop a stately bearing:

They braced my aunt against a board

To make her straight and tall,

They laced her up, and starved her down,

To make her light and small.

They pinched her feet, they singed her hair,

They screwed it up on pins:

Oh, never mortal suffered more

In penance for her sins. 123

Not all youthful Americans followed the fashions just described, for
as the population pushed westward the pioneers adopted from the Indians
those fashions best suited for boys and girls in the wild country. The
women and older girls made the tough hides of forest creatures into
jackets, trousers, and shoes, or cut coarse homespun "linsey-woolsey"
into plain serviceable garments that were utterly devoid of style. 124

In the early nineteenth century children of both sexes worked at can-
ning tables, in the pitheads, or before the blazing furnaces. These boys and
girls were clad alike in short trousers and little else, or in a shift a straight
shirt-like garment. Others, lightly garbed, bent over cotton rows, hoed
vegetable gardens, or gathered fruits on the farms. All these poor young
workers had no need for fancy frocks, coats, and hats, or even shoes and

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 97

stockings. Their very nudity was the badge of poverty; for the more
voluminous and ornate clothes were, the higher their wearers were sup-
posed to be on the social ladder. 125 Elisha S. Horace has left a pen picture
of an old-fashioned apprentice that exemplifies this simplicity in the dress
o the poor:

Only figure to yourselves a young man of good proportions, handsome face,
blooming beauty, dressed in a pair of deerskin breeches coming hardly down to
his knees, which before they could be made fit to come into the presence of the
ladies at meeting on the sabbath, were regularly blacked upon the preceding
Saturday night at the dye-kettle of Deacon Holman, in order to give them a
clean and fresh appearance for the Sunday. Imagine his legs covered up to the
knees with a pair of blue woolen-yarn stockings, his feet encased with a thick
and substantial pair of shoes, well greased and ornamented with a pair of small
brass buckles, a present from his master for his good behaviour. Imagine that
he wore a speckled shirt all the week, and a white one on Suday, which was
always carefully taken off as soon as he returned from meeting, folded up and
laid by for the next sabbath. 126

The upper classes in the United States copied French and English
fashions as faithfully as conditions in this country and the meager trans-
portation facilities would permit. The clothes of the wealthy usually
served as models for middle and lower class imitation; but many Ameri-
cans had ideas of their own on this point, and developed various theories
on appropriate dress. Manuals of juvenile behavior discussed the subject
of clothing, and counseled both parents and children that their clothes
should be "decent, so as to answer the first end of dress"; garments were
to be convenient, and their price was never to exceed the family income.
Not only was "tawdry and fantastic" dress condemned, but children
were shown the injustice of demanding costly apparel and of "laying
out money for the moths to eat." 127

The Christian duty of employing time to the best advantage was one
of the first moral lessons taught the children of this period. As idleness
was considered the source of most evils, so industry was believed to turn
the powers of the mind to good account. To train children in habits of
industry, and to make them appreciate the value of time was highly im-
portant. An apt illustration of this philosophy was found in the story
of "Tommy True," who, despising the "sluggard's bed," arose early, "ate
his breakfast thankfully," and thus prepared himself for the day:

98 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Then straight he takes his little hat,
And off to school he jogs away,
And let him meet with whom he will,
He seldoms stops to chat or play.

"This is my time to learn,," says he,
"I never shall be young but once;
And i I throw this time away,
I must grow a silly dunce." 128

Even the liberal and progressive Moravian educator, Christopher Dock,
frowned upon his pupils' wasting the precious moments o their noon
hour in play, and soon found an effective spiritual device to curb their
spirits. Witness the directions in his Schul-Ordnung:

As the children carry their dinner, an hour's liberty is given them after
dinner. But as they are usually inclined to misapply their time if one is not
constantly with them one or two of them must read a story of the Old Testa-
ment, while I write copies for them. This exercise continues during the whole
noon hour. 129

Industry was not confined to lesson hours, or to the time assigned for
the little stints about the home; on the assumption that children might
be as idle at play as at work or over their books, the time devoted to
relaxation had to be "properly and happily employed." 130 To drive youth-
ful energies into active, vigorous pursuits, parents were advised to supply
their children with "pleasurable objects'varied, but not too numerous
toys. Boys and girls were encouraged to buy and collect books for them-
selves, so that each child might enjoy a little library of his own. 131 As an
antidote for quarreling and mischief on rainy days and winter evenings,
mothers were urged to amuse and instruct their children by providing
them with paper, pencils, and little pictures to cut out and to paste into
scrapbooks. Thus the children of this era who were trained in domestic
habits had many of their dull tasks brightened by some wholesome,
simple pleasures disallowed in Colonial days. 132

Time was generally considered the greatest blessing children could
enjoy on earth, hence those who had acquired the art of managing this
precious treasure properly had attained the highest wisdom. As a stimu-
lus to lagging spirits, copybooks set before youth such pithy model sen-
tences as: "Youth is the flower of age, the May of Time; then catch
occasion in its proper clime," or "Rather depend upon your finger ends,
than fix expectations on your friends." 133 The moral in the following
verse was more pointed:

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 99

May we this important truth
Observe and ever hold,
"All those who're idle in their youth,
Will suffer when they're old." 134

The maxims of "Poor Richard" repeated the copybook lessons; the
almanac year after year set forth those fundamental ideas of industry
that have left their mark on the American character. Any child could
read at will the native logic: "If time be of all things the most precious,
wasting time must be the greatest prodigality"; or, again, the exhortation:
"Let us then be up and doing, and doing to the purpose: so by diligence
we shall do more with less perplexity. What does it signify wishing for
better times? We may make these times better if we bestir ourselves.
Industry need not wish; and he who lives upon hope will die fasting!"
The young boy was constantly assured that "he that hath a trade hath
an estate; and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honour."
Penniless young Americans were stimulated by the proverb, "Diligence
is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry"; and
also by the assurance to "plow deep while sluggards sleep, and you will
have corn to sell and keep." 135

Habits of thrift were also cultivated, for most American children
learned how to earn and use money. Many parents contrived a way for
money to be fairly earned, provided a safe place for depositing it, and
then gave the little financiers some pleasant plan for its use. For example,
one father assembled his children every Saturday night, and gave each
one a little pocket money in exact proportion to the child's good conduct
during the week the best child got the most, and the worst got none.
The good deeds of this family were recorded in a pink book, and the
bad ones in a black book. Any marks of bad temper, selfishness, or
greediness, and fibbing or want of honesty, were faults that deprived
these boys and girls of their reward. Although the children were allowed
to spend the money as they pleased, each child was provided with an
account book in which he had to put down every penny spent and on
Saturday cast up the sum and show it to his father. 136

Poorer children were pressed into service at home almost as soon as
they could walk alone, for workmen were scarce in early America, and
labor-saving devices unknown. Their religious beliefs quite appropriately
extolled hard work as a virtue by teaching little ones such maxims as
'Idleness is the devil's workshop." A variety of occupations, as a result,
filled the daylight hours of these early American children with ample
protection against the "Old Deluder Satan." The diary of a young Con-

ioo AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

necticut girl reveals at a glance how fully occupied was her day and
how broad was the scope of her activities:

Fix'd gown for Prude, Spun linen, Work'd on cheese-basket, Hatchelled
flax with Hannah. We did 51 ibs. apiece, Pleated and iron, Read a sermon
o Doddridge's Milked the cows, Made a broom of Guinea wheat straw,
Set a Red Dye, Had two scholars from Mrs. Taylor's, Carded two pounds
of wool and felt, Spun harness of twine, Scoured the Pewter. 137

The missionaries David and John Brainerd have left a description
o the active, busy life led by a boy in this same state; but the account
also gives a fair picture of boyhood in any other section:

The boy was taught that laziness was the worst form of original sin. Hence
he must rise early and make himself useful before he went to school, must be
diligent there in study, and promptly home to do "chores" at evening. His
whole time out of school must be filled up with some service, such as bring-
ing fuel for the day, cutting potatoes for the sheep, feeding the swine, water-
ing the horses, picking the berries, gathering the vegetables, spooling the
yarn. He was expected never to be reluctant and not often tired. 135

Indoor boys manufactured with their jackknives a number of wooden
articles for farm and domestic use, while the making of birch brooms
for the country store was an important industry. The lads did not grow
rich, however, on broom-making, as the regular price paid was but six
cents, and it took three evenings to make one broom. Although such
tasks as splitting shoe pegs, setting card teeth, tying onions, and gathering
nuts were also poorly paid, the gathering and marketing of wild cherries
was a more profitable industry. Since this fruit was widely used in
making cherry rum or cherry bounce, it usually netted about a dollar
a bushel, and a large tree would yield about six bushels. 139

American girls had been taught rules for sewing for more than a
century, but it was not until 1817 that they were set down in book form.
According to these directions, after the girls were first shown how to
turn a hem on a piece of waste paper, they were to make a variety of
stitches in a fixed order. Industrious maids practised how to sew and
fell a seam, to draw threads and hemstitch, to gather a ruffle or skirt,
to make buttonholes and buttons, to do herringbone stitch, to darn and
to mark clothing, and to whip and sew on a fnlL 140

Even in the homes of the upper classes, where there were servants
to attend to the needs of the family, girls usually helped with the cooking,
and there was indeed much of it to do. The careful housewife of the
period considered it a disgrace i her larder was not well stocked with
pies, cakes, and breads of various kinds. Besides this cooking, there were
two annual activities in which young girls of every household usually

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 101

participated. In the spring came the task of candle-dipping; and in the
autumn, soap-making, a tedious work, but a necessary duty to provide
the soft soap which was used in the huge monthly washings typical o
every household in those early days. 141

Most Americans believed that coarseness and vulgarity were the effects
of habit, and not inherent in the nature of the child. It was recommended
in the early iSoo's that parents should accustom their children to meet
strangers with poise and dignity, and that boys and girls should be
allowed to make social visits with grown-ups to dispel any tendency to
a "painful and unbecoming bashfulness." But in this practice children
were not to be encouraged in "showing-off, or constantly habituated
to hearing themselves talked about." 142 Much as the failing had been
ridiculed, it was remarked that it was still common "for mothers to talk
a great deal about their children." The weariness with which strangers
listened to such domestic accounts was considered a slight evil compared
to the harm done children who were encouraged to think themselves
important. 143 In defining the social status of the child in 1835, these lines
of an old work may be invoked:

Methinks a little good Breeding may do the Children some Good! They
should be taught the Rules of Behaviour; Good Manners do well become
the Children of Good Christians, Our Children should be Taught how to ad-
dress their Superiors with Modesty, their Inferiors with Gentleness, their
Equals with Decency, and Inoffensiyeness. . , . Unmannerly Children are but
a Reproach to their Feeders and proclaim that they are better Fed than
Taught. 144

Goodsell, A History of the 'Family as a Social ana Educational Institu-
tion, pp. 395-404,

2 Ruth Reed, The Modern Family, p. 51.

3 Jokn F. Ware, Home Life: What It Is, and What It Needs, p. 155.

4 Callioun, op. cit. } p. 83; see also Ware, op. dt.,p. 155.

*lfad., p. 72.

*Ifad. f p. 158.

7 As quoted in Martin G. Brumbaugh, The Life and Worlds of Christopher Doc\,
p. 218.

*Etliel S. Bolton and Eva J. Coe, American Samplers, p. 25.

9 Cotton Mather, op. cit., p. 22.

lbid. f p. 24.

^Mather, op. cit., p. 25.

13 WiIliam Penn, Frzats of a Father's Love, pp. 33, 34.

14 James Nelson (Apothecary), An Essay on the Government of Children, Under
Three General Heads, viz. Health, Manners and Education, (New York, 1753), p.
171.

102 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

16 Eleazer Moodey, The School of Good Manners, Preface.
vibid,, pp. 69, 70.

18 Philip D. S. Chesterfield, Principles of Politeness and of Knowing the World, p.
82.

20 Quoted by Alice M. Earle in Child Life in Colonial Days, p. 166.

^Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., pp. 13-15.

22 Dr. Gregory, A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, p. in.

23 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., pp. 2-3. ^

^y^ Useful and Necessary Companion in Two Parts, p. 82.

25 EIeazer Moodey, op. cit., pp. 4-6.

26 Alice M. Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days, pp. 102-105; see also Earle, Child
Life in Colonial Days, p. 216.

27 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., p. 6. On this point Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Little or
no notice was ever taken of die food on the table. If is was well or poorly prepared,
in season or out of season, of good or bad flavour ... we did not discuss it. I was
brought up to pay so little attention to these things, that I cared little what kind of
food was set before me." Albert B. Hart, Source Readers in American History, No.
I, p. 216.

28 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., p. 6.

m lbid., pp. 7-9.

sl lbid.,pp. 10-11.

S2 Eleazer Moodey, of. cit., pp. 15, 16.

**Ibid., p. 28.

u lbid., pp. 17-19.

^Ibid., pp. 6-9.

36 Albert Hart, op. dt. t No. 2, p. 211. Whether it was remnant of the fighting prac-
tices of then- British ancestors, or the result of the emotional disturbances of the
times, this undeclared war of youth went on for years in spite of the whippings of
schoolmasters and the scoldings of parents.

37 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., pp. 19-22.

Ibid., pp. 26, 27.

89 As quoted in Lothrop Stoddard, The Story of Youth, p. 283.

40 Stoddard, op. cit., p. 278.

41 As quoted by Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, p. 167.

^Ibid., p. 7.

43 Alice M. Earle, Diary of Anna Green Window, A Boston Girl of 1*771, p. 3.

"Ibid., p. 7.

^Ibid., pp. 213, 214.

46 Chesterfield, op. cit., p. 67.

47 Dr. Gregory, op. cit., p. 15,

48 Anon., Young Lady's Parental Monitor, p. 127.

49 Gregory, op. cit., p. 22.

50 Young Lady's Parental Monitor, p. 127.

51 Gregory, op. cit., p. 25.

*lbid. t p. 28.

lbid., p. 40.

^Samuel Sewall, Diary 1674-1729, Coll. of Mass. Hist. Soc., vols. V-VII (1878),
vol. I (of series), p. 369.
55 As quoted in Alice M, Earle, op. cit., p. 226.
66 As quoted in Lothrop Stoddard, Story of Youth, pp. 277, 278.
57 As quoted in Alice M. Earle, op. cit., p. 88,
^Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., p. 14.

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 103

, p. 19.

60 Ahce M. Earle, Diary of Anna Green Window, p. 9.

61 As quoted in Alice M. Earle, op. cit., pp. 225, 226.

62 John Potter, The Words of the Wise, p. 56.

63 James Burgh, Rules for the Conduct of Life (Reprint of a London publication of
1767),?. 124.

64 Mrs. Grant, Sketches on Intellectual Education and Hints in Domestic Economy
Addressed to Mothers, pp. 20, 21.

65 James Burgh, op. cit., p. 124.

66 Mrs. Grant, op. cit., p. 21.

67 Lydia Maria Child, Letters to Mothers, p. no.

^Ibid., p. in.

^Arthur W. Calhoun, op. at., 54, 55.

70 John Hersey, op. cit*, p. 26.

nibid., p. 83.

72 Jacob Smedley, Hints for the Training of Youth; A Scrapboofy. for Mothers, p. 51.
This scrapbook contained articles like this written earlier in the century,

73 Godham D. Abbott, The Family at Home, or Familiar Illustrations of the Various
Domestic Virtues, pp. 144-54.

74 Mrs. Richard Griffith, Letters Addressed to Young Married Women, p. 94; Rev.
Charles Cooper, Blossoms of Morality Intended for the Amusement and Instruction
of Young Ladies and Gentlemen, p. 156.

15 Be Merry and Wise or the Cream of Jests, and the Marrow of Maxims, for the
Conduct of Life, p. 78.

A Little Pretty Poc^et-Boo^, Preface.

77 Anon., The Wisdom of Crop the Conjuror exemplified in several Characters of
Good and Bad Boys, with an impartial account of the celebrated Tom Trot who rode
before all the Boys in the Kingdom till he arrived at the Top of the Hill called
Learning, Written for the Imitation of those who love themselves, Preface.

m lbid., pp. 30-32.

^Ibid., p. 42.

m The History of Little Goody Twoshoes; otherwise called Mrs. Margery Twoshoes.
With the Means by which she acquired her Learning and Wisdom, and in conse-
quence thereof her Estate, p. 57.

lbid., p. 58.

^Ibid., pp. 115, 1 1 6.

B5 The Juvenile Biographer; Containing the Lives of Little Masters and Misses;
Including a Variety of Good and Bad Characters. By a little Biographer, First Edition,
p. 114.

Wisdom in Miniature; or the Young Gentleman and Lady's Pleasing Instructor,
Being a Collection of Sentences, Divine Moral, and Historical, Preface.

^Wisdom in Miniature, pp. 137-44.

^Mother Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle; Illustrated with notes and
Maxims, Historical, Philsophical, and Critical, The Second Worcester Edition, p. 33.

*lbid., p. 33.

Klbid., p. 54-

**Ibid., p. 73.

**lbid. t p. 72.

u ]acJ(y Dandy's Delight: or the History of Birds and Beasts; in Verse and Prose,
The First Worcester Edition, Isaiah Thomas, Preface.
., p. 16.

io 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

**lbid. t p. 29.

^The Sugar Plumb; or Sweet Amusements for Leisure Hours being an Entertain-
ing and Instructive Collection of Stones embellished with curious cuts, the First
Worcester Edition, Isaiah Thomas, pp. 88-94.

**Vice in Its Proper Shape; or, the Wonderful and Melancholy Transformations of
Several Naughty Masters and Misses into those Contemptible Animals which they
most resembled in Disposition. Printed for the Benefit of All Good Boys and Girls.
Preface.

, pp. i-47-

m lbid., pp. 47-50.

m The Daisy; or Cautionary Stories in Verse. Adapted to the Ideas of Children
from four to eight years old. Part i. (1808), pages unnumbered.

^Caleb Bingham, Juvenile Letters, Being a Correspondence between Children
eight to fifteen years of age, pp. 17, 18.

*Ibid., pp. 18, 19.

^Ibid., pp. 20-22.

**Ibid., pp. 23-27.

m lbid. f p. 45.

m The Picture of New YorJ^, p. 15.

108 Samuel G. Goodrich, Peter Parley's Tale about the State and City of New Yor\,
Illustrated by a map and many engravings. For the use of schools, p. 25.

1( The Cries of Philadelphia; Ornamented with elegant woodcuts, John Bouvier
for Johnson and Warner, pp. 15-21. The Cries of New YorJ^, Printed and sold by
Samuel Wood at the Juvenile BooJ^-Store, pp. 1-20.

The Cries of Philadelphia, p. 21.

w-lbid., p. 22.

112 T>&<? Cries of New Yor\, p. 38. As a result of the annoying sight and sound of
the young chimney sweeps, when an invention was patented in Washington in 1814
that cleaned chimneys as well as and more quickly than by the cruel method of
sending up the little boys, people everywhere, prompted both by humanity and
conscience, eagerly adopted the new device.

A comparison of the New York and Philadelphia Cries suggests interesting
contrasts in the manners and morals of the two cities. For example, in the water-
melon cry for New York City, the editor introduced a sermon on thieving: " 'Here's
your fine ripe Water-melyonsP Watermelons are raised in great plenty and with
ease, but the difficulty lies in preserving them from thieves. Strange, indeed, to tell,
but it is so, there are many who would by no means take a cent from a neighbor's
drawer, and yet steal watermelons!" On the other hand, the Philadelphia description
contained no reference to stealing, but was short and informative, "The melons
brought to this market are from the state of New Jersey." Cries of New Yor\, p. 13;
Cries of Philadelphia, p. 12.

113 Elisha S. Horace, Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago, pp.
2 33-37- An interesting description of these head-rolls is found in the diary of Anna G.
Winslow of Boston, who wrote in 1771: "I had my HEDDUS ROLL on. ... It
makes my head itch, & ach, & burn like anything Mamma. This famous roll is not
made wholly of a red Cow Tail, but is a mixture of that, & horsehair (Very course)
& a little human hair of yellow hue, that I suppose was taken out of the back part
of an old wig. But D- made it (our head) all carded together and twisted up.
When it first came home, aunt put it on, & my new cap on it, then she took her
apron & measured me, and from the roots of my hair on my forehead to the top of
my notions, I measured above an inch longer than I did downwards from the roots
of my hair to the end of my chin. Nothing renders a person more amiable than
virtue & Modesty without the help of fals hair, red Cow Tail, or D (the barber)."
Alice M. Earle, cd., Diary of Anna Green Winslow, p. 71.

ART OF DECENT BEHAVIOUR 105

114 Alice M. Earle, Diary of Anna Green Wmslow, pp. 13, 14.

115 Brooke, op. tit., p. 9.

1IQ Tke Juvenile Biographer, pp. 82, 83.

117 Brooke, op. cit., pp. 12-14.

Ibid., p. 15.

lbid., pp. 1 6-1 8. The new fashions for boys are an example of the child leading
the mode; for long trousers had been worn by little boys nearly forty years before
they became fashionable for their fathers, though this doubtless was to save the wear
and tear on knees and stockings.

lbid., pp. 30-32.

v^Ibid., pp. 34-38.

122 EHza Ware Farrar, The Young Lady's Friend, pp. 95, 96.

123 Oliver Wendell Holmes, "My Aunt," Complete Poetical Wor\s, p. 8.

124 Elisha S. Horace, Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago, pp.
233-36.

125 James Schouler, Americans of 1776, p. 91; Lucy Larcom, A New England Girl-
hood, pp. 120-21.

126 Elisha S. Horace, op. cit., p. 241.

127 The New School of Good Manners, by the Preceptor of the Ladies Academy in
New-London, p. 12.

12S ^ Present to Children, p. n.

129 Martin G. Brumbaugh, op. cit., p. 109.

130 Hersey, op. cit., p. 92; Mrs. Lousa Hoare, Hints for the Improvement of Early
Education and Nursery Discipline.

131 Hoare, op. cit., p. 93.

n *lbid., p. 94; Maria Edgeworth, Idleness and Industry, Exemplified in the History
of James Preston and Lazy Lawrence, pp. 1-72.

133 Eleazer Moodey, op. cit., pp. 78, 79.

^Original Poems for Infant Minds. By several young persons, p. 28.

135 Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth; or Poor Richard Improved, p. 8.

136 George Tuttle, My Mother's Story of Her Own Home and Girlhood (about
1800).

137 Quoted by Kate Dickinson Sweetzer, "The American Girl 1719-1919," D. A. R.
Magazine, No. 9.

138 Quoted by Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, pp. 307, 308.

139 Sarah R. Fackenthal, "Child Life During the American Revolution," A Collec-
tion of Papers read before the Buc\s County Historical Society, IV (1932), 203, 294.

140 Society for the Establishment of Charity Schools, Manual of the System of
Teaching Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Needle-WorJ^ in the Elementary
Schools of the British and Foreign Society. Pages unnumbered.

141 Sarah R. Fackenthal, op. cit., p. 522.

142 Lydia M. Child, The Mother's Boo^, p. 113.

^Ibid., p. 114.

^^Cares About the Nurserie, p. u.

LEARNING

OF

Divers Sorts

The establishment o a school system in Colonial America, with the
possible exception o that in New England, was a haphazard under-
taking. During the troubled decades of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, the energies of the American colonists were absorbed in plant-
ing and defending their settlements. Education or the revered "learning
of & divers sorts" owed little therefore to formal instruction, for both
schools and teachers were few and usually of poor quality, and the time
allotted children for their studies was brief. Although the requisites for
a well-rounded educational program were thus limited, there was little
actual disparagement of educational opportunities for the young-
especially for boys.

Elementary education was indeed valued as the process by which the
child could acquire the definite habits, skills, and attitudes, and that
fund of knowledge which civilization had prepared for him. Since Ameri-
can civilization along the Atlantic seaboard stemmed mainly from the
English, the educational system of the colonies was but a modification
of that used in the mother country; and the chief goal was to transmit
this cultural heritage unchanged to succeeding generations. Besides re-
ligion, its most prominent characteristic, this "learning of divers sorts"
included a medley of folklore, superstition, and scientific truth, adapted
as far as possible to New World conditions. 1

The Protestant Revolt had strengthened the position of the Church
as the controlling power in education in order to assure the training of
youth in a definite code of religious principles. This ecclesiastical domi-
nance was also a part of the heritage transmitted by England to her
colonies. Cotton Mather upheld the jurisdiction of the church over both
secular and religious education when he deplored the decline of enthusi-

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 107

asm for the maintenance of common schools in New England. He saw
in this apathy a direct blow at the very purpose of Colonial settlements:

The Colonies of New England were planted on the design of pursuing the
Holy Reformation; and now the Devil cannot give a greater blow to the
Reformation among us, than by causing Schools to languish under discourage-
ments. If our General Courts decline to contrive and provide Laws for the
Support of Schools; or if particular Towns Employ their Wits, for Cheats to
elude the wholesome Laws; little do they consider how much they expose
themselves to that rebuke of God, "Thou has destroyed thy self, O New
England." 2

The success of society, according to Colonial thinking, depended on
the fidelity with which the European cultural heritage was transmitted
to the isolated American settlements, just as the success o the individual
settler depended upon his acquiring this store of useful knowledge.
There was always a haunting fear of losing this legacy of an old civiliza-
tion and of reverting to barbarism. This apprehension has been indicated
in the preceding chapter on manners, which traced the measures taken
to safeguard time-honored customs in the primitive American environ-
ment. A similar attitude was carried over to education, and the important
function of the school as an antidote to barbarism was persistently
stressed. Again it was Cotton Mather who expressed his forebodings
about this impending cultural doom in his Prognostication upon the
Future State of New England a document which might easily be taken
as a norm of Colonial thought in any section of the country. Mather's
warning read:

Where Schools are not Vigorously and Honourably Encouraged, whole Colonies
will sink apace, into a Degenerate and Contemptible Condition, & at last be-
come horribly Barbarous. If you have any love to God , . . you would not betray
your Posterity into the very Circumstances of Salvages, let Schools have more
Encouragement. 3

The Colonial system of elementary education indeed lost few of its
original features in the transfer from England to America. England
had dame schools, and this type of school was transplanted successfully
in the colonies, particularly in Massachusetts. England used the tutorial
system of instruction, and so did the colonies, especially those in the
middle and southern sections. England almost completely disregarded
the education of women, and this same neglect prevailed in the colonies.
Not only did English apprenticeship and poor-law traditions take root
in this country, but so did the English charity school an enterprise that
definitely impeded the growth of a free, publicly controlled, non-sectarian

io8 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

school system. 4 Thus in almost every detail the British pattern o educa-
tion served as a guide to the colonists; up to the time of the Revolution
the traditions and practices of this model were reproduced with remark-
able fidelity in American school life.

Besides the negative function of the church-controlled school system
which was described by Mather, there were, as was gradually believed,
two positive advantages to be gained from a well-ordered educational
system. First, since most Protestant denominations at this time considered
an educated clergy as a safeguard for their particular form of faith,
provision had to be made for the training of aspirants to the ministry.
Second, since the Bible was the chief source of divine truth for the laity,
it was incumbent on all Christians to teach their children to read that
they might investigate this source for themselves.

Utilitarian philosophy was another powerful factor in education dur-
ing the eighteenth century. Everywhere it stimulated scientific inquiry,
in order that man might master the forces of nature. Out of this intel-
lectual curiosity, a threefold scheme for the education of youth developed.
One phase was evident in the practical education given some middle-
class boys, who were trained as apprentices in those crafts and trades
that would enhance production and increase the physical comforts of
life. The vast majority of children of this same social stratum lived in a
rural environment and thus came into daily contact with plants, animals,
tools, and the soil. These boys and girls in early childhood became
acquainted with the processes of agricultural production a useful,
informal type of education which was particularly adapted to the needs
of the new nation. Although life in rural America during the Colonial
period offered many opportunities for ambitious youth to rise to success,
this same isolated existence also tended to underrate culture and gen-
tility. As a result, the children of the back country commonly failed to
appreciate the potentialities of the fine and liberal arts, and often despised
even the ordinary amenities of social life. 5

In producing a group of ignorant but liberty-loving youth, the educa-
tional system of the Colonies further reflected the class distinctions of
Europe, where higher learning was the badge of the upper classes. Be-
sides its disciplinary training, higher education also provided the well-
to-do with intellectual adornments which distinguished them from the
poor. The correct use of language, a cultured accent, a knowledge of
Latin and Greek, and eventually an acquaintance with the classics, com-
bined to form a system which separated the child of wealth from his
less fortunate fellow beings. On the assumption that their economic and
intellectual superiority presupposed supremacy in other fields, the youth

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 109

of the upper classes usually studied law, theology, and the military arts
those professions which formed the basis of social and political power.

Children of the lower classes, disciplined by poverty and hard work
and almost completely deprived of leisure, were forced to confine them-
selves to useful studies, and only the more fortunate of this group received
even these morsels of knowledge. Meager instruction in the rudiments
of practical studies reading, writing, and arithmetic generally con-
stituted the store of "book learning" for this submerged element. It
was deemed a universal safeguard to society to have the poor acquire
habits of honesty, obedience, and industry, as well as to develop their
physical strength in certain skills. 6

The middle-class colonists, in their attempt to emulate the educational
achievements in the decorative studies attained by those of wealth and
distinction, ultimately achieved a unique compromise by uniting in their
curriculum many useful and some ornamental studies. Middle-class
youths had to prepare themselves to make a living by some gainful art
or skilled trade; so their interests were directed to business, law, medi-
cine, or to scientific agriculture. Just as the upper classes set the intel-
lectual pace for those immediately below them in the social scale, so
did the middle class, in turn, exert a powerful influence in popularizing
educational opportunities for the lower classes, at least on an elementary
level. 7

To understand the scope of Colonial education it is necessary to
examine briefly the types of schools which supplied the young with what
the Roxbury trustees called their "scholastic, theological, and moral
discipline." The New England school system was in some respects
superior to that of any other section by the middle of the eighteenth
century. The people of that section were not of a superior character, but
their compact villages and towns were more favorable for the establish-
ment of schools and, with the exception of Rhode Island, the inhabitants
of these towns belonged to the same religious denomination. This two-
fold unity made it easier for New Englanders to establish a common
school system than it was for the scattered rural population of other
colonies, or for communities of different religious denominations, to carry
out a similar scheme. 8

New England Puritans, like other Protestants, believed that the key
to salvation lay in exact obedience to the teachings of the Bible; conse-
quently a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures was both a religious
and an educational requirement for their children. To fill this need a
system of elementary parish schools of various degrees of efficiency was
organized which at the same time buttressed the church and taught boys

no

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

and girls the rudiments of secular learning. An "other-worldliness" colored
the child's life; and, as already noted, many features of his educational
system were directed to preparing him for that future existence. 9

These parish schools, or the private schools of the same level, were
usually taught by the local minister or by a lay teacher whose chief
qualification was a knowledge of the faith rather than a solid foundation
in the intellectual or cultural attainments of the times. Since these mas-
ters were not satisfied that the ability to read the Bible would of itself
insure the preservation of their religious beliefs and practices,^ they pre-
pared numerous catechisms containing interpretations of important
biblical passages as well as points of dogma and rules of conduct. The
catechism of their own denomination became an integral part of the
school equipment of Colonial boys and girls. Still doubting the adequacy
of this method, the educational leaders of New England and elsewhere
made sure that the secular textbooks were fortified by a sufficient amount
of moralization. Their goal could easily be reached, since in a majority
of schools the only subjects taught were religion, reading, writing, and
arithmetic; and few books were used in this course of study, 10

Sometimes a mother held classes for her own children, and gave in-
struction of a still more elementary character than that imparted in the
common schools; or a maiden lady was employed to drill the girls and
small boys of a neighborhood in the elements of learning. 11 In these so-
called dame schools, pupils as young as three or four years were taught
the alphabet and a little reading and writing; but reading for the very
small rarely extended beyond the crisscross row of the hornbook or the
simple lessons of the New England Primer. Some towns in New England
supported dame schools as their only source of primary education; in
other colonies, private schools of this type, maintained on a tuition basis,
held sway until well into the nineteenth century. 12 In his True Relation
of the Flourishing State of Philadelphia, Judge Thomas Holme wrote
in 1696 of the dame schools of that vicinity:

Here are schools of divers sorts,

To which our youth daily resorts,

Good women, who do very well

Bring little ones to read and spell,

Which fits them for their writing; and then

Here's men to bring them to their pen,

And to instruct and make them quick

In all sorts of arithmetic. 13

Well-to-do parents in all the Colonies employed private tutors for their
own families and for those close relatives who then lived under the

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LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS in

same roof. Classes of this type were held in the home or in a special
building on the grounds, and followed much the same curriculum as did
the privately conducted or church-controlled elementary schools in various
parts of the country. In the sparsely settled Southern Colonies, this
tutorial system was generally adopted not only for its convenience, but
because the sharp class distinctions made wealthy planters reluctant to
send their boys and girls to the few common schools, which were also
attended by the offspring of their less prosperous neighbors. The tutor
might be an indentured servant with a slight store of knowledge, an
Anglican minister, or in rare cases an English university graduate. Boys
were generally prepared by such tutors or by their female relatives for
the classical schools of this country or for the English universities.

Private schools often of a secondary grade were quite numerous
in the larger towns. This type was supported by tuition fees and con-
ducted by masters or mistresses who usually supplemented their meager
income by the sale of books and school supplies. To give proper instruc-
tion for the boys who aspired to such careers as ships' officers, surveyors,
clerks, or business men, or even to posts in the civil service of the govern-
ment, a few "mathmetical" and English schools were established about
the middle of the century in the larger towns. At the same time, night
schools offering a wide choice of useful studies, such as mathematics,
languages, surveying, bookkeeping, and navigation, were opened for the
benefit of apprentices and other employed youth. 14

Elementary charity schools, particularly those established by the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, were found in New
York, New Jersey, New England, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina,
but they were not confined entirely to these colonies. The work of the
S. P. G. among the German Quietist sects, such as the Moravians, Men-
nonites, and Dunkards, was especially important, since the aim of the
Society was to promote the unity of the colony by teaching these people
to read and speak the English language. Although the Quietists resisted
all efforts at Anglicanization and clung tenaciously to their own language
and religion, the project does indeed represent an early attempt to pro-
vide free elementary education in this country. 15

The academy was also planned in the early eighteenth century to
prepare boys more adequately for industrial and business pursuits. These
institutions provided a liberal education of a new type and supplied
vocational training. Thus, by offering a course of studies adapted to the
intellectual and practical interests of the middle class, academies became
immensely popular, and played their important role even through the
next century. The academy was for decades the accepted pre-professional

112

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

school for boys, and the finishing school for girls. Boys were there pre-
pared for the study of law, medicine, or divinity; while girls, after what
now seems a superficial program of studies, took up the serious business
of life in the management of a home. 15

Enough has already been said in previous sections of this study to
demonstrate that at the beginning of the eighteenth century the theory
and practice of child training was in every respect determined by adult
standards and interests. Although no sudden or striking change can be
detected in the Colonial system of education during the first three-
quarters of the century, this was a period of transition, dominated by
a growing trend towards secularization, and marked by sporadic efforts
to find a more humane approach to child training. The old order was
being repeatedly challenged from Europe by such writers as Comenius,
Locke, Rousseau, Basedow, and Pestalozzi, who boldly proclaimed that
the world did not understand the needs of childhood since it treated
boys and girls like miniature adults.

John Amos Comenius, 1592-1671, a Moravian bishop, was one of the
first of a series of European reformers whose influence extended to
Colonial America and inspired the radical innovation in the school sys-
tem of the nineteenth century. Comenius held that education should
be a natural process in harmony with man's constitution and destiny,
and should afford a well-rounded foundation for complete living. To
this end he planned a regular system of graded schools and led in advo-
cating instruction for very young children. He held that a knowledge
of geography, history, and the elements of the arts and sciences was
essential, but also stressed the need of physical education. Not only did
he correlate the various subjects, but he subordinated Latin to the ver-
nacular and taught it from the use of common objects known to the
child. His educational system, which was more interesting and effective
than any previously devised, was based on textbooks that were also far
in advance of the times.

The first of his works, published in 1631, was the Janua Linguarum
Reserata ("Gate of Languages Unlocked"). The English version of this
book was used particularly by the children of the Middle Colonies where
the Moravian sect was most numerous. The record shows, however,
that by the middle of the seventeenth century a Boston town meeting
selected a committee to introduce the Comenian texbooks and inductive
methods into their Latin schools, 17

In content the Janua consisted of sentences composed of several thou-
sand Latin words for familiar objects and ideas. The Latin was printed
in the column on the right, and the English translation on the left. By

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 113

this arrangement the pupil was expected to acquire the rudiments o
ordinary knowledge and to improve his Latin vocabulary.

As a supplement to the Janua, Comenius produced the Orbis Sensu-
alism, Pic t us ("The World of Sense Objects Pictured") , which, as the
first illustrated reading book on record, was popular for two centuries.
Its alphabet consisted of appropriate woodcuts the size of a postage stamp
with such explanatory sentences as the following:

A a Comix cornicatur,
The crow crieth.

B b Agnus balat,

The lamb blaiteth.

C c Cicada stridet,

The grasshopper chirpeth 18

Comenius not only demanded that the "young must be educated in
common . . . and all the young of both sexes should be sent to school,"
but he set down the principle that "what has to be learned, must be
learned by doing." Reading, writing, singing, and foreign languages
were to be learned by practise just as virtue and morality were to be
acquired by prayer, good example, and sympathetic guidance. Since
humanism was strongly entrenched, these realistic theories had only
limited appeal, and their author was regarded as fanatic. Reformers of
succeeding generations, however, were so strongly influenced by the
principles of Comenius, that he may be considered a precursor of modern
educators. 19

Perhaps the most potent of all European influences on American
educational standards was exerted by John Locke, 1632-1704, the English
philosopher. His ideas and very words are found in the writings and
speeches of the Founding Fathers, especially in those of Thomas Jeffer-
son. Locke's outline for intellectual training was formulated in the famous
Essay concerning the Human Understanding and to some extent in his
Thoughts concerning Education* Like the French writer Montaigne,
Locke held that book knowledge and intellectual training were less im-
portant than the development of character and good manners. Like
Comenius, Locke leaned toward sense realism and recommended a wide
utilitarian range of subjects for the education of a gentleman. 20 He also
suggested that "contrivances might be made to teach children to read
whilst they thought they were only playing." To this end he recom-
mended pasting the letters of the alphabet upon the sides of dice and
"when by these gentle ways he begins to read, some easy pleasant Book,
suited to his capacity, should be put into his Hands/' 21

u 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

As a corollary to these pleasant teaching devices, Locke declared in
his Thoughts that "great Severity o Punishment does but very little
good, nay, great Harm in Education." He preferred as effective means
of intellectual discipline "Esteem or Disgrace," and reserved corporal
punishment for moral offenses.

In his Essay, Locke proclaimed his famous tabula rasa doctrine that
all knowledge comes from experience, and the mind is like "white paper
or wax, to be molded and fashioned as one pleases." On this "paper," ideas
are painted by sensation and reflection. Locke not only advocated teaching
the child mathematics and other subjects to cultivate "general power/'
but urged his "denial of desires" in moral education, and the "hardening
process" in physical training. 22 His theory of "formal discipline" was
to become the basic principle of early American education.

Few writers have had as great influence upon the organization, method,
and content of education as Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-78, the French
philosopher. By advocating naturalism and seeking to destroy tradi-
tionalism, his works caused men to rush to the defense of the old systems,
and when they failed they undertook the construction of something
better. He held that children should be taught the virtues of the primitive
man, that they should be trained to contribute to their own support and
to be sympathetic and benevolent to their fellow men. Through this
doctrine, education became more closely related to human welfare. 23

Rousseau advocated making the child and his needs the center of
a new educational system which would allow the young to act and grow
in harmony with the laws of nature. Not only did Rousseau dare to
defy the age-old theory which held that since the child was naturally
depraved it was the office of education to correct his evil tendencies, but
he even maintained that the child was naturally good, and that he was
only corrupted by human institutions and chiefly by a faulty educational
system. 24

In this country recognition of Rousseau's ideas came slowly, since he
was opposed to the basic premise of the American educational philosophy
that education of the young was primarily a preparation for adult
life. Rousseau contended that every age had its proper perfection and
its own peculiar sort of maturity. Childhood, then, was not to be made
miserable by preparation for some pretended advantage of the future
which the child would probably never enjoy. Instead, the new aim of
education was to teach the child what would be of use to him at the
time rather than to impose upon him studies for an age he might never
reach. In this era of formal discipline, the warning of the future emanci-
pation of childhood came as a shock when Rousseau declared that "the

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 115

age of mirth was not to be spent in the midst of tears, chastisements,
threats, and slavery." 25

In his Emile, Rousseau abandoned all compulsion for the growing
child so that he might be free to develop a rich, moral personality. Emer-
son later seized from Emile the idea that man is inherently good, and
carried it on to its logical conclusion, proclaiming man to be a child of
God. The divinity of man was the great belief of all New England Trans-
cendentalists. Man as the child of God, they said, possesses a divine
nature. Emile may thus be said to have inaugurated a new era in the
history of education. 26

Such educators as Johann Bernhard Basedow, 1723-90, of Hamburg,
were responsible for much of the emphasis given to nature study in the
juvenile literature of the early nineteenth century. Basedow, who had
been captivated by Rousseau's doctrine, developed a method of teaching
through association of ideas in play and conversation. In an endowed
school called the "Philanthropium," the reformer's principle of directing,
not suppressing, the natural instincts of children was carried out by
improved methods. Languages were taught by conversation, games,
pictures, drawing, interesting reading, and plays. Grammar was not
introduced until late in the course. Methods in other subjects were fully
as progressive arithmetic was taught by mental processes; geometry,
by drawing neat, accurate figures; and geography, by learning about
one's own country and then proceeding to the continents. Most notable
was the plan for teaching the naturalistic religion of deism. To learn
the existence of God, the child noted the various features and phenomena
of nature and was asked their cause. Little ones were also kept in a
darkened room for four or five days in order that they might be im-
pressed more deeply with the wonders of nature when they were finally
released and told of the God who had created these marvels. 27

It remained for the reformer Johann Pestalozzi, 1746-1827, a native
of Zurich and a disciple of Rousseau, to psychologize education. To ex-
plain his educational creed and practice, Pestalozzi in 1801 published
a series of books the A B C of Observation, the Eoo\ for Mothers, and
How Gertrude Teaches Her Children. By these texts children were
taught to observe correctly, to estimate proper relationships, and to express
their ideas clearly. To this end syllabaries and tables of units and fractions
were used in reading and arithmetic. Such subjects as drawing, writing,
and geometry were taught through elements of form. Children arranged
sticks in the desired designs and then drew lines representing these
models on a board or slate. This was done until all elementary forms,
straight and curved, were mastered. Nature study and geography were

ii6 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

learned from actual observation; music, from its simplest tone elements;
and religion and morality, from concrete examples.

Pestalozzi's method of control was mild and may be best described
in his own words: "The relations between master and pupil, especially
so far as discipline is concerned, must be established and regulated by
love." In his teaching and works he maintained that the school should
be modeled as closely as possible on the home; and that the main incen-
tives to well-doing were not fear and compulsion, but kindness and
love. Thus, in a happy homelike atmosphere where children were busy
with interesting activities and where due regard was taken for their
moral, intellectual, and physical needs, there was little necessity for severe
punishments. Pestalozzi respectfully affirmed that he objected to the
use of corporal punishment "when the teacher or the method is at fault
and not the children." 28

These liberal educational ideas from abroad were not the most dis-
turbing elements in American academic circles, for there was also much
in the native environment that created dissatisfaction with the kind of
training given the young. In many aspects of life and in education par-
ticularly, America was breaking with the past and with Europe. All
during the eighteenth century foreign ideals and experiences were not
the great factors in American life, for the colonists were extremely provin-
cial. Only a few were inclined to discover what lessons in social progress
Europe had for America. On the one important social subject politics-
Americans regarded themselves as authorities. As a result, European
reformers exerted but slight influence before the nineteenth century
brought ambitions for real educational development. By 1700, the Colo-
nies had reached adolescence; many o the older families were two or
three generations removed from their European origins. The immigrants
who came here from England or from the northern countries of Europe
were quickly assimilated into the American pattern of life and soon
developed a pride in their adopted land. A growing sense of security
and a new realization of power marked this era. Along the Atlantic
seaboard and inland to the eastern highland the fertile lands abundantly
supplied the wants of the colonists; while the burdens of government,
with few exceptions and in spite of protests to the contrary, bore lightly
on the inhabitants. Ideas of the individual's independence and a sense
of self-sufficiency developed apace and tended to produce those political
repercussions which marked the last quarter of the century. 29

Education, from the opening of the century to the outbreak of the
Revolution, reflected the influence of the increasing self-sufficiency of the
colonists as well as the disturbing potency of the Age of Enlightenment.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 117

The period is characterized by a growing appreciation o the intellectual
powers, and by repeated efforts to establish proper institutions to develop
these faculties. American educators, who by mid-century, were dissatis-
fied with the narrow theological basis of the old school system, were
seeking to broaden the scope of elementary and secondary education
by including a wider range of human interests. This revolt against the
theological basis of the old educational system, as well as the agitation
for the more practical training of youth, received its impetus mainly in
Pennsylvania from the writings and labors of such peerless exponents
of the new Enlightenment as Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Benezet,
and Benjamin Rush. Their principles, of course, were to be generally
accepted by the close of the century. By that time education was no
longer dedicated exclusively to religious training and dogma, because
the layman with his interests in the practical pursuits of life was begin-
ning to charge the school with a great variety of responsibilities. The
prosperous merchants and traders along the Atlantic seaboard, eager
to promote their business interests and to enhance their social prestige,
demanded a type of education in line with their ambitions. Other in-
centives for secularizing the curriculum were furnished by those aspiring
young men who saw possibilities of wealth and influence if they pos-
sessed some knowledge of the modern languages needed in commerce,
or if they could obtain some skill in useful trades such as bookkeeping
or surveying. 30

The new conception of American education did not immediately
discard religion or the classics, but aimed rather to have them better
taught; and by introducing new subjects into a curriculum so long
dominated by religious interests, to serve more adequately the needs
of the growing nation. Benjamin Franklin, who was foremost among
the advocates of the new trend, incorporated his ideas for the useful
training of the young in his Proposals for the Education of Youth in
Pennsylvania. This document, which reveals how heavily educational
responsibilities weighed on the author, began with the words: "The
good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages,
as the surest Foundation of Happiness both of private Families and
of Commonwealths." 31 For the next century, two aims practical utility
and formal culture threatened the priority of religion in the child's
intellectual world.

These influences, to be sure, touched the lives of only a small portion
of Colonial children; the masses, in spite of aims, were to be poorly
instructed as long as education remained largely an individual respon-
sibility. Very few boys and girls of the rural districts or in the back

n8 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

country had access to schools of any kind. But from a consideration of
the meager opportunities for formal schooling, one cannot conclude that
youths who were less fortunately situated than their wealthier neighbors
were for that reason wholly uneducated. The discipline of life and work
of the isolated home, farm, or shop fostered a unique wisdom. 22

Influenced by the pragmatism of the times, schools began to offer
vocational or quasi-vocational training. French, music, and dancing were
included in the school's curriculum for their social value, just as classics
were taught for their alleged cultural values and for the dignity accruing
to the young gentleman who could quote "elegant" sources with ease.
Liberalism in the sense of a broadening interest in youth had become
the outstanding feature of the Colonial educational system by the last
quarter of the century; but this characteristic can be best examined in
the new program of studies and in the English schools and academies
established to develop that program.

The budding liberalism of the eighteenth century may be seen in
Franklin's well-known plans of 1749 for the proposed Philadelphia
Academy. Franklin, in mapping the course of studies, contemplated an
English school, but after several patrons of the project demanded a
system that would also give a classical training, he abandoned his first
plan for another, making a threefold division of interests: mathematics,
English, and the classics. This new type of school placed emphasis on
the teaching of the English language, of literature, and of oratory; in-
troduced scientific courses; and provided for the non-sectarian control of
the institution by a self-perpetuating board of trustees. 33 The institution,
in the scope and diversity of its curriculum, was simply the fruition of
Franklin's hope, expressed when he proposed that in the Academy the
boys should learn "those Things that are likely to be most useful and
most ornamental: Regard being had for the several Professions for which
they are intended." 24

Richard Peters, in his address at the opening of the Academy, January
7, 1751, indicated the need of providing vocational guidance for youth
as well as training in the useful pursuits. Peters deplored the common
"misapplications of genius" as a major evil of the educational system
in all the colonies:

My fellow Citizens, you ought to represent to yourselves the State of the Infant
Geniuses of the Place; How many are totally lost thro' Idleness and Inactivity?
How many are forced, as it were, in Opposition to their natural Temper and
Genius, into wrong Trades, Offices, Professions and Employments; and by
these Means become the Objects of Wants, Wretchedness, and Misery? What
numbers are ever peevish and fretful, a Torment to themselves and all about

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 119

them. . . . Their undiscermng Neighbors can assign no cause for it; or if they
do, attribute it to a perverseness of Temper. Alas' . . . you will find the man
is put to the wrong Business, he likes some other much better. . . , 35

This speech of Richard Peters also furnishes some idea of the current
standards of school discipline, as well as the new methods of rewarding
diligence employed by such progressive educators as Franklin. After
exhorting parents and teachers to be firm in holding youth to the line
of duty, and to see that the young students "adhered to disagreeable
studies," the orator outlined the method of disciplining a refractory
youth:

Be sure to keep a strict Hand over him, reprove, Chastise, correct, use Severity,
if necessary, but let this be seldom, and when the Fault is glaring; nor give
over when you have begun, till you have quelled the tyrannical spirit. 36

Franklin, on the other hand, would reward annually with much pomp
those boys who distinguished themselves and excelled their companions
in any branch of learning. To these he advised "fine gilt Books be given
as Prizes" at special exercises in the "Hall" in the presence of the trustees
and the citizens of the town. According to this plan, awards were to be
given to the three boys ranking highest, and "Commendations, En-
couragement, and Advice to the rest; keeping up their Hopes that by
Industry they may excel another time." 37 Franklin insisted that the idea
of true merit should always be presented to youth as consisting in "an
Inclination join'd with an Ability to serve Mankind, one's Country,
Friends, and Family; which Ability is to be gready encreased by true
learning." 38

In setting the entrance requirements for his new Academy, Franklin
also gave an interesting revelation of the meager scholastic standards
for what would constitute a high school course in modern times. He
wrote in his Proposals: "It is to be expected that every Scholar to be
admitted into this school, be at least able to pronounce and divide the
syllables in Reading, and to write in a legible hand." 39 It is important
in this connection to examine briefly the books that were used in the
homes and schools to establish this seemingly weak foundation for a
secondary education.

Very small Colonial children learned the elements of reading from
the hornbook, a small thin piece of wood that closely resembled a paddle,
upon which a sheet of paper was placed containing the alphabet in
both large and small letters, some simple syllables such as "ba, be, bi,
bo, bu, etc.," and the Lord's Prayer. This single page was covered by
a sheet of yellowish horn; and both paper and horn were secured to

120 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

the wood by narrow strips of metal fastened by tiny hand-wrought nails.
At the two upper corners of the page were crosses; hence a recitation
from the hornbook was commonly called "reading the crisscross row."
Since the wooden back usually had a perforated handle at the bottom,
the hornbook could be conveniently carried in the hand by a string,
hung by the child's side, or worn around the neck. The teacher in the
dame schools or the mother at home pointed to the letters with a quill
or knitting needle while their smallest pupils read them aloud; or the
teacher heard the older ones in chorus lustily shout their "a-b ab's," spell
out their prayer, and read the crisscross row. And since this simple text-
book so closely resembled a paddle, the record shows it was also used
in that capacity as the need arose. 40 The battledore was an offshoot of
the hornbook, and was printed on a double fold of stiff cardboard. In
school it was used as a text for the study of the alphabet and crudely
illustrated short sentences; but outdoors it served as a bat in the game
of shuttlecock and battledore.

American "infant scholars" for more than a hundred years usually
turned from the hornbook or its cousin the battledore to the New
England Primer. This book was so religious in content that it has been
aptly called the "Litde Bible of New England," although it was used
universally in the Colonies even by the Quaker children of Pennsyl-
vania. The 1749 edition of the Primer contained, among other items, the
alphabet in hornbook form and in illustrated couplets, a syllabary, rules
for decent behavior, selections from Watts' Divine Hymns, and the
Shorter Catechism. 41 An idea of its tone and content may be indicated
by two extracts from the "Alphabet of Lessons for Youth":

F Foolishness is bound up in the Heart of a Child,
but the Rod of Correction shall drive it from him.

G Grieve not the Holy Spirit. 42

With the growth of the secular spirit in education, the Primer by 1800
had lost some of its pietistic tone. The alphabet of that year read in part:

A was an Angler, and fished with a hook.
B was a Blockhead, and ne'er learn'd his book.
C The Cat doth play and after slay. 43

In the same blithe spirit, the illustration for the last line represented a
cat playing a fiddle to a group of mice dancing on their hind legs.
This was probably in reference to the nonsense rhyme "Hey diddle,
diddle, the cat and the fiddle," found in the Mother Goose's Melodies
which were then gaining popularity.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 121

When the Colonial child had completed the hornbook and primer,
he was considered ready for grammar; but through the decades almost
to the Revolution this meant not English, but Latin grammar. One of
the earliest Latin texts used in this country was Leonard Oilman's
Sententiae Pueriles Anglo-Latinae. It was intended for beginners, so the
selections were graduated from two-Latin-word examples Amicis utere.
"Make use of thy friends" 44 to sentences five or six lines in length.
Among the "Holy Sentences to be taught Scholars upon Holydays,"
are found such remarkable bits as:

Patrem mores non sunt arguendi, sed ferendi.

Our fathers manners are not to be found fault withal, but endured.

Varia & mutabilis semper faemina.

A woman is always wavering and inconstant. 45

Another book of Latin syntax, published in Philadelphia in 1761, has
the same tide as Oilman's work, but was not the same text; It was
advertised as a "short and easy method to exercise children in parsing."
From a host of similar sentences, the following may indicate how faith-
fully this tiny volume reflected the current utilitarian trend of educa-
tional philosophy:

Cessator consequitor nee honorem, nee opes.
A Loiterer gets neither Honor nor Riches. 46

Cole literas, quae "fecundas res ornant.
Pursue Learning which adorns prosperity. 47

The most popular Latin text used by Colonial boys was that prepared
by the New England schoolmaster Nathan Bailey, and published under
the explanatory tide: "English and Latine Exercises for School-Boys,
Comprising all the Rules of Syntaxes with Explanations and other neces-
sary Observations on each Rule. In his preface the author explained that
the larger exercises contained "such precepts of religion and morality as
ought to be inculcated into the heads of all learners"; and that the whole
book was so contrived that besides "Latine, the children may suck in
such Principles, as will be of use to them afterwards, in the manly
Conduct and Ordering of their Lives. 48

The quaint sentences found in this work illustrate rules of Latin
syntax more or less accurately, and also give the modern reader intimate
revelations of the current academic procedure. For example, to show the
use of the nominative case before and after the verb "sum" a sentence
reads: "Joanna, sum spurcus," with its translation, "Jane is a nasty girl."

122

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Disclosures of the following type exemplified other rules: "I slept sound
under a form in the school. The Master is angry; you will be sure to
smart. School-boys love the chimney corner when their limbs are cold.
New and sudden things please Boys; but they soon weary of everything
but Play. A rod is prepared for the fool's back." 49 The master counseled
his students: "If thou knowest thy Schoolfellow guilty of a Crime, ad-
monish him privately, and tell me not of him, For I delight not in
punishing . . . but if he hearken not, make me acquainted. . .^ Yet I
would by no means have Thee a Telltale or common Accuser." 50

The schoolmaster, Edward Whittenhall, in 1762 prepared his Short
Introduction to Grammar for the Use of the College and Academy in
Philadelphia. He published his work with some hestitation, for he said
in his preface: "It may be thought improper to trouble the World with
any new Attempts to improve the Latin Grammar, after such a Variety
of Books on this subject." Whittenhall explained the existence of his book
by announcing that his experience as a teacher had shown him that some
grammars were too short, others too long, but that his book "sought to
remove these difficulties." Since it was only after taking second thought
that the founders of the Philadelphia Academy had included the classics
in their course of studies, Whittenhall evidently sought to justify the
compromise, for he wrote of the merits of Latin grammar:

Grammar is the Sacrist that bears the Key of Knowledge by whome alone
admittance can be had into the Temple of the Muses, and Treasures of Arts;
even whatever can enrich the Mind, and raise it from the Level of a Barbarian
and Ideot, to the Dignity of an Intelligence. But this Sacrist is a severe Mistress,
who being once contemned, will certainly revenge the Injury. . . . 51

Even from this brief consideration of the importance attached to the
study of Latin grammar by most educators of this time, the modern
reader can appreciate Franklin's demand for more advanced training
in English the language spoken by the masses of Colonial children.
Distressed by the general indifference to the teaching of the mother
tongue, Franklin gave expression to his dissatisfaction when he wrote:

But where is English taught at present? Who thinks it of use to study correctly
that Language which he is to use every Day of his Life. . . . ? Every one is
suffered to form his own Stile by Chance; to imitate the first wretched model
which falls in his Way. . . . Few think their Children qualified for a Trade
till they have been whipt at a Latin school for five or six years, to learn a little
of that which they are obliged to forget; when in those years right Education
would have improv'd their Minds, and taught them to acquire Habits of
writtlng their own Language easily under right direction. 52

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 123

Although Franklin recommended the use of the Brightland and
Greenwood English Grammar, a British work, the first text of this type
to be used extensively in Colonial schools was A New Guide to the
English Tongue, written by Thomas Dil worth in London in 1740, and
reprinted by the Franklin press in 1747. Besides alphabets, syllabaries,
and illustrated fables, the grammar also contained for the first time word
lists for spelling, which ranged in the order of their difficulty from those
of "two letters one vowel and one consonant, such as go and ox," to
those of six syllables, like Me-so-po-ta-mi-a. 53 Previous to the appearance
of this book, most American children had learned spelling incidentally
with their reading, and generally from selections in the Bible. The
reader may get an idea of the pronunciations of the time from selections
found in Dilworth's table of words, "the same in sound, but different
in spelling and significance," two groups of which follow:

Air, one of the Elements
Are, they are
Heir, to an Estate

Barbara, a woman's name
Barbary, a Country
Barberry, a Fruit 54

Almost from the beginning of the century, boys and girls in the
Quaker schools of Pennsylvania used George Fox's Instructions for Right
Spelling and Plain Directions for Reading and Writing True English.
This work also contained a surprising section on homonyms similar to
that found in Dilworth's Guide:

He has 3 Sutes of Apparel, and 3 Suits in Law.

Ask the Carpenter for his Ax.

He cool'd his milk because he could not eat it so hot.

A Parson or Priest, a third Person.

The highest Room in the House, the City of Rome

If he were wise, he would wear warmer clothes.

For want of Victuals, his Vitals were faint.

A Tomb or Sepulchure; the first tome of a Book.

It is neither thee nor I can lift the nether millstone. 55

Among the interesting items included in this book is a long section
devoted to the "signification of the Proper Names in Scripture," and
another on the "weights, measures, and coyns" mentioned in the Bible. 55
The spelling words of this work were not given in lists, but underscored
in selections which frequently contained vital points of conduct or an
exposition of Quaker belief:

I2 4

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Sarah was a good JWoman. Jezebel was a bad Woman who ^killed the Just,
and turned against the Lord's Prophets with her attired Head and painted
Face peeping out of the Window.

Christ I must feel within me who is my Life and my Light, and Truth; and
S God that Shewth me my Thoughts and Imaginations of my Heart. 67

It was probably to improve the methods of such "instruction in spelling
and pronunciation" as the foregoing that Franklin advocated his Pro-
posds: "To form their Pronunciation, they may be put on making
Declamations, repeating Speeches, and delivering Orations; the Tutor
assisting at the Rehearsals, teaching, and correcting their accent." 58

Anthony Benezet, the great Quaker reformer, taught in the Philadel-
phia schools about the middle of the century, and shared Franklin's
enthusiasm for improving the civil as well as the religious education of
American children. Although Benezet's text, The Pennsylvania Spelling
Boo^ t or Youth's Friendly Instructor and Monitor, did not differ greatly
from other spellers then in use, it did contain some "necessary remarks
on the education of the Youth in the country parts of this and neighbor-
ing Governments." Benezet deplored the crude methods of instruction
employed in almost all the elementary schools in the land, and also
denounced the apathy of his neighbors in regard to the training of youth:

When we cast our eyes over the country and consider the little attention and
pains employed therein, we must allow that people either do not speak what
they think, or that what they mean by education is something else than to
qualify their children to be useful and serviceable in life; and to fit them for
eternal happiness. 59

In Benezet's work the reader finds evidences of the double aim ex-
pressed by the author and other reformers of this first transitional period
for the American educational system: namely, to teach children to be
useful in life and to fit them for happiness in eternity. In his advice
to overseers and tutors in the common schools o the colony, Benezet
set down four rules for their direction in teaching the English language:

ist. That in teaching English, particular care should be taken to make child-
ren spell correctly, by exercising them frequently in that necessary branch of
their learning.

2nd. That endeavours be used to make the scholars read with proper em-
phasis and punctuation, to which purpose it will be also necessary, besides the
Bible to make use of Historical and Religious Authors, of which the School
ought to be furnished with proper setts.

3d, That such parts, of grammar as are applicable to the English tongue be
taught those Boys who are fit for it, in order to make them write properly.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 125

4th. That the Master as often as is convenient make a practice of dictating to
such Scholars some sentence out of some good Author which they are to write
after him; then the Master carefully correct it. 60

Benjamin Franklin made one of the most practical contributions to
the store of Colonial textbooks when he revised and reprinted a com-
pendium written by an Englishman, George Fisher. Franklin renamed
the book to suit its new environment, and it appeared under the lengthy
title: The American Instructor: or, 'Young Mans Best Companion; Con-
taining Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, in an Easier Way
than any yet published. . . . And also Prudent advice to young Trades-
men and Dealers, The Whole Being better adapted to these American
Colonies, than any other BooJ^ of the li\e Kind. Nothing shows better
the progress that had been made in the secularization both of the cur-
ricula of the schools and of juvenile reading than does this compendium
of useful knowledge. Except for a few oblique references to God, it
completely ignores religious topics and concentrates on such interests
as bookkeeping, the gauging of various kinds of vessels, precedents of
legal writings such as bonds, bills, indentures, wills, etc. medical ad-
vice, and even "instructions to young women how to pickle and preserve
all kinds of fruits and flowers." 61

Ancient history was required in the study of the classics in the Colonial
Latin schools, but it was not until the second half of the eighteenth
century that history was treated as a separate subject. Franklin believed
that almost all useful knowledge could "be introduced to advantage and
with pleasure to the student by his reading the translations of the Greek
and Roman historians, and by the modern histories of ancient Greece
and Rome." Hence it is not surprising that he devoted more than half
the space in his Proposals to an exposition of the merits and importance
of this comprehensive study.

Franklin, dissatisfied with the old rote method of teaching boys
"chronology," laid down several basic rules for a new approach to history
by reducing the subject to order and method, and by observing what
related to "usuage and custom." Both instructor and student were
counseled:

1. To enquire particularly and above all things after the Truth.

2. To endeavour to find out the causes of the Rise and Fall of States.

3. To study the character of the Nations and great Men mentioned in history.

4. To be attentive to such instructions as concern Moral Excellence and the
Conduct of Life,

5. Carefully to note every Thing that relates to Religion. 62

126 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Franklin affirmed that history had a moral value in private economy,
since it not only mirrored "all the passions of the human heart" and the
snares and vicissitudes of human life, but also explained the reason for
the "rules of Prudence, Decency, Justice, and Integrity." To the boys
of the i75o's, Franklin's last appeal for the study of history must have
been especially alluring, for he showed that historical knowledge fur-
nished youth with the basis of sound politics by revealing the "Advantages
of Liberty, the Mischief of Licentiousness, the Benefits arising from good
Laws, and a due Execution of Justice." 63 He pointed out the special appre-
ciation for the advantages of liberty and justice which youth might acquire
from a careful study of the past, and recommended the Universal History
in the following paragraph of his Proposals:

If the new Universal History were also read, it would give a connected Idea
of Human Affairs, which should be followed by the best modern Histories,
particularly of our Mother Country; then of these Colonies; which should
be accompanied with Observations on their Rise, Encrease, Use to Great
Britain, Encouragements, and Discouragements, and the Means to make them
flourish and secure their Liberties. 64

Franklin's plan for teaching American history was delayed for almost
half a century, for not only was the idea novel but there were no text-
books available for giving the desired instruction; then too, the war with
England turned the attention of potential historians from scholastic pur-
suits to military or political enterprises. The first American history
written especially for children was not produced until the close of the
century. 65 Within the next decade, Noah Webster compiled a "Chrono-
logical Table of Remarkable Events from the Creation of the World and
Adam and Eve, B. C. 4004, to the Death of Lord Nelson, October, 1805."
These works gave nothing but the barest outline of events. For example,
Webster made no entries in his table between the year 1773, when he
noted: "The society of Jesuits suppressed by the pope August 25th"; and
the year 1782, when he recorded: "Balloons discovered by S. and J.
Montgolfier in France." 66

As a result of this dearth of historical works, children for the first three-
quarters of the century had to be satisfied with general histories,
which undoubtedly filled to some extent their need for a more com-
prehensive understanding of ancient and medieval peoples and customs.
Among the texts for universal history, used about the middle of the
century, was a work in two small volumes entitled: A Compendious
History of the World from the Creation to the Dissolution of the Roman
Republic. The opening lines of Volume Two give the general tone of

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS

127

the texts in common use, and reveal as well the amount of human interest
provided American boys and girls in the books used as supplementary
readers or in connection with the study of geography:

The death of Alexander was succeeded by such horrid crimes as generally arise
from wild ambition, and inordinate thirst for dominion. The generals who
at first governed the provinces , . . thought only of engrossing what power
they could into their own hands. For this purpose, the mother, wives, children,
brother, and sisters of Alexander, were all in a little while inhumanely mur-
dered; so that not one of this Prince's family was permitted to enjoy a foot
of the land he had conquered. 67

Perhaps a more accurate appraisal of historical thinking and teaching
can be gained from some of the sermons, poems, or speeches addressed
to Colonial children in the troubled years immediately preceding the
War for Independence. Two boys, Philip Freneau and Hugh Bracken-
ridge, in 1771 jointly composed a long poem for their commencement
exercises at the College of New Jersey. In this work, entitled The Rising
Glory of America, the young authors showed that the blessings of agri-
culture had planted the Colonies from north to south; they recalled the
wealth and comforts that science and the "golden stream of commerce"
had brought to the land:

New-York emerging rears her lofty domes,

And hails from far her num'rous ships o trade.

Homeward returning annually they bring

The richest produce of the various climes.

And Philadelphia mistress of our world,

The seat of arts, of science, and of; fame

Derives her grandeur from the pow'r of trade.

Hail happy city where the muses stray,

Where deep philosophy convenes her sons

And opens all her secrets to their view!

Bids them ascend with Newton to the skies,

And trace the orbits of the rolling spheres,

Survey the glories of the universe,

Its suns and moons and ever blazing stars!

Hail city blest with liberty's fair beams,

And with the rays of mild religion blest! 68

Assuming the role o prophets, these boys sketched their vision o the
rising glory of America:

And here fair freedom shall forever reign.
I see a train, a glorious train appear,
Of Patriots plac'd in equal fame with those
Who nobly fell for Athens or for Rome.

128 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

The sons of Boston resolute and brave
The firm supporters o our injur'd rights,
Shall lose their splendours in the brighter beams
Of patriots fam'd and heroes yet unborn. 69

That the young authors just quoted reflected the same optimism which
inspired their elders at the opening of the Revolutionary War, is shown
in an address made by Timothy Dwight, a tutor at Yale College in
1776. Dwight not only pointed out the advantages accruing to the thirteen
colonies from their unique sameness in manners, interests, language,
religion, and essential principles of civil government; he also reminded
his young audience that their ancestors, with the same attachment to
science as to freedom, had instituted schools, and had diffused knowl-
edge in every part of their settlements. 70 He also predicted, with extra-
ordinary foresight, the important place the future held for the United
States in global affairs; and sought accordingly to raise his pupils from
their provincial interpretation of life to his own clear, broad view of
America as a world power:

The period in which your lot is cast, is possibly the happiest in the roll of time.
It is true, you will scarcely live to enjoy the summit of American glory; but
you now see the foundations of that glory laid. . . . You should by no means
consider yourselves as members of a small neighborhood, town or colony
only, but as beings concerned in laying the foundations of American greatness.
Your wishes, your designs, your labours are not confined by the narrow bounds
of the present age, but are to comprehend succeeding generations, and to be
pointed to immortality. You are to act not like inhabitants of a village, nor
like beings of an hour, but like citizens of a world, and like candidates for a
name that shall survive the conflagration. 71

Mathematics in the most progressive Colonial schools included arith-
metic, accounts, and some of the first principles of geometry and astron-
omy. In the ordinary seats of learning, the fundamentals of arithmetic
were taught without textbooks. 72 The masters of the common schools
were usually equipped with a painfully prepared manuscript "sumbook"
which they had made in their own school days. Although this subject
was not obligatory, even in those sections where the Colonial govern-
ments controlled education, the knowledge of arithmetic, because it was
practical, was a decided asset to any teacher in obtaining a new school
or private pupils. Those persons were considered learned who had a
reputation for being "good at figures." The ability "to do any sum in
arithmetic" invariably raised a teacher above his less talented colleagues
in the estimation of his pupils and patrons. 78 Besides a section given

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS

129

to mathematics in such works as the American Preceptor, or in Bradford's
Young Man's Companion, the first purely arithmetical text published
in the colonies was Hodder's Arithmetic^; or, that Necessary Art Made
Most Easy. 14 This English work was most popular with the apprentices
who desired to improve their "cyphering" in the short periods the mas-
ters allowed such boys for self-advancement.

The ordinary method of teaching arithmetic was quite easy; it simply
meant assigning a pupil who could read and write a page from the
master's homemade sum-book or from a printed text. Any student who
could read a problem was expected to be able to solve it without special
explanation from his master; hence it is not surprising to find recorded
of the American artist, Jonathan Trumbull, that he spent three weeks
before his lone efforts "over a single sum in long division" were crowned
with success. 75

Anthony Benezet, renowned in the Quaker schools of Philadelphia,
tried to -remedy this haphazard method of instruction by recommending
that teachers and overseers give first place to the most practical rules of
arithmetic, "leaving those that are abstruse and not generally necessary,
to boys of the brightest genius or leisure." Benezet also suggested his
own method of providing each boy with "a small but very plain set of
Merchant Account Books, viz., a Day Book, or Journal and Ledger,"
just sufficient to acquaint the students with the simplest entries of debtor
and creditor. Boys were to copy these "in a neat and correct manner,"
and the master was to see that they understood what they were doing. 76

Most adults took a firm stand in demanding that boys and girls should
write a "fair hand and swift," 77 since the ability to write well was not
only a useful accomplishment, but also the unfailing mark of good
breeding. To promote the strong freehand desired by the upper and
middle classes as a badge of their social status, children's books cautioned
the masters to be particularly careful to make the pupils sit in the
proper position at their writing desks, and to insist that they hold their
quill pens at the prescribed angle; for on these points, it was affirmed,
"their perfection in writing very much depended." 78

The teacher generally made model copies of extracts from the Bible
or from the School of Good Manners for his pupils' imitation, but there
were also samples of various styles of script in the "compendiums of
knowledge" used in many schools. One of these books, The American
Instructor, gave the children directions for making quill pens and indi-
cated in verse other equipment needed by the young penman for his
writing lesson:

130 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

A Pen-knife, Razor Metal, Quills good store
Gum Sandnck Powder, to pounce paper o'er;
Ink, shining black; Paper more white than Snow,
Round and flat Rulers on yourself bestow,
With willing Mind, these, and industrious Hand
Will make this Art your Servant at Command. 79

Colonial girls, commonly discriminated against in the matter of edu-
cational opportunities, were generally denied the advantages which en-
lightened educators sought for boys. Benjamin Franklin, the ardent
reformer of the old school system, directed not one sentence of his Pro-
posals for the Education of the Youth of Pensilvania to the girls of that
colony. Anthony Benezet, on the other hand, defied the prevailing tradi-
tions, and in 1755 established a school of his own for the "instruction of
females." In this regard, it is perhaps significant that Benezet also inter-
ested himself in the status of the Negro slaves of America, and founded an
evening school in Philadelphia for people of that race. 80

A brief examination o the educational philosophy of James Nelson
is interesting, because the training usually given Colonial girls mirrored
so faithfully his ideas. In his Essay on the Government of Children
Nelson cautioned parents to make their offspring "pleasing and useful."
From his infancy the boy was to be taught to consider himself as con-
tinually seen by someone for the first time; and thus to conduct himself
in such a manner as to deserve esteem. Since the other aim of education
was to make the lad useful, he was to be trained in those studies that
would insure his success and happiness, as well as best develop his
natural talents. Because the law gave men superior power, the father
was advised to be careful to foster in his son a "tender regard for the
opposite sex." The boy was not to become a slave, or to degenerate into
effeminacy, or to be the "dupe of those who study to allure," but he
was to have a just sense of the merits of girls, and to resolve never to
insult or oppress them. 81

Nelson pointed out that the education of the girl should consist of a
rudimentary knowledge of her own tongue, a little French, music, arith-
metic, drawing, and geography. She should not aim at deeper or more
learned studies, because they would make her affected or pedantic; for
the educated female, in this author's opinion, was "a pain to herself and
disgustful to all who converse with her, particularly her own sex." Since
a degree of subjection was the allotted status of the girl, the fruits of
her education were to appear in her actions. Besides her knowledge of
books, the "exercise of her needle and her pen," and an ability to cast
simple accounts, she was to understand the management of a house,

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 131

to be acquainted with the various times for storing provisions, with
market prices, skill in carving, demeanor at table in a word, the whole
economy of a family. Above all, the girl was to know that her province
was to please and that every deviation from this objective was thwarting
nature; but that a cheerful fulfillment of her duties would secure her
own happiness and the esteem of others. 82

James Burgh, an English contemporary of Nelson, did not fully agree
with him in this pinched view of female training; for he argued that
"a foolish head was always contemptible, whether it was covered with
a girl's cap or a boy's wig." Burgh pointed out that "without some
acquaintance of history and the sciences in addition to the accomplish-
ments just described, a woman's conversation must be confined within a
very narrow compass, and that she would give and receive little pleasure
in the company of her husband and his friends, if she could discuss no
topics "except fashions and scandals." 83 The view that a woman should
receive something more than an elementary and domestic training in
order to be pleasing to her male associates was later to prove an entering
wedge in opening for her the door to secondary education.

Educational trends in the life of the Colonial child for the first seventy-
five years of the eighteenth century indicate that potent social forces were
at work altering imperceptibly the basis of the old system of juvenile
instruction. Although most schools were still church-controlled and
continued to emphasize the traditional classical curriculum, there were
also increasing numbers of private institutions of learning offering a
quasi-vocational training. Most Colonial scholars viewed with suspicion
and alarm the secularization of the course of studies by the introduction
of useful subjects. But taken together, church and private schools were
not sufEciendy numerous or available to educate all children, and thus
the system in that respect did not meet the needs of the decades when
the masses were chanting, "All men are created equal."

One of the chief aims of American Colonial education was to fit boys
and girls for their probable vocation in life, so that they might go forth
from the training received in the church, in the school, and in the home
equipped to perform properly the duties of a useful and responsible
career. This triple system of education, in spite of its patent shortcom-
ings, may have answered the needs of the disturbed decades at the close
of the century better than is usually supposed. Colonial boys were trained
to be good farmers, merchants, mechanics, or professional men each
coached in the mysteries of his own calling. From their deep religious
instruction and from the emphasis placed on "decent behaviour/' which
formed the very foundation of their training, the boys apparently acquired

i 3 2 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

definite ideas of their responsibilities as founders and heads o families,
as well as a salutary self-respect and exalted ideas of their civic dudes.
Although the girl's schooling was usually confined to a most elemental
course of study, her scope of knowledge was extended by the training
she received in the management of a home as an almost self-sufficient
economic unit. In addition to her traditional round of household dudes,
the girl's powers were further exercised by child care and by the spin-
ning and weaving of garments. When the acid test of wartime demands
was applied to this educational system at the close of the century, the
men who had been trained by its tenets went forth to win and establish
a new free government; while the women whose morale had roots in
the same source provided food, clothing, and blankets for the patriot
army, and seemed to have been able to manage their households during
that long, trying crisis. If the aim of child-training was to fit boys and
girls for life, and to develop in them a proper sense of values both
temporal and eternal these first groping attempts of Colonial educators
seem to have attained a fair measure of success.

The enthusiasm of the Founding Fathers of the United States for
more perfect government manifested itself in a crusade for educational
reforms as well as in the establishment o a new nation. The realm of
education was to be made more perfect by the extension of human
knowledge through the instruction of the masses, and by making the
curriculum of the common schools more useful. Although the new
federal Constitution provided for the separation of church and state and
thus gave a free hand to patriotic statesmen who dreamed of training
all children for the duties of citizenship, a free public school system
was not immediately forthcoming. The legislators were indeed willing
to prepare the children of all social and economic levels for an intelligent
participation in government; but the resolution of the first national
politicians wavered when confronted with the necessity of levying taxes
for school support. The question of taxes had been a dangerous, vital
issue from Colonial days; and consequently it was avoided for several
decades. 84

The political leaders, in spite of this initial hesitation to embark on
a more comprehensive program of instruction, did effect some significant
achievements. The chief of these was the forthright statement of their
educational aims in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, in which they
affirmed: "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of
education, shall forever be encouraged." 85 In these words the Founding

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 133

Fathers clearly envisioned a simultaneous development o the country
and its school system. Washington, in his message to Congress in Janu-
ary 1790, supported the proposals for popular education: "Knowledge is
in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one, in which
the measures of government receive their impression so immediately
from the sense of the community, as in ours, it is proportionably
essential." 86

Although liberal national leaders aspired to democracy in education,
the plans for such a system were slow in forming and still slower in
being realized, because much of the energy and attention of this group
was directed to buttressing the foundation of the new government. As
a temporary measure to fill immediate needs while die government
was in its formative stage, numerous philanthropic citizens formed
themselves into school societies or propaganda agencies. This propaganda
finally fructified after the middle of the century in the present system
of public instruction. In the meantime incorporated schools either
under the direction of these organizations or under the control of local
communities implemented such long-established institutions as the
academy or church school by supplying elementary knowledge to those
American children whose parents did not meet this need in the home. 87

The monitorial system of instruction borrowed from England did
much from 1806 to 1840 to popularize the common elementary school
not only by substituting group training for individual instruction, but
by reducing the cost of schooling. Joseph Lancaster, the promoter of
these schools, spent much time in this country between 1818 and 1838,
in interesting philanthropic societies in the project and in establishing
and directing institutions for teaching the three R's to underprivileged
children. Although the system was short-lived, its branches spread
throughout New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, where the gover-
nors endorsed the plan, and also in the new western cities such as Detroit,
Cincinnati, and Louisville, and in New Orleans. 88

Under the highly organized Lancasterian system as many as a thousand
pupils could be assembled in one room under the direction of one
teacher; for the children were assorted according to their age and ability,
and were seated in rows of ten under the immediate care of monitors.
These monitors were first taught reading, writing, spelling, simple arith-
metic, and in some cases catechism, which they in turn taught the thirty
or more pupils assigned to them. To guide the monitors a Manual of
Instruction was prepared which covered such problems as classification,
the use of the library, and the approved method for group recitation

i 34 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

as well as discipline. The following sections, for example, illustrate some
of the disciplinary devices employed and also the function of the library:

Badges of merit and disgrace marks are made of little pieces of wood 6 inches
long? 3 broad, and tf of an inch thick. They have two holes in them, to admit
a piece of packthread by which they are suspended around the neck of the
children. On one side of the badge are written the words, "First Boy Playing
Mark" "Idle Mark" "Dirty Mark" etc.

The school should have a collection of amusing and instructive books, to be
chosen by the committee, which may be lent to the best pupils in the school as
a reward for their good conduct. The library is placed upon a platform either
at the side or behind the master's desk. 89 ^

The regular cost of instructing a pupil by this system was estimated
to be about four or five dollars for a year; but the record shows that in
some cases even smaller allowances were made to suffice. In Philadelphia
during the winter of 1799, thirty "indigent boys" were taught the ordinary
branches of an English school at night classes with a total revenue of
$i6.37. 80 This unusual management evoked a classic remark from one
of the sponsors to the effect that "the teachers evinced an extraordinary
exercise of economy, and close devotion of their time and talents to the
object of their association/ 791 Even though this remarkable economy had
a strong appeal to most Americans, other features of the Lancasterian
system were obnoxious, and eventually spelled the doom of an institu-
tion still regarded by some as "the branch of that wonderful providence
which is destined to usher in the millennial day." Advocates of this type
of charity school pointed out the democratic aims of the system:

All the children of a village or a neighborhood may meet together on the
same footing, be disciplined by the same rules, inspired by the same emulation,
influenced by the same motives, taught the same lessons, impressed with the
same moral sentiments, and fitted for life on an equality that no other system
can afford. 92

The Lancasterian charity school, from the first decade of its existence,
had convinced many observers that it was to be permanent in the United
States. Most Americans cherished deeply ingrained ideals of independ-
ence, and were reluctant to accept any English educational theory that
branded its pupils with the stigma of poverty and inferiority. Some
evidence of this independent spirit, even among America's destitute, may
be found in a rather plaintive report of a philanthropic group:

In the United States die benevolence of the inhabitants has led to the estab-
lishment of Charity Schools which though affording individual advantages,

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 135

are not likely to be followed by the political benefits kindly contemplated by
their founders. There Is a disposition in the people averse to dependence. In
the country, a parent will raise children in ignorance sooner than place them
in Charity Schools. It is only in the larger cities that Charity Schools succeed to
any extent?*

Different types o schools were not only brought under examination
and criticism, but the methods and books of instruction, and the govern-
ment of the child were also much-debated subjects. Public opinion pro-
claimed the need of useful knowledge among Americans and was re-
flected in a tiny juvenile book, Wisdom in Miniature: "Useful knowledge
can have no enemies, except the ignorant: It cherishes youth, delights
the aged, is an ornament in prosperity, and yields comfort in adver-
sity." 94 Although the goal of perfection in the education of boys and
girls was maintained m the middle thirties by leaders of American
thought, most laymen did not yet consider a public school system to
be the medium of that perfection. The small numbers of public schools
that existed were poorly subsidized in some states by local taxes, and
in others by meager returns from the land grants hence free public
instruction was without prestige except in a few isolated communities.
Public schools were usually disdained by the rich and the poor, as a result
of the injudicious economy of state legislatures in their appropriations
for education. 95 Noah Webster, in his Elements of Useful Knowledge,
reviewed the status of education at the turn of the century:

Notwithstanding the numerous improvements in the means of education
within the last twenty or thirty years, much remains to be done towards facili-
tating the acquisition of general knowledge and useful science. . . . The ele-
mentary works on geography, biography, natural history, and other subjects
proper for the use of schools seem to be imperfect.

Our whole system of instruction is still more defective in the number of
sciences taught in ordinary schools and academies. Many of the most useful
sciences and arts are not taught at all, or very imperfectly nor have we books
well calculated for the purpose.

Most of the books now used in schools for reading are composed of solemn
didactic discourses, general lessons of morality, or detached pages of history.
These are indeed useful; but may not children read for common lessons the
known and established principles in philosophy, natural history, botany,
rhetoric, mechanics, and other sciences? 96

The dissatisfaction with the school system and with the books em-
ployed in the teaching approximated a humanitarian crusade, and in
zeal almost rivaled the antislavery agitation or the temperance move-
ment. 97 Among the feminine reformers was Lydia Huntley Sigourney,

136 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

who in 1810 at the age of nineteen had established a school for girls at
Norwich, Connecticut, and subsequently devoted herself to teaching and
writing in behalf of the young. To raise the standards of the common
schools, Mrs. Sigourney suggested that they be made more select, since
they were often so crowded, and the groups "exhibited such disparity of
age/' that individual improvement was necessarily impeded. Hence the
Prussian plan was repeatedly advocated, whereby fifteen students were
considered an "ample number for a single mind to rule and operate
upon to advantage." 98

Some idea of the existing faults of the schools can be gained from the
reforms suggested. For instance, it was proposed that those institutions
that sought improvement should establish habits of order and punc-
tuality; that the school hours should be divided into a schedule for the
different studies and adapted to the needs of each class; that rules embrac-
ing the duties and deportment of the students should be drawn up, ex-
plained, daily read, and, if necessary, the signatures of the pupils taken
as a pledge of their assistance in improving classroom discipline." For
many years the question of enforcing proper school discipline had dis-
turbed American educators. The first vestige of that freedom and self-
expression which now characterize American youth appeared simul-
taneously with the change in adult methods from repressing the young
to entertaining them.

Caleb Bingham, "an experienced instructor" of New England, and
the author of the American Preceptor, discussed at length in 1821 the
growing difficulties confronting the members of his profession as a result
:>f children's complaints about school. Familiar echoes of Bingham's
^entiments might be heard today at educational conventions. He asked
.hat parents consider the variety of circumstances that exaggerated the
'evil reports of children respecting their teachers." Citing the natural
lefects and weaknesses of their age, he showed that children usually
udged hastily and too often misrepresented things. He remarked that
he young not only hated those who restrained them, but resented any
:orrection in exact proportion to their love of "change, idleness, and the
ndulgencies of their home." Like all human beings, they did not know
vhen they were well off, and were wont to complain. Parents were
yarned to be slow in abusing the character and disturbing the happiness
>f teachers who "probably deserved thanks rather than ill usage; whose
>ffice at best was full of care and anxiety; and when it was interrupted
>y the interference of parents became intolerably burdensome." Speaking
rom his long experience, Bingham declared that the "whole business
f managing a large school, and training pupils in learning and virtue

OF DIVERS SORTS 137

was nothing in comparison to the trouble made by whimsical, ignorant,
and discontented parents." 100 In pursuing his "hints to parents" and his
comments on the current trends of child training, Bingham wrote:

The time was when modesty was considered an accomplishment in children,
and deference to their superiors a duty. But now, almost as soon as they can
walk, children are sent to the dancing academy to get rid of their modesty, and
to learn disregard for their elders and superiors. ... It is no wonder that so
many of our young people decorate their persons instead of adorning their
minds, and parade at the corners of our streets, instead of attending to their
business or studies. 101

The low salaries paid the teachers were another cause for grievance
with the school system. These were generally not sufficient to induce
well-educated men to choose the work of instruction as a life profession.
The point was often made that schools would acquire prestige and enjoy
a more permanent policy if the communities could be convinced that
parsimony was ill-placed where the mental and moral culture of youth
was concerned. Most teachers who engaged in teaching for a transient
period, using their schools as stepping-stones to more lucrative positions,
were often occupied at the same time with the study of the profession
on which their future living was to depend. Hence the charge was made
that many brought "but wandering thoughts and divided affections to
a service which demanded a concentration of both." To remedy this
defect, there were insistent demands by the 1830'$ for the establishment
of normal schools. It was thought these training centers would be "a
great blessing" to the country, since in the primary and in the ungraded
district schools, where reformation was needed, the education of the
teachers was most defective. 102

The need for a well-chosen library in connection with the remote
village school was clearly apparent by the 'thirties. Writers often pro-
posed that a regular system of drawing out and returning books be
established, and the right of reading books be used as a reward for good
scholarship and correct conduct. In the few schools equipped with a
library, a common rule prevailed that those who were "favored with
the perusal of a volume, should render some account of its contents to
the teacher in the presence of the school, that all may share the benefit."

The new interest in the personality of the child deepened the convic-
tion that some specialized knowledge was requisite for the teacher in
order to guide even the youngest pupils to improvement. Yet it was
noted that in obscure villages, "if there was any decayed old woman,
who was too feeble to earn a living by the spinning wheel or needle, it
was thought that she would do to keep a school for the little ones

138 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

at that most plastic period of life when the impressions received were
to last forever." 103 Since most male teachers were woefully underpaid,
the teaching career, on the primary level, was no longer attractive to
men. The only alternative then in replacing the "decayed old women"
of the dame schools was to convince "young ladies of affluence" that
the work of instruction was not beneath them. Those interested in school
reform were not slow to organize their propaganda around this theme,
or to direct it at prospective "schoolmarms." It was pointed out that
teaching was one of the best modes for young ladies to complete their
own education, to consolidate their knowledge, or even to prepare them-
selves for marriage, since teaching induced habits of order, industry,
and self-control, and gave besides "that knowledge of human nature so
valuable in the management of a household."

Reasons peculiar to the United States were advanced to show why
women should qualify themselves to conduct the whole education of
their sex. In this country, the roads to wealth and distinction were thrown
open to all classes. Men were constantly induced by tempting possibilities
to forsake teaching for greater gain. Individuals of every rank of Ameri-
can society were stimulated by some form of competition and were rest-
less to acquire a fortune. Most energetic men, motivated by incentives
to wealth and power, would not stoop to the drudgery of teaching igno-
rant children. These men, attuned to the idea of living eventually in
easy circumstances, were not usually contented with the petty salary of
a teacher. 104

Although a few learned or benevolent men devoted themselves per-
manently to the work of education, their number was small in proportion
to the wants o the country, in which the population was rapidly in-
creasing and constantly migrating. The pioneers of the unplanted wilds
or the settlers on the western prairies could scarcely be expected to gather
around them the children of an infant settlement to teach them the
rudiments of science or to direct the development of morals and character.
Much less would men of enterprise turn from their schemes of railroads,
canals, or land speculation to submit to the tedious process of teaching,
or to study the nameless refinements of "female culture." The wealthy
secured men of talents to educate their sons and daughters, but these
were exceptions. Here then was a sphere into which the "patience and
quietness" of the early American woman could enter and win a per-
manent niche in the economic and social life of the nation that had
offered her so few places of honor. 105

Much of the discontent with the system of instructing the young had
its roots in the scarcity of good textbooks for the few subjects taught

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 139

in the elementary schools. When the major political crises had passed
after 1787, and men could again turn their thoughts to perfecting the
educational system, numerous regrets were voiced about the lack of proper
juvenile books. In the preface of Miscellanies, Moral and Instructive, the
author stated this common grievance: "Very few attempts have been
made to supply this deficiency by introducing something on such a plan
as might, besides improving the understanding and morals, instructively
amuse the vacant hours of young people, and have a tendency to render
the task a more agreeable employment. 3 ' 106

This little book also defined for its young readers the aim of education:
"The use of learning is not to procure popular applause or to excite
vain admiration, but to make the possessor more virtuous and useful
to society, and his virtue a more conspicuous example to those that are
illiterate." 107 To achieve the ends of education to make boys and girls
more virtuous and more useful to society the new texts stressed the
importance of reading. In the decades from the opening of the Revolu-
tionary War to 1835, a host of little readers had supplanted the New
England Primer. The majority of these books were published in the
middle states, particularly in the cities of Philadelphia and New York.
Most of the primers attempted to simplify and improve the instructional
procedure, but much confidence was still placed in the old rote method.
One author observed:

The minds of little children are extremely liable to be confused, and in giving
them instruction, too much care cannot be taken to have but a few objects
before them at one time. The most expeditious method of teaching the alphabet
is by dividing it into lessons of from three to six letters, and by making the
scholar perfect master of the first, before he proceeds to the second, and so on
through every lesson. 108

Among the first of the new primers was the ABC with the Church
of England Catechism which was published in Philadelphia in 1785 for
the Episcopal Academy of that city. Besides the usual introduction to
reading, this little book contained the Christmas hymn, "While Shepherds
Watch'd Their Flocks by Night," and an Easter hymn which began with
the words: "So count yourselves as dead to sin. . . ." 109 An American
adaptation of two primers by the English writer Mrs. Barbauld was
prepared in Philadelphia by "A Mother" for her own children. In the
first of these books, Lessons for Children from Two to Four Years Old,
the editor explained that the "climate and familiar objects suggested
alterations of the English texts." The form and content of the old texts
were coming under scrutiny, for the American editor remarked that
"amid the multitude of books written professedly for children," there

i 4 o AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

was not one for the very small. A modern reader would be astounded
by the comment that "a grave remark or a connected story is above the
capacity of a two-year-old, and nonsense is always below it; for Folly
is worse than Ignorance." Other defects of the old primers the want
of good paper, a clear, large type, and adequate spaces between letters
and words were supposedly remedied in the new baby books. Since
these works were among the first attempts at this reform, the American
editor explained that only those who had actually taught young children
could appreciate "how necessary these assistances were," for she affirmed
that the eye of a child could "not catch a small, obscure, ill-formed word,
amidst a number of others all equally unknown to him." The tiny folk
of that generation apparently owed much gratitude to that progressive
but anonymous mother for sparing their eyesight a reform which she
described as "laying the first stone of a noble building." 110

To illustrate how far even these first departures from the New England
Primer had gone in laying aside the religious tone of that work and in
using the tools of realistic writers, the following reading lesson may be
noted:

Bring the tea things. Bring the little boy's milk. Where is the bread and butter?
Where is the toast and the muffin? Little boys do not eat butter. Sop the bread
in your tea. The tea is too hot, you must not drink it yet. Pour it into your
saucer. The sugar is not melted. m

Volume II of this work continued in the same secular tone to tell
"pretty stories" to children of four. When Charles, the hero, was asked
why he was better than Puss, the answer made no reference to his im-
mortal soul, as earlier books most certainly would have done:

Puss can play as well as you; and Puss can drink milk, and lie upon the
carpet; and she can run as fast as you, and climb trees better; and she can
catch mice which you can not do. But can Puss talk? No. Can Puss read?, No.
Then that is the reason why you are better than Puss because you can talk
and read. 112

The Fortune Teller; or an Alphabet without Tears, which was a re-
print of an English work by the same title, was published in Philadelphia
in 1793. This little primer not only shows the trend towards the seculari-
zation of textbooks which was going apace, but also the first stirrings
of the reform movements, particularly that of temperance:

B Blockhead, throw by the book and run to play.
Nor take die killing pains to learn great A.
But soon thou shalt thy wretched fate deplore,
And poor and ragged beg from door to door.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 141

D Drunkard, go fill thy glass and banish care,
And in the sparkling bowl drown every fear,
But wealth consum'd and health forever lost.
Shall end thy mirth and be the fatal cost. 113

Easy Lessons for Children by an anonymous author was published in
Philadelphia in 1794, and held between its fancy flowered covers some
of the happiest lessons for beginners so far offered the American child.
Its little stories must have made a strong appeal to both boys and girls.
The first lesson, for instance, was written for the child who loved her
dolls:

Miss Jane 'Smith had a new doll bought for her, and her good Aunt gave her
some cloth to make her a shift, and a coat, and a pair of stays, and a yard
of twist with a tag to it for a lace; she gave her a pair of red shoes, and a
piece of blue silk to make her a slip, and some gauze for a frock, and a broad
white sash. Now these were nice things, you know, but Miss Jane had no
thread, so she could not make Doll's cloaths when she had cut them out;
but her dear good Aunt, gave her some thread too, and then she went hard
to work, and made Doll quite smart in a short time. 114

Little boys were taken to see the sights of Philadelphia:

I shall take you to Philadelphia, William, said Mr. Chandler to his son, on
purpose to shew you some sights. . . . First they went to see the city library,
then the museum . . . then the Market Street Meeting House, which is a very
fine place indeed; afterwards they went to the congress-hall and saw the Presi-
dent deliver an address to both houses of congress amidst many fine gentle-
men. . . - 115

Another attempt to revive interest in the old primer resulted in a
small book entitled Beauties of the New England Primer. Its editor
stated that as the old work had become almost useless "on account of
its catechism," he had compiled the new version. This edition he hoped
would be acceptable to the children of his own day, and "to those which
may follow, and afford an opportunity to gather some good hints from
a work that for generations had been a first book for their forefathers."
Appearing as it did with other primers whose contents were more attrac-
tive to the young than the selections "As runs the glass, our life doth
pass," or 'Youth should delight in doing right/' 116 this work retarded
slightly, but did not prevent, the passing of the old primer.

The Wonderful History of an Enchanted Castle Kept by the Giant
Grumbo was quite pietistic in tone, but not oppressively so, for its element
of mystery offered a perpetual appeal to children. The young reader was
told that the Enchanted Castle occupied by the Giant Grumbo could
be visited by good children. Although Grumbo was described as "the most

142 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

humane and tenderhearted giant in the known world/ 5 he did not pre-
side as host in the castle. When children sounded the knocker, the porter
would ask them whether they had been good and had said their prayers;
if they could answer in the affirmative, he would bid them look at the
opposite wall where the little ones could find a number of verses written
in golden letters:

B is a beauty all cheerful and gay,

But her beauty soon fades like a flower in May.

Y is a youth who loved reading and writing,

Which he found was far better than swearing and fighting:

117

The American Primer, printed and sold by Mathew Carey of Phila-
delphia m 1813, was probably one of the worst offenders of aesthetic
taste among the juvenile books published in this country. Besides syl-
labaries and lists of spelling words, this primer also contained an alphabet,
illustrated by birds and beasts and by certain depraved types of human
beings, beginning with "A stands for Ape," to "Z for Zany" a weeping
boy wearing a dunce cap. Short selections for reading accompanied some
of the letters. "Zany," for instance, was followed by the comments: "If
you do not take pains to spell, you will not know how to read, but will
be a great dunce. I would not have my dear child a dunce for all the
world; it is a shame.' m8 In preparing his woodcuts, the engraver appar-
ently gave little thought to proportion in his illustrations of birds and
beasts. The mouse is at least half as large as the "nag," the rat is larger
than the bear or the elephant, while the pig and the hare are of equal size.

Traces of the Federalist influence may be detected in the denunciation
of the radical trends of the French Revolution as they were recorded
for young readers in the stories written by French emigres in England
and later copied in this country. One of these juvenile works, The Re-
mar\able History of Augi: or a Picture of True Happiness, shows the
prevailing sentiment in its closing sentence:

Augi, who had the solid advantages of a rationalistic education, was married to
an amiable wife, and found himself the happiest of mortals. This happy
family by die effort of skillful labour, and without oppression or injustice
to the poor, became extremely rich. . . . The great Revolution in the year 1789
arrived ... the eager multitude surrounded his house, his property was pillaged,

his life destroyed His aged parents perished in the flames that consumed his

mansion. His distracted wife, unable to support the dreadful shock, left ^him
six female orphans, who were at first conducted to the receptacle for foundlings,
and afterwards turned adrift to seek their fortunes through the unfeeling world.
O Liberty! how dearly do thy blessings cost a nation who purchases thee by
crimes F 9

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 143

Anti-war propaganda found in the little books for boys and girls pub-
lished between the years 1812 and 1815 was particularly vehement. The
Seven Wonders of the World, printed by Samuel Wood of New York
in 1814, makes nice distinctions between natural and artificial evils, and
declares that the miseries of the poor are chiefly occasioned "by the
oppression, cruelty, or sordid and unjust stewardship of those who have
power." This train of thought leads directly to the sufferings of war:

A wise man observed: The very trimmings of the vain world would clothe
the naked one.' More lamentable is the immense destruction of time and prop-
erty to say nothing of depravity of morals, loss of lives, or the soul, occasioned
by war. When the noble hero who has ransacked cities, villages, and laid waste
countries is obliged to view the past without any false coloring, to stand the
test of an awful tribunal, and his conscience is suffered to do its duty, what
must be his sensations? 120

Among the best examples of temperance and antislavery propaganda
for youthful consumption was the Instructive Alphabet, a New York
publication of 1814. Under the picture of a jug, the young reader found
the warning:

Jugs are often filled with ardent spirits, which when used with care, is a
useful medicine; but, unhappily for mortals, the too free use of this article has
destroyed its thousands and ten of thousands: yea it slays even more than the
sword. 121

The antislavery sentiment expressed in "The Negroe's Complaint"
is more bitter:

Deem our nation brutes no longer,
Till some reason you shall find
Worthier of regard, and stronger
Than the colour of our kind.
Slaves to gold, whose sordid dealings
Tarnish all your boasted pow'rs,
Prove that you have human feelings
Ere you proudly question ours. 122

The Humorous Alphabet published at Newbury about 1814 was unique
in its Celtic gayety. This Irish primer began with the words: "Come
here you little O'Shaughnessy, bring your primmer in your hand, and
your copper in your fist ... hold up your head like a man. . . . Don't
be hunting the flies across the ceiling, but cock your eye and look straight
at your book." An explanation of the alphabet followed, similar in style
to the above: "You see that letter which looks for all the world like the
gable of your father's cabin, with a beam across it now that is called

i 4 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

A ... and the next door neighbor is namesake to the little gentleman
that sucks the flowers; fills the honey pots; and carries a long sting in
his tail; that is master bee B." 123 At the end of the last lesson was a
woodcut of the hero showing his sisters how well he could read; the
cut was headed with an invitation to O'Shaughnessy's friends: "Come
Read and Learn from the Battledore." 124

Primers improved with the years, and by 1835 a few delightful toy
books such as The Little Sketch Boo\, Tom Thumb's Picture Alphabet
in Rhyme, and the Boo^ of the Sea for the Instruction of Little Sailors
could easily suggest some of the modern juvenile works in their appre-
ciation of the child's tastes. In the Little Sketch Boo%_> such selections as
"The Log Cabin" must have piqued the curiosity of boys and girls in
older sections of the country who were not compelled to live in such
crude homes: "Huts like the one shown above are very common in
the wild woods of the western parts of our country. But when the country
gets settled, and they have mills for sawing logs into timber and boards,
they can build better homes." 125

Tom Thumb's Picture Alphabet was also far removed in the sentiment
of its selections from its pietistic ancestors of the previous century:

A is an angler, young but expert, ^
B is a butcher who wears a red shirt.

I is an iceboat propelled by steam,
J is a jockey who drives a gay team.

O is the farmer's ox that is fattened for beef,
P is the parson whose sermons are brief. 126

Boys must have thrilled especially to the pictures, the sprightly rhymes
and descriptions found in The Boo\ of the Sea for the Instruction of
Little Sailors. Its very title opened for them the door to a world of make-
believe, into which none of the dangers of the real sea could enter:

Like prisoned eagles sailors pine
On the dull and quiet shore;
They long for the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest roar.

To shoot through the sparkling foam,
Like an ocean bird set free
Like the ocean bird their home
They find on the raging sea. 127

Noah Webster's American Spelling Boo\ was a minor result of two
great forces the intense patriotism of Revolutionary days and the im-

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 145

provement in scholarship. This work was especially designed to supplant
such British texts as Dilworth's New Guide to the English Tongue.
Webster gave his aim in the preface o this famous "Blue Back Speller":
"To diffuse a uniformity and purity of language in America ... to
destroy the provincial prejudices that originate in the trifling differences
of dialect and produce reciprocal ridicule ... to promote the interests
of literature and the harmony of the United States." 128

Webster expressed his contempt of both Dilworth and Penning, the
English authors of standard spellers, on the question of homonyms. He
objected to their classing together such words as consort and concert, and
said he had omitted several of their words from his lists: "I choose to
admit no words but such as sound exactly alike." In spite of his protesta-
tions, Webster classed together: Bow, to bend, Bough, a branch, Bow,
to shoot with, and Beau, a gay fellow. Dilworth placed these words in
two groups as in the modern pronunciation. 129 Webster's sentences of
advice were apt and terse, but whether they were inspiring to children
is doubtful. He warned schoolboys, for example: "Play no tricks on them
that sit next to you; for if you do, good boys will shun you as they would
a dog that they knew would bite them." 130 Webster's little speller with its
sound moral precepts was used for decades to dictate the "orthography"
of American youth; just as, during the same period, the portrait of the
author with his immense piercing eyes and his hair standing on end
was said to have terrified children when they first opened a copy of the
"Old Blue Back."

Benjamin Johnson, who published the New Philadelphia $ feller in
1809, gave attention to its aesthetic value. Although the book never at-
tained the popularity of Webster's, it did offer a new approach to the
subject; for besides spelling lists, it contained selections in prose and
verse from the works of various children's authors, including the story,
"The Whistler," by Benjamin Franklin. Among the attractive illustrations
were those of the cataract o Niagara and the falls of Passaic. The com-
piler explained that the chief distinctions of his work were "the fairness
of the paper, the size of the type, and the beauty of the ornaments"
points to which he had given much care "since the children as well as
their tutors were often disgusted with the appearance of books badly
printed and on dark paper." All were pleased with good printing, he
pointed out, and the attention of even dull children was sometimes excited
by well-engraved cuts representing objects familiar to them. Frequently
boys and girls of small mental capacity were "induced to take the first
steps over the threshold of literature by this pleasant route, when other-
wise, perhaps the rod or the dunce cap would be employed to urge them

i 4 6 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

forward." An interesting feature of this work was the list of proper
names, which included the following for males: Aaron, Caleb, Cyrus,
Ephraim, Isaac, Nathan, Jonathan, Joshua, Ezekiel, Nathaniel, and The-
ophilus. Feminine names also indicated their biblical or mythological
origins: Esther, Phebe, Sarah, Martha, Abigail, Deborah, Margaret, and

Penelope. 131

Reference to the scarcity of English grammars for colonial children
has been made previously in this study. To help fill this need, Henry
Osborne of Charleston, South Carolina, compiled in 1785 An English
Grammar Adapted to the Capacities of Children. Among the subscribers
to this little book were General Pinckney, Colonel Laurens, Peter Freneau,
and Mrs. Pierce Butler. In the preface, the author declared that "English
grammar was now considered by liberal educators as one of those essential
parts of education, which every one has now decided upon. . . . The
many barbarisms which, from a variety of sources, have mixed with the
language of these States, make a book of this kind particularly desir-
able." 132 His attempt to supply the great variety of rules "which were
applicable to every case that could occur," robbed Osborne's work of
much of the human interest found in other texts of this type, and re-
duced his book to a bewildering collection of dry and rather pointless
forms.

The Philadelphia Vocabulary, compiled by the English grammarian,
James Greenwood, in 1787, made another contribution to the widen-
ing curriculum of the American schools. Considering the date and the
strained relations with England, the modem reader might be surprised
at the woodcut on the tide page, which represented the cities of Philadel-
phia and London with the Adantic between them, and Britannia greeting
the "Cradle of Liberty." Greenwood assured his young readers of the
gentleness of his methods by stating that the "burthening of the memory
with more than is necessary at the entrance upon any study is certainly
a great discouragement to the Learner." He attempted to avoid everything
in this Latin-English vocabulary that was not of immediate use; but
one of the first words offered to the young student was "vibex" defined
as "a wale on the flesh after whipping." On point of variety, the contents
of this small book were unique, for they covered such widely ranging
subjects as plants, insects, diseases, meats and drinks, apparel, household
goods, country affairs, judicial matters, and naval affairs, besides the
parts of speech. 133

One of the best opportunities for observing the change in the status of
the child is offered by a comparison o the grammars prepared for
children in the decade after 1825 .with those published in the late eight-

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 147

eenth century. The new technique of amusing the child and arousing
his interest by making forms and principles come to life had quite sup-
planted the dry formal rules imposed on earlier generations. The Infant's
Grammar, published in Baltimore in 1825, affords an interesting insight
into this happy new approach to language study. Lightly spiced with
nonsense, the introduction in verse begins:

One day, I am told, and, as it was cold,

I suppose it occur 5 d in cold weather,

The Nine Parts of Speech, having no one to teach,

Resolv'd on a Pic-nic together.

Gaily colored illustrations helped to introduce the child to such guests
as the nouns and the verbs found in the verse:

Some actors of eminence made their appearance,

And the servants, nouns common, with speed made a clearance

Of tables, chairs, stools, and such movable things,

As wherever it goes, the Noun always brings.

These actors, the Verbs, when they 5 d room to display,

Both wrestTd and tumbPd; and gambol'd away;

They play'd and they ran, they jump'd and they danc'd,

Frisk 5 d ambl'd, and kick'd, laugh'd, chatter'd and pranc'd. 134

From his own experiences on such occasions, the ordinary child could
readily picture to himself the disorder that greeted the little servant
Interjection after the Parts of Speech had enjoyed their feast and fun:

Having finish'd their Pic-nic without much apology,
The party all quitted the Hall Etymology;
But such a litter was scattered about in the room,
That, when Interjection came up with her broom,
Her surprise was so great that she nothing could say,
But, Oh! Ah! Good Lack! Well-a-Day! 135

Punctuation Personified, a little book that might have been used as a
supplement to this sprightly grammar, was published a few years later
in Steubenville, Ohio. Since there were apparently many young scholars
like the hero, Robert, who "could read but he gabbled so fast that he
lost all the meaning of his lesson," this work proposed to prove that

When the stops were plac'd aright,
The real sense was brought to light.

During Robert's interview with Mr. Stops, one of the most important
punctuation marks was introduced:

148 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

This fullfaced gentelman here shown,

To all my friends, no doubt, is known:

In him the period we behold,

Who stands his ground whilst four are told;

And always ends a perfect sentence,

As "Crime is followed by repentence." 136

These attempts to call to life the dry bones of grammatical rules, and
also to make the mysteries of arithmetic more appealing to the young,
reveal the new interest in childhood. Daniel Penning in 1795 made an
effort to replace the British texts in mathematics, which had been used
in those limited cases when books were employed, by publishing his
American Youth's Instructor; or a New and Easy Guide to Practical
Arithmetic. In keeping with the new educational trends, this small
volume was written in "a natural and familiar dialogue, in order to
render the work more easy and diverting as well as useful to learners."
Penning plainly recognized the meager educational advantages offered
most children, for in his preface he noted that his work was intended
for those who "had much neglected" the study of arithmetic, and for
"others who had neither time nor opportunity to apply to a proper
master." For the sake of those living in the country he gave some in-
struction in measuring a regular piece of timber or a plot of land and
for calculating "tyling" and brick work, as well as gauging a cistern or a
cask of malt. In spite of his interest in its "practical points," a reader to-
day would find the dialogue tiresome and distracting and would miss the
scientific precision of modern texts. But more than a century ago its
obscure rules assisted the underprivileged youth "of himself, in a short
time to become acquainted with every thing necessary to the knowledge
of business." 137

The arts of penmanship and letter writing had been traditionally
developed in the young as the badge of good breeding. In the surge of
patriotic ardor that followed the Revolution, numerous guides for these
branches were produced by Americans. One of the first works, The
American Letter-Writer, published in Philadelphia in 1793, set the pace
for many others, was subsequently praised by some educators for encour-
aging children to write naturally, and was blamed by others because,
according to its principles, "every idle, thoughtless, superficial scribbler
fancies that natural ease consists in dashing upon paper all his insipid
trifles, his silly conceits, and his tiresome repetitions." 138

The question had been settled in Congress, and so the American Letter-
Writer proceeded to denounce the use of such terms as "Majesty, Royal
Highness, Excellency, Worshipful, and the like down to the humble

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 149

Esquire/' because they were not suitable in a country where all men were
declared to be equal. 139 Strangely enough, although royal titles were
tabooed, class distinctions were clearly recognized as compatible even
where "all men were declared to be equal." This fine distinction o quality
is evident in the introductory chapter covering the general rules of letter
writing:

When you write to your friend, your letter should be a true picture of your
heart, the stile loose and irregular, the thoughts themselves should appear
naked, and not dressed in the borrowed robes of rhetoric, for a friend will be
more pleased with that part of a letter which flows from the heart, than with
that which is the product of the mind. . . , Above all learn to write correct . . . a
blot m writing is by no means so bad as a blunder in the sense. . . . Always
subscribe your name in a larger hand than the body part of your letter. . . .
Letters should be wrote on fine gilt post paper to persons of distinction; but
if to your equals or inferiors, you are at your own option to use what sort and
size you please; but taJ^e care never to seal your letter with a wafer unless to
the latter.

On the subject of letter writing, educators had charged that telling
the child his "letters should be easy and natural, had given a sort of
sanction to the most careless, slovenly, and incoherent effusions." But the
student letters edited by the Boston teacher Caleb Bingham were models
of literary propriety. Today they form a valuable contribution to social
history by presenting unexpected flashes of early American life. Sophronia
Bellmont, who has been quoted before, wrote from Hanover, New
Hampshire, to a friend in Boston:

Travellers are well entertained at the public houses here. Notwithstanding
which, there are some to be found, who call themselves gentlefolks, who, to
show their good breeding, affect too much delicacy to relish country cooking;
and carry their disgust so far, as to throw their tea and toast out at the window!
I hope such ladies do not come from Boston. ...

We ventured into the untried wilderness, and have safely reached this place,
about sixty miles from Dartmouth College. . . . We saw many log huts, and
out of curiosity called at a number of them. Some were miserable dwellings,
having no floors and being poorly covered with bark. I pitied some of the
poor children for they were extremely ragged. I hope they do not suffer for
food as they do for clothing. The inhabitants are very obliging. It is but ten
or twelve years since the first setders established themselves in this town; and
already we see a handsome building for an academy nearly completed. It is
pleasing to see such early attention paid to the education of youth. 141

Laura Lytdeton, in her letters from Northampton to her friend Matilda
Maitland, reveals the popular educational objectives for girls:

150 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

I have the pleasure to inform you that I have lately been learning to spin. ... I
knit and sew as well as girls in general of my age. My mamma you know
is an industrious woman; and though she is anxious to give her children
a good education, she is determined that they will all learn how to work. That
she says, is an essential part o a good education. To encourage us girls, how-
ever, in our labors, she has adopted the following plan. After we have finished
our day's work at wheel, we all take our knitting, and seat ourselves around
the fire; where each one takes her turn in reading some useful lesson to the
rest. We generally gain an hour to spend in this way, before bed time. The
story read last evening is found in Park's Travels into the interior parts of
Africa. 143

'Illegible penmanship" was the chief defect in letter writing in the
'thirties, if the numerous complaints on this score are to be taken as an
index. One o the most tolerant treatments of this subject is found in
The Daughter's Own Boo\, which was first published in Boston in 1833,
but later went through numerous editions. The author, a father, informed
his daughter that he did not regard it so important that she should attain
high excellence in penmanship; yet he desired that her attainments "in
this department should be at least respectable." He recommended an easy
graceful hand, but above all he would have it possess "the attribute of
being legible." Present-day remonstrances on the illegibility of much
juvenile handwriting are probably the echoes of this parental ultimatum:

A more odd conceit never entered the human head than seems to have got
possession of some at the present day that a hand which put ones inventions
to the torture, is a sure mark of genius. If that be the test, I will only say that
I choose to have you run the hazard of being considered a dunce, rather than
torment me and your friends with illegible communications. . . . Take up
no practice on this subject that will prevent you from being a neat, plain, and
if you will, elegant writer. 143

Patriotic writers sought to pay tribute to their Revolutionary heroes,
and particularly to George Washington, even before a history of the
new republic had been prepared. A small work was published in 1794
at Philadelphia with the explanatory title: The Life of General Washing-
ton, Commander in Chief of the American Army during the Late War,
and present President of the United States. Also of the Grave General
Montgomery. This little book did not recount Washington's achieve-
ments "in the late war," but gave intimate glimpses of his home life and
of his reactions to the publicity which his services had brought. Of his
Philadelphia days this anonymous biographer wrote: "The conspicuous
character he has acted on the theatre of human affairs made many official
and literary persons, on both sides of the ocean, ambitious of a corres-

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 151

pondence with him. These correspondencies unavoidably engross a great
portion of his time, and . . . render him the focus of political intelligence
-for the new world." 1 ** In 1810 John Corry gave a thumb-nail sketch of
Washington which he dedicated to the youth of America. This work
emphasized the "tall majestic person" of the hero, his manly countenance
and strong, well-governed mind, and remarked that although his per-
ceptions were not quick, when once he had taken a position "it was
generally well-chosen." Corry thus concluded his summation of Washing-
ton's personality:

Neither wit nor vivacity brightened his features; it was a face of care, of
doubt, of caution, all was calmness and deliberation Washington's greatest
forte was prudence or discretion; it covered him like a shield in the days of
prosperity; by this single talent he acquired all his wealth, and obtained all
his celebrity. . . , 145

The History of America published in Philadelphia in 1795 was the
earliest work of its kind written for the children of the United States.
The author informed his young readers that a spirit of patriotism had
"excited" him to the production of this work, because it was generally
acknowledged that the mind "takes a turn in future life suitable to the
tincture it hath received." Since the history of the new republic furnished
an instructive account of human actions, it was judged important for
children to examine the record "for what the nature of a nation has
been, so it is now, and its operations are the same, making due allowance
for diversity of circumstances." To make the book more attractive, wood-
cuts of discoverers, heroes, and the governors of the various states were
included, but the greatest economy was practised in this respect. Six
woodcuts were designed, all of a striking similarity, but falling roughly
into two classes; in one, a tricorn hat with or without a cockade was
the distinctive mark, while the other was characterized by a braided peri-
wig. This series of pictures was used over and over, regardless of the time
or nationality of the hero. As a result, Christopher Columbus, dressed
in the ruffles and frock coat of an eighteenth-century gentleman, and
wearing a tricorn hat, is identical with General Montgomery; while
Americus Vespucius and John Sullivan, the Governor of New Hamp-
shire, bear a strong family likeness. No special account of Washington
is given in the book, although his picture precedes the record for the
state of Pennsylvania. The modern reader might question the effect of
this interpretation of the Revolutionary period on the patriots of the
middle and southern states:

152 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

The New England Colonists inherited a love of liberty from their forefathers
who had suffered much for their principles in Old England, and sought in a
wilderness that freedom which was denied them in the mother country. As
they grew in power, they carefully watched over and guarded against the
encroachments of the British government. They paved tie way for the rest
of the colonies to come forward and join them in a united struggle against
the unlawful claims of a country whose chains had galled them for many
years; till finally the grand and astonishing stroke was struck, which de-
molished the power of Great Britain over the colonies and left them in posses-
sion of an envied sovereignty; as independent states, likely one day to become
respectable and dreaded by all Europe for their opulence and power. 146

Social history was not neglected in this little work; the inhabitants
of New York were described as "healthy and robust, breathing a free
and serene air, sprightly in their tempers, and instances o suicide rarely
seen among them." 147 The child also learned that on the first planting
of Maryland there were several nations of Indians there; but "now it
is rare to see one in the state: It is, however, well stocked with negroes,
which some people think a poor exchange." 148

The Pilgrim, one of the few juvenile histories of a special section,
was published in Philadelphia in 1825. This little work, written in verse,
was amply illustrated by woodcuts, and covered the entire history of
Massachusetts from the scene of the Pilgrims' leaving England to the
details of the annual celebration of their landing in this country. A
section of special interest described the Indian warfare:

But soon the savage bent his bow,
In wild inhuman strife;
And oft the Pilgrims' blood did flow,
Beneath the Indians' knife. 149

In the illustrations depicting these savage attacks, the Pilgrims can be
distinguished even during bloodiest battles by the very high hats which
they always wear at the proper angle, for the fury of the fight did not
displace one! The terrors spread through the colony by drunken Indians
were also given consideration:

Though fierce by nature, fiercer yet
The savage would became
When bought or stolen, he could get
The poisonous draught of rum. 150

Lydia Huntley Sigourney gave an account o the bicentenary celebra-
tion of the landing of the Pilgrims in her little work Tales and Essays

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 153

for Children. In describing the recurrence of famine and plague among
the settlers in 1623, she recalled for the edification of later generations
the sufferings of these voluntary exiles:

Scarcely any corn could be obtained. At one time the quantity distributed was
only five kernels to each person. These were parched and eaten. . . . On
December 22nd, 1820 was the second centennial celebration. Great pains were
taken by pious and eloquent men to impress upon the minds of a happy and
prosperous people what their ancestors had suffered in their first planting of
this land. At the public dinner, when the table was loaded with rich viands
of a plentiful country, by each plate, was placed five kernels of corn, as a
memorial of the firm endurance of their fathers. 151

The place of history in the school curriculum was disputed by the
authors of children's books in the early 'thirties. Some held that the study
of history "was an important means of becoming acquainted with the
operations of the human heart." This group advised children to make
themselves "acquainted with some judicious outline/' and as far as pos-
sible fill up every part of it by their supplementary reading and always
to give special attention to the story of their own country. 152 Others
denounced the usual method of writing history, and recommended that
it be composed on moral and philosophical principles instead of political.
These had little approbation for history as the "science that warns by
contraries," since it presented to the contemplative mind "a disgusting
detail of follies and crimes; and insolence of power, and the degradation
and misery of our kind." The subject was also blamed for throwing
a false gloss over names that deserved "nothing but execration"; and it
was consequently accused of poisoning the minds of unreflecting youth.
The destroyer of thousands was given a distinguished niche in the temple
of historic fame, while one who had spent his life humanizing and
illuminating mankind, or in diffusing the blessings of peace and civiliza-
tion, was seldom honored with a line to preserve his name. Until a new
method of historical writing brought the actions "of the principal actors
on the stage of life to the test of reason, nature, religion, and truth,"
children were advised to read history with extreme caution, and to be
guarded by previous instruction "from bestowing applause where they
ought only to detest and despise." 153

The new geographies appearing after the Revolution reflected the
national pride of American writers and their faith in the future of their
country. Among the first texts on this subject was Geography Epitomized;
or a Tour Round the World, which was "attempted in verse" by Robert
Davidson, a Philadelphia educator, in 1784. After touring Europe and
the Orient in spirit, the young reader was brought to the western shores

i 54 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

of what is now the United States, where he could join with the author
in the praise of his native land:

Having cross'd the Pacific, we'll now take our stand,
On this happy, prolific, and wide-spreading land,
Where nature has wrought with a far nobler hand.
No more let the Old World be proud of her mountains,
Her rivers, her mines, her lakes, and her fountains,-
Tho' great in themselves they no longer appear
To be great when compar'd to the great that are here. 154

A curious geographical reader was published in 1788 at Reading, Penn-
sylvania. It gave a general description of the government of the thir-
teen states o the Union, but failed to mention such important items
as the Federal Constitution or the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. It did
refer to the Articles of Confederation, and noted that the supreme power
of the United States was lodged in a congress of delegates, but that each
state retained its sovereignty and independence. Information about old
as well as new states was meager; for example, in regard to Connecticut,
the child read: "This state retains its ancient form of government. They
have a very respectable Seminary of Learning called Yale College." 155
Concerning Georgia, he learned: "The soil is excellent and the timber
is good for ship building. The government of this state has recently
been new modelled, but we have not been able to obtain a copy." 156 No
reference was made to industry or manufacturing in any section of the
country.

The Short but Comprehensive Geography of the World prepared in
1795 by Nathaniel Dwight was most popular, if judged by its numerous
editions. Dwight informed his readers that during "an employment of
several years in school-keeping" in New England, he had observed the
little enthusiasm for geography an indifference which he attributed to
the great expense of procuring books, or to the fact that most texts were
above the understanding of children. After this introduction, he gave
an interesting survey of social conditions in this country, as he inter-
preted them. There was probably no danger of any reader mistaking the
location of the writer's birthplace, for the comparison of accounts for
New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia gave a highly sectional in-
terpretation of the national scene. One might question the ultimate effects
of such works on national unity, or on that "promotion of social inter-
course and mutual happiness" which the author declared to be the aim
of geographical knowledge. Witness the decline of virtue in the popula-
tion as the author proceeded south from New England:

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 155

New Englanders. They are usually industrious and orderly people economi-
cal in their livings and frugal in their expenses, but very liberal when called on
for valuable purposes, or by brethren in distress. They are well-informed in
general; fond of reading; punctual in their observances of the laws, sociable
and hospitable to each other, and to strangers; jealous and watchful over their
liberties; almost every individual pursuing some gainful and useful calling, . . .
Science is greatly cultivated, and more generally diffused among the inhabi-
tants than in any other part of the world. . . , 157

Pennsylvanians. They are of very different characters. They, however, gen-
erally agree in being temperate, plain, industrious, and frugal. Many of the
yeomanry in some parts of this state ... are impatient of good government,
order and regularity. 158

Virginians, They are sociable and hospitable, attached strongly to pleasure
and dissipation and highly jealous of personal independence. The holders of
slaves have the same character in all countries. 159

In contrast to this book was The Elements of Geography Made Easy,
published in Philadelphia in 1825 by an anonymous author* It treated
chiefly of physical geography and laid special emphasis on the land and
water divisions. It was not only beautifully illustrated, but had the novel
advantage of being "embellished with nine neat coloured maps." Few
books of this period had maps, for the "study of the globes" was a thing
apart from history or geography.

Nature study was closely allied to the child's religious training and
frequently formed a part of it in the early nineteenth century. Dozens
of little books on the subject were written for youth or for adults who
sought to guide the young "from the open book of nature to duty and
to God." Most of these works proposed a novel laboratory technique,
which at first must have intrigued young naturalists, although this con-
tinued sugar-coating of moral lessons probably dulled the interest of
normal children. The mother, for example, was told to take the child's
favorite kitten in her arms and, after pointing out its graceful propor-
tions, to teach the little owner a lesson of kindness; or while the dog
slept at the boy's feet to remind the child of its fidelity and enduring
gratitude. The mother, instructing her children, was to "teach their little
feet to turn aside from the worm, and to spare trampling the nest of
the toiling ant." She could also point out the bird "laying the beams
of its chambers" among the green leaves or in the thick grass, and make
little ones shudder at childish cruelty which robbed such feathered friends
of their treasures. She could explain the properties of the flower that
the child held in his hand, and speak of Him whose "touch perfumes
it, and whose pencil paints." The voice of the brook, the waving gestures

156 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

of corn, the icicle sharpened by frost, the sleeted pane with its fantastic
tracery, the nodding trees of the awful forest, and the fixed star "on
its burning throne," were used in teaching children the wonderful works
of God. 160

In the textbooks provided for the children of the early national period,
one may detect the first strivings after that perfection in education
which had been envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The later intel-
lectual awakening associated with the actual founding of public school
systems lies beyond the scope of this study. The fifty years following the
Revolution were a period of liberalization and transition, during which
time the growing interest in the personality of the child manifested
itself in a broadened, secularized curriculum, and also in sporadic attempts
to find the proper system in which this curriculum could develop. But
until education was regarded as a public, and not an individual, respon-
sibility, collective action was inhibited, with the result that private schools
and academies, or common schools and charity schools, had to serve as
temporary agencies.

To reach the goal of mass education as a function of the government
in seeking to educate citizens for a democracy, early education had to
surmount many obstacles. Class distinctions were a barrier for both rich
and poor the one scorned contact with inferiors; the other despised the
stamp of pauperism. Sectarian interests jealously guarded their rights to
teach and preserve in private schools the dogmas of a particular faith.
Many regarded state control of education as an invasion of family rights,
while a few felt that the education of the masses would produce dangerous
radicals in society. Since an enthusiasm for universal education could
not develop properly while slavery existed, nation-wide plans for free
schools, supported and controlled by the state, were not realized until
after the Civil War.

Frederick Eby and Charles F. Arrowood, The Development of Modern Education
in Theory, Organization, and Practice, p. 467; see also Curtis P. Nettels, The Roots
of American Civilization, pp. 484-514; Edgar W. Knight, Twenty Centuries of Edu-
cation, pp. 230-51.

2 Cotton Mather, A Family Well-Ordered, Appendix 2.

*lUd., pp. 4, 5^

4 Knight, op. tit., p. 231.

5 Eby and Arrowood, op. cit., p. 532.

Nettels, op. cit., pp. 486-487; see also Merle Curti, The Social Ideals of American
Educators, Chapter I.

7 Nettels, op. tit., p. 487.

8 Oliver P. Chitwood, A History of Colonial America, p. 551.

9 Joseph Butterweck and J. Conrad Seegers, An Orientation Course in Education,
pp. 64-67.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 157

10 Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, pp. 64-67.
n Eby and Arrowood, op. cit., p. 532.

13 As quoted in Lillian Rhodes, The Story of Philadelphia, p. 69.

14 Eby and Arrowood, op. at., p. 533; see also Chitwood, op. cit., p. 559.

^Ibid., p. 534; see also Chitwood, op. cit., p. 562.

16 Knight, op. cit., pp. 162-63; see also Stuart G, Noble, A History of American
Education, pp. 72, 73.

17 Paul Monroe, Founding of the American Public School System, p. 159.

18 John Comenius, OrbisPictus (London, 1777), p 3.

19 Frank P. Graves, Great Educators of Three Centuries, pp. 37-47.

20 Graves, op. cit., p. 53.

^Ibid., pp. 56, 57.

*Hnd., p. 63.

n lbid., p. 107.

^Eby and Arrowood, op. cit., pp. 465-70.

*lbid., p. 474.

26 Harry Kelso Eversell, Education and the Democratic Tradition, p. 13. See also
R. L. Archer, Rousseau on Education, p. 89.

27 Graves, op. at., pp. 118, 119.

28 Graves, op. cit., p. 149.

^Noble, op. cit., p. 59. See also Monroe, op. cit., p. 204.

^Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of "Youth in Pensilvania
[sic] (Philadelphia, 1749), p. 5.

S2 Noble, op. cit., p. 77; see also Knight, op. cit., pp. 284, 285.

33 Eby and Arrowood, op. cit., p. 536; A similar non-sectarian control of hospitals,
libraries, etc., was developing in the English-speaking world of the Enlightenment,
indicating a secular trend and the breakdown of denominational lines in Protestant
lands. Evidences of the growth of such secular institutions can best be studied in
the early history of Philadelphia.

34 Franklin, op. cit., p. ir.

85 Richard Peters, A Sermon on Education. Wherein some account is given of the
Academy, Established in the City of Philadelphia, Preached at the Opening thereof,
p.

d., Appendix, p. 8.

38 Franklin, op. cit., p. 30.

^Peters, op. cit., Appendix i.

40 Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, p, 118; See also Andrew W. Tuer,
The History of the HornbooJ^, 2 vols. (1898) ; There is a rare collection of hornbooks
in gilt, ivory, and wood in the Yale University Library.

^The New England Primer, pages unnumbered.

ew England Primer (Hartford, 1800), p. 5.

^Leonard Culman, Sententiae Puenles Anglo-Latinae. Collected out of sundry
Authors long since . . . for the first Entrers [sic] into Latin, p. i.

*lbtd., pp. 24-28.

^Sententiae Puenles; or Sentences for Children, fitted to the fundamental Rules
of Latin Syntax, p. 32.

^Nathan Bailey, English and Latins Exercises for School-Boys Comprising all
the Rules of Syntax, Preface.
lbid., p. 14.

158 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

, pp. 29-33.

51 Edward Whittenhall, A Short Introduction to Grammar for the Use of the Col-
lege and Academy in Philadelphia, Preface, ii, iii.

52 Benjamin Franklin, op, cit., p. 18. Judging from the mass of material on the
liberalizing education that was published in Philadelphia, the reader is forced to the
conclusion that as compared to other sections, the Enlightenment found its great
center in Pennsylvania.

63 Thomas Dilworth, A New Guide to the English Tongue, pp. 5-78.

^Ibid., p. 79.

55 George Fox, Instructions for Right-Spelling and Plain Directions for Reading
and Writing True English, pp. 71-82,

lbid., pp. 15-32.

57 /&J.,p. ii.

68 Benjamin Franklin, of. cit. f p. 19.

59 Anthony Benezet, The Pennsylvania Spelhng~Boo\; or Youth's Friendly Instruc-
tor and Monitor, pp. 161, 162.

lbtd., p. 156.

^George Fisher, The American Instructor: or, The Young Man's Best Companion,
Preface, pp. lii-v.

62 Franklin, op. cit., p, 19.

"Ibid., p. 25.

**The History of America, abridged for the use of children of all denomnations.

66 Noah Webster, A Dictionary of the English Language; Compiled for the use of
Common Schools in the United States,

m A Compendious History of the World from the Creation to the Dissolution of
the Roman Republic, 2 vols. (1774), 3, 4; An edition of this work was published by
John Newberry in 1763, in England; See A. S. W. Rosenbach, Early American
Children's ~Boo\s, p. 35.

68 PhiIip Freneau and Hugh Brackenridge, A Poem on the Rising Glory of Amer-
ica; being an Exercise Delivered at the Public Commencement at Nassau-Hall, Sep-
tember 25, 1771, pp. 1 6, 17.

*lbid. t p. 23.

70 Timothy Dwight, A Valedictory Address to the 'Young Gentlemen who com-
mended Bachelors of Arts, at Yale-College, July 25, 1776, pp. 10-12.

71 Timothy Dwight, op. cit. } pp, 15, 16.

72 Benjamin Franklin, op. cit,, p. 12.

73 Clifton Johnson, Old-Time Schools and School Boo\s f p. 301.

74 James Hodder, H odder* s Arithmetic^: or that Necessary Art Made Most Easy.
"Being Explained in a way Familiar to the Capacity of any that desire to learn it in
a Little Time. The Five and Twentieth Edition, Revised and Augmented, and above
a Thousand Faults Amended By Henry Mose.

75 Ahce M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, p. 138.

76 Benezet, op. cit., p. 166.

77 /&/J., p. 168. See also Franklin, op. cit., p. 12.

78 Benezet, op. cit., p. 165.

"^George Fisher, The American Instructor, p. 28.

80 A. S. W. Rosenbach, op. cit., p. 40.

81 James Nelson, An Essay on the Government of Children, p. 367.

lbid., p. 368.

83 James Burgh, Rules of the Conduct of Life, pp. 126, 127. This work was so
popular in. America that as late as 1846 it was reprinted in Philadelphia.

84 Stuart G. Noble, op. cit., pp. 96-131; See also Frederick Eby and Charles Arro-
wood, op. cit., pp. 540-52.

LEARNING OF DIVERS SORTS 159

85 As quoted in James Truslow Adams, Dictionary of American History, IV
(1940), 181.

86 As quoted in Noble, op. cit., pp. 104-5.

87 Edgar Knight, Twenty Centuries of Education, pp. 236-46. See also Joseph
Butterweck and J. Conrad Seegers, An Orientation Course in Education, p. 83.

88 Stuart G. Noble, op. tit., p. 123.

^Philadelphia Society for the Establishment of Charity Schools, Manual of the
System of teaching Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Needle-WorJ^ in the Elemen-
tary Schools of the British and Foreign Society, pp. 9, 10.
d., Preface, v.

d., x.

., xi (Italics mine).

^Wisdom m Miniature: or the Young Gentleman and Lady's Magazine, p. 5.
95 Noble, op. tit., p. 149.

96 Noah Webster, Elements of Useful Knowledge, Preface.

97 Educational reform was, of course, ultimately a product of the same general
humanitarianism which also produced the other reform movements noted.
98 Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Letters to Mothers, p. 140.

100 Caleb Bingham, The American Preceptor, Being a Selection of Lessons for
Reading and Speaking, p. 12; see also John Hall, On the Education of Children
While under the Care of Parents or Guardians, pp. 118, 119.

101 John Hall, op. cit., p. 116.

102 Sigourney, op. tit., pp. 141, 142. See also Theodore Dwight, The "Father's Boo\
or Suggestions for the Government and Instruction of Young Children in Principles
Appropriate to a Christian Country, p, 201.

103 Sigourney, op. cit., pp. 143-45.

^Ibid., pp. 147, 148.

m lbid., p. 149.

^Miscellanies, Moral and Instructive in Prose and Verse Collected from Various
Authors for the Use of Schools and Improvement of 'Young of Both Sexes. Preface,
iii.

lbid., P . 21.

m The Child's Spelling Book, P- 25.

109 T^<? ABC with the Church of England Catechism, pp. n, 12.

m Lessons for Children from Two to Four Years Old, Part One, pp. 77-79.

^Lessons for Children of Four Years Old, Part Two, pp. 4-6.

^Tke Fortune Teller, pp. 26-28.

lu Easy Lessons for Children, pp. 6, 7.

lbid., pp. 58-61.

116 TA<? Beauties of the New England Primer.

117 TA<? Wonderful History of an Enchanted Castle Kept by Giant Grumbo, pp.
16-20.

American Primers; or an Easy Introduction to Spelling and Reading, p. 28.
Remarkable Story of Augi: or a Picture of True Happiness, First American
edition. Translated and reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, pp. 15-25.

120 TA<? Seven Wonders of the World; and Other Magnificent Buildings, p. 41.

121 The Instructive Alphabet, pages unnumbered.

v*Ibid. Two other books of a similar mild religious tone were the Progressive
Primer Adapted to Infant School Instruction and The Washington Primer; or First
BooJ{ for Children.

v*The Humorous Alphabet, pp. 4, 5.

ifo AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

, p. 15.

UBThff Little Sketch Book p. 7-
m Tom Thumb's Picture Alphabet in Rhyme, pp. 2-7.
^Thc Book f the Sea f or the Instruction of Little Sailors, p. 2.
^Noah Webster, The American Spelling Book Fifth Edition, Preface.

lbid., p. 65.

^Ibtd., p. 63.

1S2 Henry Osborne, ^72 English Grammar adapted to the Capacities of Children,
Preface,

133 James Greenwood, The Philadelphia Vocabulary; English and Latin, pp. 1-132.

The Infant's Grammar, p. 7.

^*Ibid., p. 12.

^Punctuation Personified, or Pointing Made Easy. Pages unnumbered.

137 Daniei Penning, The American Youth's Instructor; or, a New and Easy Guide
TO Practical Arithmetic, Preface.

1S8 William Milns, The Well-Bred Scholar, p. 18.

^The American Letter-Writer, p. 7.

m lbid., p. 3 (italics mine) .

141 Caleb Bingham, Juvenile Letters; Being a Correspondence between Children
from eight to fifteen years of age, p. 87.

142 /& d., p. 87.

m A Father to His Daughter: The Daughter's Own Book or Practical Hints, p. 43.

m The Life of General Washington, Commander in Chief of the Army during the
late War, and present President of the United States. Also of the Brave General
Montgomery, p. 17.

145 John Corry, Biographical Memoirs of the Illustrious General George Washing-
ton, p. 144.

^History of America, abridged for the use of children of all denominations,
Adorned with cuts, pp. 23, 24.

wibid., p. 37.

m lbid. t p 58.

u *The Pilgrims, or the First Settlers of New England, p. 8.

^Ibid., p. 9.

151 Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Tales and Essays for Children, p. 74.

m Tke Daughter's Own Boo%, pp. 51, 52.

153 T$<? Boy's Manual: Comprising a Summary of the Studies, Accomplishments,
and Principles of Conduct Best Studied for Promoting Resp edibility, pp. 158-160.

154 Robert Davidson, Geography Epitomized; or, A Tour Round the World;
attempted in verse for the sa\e of the memory; and principally designed for the use
of schools, p. 60.

155 A General Description of the Thirteen United States, p. 10.

*lbid., p. 23.

157 Nathaniel Dwight, A Short but Comprehensive System of Geography of the
World; by way of question and answer. Principally designed for Children and the
Common Schools, p. 141.

I5 *IZ>ti. f p, 164.

159 /&W.,p, 174.

160 Lydia Huntley Sigouraey, Letter to Mothers, p. 95; see also Johannes F. Martinet,
The Catechism of Nature for the Use of Children, translated from the Dutch by
John Hall; Natural History of Four-Footed Beasts; The Youth's Cabinet of Nature;
William Mavor, Catechism of Animated Nature, reprinted from the English edition;
The History of Animals,

Young Victims
OF

KITCHEN PHYSICK

Pediatrics in its modern connotation was an unknown science in
Colonial days, for child care, even in its primitive state, lay beneath the
dignity and recognition o the regular medical profession. Although
medical works gave some attention to childhood diseases, the care and
treatment of children were based largely on conjecture and superstition.
Child health and healing were casually consigned to "old grandmothers"
who were commonly credited with understanding best the needs of the
very young. These "wise women," utterly devoid of scientific training,
developed the most absurd procedures and loathsome dosings in the
execution of their folk practice. In view of the appallingly high child
mortality, it is evident that these ignorant practitioners of "kitchen
physick" offered slight protection against the ills of youth, and even
lessened chances of survival by imposing hideous ordeals on the young
victims of disease.

No actual statistics for disease and death were kept in the colonies,
but they may be deduced from those of the mother country, where
morbidity and mortality rates for children in such British cities as
London had reached alarming peaks by the decade after 1750. During
some of these years mortality records reveal that 74 per cent of all
children born in that city died under two years of age, and that this
loss comprised about half the total death rate. 1 Although the American
story of child health was different, it could have been no better than
that of Europe; for living conditions in the colonies were primitive and
health hazards universal.

The new clearings abounded in malaria and dysentery. The rigors
of the climate, with its extremes of heat and cold, endangered the lives
of children in the winter by exposure in the cold, drafty houses, and

162 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

in the summer by the lack of protection against insects. Rough frontier
life increased the ills of childhood and brought innumerable casualties
from accidents. The drinking water obtained from surface wells was
always liable to pollution and caused frequent epidemics of typhoid.
Scourges like smallpox came from Europe, just as hookworm followed
in the wake of the African slaves. On rare occasions sperm or lard oil
lamps were used, but the usual source of illumination was candles,
whose light doubtless did much to ruin juvenile eyesight. Even the
largest towns did not provide sanitary services, so that ashes and gar-
bage were piled about in offensive heaps, and hogs roaming through
the streets served as scavengers by eating up the scraps of meat and
vegetables thrown out by housewives. The senior members of the large
families were so deeply engrossed in making a living that children were
often neglected or denied the simplest hygienic care, and were fre-
quently obliged to share the rough, hard work. Although the argument
has been made that the fresh air, sunshine, and plain, wholesome food
enjoyed by the young in the rural districts provided compensating ad-
vantages, these gains were offset by the natural hardships and by the
clouds of ignorance and superstition that surrounded childlife. 2

England displayed little concern in safeguarding public health in the
Colonies by failing to eliminate the frightful epidemics that regularly
depleted the population. When the old methods of prevention quaran-
tines, isolation, and the destruction of contaminated goods had proved
unsatisfactory in arresting the progress of epidemics, public attention
shifted to sanitary reform on the supposition that certain plagues could
be traced to noxious airs and waters. But this shift was retarded by a bitter
controversy on the part of physicians as to the contagious or non-con-
tagious nature of various diseases. Colonial legislatures, on their part,
made only the feeblest efforts to provide social control by enacting such
health codes as those of Massachusetts and Connecticut. This legislation,
more formidable on paper than in its application, called for isolating
cases of contagious diseases, the impressment of nurses in emergencies,
the killing of dangerous dogs, the destruction or fumigation of materials,
and the flying of white notification signals. 3

The apathy that relegated child care to the level of "kitchen physick"
was but one phase of the general Colonial indifference to scientific
progress. An example of this unconcern may be found in the fact that
although William Harvey had discovered the circulation of the blood
as early as 1616, his ideas found few supporters among the physicians
who came to the Colonies. And even if the barbers, bloodletters, and
bonesetters who practised the roughest sort of physic and surgery in the

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 163

pioneer settlements had heard of Harvey's ideas, they were probably un-
impressed by such novelties. Much less was the confidence and mystery
of folk medicine disturbed by any scientific discovery. The practice of
midwives and old women was not based on science but on ancient
traditions, and it employed remedies as old as Hippocrates himself. The
institutions of higher learning were also tradition-bound., for in 1699,
seventy-one years after Harvey had written his famous treatise, the circu-
lation of the blood was still a debated question at Harvard. 4

A brief examination of the popular notions of child care at the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century is required to understand the apparent
insensibility to such vital points as hygiene and preventive medicine.
The colonists had inherited from Galen the belief in humoral pathology,
which held that the body consisted of four elements earth, air, fire, and
water and that it also contained four humors or liquids to correspond
neatly with the elements. In the mystical lore of this era these humors,
catalogued as bile or choler, blood, melancholy or black bile, and phlegm,
were supposed to have some mysterious relation to the elements of the
body. Since disease was attributed to an excess of a certain humor, or
to its being too hot or cold, too moist or dry, an early writer had listed
the possible unhappy variations of the humors at about eighty thousand
a system of diagnois that might well have impressed an ordinary patient. 5

To restore health by removing morbid humors, or by invigorating
the liver, which was commonly considered the center of life, Colonial
physicians made use of a prodigious variety of simples and nostrums
handed down from antiquity. The only plausible justification in the
popular mind for these drastic dosings probably lay in the assumed
necessity of eliminating those restive humors that sent poisonous vapors
to the brain. For almost every pathological disturbance of man, woman,
or child, the favorite panacea was bloodletting. Infants a few days old
and aged persons on the brink of the grave alike had their "peccant"
humors expelled by the poorly trained "chirurgeon," or by clergymen,
barbers, and other medical dabblers who practised this depletion. Having
ascertained the age of their victims, these impostors usually consulted
an old almanac to discover the proper time of the moon for letting blood. 6
Americans were thus only indirectly affected by the great medical dis-
coveries that stirred Europe; for in their isolation and sufferings most
of them eagerly utilized any quackery or ignorant folk physic that
promised relief.

Colonial Americans also attached great importance to the doctrine of
signatures, which was originally based on the primitive medical theory
of savages, and later, in the sixteenth century, was supported by the Swiss

164 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

chemist Paracelsus as part of the prevalent philosophy of correspondences.
The fundamental thesis of this practice was the belief that God had put
a signature on each substance to show the disease it was intended to cure,
so that even the uneducated, with their native genius, could read the signs
correctly and achieve success. Influenced by the belief that like is cured
by like, or contraries by contraries, the spotted leaves of St. John's wort
were applied to abrasions; the warts of the toad were taken because
of their value against skin eruptions; while milk, being white, was sup-
posed to clear black humors. The much-desired gold of the alchemists
was still being sought, for it was argued that since gold was the most
precious metal it would also be a most potent remedy if it could be
reduced to liquid form. John Winthrop and his son Wait compounded
the heaviest liquid mercury with gold, and thus produced a "tincture
of the sun." As the tincture was thought capable of "destroying the Root
and Seminaries of all malignant and poisonous diseases," many New
England children were dosed with this mystical concoction. 7

Another expression of the long-sought universal medicament was
theriac, or what was known in England as Venice treacle, a preparation
of viper's flesh containing some sixty ingredients. All poisons, as well
as a variety of diseases, were supposed to be controlled by this com-
plex mixture. In the more simple American practice, the flesh of the
rattlesnake was used in broths for the sick; its oil was endorsed for gout,
and was believed to be "very sovraign for frozen limbs" a common
calamity in the icy winters of New England. The bezoar stone, "the
queen of poisons," claimed to be taken from the intestines of wild goats
found in the Orient, was used in its pulverized form by the colonists
as a valuable antidote for snake bites. Remarkable virtues were also
accorded the use of dittany, or American pennyroyal, which was thought
to be particularly effective in driving away and "astonishing" serpents,
mad dogs, and venomous beasts. Other favorite herbs were brought
from England to America, and Colonial mothers were careful to culti-
vate in their kitchen gardens the wild plants of medicinal value that
they had been accustomed to gather from the British hedgerows. 8

The medical notions of the British colonists coincided nicely with
those of the Indians since both affirmed that all things were made with
reference to man. The common use of American plants and animals
had accordingly litde relation to scientific research. The woods were
full of creatures reputed to possess potent curative powers; their efficacy
simply depended on the ability of the gatherer to interpret accurately
the label fixed on the flora and fauna by a beneficent Creator. Thus the
very appearance of the familiar kidney bean grown in Indian gardens

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 165

plainly revealed that it was "good to strengthen the kidneys." The brains
of the screech owl were indicated for headache, just as a necklace of
caterpillars was believed to cure ague by the shuddering it induced in
a sensitive patient. Obviously, remedies used in this early medical prac-
tice had nothing to recommend them but the popular illusion that disgust
was potently curative. 9

Among those who best appreciated the widespread ignorance, bad
judgment, and superstition behind the stupendous problems of child
welfare was Dr. William Dewees, Professor of Midwifery at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, who wrote as follows:

It is our firm conviction, that the mortality among children is unnecessarily
great; and that this excess originates, in very many instances, in the mal-ad-
ministration of the means of life, rather than to the operation of natural and
inevitable causes. Some are nursed to death, while many others die because
they are not nursed at all; some are fed to death, while many others die from
inanition; some are physicked to death, while others die from the want of
a single dose of it all of which goes to prove how much experience and
judgment are required to administer with success, to the wants and infirmities
of children. 10

Limited reforms were made in therapeutics as the eighteenth century
came to its close, and children were relieved of some of the horrors
incidental to the dosings with revolting herb and animal concoctions
prescribed by the Colonial "kitchen physick." A revolution in health
and sanitation banished dirt and much disease from the ordinary home
early in the new century. In the large cities drains were installed
in most houses, the streets were paved and cleaned, and drinking water
became safer after sanitary systems had been installed at public expense.
Children were either given a cold morning bath or were scrubbed with
soap and warm water in a vigorously weekly ritual on Saturday night.
Beer and heavy improper foods were withheld from them, and the diet
of tiny folk was reduced to such simple items as cocoa, milk, porridge,
eggs, and bread or toast thinly spread with butter and jam. The train-
ing given nurses was still elemental and unsatisfactory, but when chil-
dren fell ill, regular doctors were summoned with greater confidence
than formerly. To trace this gradual improvement in the attitudes and
techniques of child care, as it is revealed in juvenile books and in the
manuals for parents' guidance, is to record an important if inconspicuous
phase of the first revolution in the history of American child life.

This literature discloses the fact that in Colonial days most aspects
of the hygienic care of youth were highlighted against a backdrop of
religious beliefs and practises. In the drama of child life the watchful

166 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

care o parents and the medical skill of physicians were alike considered
the inconsequential instruments employed by Providence for the inter-
pretation of the Divine Will Pains and ills, in this setting, were regarded
as the first means of instructing the child, since it was believed that
suffering not only taught him to avoid certain dangers, but made him
provident, compassionate, humane, and courageous. For instance, to
complete the disillusionment of carefree youth on the prospects of health
and happiness, as well as to banish any hopes of longevity, such lines as
"Disappointment" were addressed to the young American:

Oh think not my child as you grow in life,
That pleasures unceasing will flow;
Disappointment, and trouble, and sorrow, and strife,
Will follow wherever you go.

Tho' now the bright prospect seems opening fair,
And hope paints a scene of delight,
Too soon you will see it all vanished in air,
And leave* you to darkness and night. 31

Several juvenile books on the novel subjects of health and safety were
published in Philadelphia. Among these works were three volumes of
William Darton's Chapter of Accidents and Remarkable Events: Con-
taining Caution and Instruction for Children, which had been pirated
and printed from the English edition by Jacob Johnson. The printer
localized some of the stories in his own city, and included such delight-
ful bits as "Cautions to Walkers in Streets of Philadelphia." Young pedes-
trians on Market Street were warned never to "turn hastily round the
corner of the street, by this some have been greatly hurt. One young
woman in so doing, ran against a porter's load, and nearly lost one o
her eyes by the blow she received; but this was partly owing to the porter
not being in his proper place for he was close to the wall, when he should
have been the farthest from it." 12 The child was told to avoid any crowds
that assembled in the streets "as much as may be"; yet when accidents
occurred, he should assist the afflicted if possible. Only the natives were
entirely dependable for honesty and courtesy, for strangers were warned
to inquire at "houses or of shop-keepers for any place they may want to
find, and not of persons in the street, lest they be deliberately mis-
directed." 13

Another book relating to juvenile safety, The Post Boy, was thoroughly
American in its content, and contained some rather harrowing lessons.
In passages headed "The Post Boy's Bag Opened," were discovered the
following terse "Packets":

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 167

Pac\et i. James had cut his hand, so he cannot write; his knife was falling
from off the desk, and he strove to stop it by catching at it: His hand bled
freely, but now being bound up in the warm blood, with a clean linen rag,
it is in a fair way to do well. Never catch a knife!

Packet 3. Two little boys lost their lives in a pond! They went in to bathe,
and did not know how deep the water was. They asked to take a walk into the
field, and as it was a hot day, they went into the water. They were both put
into one grave. 14

That children, especially those living within the shadow of Independ-
ence Hall and within the sight and sound of the Liberty Hall, should
celebrate their national holiday on July fourth with enthusiasm is not
at all surprising; but the grown-ups of the early nineteenth century
prudently placed restraining hands on the young patriots who com-
memorated the day with firecrackers. Adults, to the detriment of juvenile
jollity it is feared, were commonly of the opinion that "playing with
gunpowder" was the most dangerous of all sports, hence another little
safety guide gave the following pronouncement:

Boys are very fond of letting off squibs and crackers, but many have severely
repented the consequence of this amusement. . . . How many accidents have
happened on rejoicing days, particularly on the 4th of July! As we com-
memorate the escape from the dreadful effects of gunpowder, it is rather absurd
that it should on that day be made the principal agent for amusement. 15

Influenced by the spiritual values placed on sickness and suffering.
Colonial parents, who knew very little of the causes of disease, were less
interested in preventing sickness than they were in seeking cures for
the ills that already afflicted their offspring. The adult attitude discounted
medical skill and accepted with apparent resignation the shocking record
of juvenile morbidity and mortality as a part of the Divine plan for child
life. This stand in matters of child welfare, reflecting as it did the spiritual
standards of early American life, found clear expression in children's
books. For example, an old textbook, published in 1720, aptly taught the
children a commonly accepted lesson of life that of hesitating to place
too much confidence in material aids:

If it please God, Physick shall do a Man good; but if God withhold his Bless-
ing, all Endeavors are vain: For God makes use of Physicians as his Instruments,
and therefore it best agreeth with Religion to join Prayer with Physick. God is
always at leisure to do good to those that ask him. 16

Thus it was that health, like many other problems of child life, was left
largely in the hands of God to be resolved as He saw fit.

168 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

The very scarcity o children's books on the subject of child care before
1800 is further evidence of adult indifference to juvenile health habits,
and another proof of the common acceptance of health, sickness, and
death as acts of God. Juvenile works on a variety of other topics uninten-
tionally give a fair idea of prevailing attitudes on child care. One of the
little gilt books published by Isaiah Thomas in 1787, a rare type of work
in its day, contained some valuable suggestions to parents on the man-
agement of their progeny;

Would you have your Child Strong . . . give him what Meat and Drink is
necessary, and such only as affords good Nutrition, not salt Meat, rich Tarts,
Sauces, Wines, etc. A Practice too common amongst some indulgent People.
Also Let the Child have due Exercise; for this it is What gives Life and^ Spirits,
circulates the Blood, strengthens the Sinews, and keeps the whole Machinery in
order.

Would you have a Hardy Child) give him common Diet only, clothe him thin,
let him have good exercise, and be as much exposed to Hardships as his natural
Constitution will admit*

Would you have a Healthy Son, observe the directions already laid down with
regard to Diet and Exercise, and keep him as much as possible from Physick;
For Physick is to the Body, as Arms to the State; both are necessary, but
neither to be used but in cases of Emergency and Danger

One finds, in various sources, numerous references to the untimely
deaths of litde ones. This is particularly true in funeral elegies for chil-
dren, which were often printed and distributed for the edification of
surviving companions. Benjamin Coleman, for example, exclaimed in
dismay at the high rate of child mortality. "What multitudes die in in-
fancy! In Childhood the blooming flower falls too. If through a million
Dangers mortal to others, we get up to Youth, yet how suddenly and
how often does Death cut the verdant budding plant! . . . Those that
are really pious and godly in their childhood,, do die young." 18

Noah Webster, writing in 1800 about "Diseases and Remarkable
Events" experienced by early Americans, is more specific as to the causes
of child mortality; for he points out that these litde ones had to contend
with hardships, scarcity of provisions, an uncomfortable degree of heat
and cold, as well as with the diseases of this country such as influenza,
malaria, scarlet fever, and diphtheria or "malignant sore throat." This
last-named was the scourge of childhood, and he shows that from the
year 1735 to 1800 it was epidemic six times in the northern states. 19

The prevalence of these diseases fatal to children,, as well as the general
ignorance and superstition attending medical treatments, led Benjamin

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 169

Franklin to make the following comment in his revision of a textbook:
"In the British Edition of the Book, there were many Things of little
or no Use in these Parts of the World: In this Edition those Things
are omitted, and in their Room many other Matters inserted, more im-
mediately useful to us Americans." 20 Among the "useful things" was a
treatise entitled "Every Man His own Doctor: or the Poor Planter's
Physician: Wrote by a Gentleman in Virginia." The object of this work,
frankly stated, was "to lead the poorer Sort into the pleasant Paths of
Health; and when they have the Misfortune to be sick, to shew them
the cheapest and easiest Ways of getting well again." 21

Expressing much commiseration for his suffering neighbors, the author
complained that his countrymen were subject to "several sharp distem-
pers" because the marshes, swamps, and great rivers sent forth so many
"fogs and exhalations" that the air was continually damp. He showed
that fevers, coughs, quinseys, pleurisies, and consumptions, along with
a dismal train of other diseases, made as "fatal Havock" here as did the
plague in the eastern parts of the world. This bad health was deplored
as a "cruel check" to the growth of the colony, which otherwise, by the
"fruitfulness of its women" and the great number of settlers sent by the
mother country, would have grown very populous in a few years. 22

While bewailing the "melancholy truth" that many poor people per-
ished for want of a timely remedy, the author revealed the general distrust
of medical aid: "One Mischief is, most of our Inhabitants have such an
unreasonable aversion to Physic]^ (even when they have it from their
charitable Neighbors for nothing), that they neglect to take any; till
their case grows desperate, and Death begins to glare them in the Face."
Although today one has more sympathy than blame for these distrustful
souls, whose wariness perhaps resulted from bitter experience in dosing,
nevertheless this book stressed with great firmness the importance of
professional assistance. It was promised that "a moderate skill may re-
cover a Patient while he has the Strength to go thro' all the necessary
Operations." That these "necessary Operations" were a formidable test
of Christian fortitude may be gathered from such suggestive phrases as
blistering, purging, bleeding in the jugular vein, and "whipping with
smart little rods," descriptive o the current medical technique. Timorous
sufferers were warned that the "whole College" would not be able to
save them after their spirits had sunk and the "principles of life were
nearly extinguished."

It was this "unhappy temper" on the part of fearful adults, and not
the Ignorance and crudities that marked the professional treatment of
diseases, which was blamed for the great mortality that "fell the heaviest

iTo AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

on the Younger Sort who were most susceptible to hurrying distempers."
But the author of this work admits extenuating circumstances for certain
cautious parents, some of whom would have been glad of professional
medical assistance for their families if they had not believed that the
"Remedy was almost as bad as the Disease." Since doctors' fees were
commonly so exorbitant "whether they killed or cured/' many parents
in ordinary circumstances preferred to trust rather to the sick child's
constitution than "to run the risk of beggaring their whole family." 23

Medical authorities repeatedly disapproved of the injudicious dosing
o children by ignorant adults and warned that to those who were in
health medicines were worse than useless, and that even to the sick
they often did more harm than good. One finds, however, that the prac-
tice of "kitchen physick" went on with obdurate eagerness during this
entire period. 24 The desperation that filled parental hearts at the sight
of so many of their children carried off by death while the medical world
looked helplessly on, undoubtedly prompted mothers or nurses to make
use of household remedies or, at times, of dangerous drugs. At any rate,
when the first symptoms of illness appeared, these misguided souls forth-
with administered some concoction to the ailing child. After repeating
the dose, parents would often become alarmed and feel compelled, in
conscience, to send for a medical adviser. For example, in one such case
the physician was gravely informed that the child had become slightly
ill, and in spite of the fact that "full and repeated doses of calomel, mag-
nesia, rhubarb, and laudanum had been given, it had continued getting
worse and worse." 25

It was almost an article of faith that Providence had wisely furnished
every country with the medicines proper for the "distempers" incident
to its climate; and that such domestic remedies were always sufficient
for the poor who lived upon "homely fare," or for the temperate who
made right use of God's blessings. Hence several manuals and catechisms
of health were published, explaining to parents the use of numerous
nostrums and cures that could be concocted and administered in the
home.

In this respect, the "Virginia Gentleman" modestly claimed that he
did not "cram his patients with much physick," neither did he ransack
the universe for outlandish drugs which would waste and decay on a
long voyage; but he was contented to "do all his execution with the
weapons of our own country." Among the ingredients used in the prepa-
ration of his nostrums he listed such simples as "bears-oyl," cresses, garlic,
parsley, tobacco, honey, linseed, wormwood, and whey. To explain the
absence on his list of mercury, opium, and "Peruvian Bark," which were

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 171

widely used at that time and no doubt were frequently injurious to the
patient, this gentleman asserted that such drugs ought to be administered
with the greatest discernment. As he was writing for the poor, who had
to judge for themselves, he feared "putting such dangerous weapons in
their hands." In this respect at least., the poor probably fared better than
did their more opulent neighbors who were dosed with mercury until
they were properly "salivated." 26

For simple ailments such as a cough, the child was told to drink
"brandy treacle and sallad oil" when he went to bed; or to take a mix-
ture of butter and brown sugar. When a child "fell into" a more serious
"distemper," a sort of slow torture seemed to be the traditional procedure.
In the case of quinsy, a common complaint of childhood, the procedure
was to "bleed immediately ten ounces, rather in the jugular vein than
in the arm"; to apply a blister to the neck and, if the inflamation con-
tinued, to bleed again the next day. The following morning the child
was to take a purge of the "decoction of mallows" and syrup of peach
blossoms; while from the beginning he was to gargle with Dr. Papa's
Liquor, and to drink half a pint "of the same night and morning." To
prevent these throat complaints and their torturous treatments, the child
was told to wash his neck and behind his ears every morning in cold
water, and not to "muffle himself up too warm either night or day." 27

So few precautions were taken against infection that tuberculosis was
a common disease among early American children, and one frequently
reads of boys and girls falling into a "decline" or a "consumption." If
few preventive measures were taken against this plague, the scope of
attempted cures fully compensated for this lack. Regarding the painful
and disgusting treatment given those in a decline, parents were told that
the only course of cure they could give in this "melancholy distemper
must be done when the consumption is apprehended and not actually
begun." 38 At that stage "blisters and issues might revulse the humour,
and prevent the mischief." In comparison to the modern rest cure, the
little consumptives of that day were subjected to the following strenuous
regimen :

I would recommend Bleeding 2 or 3 Ounces every third Day, with a constant
Riding on Horseback, and Change of Air. This will help Nature throw off the
Evil that threatens her, by calming the Blood, opening the Pores, and
promoting insensible Perspiration. It may also enable her to make a vigorous
Effort, by Means of a seasonable Boil . . . under the arms apply Poultices in
order to draw the Mischief if possible that Way. And for inward Medicines,
let him only chew Sassafras Root every Morning fasting. I would likewise
entreat him before he goes to Bed, to take three Pills, made of Turpentine and

i 7 2 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Deer's Dung, in equal Quantities: and besides these let him take once a Week
a Purge of Mallows and Syrup of Peach-Blossoms. Let his Diet be without
Meat, and mixt with Abundance of Turnips, roasted Apples, Raisins, and
Liquorice; and let his Drink be, Bear brew'd with Ground-ivy; avoiding
strong liquors of every sort, as he would poison.

The way to prevent this wasting Disease, is never to suffer a Cough to dwell
upon you; but bleed in time, and purge gently once a week, in the meantime
eat not one morsel of Meat, nor drink anything stronger than a little sound
Cyder; and to make the Game sure, ride every fair Day, and breathe as much
as possible in the Open Air. 30

Since mid-eighteenth century girls were often subject to fainting fits
and to "vapours" or hysterics, there were also directions for treating
these "miserable conditions." It was declared that the young girl ex-
perienced a great heaviness and dejection of spirits, during which "a
cloud seemed to hang over her senses." In this debilitated condition she
had no "relish for anything," and was continually out of humor. In all
probability, such children were suffering either from the ordinary de-
pression of the adolescent period or from a vitamin deficiency induced
by unbalanced meals of "hog and hominy," and from the cruel slimming
methods which the fashionably laced wasp-waist demanded of young
females. Whatever the cause, the parents of that day were advised to give
the hysterical one a cure for vapours according to these rules:

Endeavour to preserve a chearful Spirit putting the best Construction upon
every Body's Words and Behaviour; Plunge, 3 mornings every Week, into
Cold Water, over Head and Ears; ... it will have the same effect if you suffer
yourself to be whipped with smart litde rods. It can't be imagined how this will
brace the Nerves and rouse the sluggish Spirits. Observe a strict Regularity and
Temperance in your Diet; and ride every fair Day, small Journeys on Horse-
back. Stir nimbly about your Affairs, quick Motion being as necessary for
Health of Body as for Dispatch of Business.

Her food must be fresh, and easy of Digestion; nor may she eat one Morsel of
Beef, which affords a gross nourishment, and inclines People too much to
hang themselves. And for her Drink she must forbear Beer, and stick to bawn
Tea intirely. 31

Walter Harris, in his Treatise on the Acute Diseases of Infants pub-
lished in 1742, thus described his treatment of a "beautiful girl of eleven
years of age" who was suffering from epileptic fits, which he cured by
powders prepared according to the following formula:

Earth worms prepared one Ounce, human Skull prepared two Drams, lesser
Cardamoms two scruples. Reduce them all to a fine powder, and divide it
into twelve Papers.

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 173

The physician told his reader that because the little girl "loathed such
a great quantity of nauseous powder," she followed each dose with a
few drops of oil of nutmeg! After the fits had discontinued, he advised
the child to continue for some time to take the powders "three days
before every New and Full Moon, and to have issues opened in each
leg." From that time on she had no return of epileptic fits. 31

After noting such distressing physical and mental symptoms among
young girls, Dr. Faust, a German authority, in his Catechism of Health
published in 1795, declared that the most pernicious consequences to
the youth of that generation came from separating "female children"
at the earliest period of their existence from males, from dressing them
like adults, from preventing their taking the proper kind of exercise, and
from compelling them to lead a sedentary life. 32 A few years later a
German medical authority, Christian Augustus Struve, whose work,
A Familiar View of the Domestic Education of Children during the
Early Period of Their Lives, was widely read in this country, insisted that
girls should not be excluded from active exercise, and that it was an
error in physical education "to make that ill-founded distinction between
the two sexes." Young females were thus condemned almost from their
cradles to a sedentary existence by keeping them at their needles, and by
giving them "dolls and tinsel work or trinkets," while sprightly boys
amused themselves with their noisy drums and active games. Struve
warned the priggish parents of his day that such female "modesty" was
purchased at the expense of health and a cheerful mind. 33

Dr. G. Akerley, an English physician, lamented that girls were not
encouraged to partake more fully of active exercises. Boys, he noted,
found gratification in their lively sports, but little girls were required
to pass a great part of their time at needlework or in idleness, frequently
from a feeling on the part of their parents that "active play was improper
for them." 34 To this same end, Lydia H. Sigourney wrote in her Letters
to Mothers:

I plead for the little girl, that she may have air and exercise as well as her
brother, and that she may not be too much blamed, if in her earnest play she
happen to tear, or soil her apparel. I plead that she be not punished as a romp,
if she keenly enjoys those active sports which city gentility proscribes. 35

William Mavor, an English reform writer, in the preface to his Cate-
chism of Health published in 1819, deplored the fact that in every country,
and particularly in the United States, the "economy of health," especially
in the matter of children's food, was frightfully neglected. Even among
enlightened persons the most absurd customs continued in the manage-

i 7 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

ment of the young, and in all classes o society, in every section of the
land, dangerous practices persisted in defiance of reason and science.
Parents had not yet been sufficiently impressed with the old maxim-
"Prevention is better than cure." 36

The few progressive parents could not hope to preserve the health of
their children unimpaired without subjecting them to a strict regimen
in regard to the quality and quantity of their food and the mode of
taking it, hence the current ideas on this subject were reduced to a few
simple precepts. Boys and girls were to be confined to plain food with
pies, pastries, gravies, hotbreads, and all sorts of rich and highly seasoned
foods omitted. Ordinarily they were to take but one dish at the same
meal; for instance, if they dined on "baked meat," they could take it
with potatoes and bread, and accompany this by a drink of water, milk,
or "small beer." This plan was to accustom the young to expect but one
kind of food besides bread at dinner; and for the other two meals to be
contented with bread and milk. 37

Although a change of diet from meal to meal might have pleased most
children, the practice was discouraged on the grounds that the stomach
"digests a single kind of food with more ease than a compound of various
kinds." Moreover, children would eat far less if there was but one kind
of food before them than they would if there were many, because it was
declared that a variety of dishes was one of the strongest temptations to
gluttony. 38 Indeed, in this moral age, the little reader could find frequent
reference to the sin of gluttony; for instance, there is the story in verse
of a "Notorious Glutton"

A Duck who had got such a habit of stuffing,
That all the day long she was panting and puffing.

Children read that when she showed signs of "choaking after a plentiful
dinner," Dr. Drake was summoned to attend her:

The Doctor was just to his business proceeding,
By gentle emetics, a blister, and bleeding,
When all on a sudden she rolFd on her side,
Gave a horrible quackle, a struggle, and died!

Her remains were inter'd in a neighboring swamp

By her friends, with a great deal of funeral pomp.

But I've heard this inscription her tomb was put on,

"Here lies Mrs. Duck, the Notorious Glutton;"

And all the young ducklings are brought by their friends,

To learn the disgrace in which gluttony ends. 40

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 175

Despite such literature, Americans had not universally established
proper eating habits by 1835, as an interesting description of the mode of
living in a large city reveals. 40 City children were customarily seated at
the breakfast table with their parents, and allowed an indigestible meal
of salted dried fish or sausages, with coffee and hot bread or buckwheat
cakes. 41 Although the powers of digestion of healthy children are exceed-
ingly vigorous and could for a time withstand such irritating diet, yet
by the constant repetition of such meals, the little creatures were made
peevish and fretful, and were frequently corrected for bad temper. After
a breakfast of this sort the children's digestive organs were in no condi-
tion to dispose of a substantial luncheon; consequently, their natural
craving for food during the afternoon was satisfied by unlimited quanti-
ties of bread and butter. At the evening meal the little ones were further
deprived of sufficient nourishment by having set before them generous
supplies of "sweetmeats" and rich cakes. 42

Members of the medical profession, to underscore the lesson of correct
diet, gave directions for avoiding the disagreeable skin diseases so com-
mon among youth at that time. They stressed the need for exercise in
the open air to stimulate poor appetites, and pointed out the comforting
fact that by a balanced diet children's teeth "would not be set to ache
by every slight exposure to change of temperature the climate is so
peculiarly subject to." 43

The types of food usually approved for children point a striking con-
trast to modern principles of child-feeding. Bread was the staple food
of childhood in the eighteenth century. Parents who had a child who
was really fond of bread felt that they could guard him against many
o the dangers that beset other children who ate improper foods. In
order to develop an appetite for this simple food, adults were told that
when a child was hungry between rneals he was to be promised a piece
of dry bread; and that after he had become accustomed to this snack,
he would eat it "as eagerly as a great dainty." To see children walking
about the house with tarts or bread and butter in their hands, "daubing
everything and everybody they touched," was certainly a sad reflection
on their parents' good sense. Since this indulgence was judged to be
detrimental not only to the health of the young, but to their manners
as well, it was denounced as "inexpressibly vulgar." 44

Although butter was believed to be nourishing, it was not thought
the best food for the young, because by obstructing some of the glands
it caused a "breaking out" on children. 45 That the little ones had no
greater relish then for plain dry bread than they do today may be in-
ferred from instructions directing the mother to tempt her hungry child

176 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

by promising him a piece of "nice white bread, made of fine flour from
the wheat which God makes to grow on purpose for us in the fields."
If the idea of dry bread was then not promptly seized by the child, the
mother was to praise the taste of bread beforehand, to take a bite herself,
and to ask the child if it were not good. On the other hand, eating crusts
of bread had from the earliest times been thought by parents to be a
proof of good training, and was recommended to children as a duty.
Writers of the 'thirties denounced the "foolish doctrine, that eating crusts
will make the hair curl," not only because it encouraged vanity and
showed that parents trifled with the truth for the sake of expediency,
but for the more practical reason that the crusts commonly offered to
children were too large for their little mouths and teeth. 46

There is an interesting account of the early methods of supplying the
quantities of milk consumed by city youth. The Cries of New Yor%
informed the young reader that milk in that city was carried around
from door to door twice a day in summer and once in winter. A man
carrying the large twelve-gallon kettles from a yoke on his shoulders
trudged through the streets and called out to his customers: "Here's
Milk, Ho!" Farmers who kept cows on the outskirts of the city drove
around with milk carts, "which were mostly covered," and sold their
beverage at from six to ten cents a quart. 47

Only infrequent references were made to vegetables, even when they
might accompany the "vehicle" of meat and bread in the principal meal.
Most works insisted that little ones eat "a great deal of bread." A few
directed them to "blend their meat and bread with greens, turnips,
or other garden stuff," but warned that pickles and all "high sauce"
should not be touched by children. 48 It may have been understood by
the readers of those days that children in an agricultural country would
naturally be supplied with an abundance of fresh vegetables, at least in
season; but whatever the cause for the omission in works of this type,
the modern reader is led to believe that little importance was attached
to vegetables, as such, in the child's "economy of health."

Fruits at best were given only a half-hearted approval. One reads:
"Children should not be debarred from fruit; but the use of it requires
some attention." This "attention" demanded that the fruit be ripe, limited
in quantity, and of a kind that would agree with the child. It was a dis-
puted point whether children should eat fruit in the morning, since
to reach the pulp and juice which refreshed them they had to eat the
surrounding skin. This "tough kind of coat in which nature had wrapped
the fruit" was considered unfit to take into the stomach. 49 As late as
1835, Dr. William Dewees of Philadelphia wrote on this head:

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 177

It is an error to suppose, that any fruit is positively useful, as a nourishment or
as a medicine, to young children. . . . We have known them to be useful, but
we have very often known them to be injurious. . . . Fruit of almost every kind
is less digestible than any of the farinaceous substances in common use. 51

Fish was among the foods held extrernely-iifipfopef for children, and
the prudent parent was warned never to let the child so much as taste
it for his first seven years, at least, if for no other reason than for the
danger of bones sticking in his throat. Since fish of all kinds was re-
garded as naturally "flabby, cold, and watery," it was of itself deemed
unfit for young stomachs, and was usually made more so by rich sauces.
Nuts also fell into the category of forbidden foods that "should never
be meddled with because they were apt to create a thirst, or even produce
coughs by cording up the whole chest." It was also believed that nuts
loosened children's teeth a process which foolish youth assisted by their
repeated attempts to crack the hard shells. 61

William Cobbett further observed on the question of foods outlawed
for children:

This love of what is called "good eating and drinking,'* if very unamiable in
grown up persons, is perfectly hateful in youth; and if he indulges in the
propensity he is already half ruined. Let me beseech you to free yourselves from
the slavery of tea and coffee, and other slop kettle. . . . Experience has taught
me that those slops are injurious to health. 53

The practice of giving children wine, cider, beer, and brandy aroused
even more vehement protests. This custom, rather common in some
sections, was condemned as a gross error because it "clouded the under-
standing," rendered young people unfit for study, and laid "the foun-
dation of a sot for life." 53 Such authorities as Benjamin Rush, on the
other hand, recommended the use of "sound old wine, from a teaspoonful
to one half a glassful according to the age of the child" to be taken
as a prophylactic medicine in the summertime. He also sanctioned the
custom of upper-class children sipping a glass of wine after dinner
now and then with their parents. 54 William Buchan, an English doctor,
listed milk, water, buttermilk, or whey as the most proper beverages
for children. 55 In recommending pure cold water as the best drink for
healthy youth, a Philadelphia physician described the excessive intem-
perance o his day:

In the western parts of our state, where ardent spirits has become almost the
substitute for water, whiskey is given daily in large quantities, from the young-
est to the oldest child; and, so quickly do they become accustomed to this

178 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

pernicious liquor, that we have seen a child of six or seven years old, drink a
wine-glass full at a draught. . . . 57

In contrast to the advice given the young in the previous century
"To eat as fast as possible," health authorities of the early iSoo's recog-
nized in this habit the besetting table fault of American children. Parents
were told to allow their offspring at least twenty minutes for each meal,
and for adults to set the young the proper example by eating slowly. 57
Another change in juvenile eating habits may be noted in the contrasting
instructions given on this point In Colonial days the child was told to
eat everything that was put on his trencher without asking questions
or making remarks; nor was he to "look sour or to murmur" at what
was given him. 58 Parents of the new day were thus advised to regard
the child's personality:

As the child grows up its own palate should in some degree be consulted, in
selecting its food; and if not positively improper, it should be indulged in its
little likings to a certain extent. Children, if observed will be found to show a
fondness for particular things, and an aversion to others. It is an innate feeling,
and is as various and as natural as in the adult; and although it has not been
viewed generally in this light, it ought not to be disregarded. 60

The evil of allowing children "spiritous liquors" did not evoke nearly
so much denunciation from writers on child health as did the simple
matter of "confectionary." Numerous sources indicate how children "on
their morning walks" too commonly visited confectioners' shops, there
to jeopardize their health by eating a variety of "sweetmeats and pastry."
Those tempted to such indiscretions were advised to let their luncheon
of sweets serve them instead of a dinner, and to eat no more that day
"till their stomachs were entirely emptied of those contents that were
so difficult to digestion." 60 Other writers pointed out that although sweet-
meats and toys of confectionery had a peculiar charm for children, these
same devices were usually covered with poisonous paint and hence were
positively injurious as articles of food. 61

This question of confectionery also had a moral side that transcended
even the important issue of health. According to the moralists, these
forbidden sweetmeats not only tended to undermine the health of chil-
dren, but such delicacies destroyed the "tone of their minds" and laid
foundations of ingratitude and discontent in the young. When parents
failed to supply the sweets as often as the pampered appetites of youth
demanded, children then forgot all former kindnesses and either loudly
complained of their parents' parsimony or in sullen discontent murmured
because they were so cruelly treated. 62

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 179

While it was regarded as an ill omen to find the young very fond of
confectionery, some allowance was made for a fondness for fruits, since
they were supposed to be of a "cooling nature" and came at a season
when refreshing foods were especially needed. Sweets taken between
meals had a "heating tendency" which interfered with digestion, and,
if they were taken with the child's meals, would weaken his stomach.
From any such simple indulgence, the child's "several animal appetites"
became vitiatednot instantly, indeed, but such was the tendency. When
the child thus departed from the strict rules of temperance in any given
article of food or drink, his progress was downward, with the result that
either the quantity of food or drink was gradually increased or the quality
more concentrated. 63

For these reasons, reformers of the i83o's trembled to find the young
so fond of exciting foods, condiments, and confectionery. In the case
of children whose appetites were already vitiated, there was no assurance
that they would not become worse and worse until they finally arrived
at the lowest point on the scale of intemperance, gluttony, and de-
bauchery. Although the matter seems of little moment today, it was a
real issue in the early iSoo's. Moralists pointed to the thousands of young
people who "went down to ruin" by this alluring trail; and reformers
sought to influence public opinion in favor of closing confectionery shops
outright. To some degree prohibition of confections preceded prohibition
of liquors as an American social reform movement.

In order to impress on the youthful minds the imminent perils to
body and soul that lurked in a bag of candy or a box of cookies, re-
formers traced a gradation of evils. It was first pointed out that those
unfortunates who felt the necessity of using confectionery merely for
the sake of the pleasure and excitement it afforded uniformly lost their
health. Then, dissatisfied with these feebler excitements, they proceeded
to gratify the lower appetites with strong tea, coffee, fermented liquors,
snuff, opium, or tobacco, and perhaps with several of them combined.
Moralists also hinted that many descended by this broad road to indul-
gence "more disreputable, as well as more destructive." 64 After reading
the horrible example of degenerates, the ordinary child must have re-
quired but little imagination to picture himself inexorably driven by
a peppermint stick along the path to perdition.

It is easy for the modern reader to imagine the child's reaction to
these reform measures of what now seems a really innocuous gratifica-
tion. One of the most vehement writers, to point his moral on this subject,
held up the female seminaries as impressive examples of delinquency
in this regard. Although these institutions were respected by the reformer

i8o AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

as the "hope of our country and of our race," nevertheless they still
afforded abundant cause for gloomy forebodings. In almost every in-
stitution the preceptors found an "insurmountable fondness for con-
fectionary." The record shows that they forthwith framed laws to check
the evil and imposed severe penalties for existing abuses. Like other
attempts at prohibition, these reform measures finally failed, and suc-
ceeding generations of American youth have led the world in the annual
consumption of sweets. 65

Fortunately the social historian has statistics to show the "alarming
proportions" of these childish aberrations. In one city (presumably
Boston) there was a large school about twenty rods from a fruit and
confectionery shop. The owner of the shop frankly confessed that her
daily profits on the "single article of molasses candy," most of which
was sold to the school children, were seventy-five cents, and that her sales
on this article sometimes amounted to ten dollars a week. After some
rapid calculations, the writer reported that since the initial cost of molasses
candy was very little, he could safely conclude that the pupils of the
school purchased about one dollar's worth a day! As he contemplated
the "uselessness" of such sweets, and sighed over the "alarming extent"
to which they were used, he could offer only the most dismal prospects
for the health and morality of American children. 65

The question of sleep was another phase of child health that called
forth much discussion. The English philosopher Locke, whose advice
on many points was closely followed by American parents, declared that
"of all which looks soft and effeminate," nothing is to be indulged
children more than sleep. On the other hand, nothing was deemed more
"injudicious and unnatural" than the custom many parents had of keep-
ing their children up late; for the first law in making boys and girls
healthy, temperate, and wise was to create in them habits of early rising
and retiring. 67

In regard to the place and manner of putting the child to bed, nearly
all writers agreed that the room in which he slept should be "quiet,
obscure, and large enough to allow a free circulation of air," that the
windows of his apartment should always be kept open except at night;
but at this point harmony of opinion ended. Some thought the child
should be given only cold food for supper some hours before going to
bed; others advocated warm bread and milk as the best evening meal.
Although little ones for decades had worn nightcaps on the supposition
that they were particularly good for the hair, eyes, and teeth, parents
were advised by the middle of the eighteenth century to keep the child's

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 181

head cool, and even though the head was shaved to dispense with the
warm nightcap. Children, however, for another century continued, per-
haps advisedly, to wear nightcaps in their cold, drafty homes. Tradition
also drew the curtains closely around the bed of the child on the theory
that night air had some noxious quality; and thus the child was confined
almost entirely to the air within the small compass of the bed frame.
There were those who considered this practice highly erroneous, and
urged that parents would do well to let their children lie with the cur-
tains undrawn or, at most, arranged to protect their heads. 68

Charles Darwin, by 1835, was teaching that the "beds for young chil-
dren could not be too soft," but he denounced the error of having "so
deep a feather bed for a child that he sinks down into the middle of it/'
and remarked, "Perhaps beds made of soft leather, properly prepared
and inflated with air, might be preferable, on this account to feather
beds." 69 Locke, on the contrary, had said: "Let the child's bed be hard,
and rather quilts than feathers." He affirmed that "hard lodgings"
strengthened the body; but being "buried every night in feathers" melted
and dissolved it, and that this practise was often the cause of weakness
and the forerunner of early death. Since his conclusion was that "a
tender weakly constitution was very much owing to down beds," he
advised that children should sleep on a "mattrass" and use only a bolster
with no pillow, for it was not good for them to have their heads high.
Alcott, at variance with this opinion, had no objections to soft beds for
any part of the community; in fact, he preferred them for obvious reasons.
He was of the opinion that the person who slept on a hard board, though
he might rest quite well, could not be as comfortable as if his bed were
softer, since the weight of his body pressed on a few small spots. 70

Although the form of the bed itself was much discussed by medical
authorities, most children in the crowded homes of that day were tucked
into cradles, cribs, trundles, or folding beds, without much theorizing
on the part of their busy parents. There seems to have been little hesitancy
either in shifting little ones from one place to another, or in crowding
several children into one bed; and there was no fear that a change would
aflfect them, since it was believed that children slept soundly wherever
laid. 71 It was probably in reference to conditions in the crowded frontier
cabins where a traveler found "six fine but dirty children" sleeping in
an adjoining bed 72 that a doctor wrote, "In order to secure the advantage
of undisturbed repose, it is important that too many children be not
crowded together." 73 In any event, writers firmly insisted that all "the
cares and burdens of the day were to be laid aside with the children's

182 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

clothing." Even in the case of older boys and girls, no practice was judged
more destructive than that of studying in bed, or of reading until sleep

came. 74

Though children of the eighteenth century were dressed in imitation
of their parents, and were expected to conform as closely as possible to
adult standards of living, even in the Colonial period there were occa-
sional protests against the pernicious effects of costume on child health.
The hazards involved in the dress of the young sprang from a fatal com-
bination of ignorance and oversolicitude on the part of grown-ups, rather
than from any deliberate intention to torture or annoy childrenalbeit
the results were the same.

Mothers or nurses observed that a newborn child had not support of
itself that its head leaned on one side or the other, and the little body
sank into a heap. To remedy this condition and to prop up the helpless
babe, they put a stay to its neck, and rolled a long strip of flannel many
times around its body. At the end of a month the infant was usually
"coated"; that is, it was still bound by the roller when undressed for
the night, but in the daytime when dressed, it wore a "stay" about the
waist. Since popular opinion argued that children were helpless and
could not sit upright or be tossed about as custom demanded without
a support, the same kind of device was applied to both boys and girls.
Only gradually was the child relieved of these cruel contrivances; after
several months the neck stay was left off, and the roller was abandoned
in about a year. Although the first three stays were rather soft and pliable,
those used after the age of two were stiffer, and this was the type worn
by boys until they were put into trousers at the age of six, and by girls
throughout their lives. 75

Fashion thus interfered with the comfort and even the health of chil-
dren. Some adults always doubted whether a graceful form in children
compensated for the tortures of these contraptions. Most mothers, how-
ever, for decades insisted on retaining this method of molding the
youthful figure. The solicitude of parents for a good form related chiefly
to the girls. Boys "twisted themselves like eels into a thousand forms,"
and eventually succeeded in holding their bodies erect without a frame-
work of whalebone; but girls, with less freedom and more anxiety, seldom
developed so well, although God had originally made both sexes equally
upright. 76

This peculiar type of torture in the form of juvenile clothing lasted
until the close of the century. Since fashions came to America from
France, the political revolution in France was also accompanied by a
radical change in children's dress. This revolution in juvenile clothing

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 183

was almost as significant as the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty, for
it banished for little ones on this side of the Atlantic wigs and buckles,
powder and pomatum, stiff stays and full petticoats, long waists and high-
heeled shoes.

During the Empire period, one extreme led to another. Little girls,
who previously had been encased in whalebone and buckram and layers
of quilted skirts, stepped forth as free as nymphs, without stays, petti-
coats, fullness to their garments, or even heels to their shoes. White
muslin dresses of the scantiest dimensions, fitting closely around the
figure, with the shortest possible waist and not an extra fold in the skirt,
were the garments commonly worn by American girls of the early iSoo's.
Mothers, viewing the change and remembering their own hooped skirts
and flowing drapery, groaned over their daughters, and declared that
the scanty dresses made the girls look as though they had been "stuffed
into bolster-cases." 77

This apparent improvement in the hygiene of clothing was involun-
tary and only a capricious foreign influence in fashion. Within a decade
the dress of the young gradually reverted to its former voluminous
dimensions; even some additional atrocities were then introduced in the
shape of stiff collars, high tight breeches and short waistcoats for boys,
and cumbersome skirts and dangling pantalettes for girls. Reformers
gave the matter of dress their serious attention and advocated definite
measures for correcting the evils of the time:

The dress of children ought to be light and easy; their linen ought to be
frequendy changed, and all motions of the body should be unrestrained by
ligatures of any kind ... it ought to be comfortable, not fine: and it ought to
differ in fashion from that worn by those in advanced life. 79

Mavor argued that a simple costume would allow little ones to live
with less restraint and greater happiness in the society of one another;
and by contrast with that of adults, a distinctive dress for children would
be an indication of their dependent status. He also believed that special
juvenile styles would check the early temptations to "pride which led
children to ape the customs and actions of grown-up persons" a practice
not only unbecoming to their age, but dangerous to their health and
morals. 79 To achieve the desired simplicity in children's clothing and to
protect their health and morals, Mavor advocated a uniform costume
for boys and girls, to be worn from the age of three to eight. According
to this plan, the head and neck of the child were to be free and bare;
the body was to be clothed with a wide linen shirt and short-sleeved
frock, while the feet were to be equipped with a pair of short socks

184 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

and low-heeled, well-fitting shoes. 80 Another authority with more ad-
vanced ideas believed that it would be better for children not to wear
stockings, because their "tender legs, though uncovered, were not easily
affected by the cold." It was asserted that if stockings were altogether
abandoned, children would be less subject to coughs and colds. 81

The homemade shoes of Colonial days designed to cover rather than
to fit were generally too narrow and ill fitting to allow sufficient room
for motion, or they were so long and loose as to be easily trodden down
at the heels. In either case, the young wearer was likely to acquire a
deformity that resulted in an awkward and unsafe gait. To enable the
child to walk more steadily, low-heeled, waterproof half-boots that sup-
ported his ankles and fitted his legs were introduced late in the eighteenth
century. 82 This new design of shoes for both boys and girls, shaped as
they were to the form of the foot by separate lasts, and fastened with
strings instead of buckles, resulted in a more upright posture, and at the
same time enabled children to run and jump with freedom and comfort. 83

It was fashionable by 1835 for children to be "more thinly clad" than
their parents, and some observers claimed that nothing was more com-
mon than to see little ones "with their arms, neck, and upper portions
of the chest bare." Many critics were slow in endorsing this process of
"hardening" the race at the risk of killing off its weaker members. 84
Indeed, most parents were inclined to follow the more comfortable advice,
"Give children plenty of milk, plenty of sleep, and plenty of flannel." 85
Flannel was considered the best material for underclothing "at all times
and at all seasons." Many adults believed that disease and death were
conveyed by every blast of air, hence a "due quantity of covering should
be employed." Some held that health was best protected even -in the
hottest climates by the use of fine flannel next to the skin. 86 There was,
however, a diversity of opinion on the advisability of keeping children
in flannels during hot weather. This was evidenced in the bewildered
discomfort of an eleven-year-old boy who wrote from Georgia in mid-
summer:

tell dear mother that cousin Bet will not let me pull off my flannen that she
would if she was me take off everything but the flannen, I look so red and
harty that you would not know me, but Uncle says that I will never get harty
in the world untill I take off my flannen. . . . 88

Long-needed reforms were inaugurated by the middle 'thirties, as a
result of the pleas made at the turn of the century for a distinct dress
for children. Although these reforms did not mature until much later,
most children were no longer pinioned by stiff stays. Moreover, linen

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 185

or cotton underclothing that could be changed more frequently was grad-
ually replacing the cherished flannels o former days. Boys and girls also
found, in the short socks and sturdy new half-boots made to the shape
of their feet, more comfort and freedom of motion than Colonial children
had ever known in their crudely fashioned cloth or kid shoes. Although
children were still too much muffled up and overdressed in cold weather,
there was more insistence on outdoor exercise; and the sports garments
worn then were more simply and loosely designed. Nightcaps were still
in vogue in cold homes, but children were freshly dressed for bed in
a new type of warm nightclothing. 88 Umbrellas to shelter the head from
the sun and rain were also in common use, and rubbers protected the
feet of the well-to-do youth. 89 On the other hand, there were thousands
of frontier children of both sexes whose parents, following a policy of
salutary neglect, clad them day and night in single, scanty shifts. Evidence
of this custom may be found in the following report of a traveler: "In
some of the interior hovels, are seen little once-white boys sitting at the
table in their long shirts; and running half the summer with nothing
else on; which renders them hardy." 90

That bathing was one of the most neglected aspects of child care in
Colonial America might be inferred from the infrequent references to
the subject in children's books. Indeed, the primitive mode of life charac-
teristic of many communities inhibited the frequent bathing of children,
for it was not easy to wash at the pump in the yard or in a metal pan
on the back porch. In cold weather people naturally dispensed with all
but the briefest ablutions before the kitchen fire. To understand the
apparent unconcern in such matters one must keep in mind the lack
of the simplest facilities for cleanliness. In Revolutionary times only a
few wealthy families owned tubs and basins, and the traditional bowl
and pitcher were used by the middle classes; but even these simple devices
were denied the isolated people of rural districts. 91

Besides the scarcity of tubs and warm water, other hardships made
the bath a trial of endurance for the young. Bathing on pleasant summer
days, in the manner described in an old story book, was indeed a sport
that might well be classified with baseball and leapfrog:

When the Sun's Beams have warmed the Air,
Our Youth to some cool Brook repair;
In whose refreshing streams they play,
To the last Remnant of the Day. 93

But bathing on a frosty winter day in the drafty homes of that period
could scarcely have been mistaken for a sport by a shivering child. Even

i86 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

from the vantage point before the open hearth there was small comfort,
for in the frigid rooms water frequently froze in a pan before the fire,
while the sudden blasts from the chimney chilled any zest for cleanliness
even in the hardiest youth. Added misery was found in the coarse home-
made lye soap which, even when used sparingly as advised, chapped and
irritated the child's tender skin. 93 Although a mild castile soap and an
innovation called a "bathing machine" were introduced early in the
nineteenth century, bathing remained a rare experience for most children.
On the grounds that the bathing machine helped the child to enjoy his
bath, these large shallow vessels made of wood, tin, or canvas were widely
advertised. The mother was counseled to "amuse" the child during his
penitential experience in the tub in order to prepare him, by the cheerful
endurance of this ordeal, to cope with future tribulations. 94 In a rare book
of poetry for children by the English authors, Charles and Mary Lamb,
one finds an early reference to cleanliness as a factor in child life:

All-endearing cleanliness,
Virtue next to godliness,
Easiest, cheapest, needful'st duty,
To the body health and beauty,
Who that's human would refuse it,
When a Htde water does it? 95

Early Americans inherited a distinct aversion to water as an impure
beverage which was generally believed to have a malevolent effect on
the drinker, and this repugnance doubtless lessened the desire to use
water for any other purpose. 96 It is a matter of record that Colonial chil-
dren entertained the traditional misgivings about persistent scourings
and scrubbings at the hands of their elders. The old School of Good
Manners, which followed every avenue of child life, summarily dismissed
the whole subject in one sentence: "Come not to the table without having
your Hands and Face washed, and your Head combed/' 97 Despite the
strict discipline of the time, several sources reveal children of sufficient
spirit to resist any efforts of their elders to make them "clean and decent."
Under the trying circumstances attending an ordinary scrubbing perhaps
the attitude o "Dirty Jack" towards personal cleanliness was understood,
if not excused, by his contemporaries:

His friends were much hurt,

To see so much dirt,

And often and well did they scour;

But all was in vain,

He was dirty again

Before they had done it an hour.

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 187

When to wash he was sent,

He reluctantly went,

With water to splash himself o'er,

But he left the black streaks

All over his cheeks,

And made them look worse than before."

The care of the teeth was another phase of Colonial child health that
was pitifully neglected. The child was simply told, "If you will keep
your teeth from rot, pluc, or aking, wash the mouth continually with
Juyce of Lemons, and afterwards rub your teeth with a Sage Leaf and
wash your teeth after meat with faire water." 99 There were of course
no dentists in Colonial America, and no real knowledge of dental care.
After the Revolution, when dental surgery began to receive some atten-
tion, authorities advised children to preserve their teeth by washing them
night and morning with a brush, and by rinsing the mouth after each
meal with clean water. 100 Others directed them to use salt and water
daily, but only as a mouth wash; for they declared that "all brushing
and scraping" of the teeth was dangerous and did "great mischief." 101
Some children chewed charcoal, or used chalk and camphor or some
other powder on their brush as a dentifrice; others cleaned their teeth by
rubbing them with a primitive brush made usually of a dogwood twig
chewed into a fibrous swab. 102

One Philadelphia authority, Dr. Dewees, regretted the fact that most
parents attached no importance to the care of the child's "milk" teeth.
Under the delusion that these first teeth would soon be lost and therefore
did not merit attention, adults frequently neglected the mouths of the
young. Dewees was among the few professionals who advised the re-
moval by a skillful dentist of the child's loose or decayed teeth or stumps
of teeth if they ached, "in order to prevent the formation of gum-boils."
For these, he pointed out, would injure the second teeth. 103

From this examination of the meager records of child care some esti-
mate may be made of the dangers that beset childhood in the Colonial
and early national periods. The diseases incidental to a newly opened
country, the general ignorance of hygiene, the lack of competent medical
skill, uncleanliness, and improper dress and diet combined to rob the
country annually of a high percentage of its children. After the Revolu-
tion, medical authorities on both sides of the Atlantic sought for decades
to discover why society was thus "ruthlessly weeded," and to take pre-
ventive measures.

Although no remarkable achievements may be noted for this period,
the first three decades of the nineteenth century, in marked contrast to

1 88 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

the Colonial era, reveal a slow but steady improvement in the attitude
of the American adult towards the problem of child welfare. This advance
in both the theory and practise of child care was conditioned partly by
the progress made in scientific knowledge, and partly by the higher living
standards which left mothers more time to devote to the care of their
families. With the increased interest in child welfare stimulated by the
economic and scientific advancement of the age, improved methods for
the management of the young were given wide publicity, even if they
were not universally accepted and put into practice by 1835.

^Richard H. Shryock, The Development of Modern Medicine, pp. 78-85.
2 Oliver P. Chitwood, A History of Colonial America, pp. 578-81.
3 Shryock, op. at., pp. 86, 87.

4 Edward Eggleston, The Transit of Civilisation from England to America in the
Seventeenth Century, pp. 48-50.

v ..

*Ibid.> pp. 52, 53; see afso Henry C. Lea., ed., A Century of American Medicine, pp.
6-16.

Vbid., p. 61.

*Ihd., pp. 64-68.

9 Ibtd. t pp. 69-73.

10 WilIiam P. Dewees, M. D., A Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of
Children, p. 145,

^Original Poems for Infant Minds, p. 40.

^William Darton, Chapter of Accidents and Remarkable Events: Containing Cau-
tion and Instruction for Children, pages unnumbered.

^The Post Boy, pages unnumbered,
^Little Prattle Over a Boo\ of Prints f pages unnumbered.
16 Nathan Bayley, English and Latine Exercises for School Boys, p. 152.
17 A Little Pretty Poc^et-Boo^, first Worcester edition, by Isaiah Thomas, pp. 7-9.
18 Benjamui Coleman, A Devout Contemplation on the Meaning of Divine Provi-
dence in the Early Death of Pious and Lovely Children, p. 5.
19 Noah Webster, Elements of Useful Knowledge, p. 184.
20 George Fisher (pseud.), The American Instructor, Preface.
n lbid., p. 344.

^William Mavor (Fordyce), The Catechism of Health, p. 58.

^Mrs. A. G. Whittelsey, ed., "The Right Education o Youth," The Mother's Maga-
zine,VHL (1840), 271.

^Fisher, op. ciL, pp. 369, 370.

*lbid. f pp. 347, 348.

lbid., p. 348.

lbid., pp. 348, 349.

lbid., pp. 362, 363.

31 Walter Harris, A Treatise on the Acute Diseases of Infants, pp. 153-55.

32 R. C, Faust, Catechism of Health for Use of Schools, p. 20.

33 Christian Augustus Struve, M. D., A Pamihar View of the Domestic Education
of Children during the Early Period of Their Lives, pp. 33, 34.

YOUNG VICTIMS OF KITCHEN PHYSICK 189

34 Dr. G. Ackerley, On the Management of Children in Sic'kness and in Health,
second edition, p. 64.

35 Lydia H. Sigourney, Letters to Mothers, p. 73.
36 Mavor, op. cit., Preface.

37 John Hersey, Advice to Christian Parents, p. 86.

38 Theodore Dwight, The Father's Boo\, p. 43. See also Letters to a Young Student
in the First Stage of a Liberal Education, p. 41.
39 ] Original Poems for Infant Minds, p. 74.

40 The very mistakes condemned in the hygienic literature probably indicate how
children actually did live. This was undoubtedly true not only of diet, but of all
other phases of regimen.
41 Ackerley, op. cit., p. 58.
^Ibid., pp. 59, 60.
^Ibi d., p. 60.

44 James Nelson, An Essay on the Government of Children, p. 133.
^Ibid., p. 124.

46 Theodore D wight, op. cit., p. 128.

^The Cries of New Yor^, Printed and sold by Samuel Wood at the Juvenile BooJ^-
store, p. 41. This work also gives a quaint account of the sanitary measures in force
at this time by explaining to children the ofHce of the "Bell-Man":

"This man on his cart,
As he drives along,
His bell doth swing
Ding, dong, ding, dong.

When the warm season commences, as one means for the preservation of health,
the citizens are not allowed to throw into the streets the offal of any animal,
husks of corn, pea-pods, or any kind of garbage, dead rats, cats, or shells, but the
servants have them ready in baskets or pails, and when they hear this man's bell
turn out, and empty them into his cart Such part as is fit for hogs or cows to eat
he preserves and discharges the rest off the end of the dock into the river."
48 Nelson, op. cit., p. 133.
Ibid., p. 128.

50 Dewees, op. cit., pp. 205-7.
51 Nelson, op. cit., pp. 127-9.
52 As quoted in Hersey, op. cit., p. 88.
53 Nelson, op. cit., p. 86.

54 As quoted by John Ruhrah, Pediatrics of the Past, p. 430.
55 William Buchan, Domestic Medicine, p. 15.
56 Dewees, op. cit., p. 175.
57 Dwight, op. cit., p. 43.
58 Hersey, op. cit., p. 85.
59 Ackerley, op. cit., p. 67.

60 Eliza Ware Farrar, The Young Lady's Friend, p. 193.
61 Christian A. Struve, op. cit., p. 431.
62 John Hersey, op. cit., p. 84.

63 William A. Alcott, ed., The Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human Con-
stitution, p. 50.

id., pp. 85, 86.
, p. 52.
,p 82.
67 Nelson, op. cit., p. 138.
^Ibid., pp. 140, 141.
69 Alcott, op. cit., p. 24.
lbid., p. 25.
71 Nelson, op. cit., p. 139.

ipo AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

72 William Faux, Memorable Days in America, In Reuben G. Thwaites, ed., Early
Western Travels, 1748-1846, 30 vols. and Index (1904-1906), XI (1905), 226.
73 Ackerley, op. at., p. 71.

74 Mrs. A. G. Whittelsey, ed., "On Sleep," The Mother's Magazine, VIII (1840-43)
187.

75 Nelson, op. tit., pp. 109, no.

76 Lydia H. Sigourney, op. cit., p. 78. In their poetry for children, Charles and Mary
Lamb picture the pride experienced by a little boy on the day he cast away his "long
coats" and put on the "manly breeches":

Sashes, frocks, to those that need 'em
Phillip's limbs have got their freedom
He can run or he can ride,
And do twenty things beside,
Which his petticoats forbad;
Is he not a happy lad ?
Now he's under other banners,
He must leave his former manners;
Bid adieu to female games,
And forget their very names.
Puss in corner, hide and seek,
Sports for girls and punies weak!

(Charles and Mary Lamb, Poetry for Children, entirely original, p. 34.)
77 Ehza Ware Farrar, The Young Lady's Friend, pp. 97, 98. See also Mavor, Cate-
chism of Health, pp. 21, 22.
78 G. Ackerley, op. cit., pp. 68, 69,
79 Mavor, op. tit., pp. 22, 23.
50 Ackerley, op. cit., pp. 68, 69.
81 C. A. Struve, op. cit., p. 303.
**lbid., pp. 304, 305.
83 Acker ley, op. cit., p. 61.
84 D. Gilbert, The Mother's Magazine,, VIII, 270.

85 John Robertson, Observations on the Mortality and Physical Management of
Children, p. 188.
86 Ackerley, op. cit., p. 69.

87 Quoted by Elizabeth A. Wilson, "Hygienic Care and Management of the Child
in the American Family Prior to 1860" (M. S. thesis, Duke University, 1940), p. 135.
^Samuel K. Jennings, The Married Lady's Companion, or The Poor Man's Friend,
pp. 145-416.
^Alcott, op. tit., p. 48.
90 As quoted in Wilson, op. clt., p. 142; Singleton, Letters from the South and West,

P- 93-

91 Farrar, op. cit., p. 163.

92 A Little Pretty Poc%et-Boo\, p. 42.

93 Wilson, op. cit., pp. 92, 93.

H Ibid., p. 94.

95 Lamb, op. cit., p. 31.

96 Earle, Customs and Fashions in the Old New England, pp. 302-5.

&7 Moodey, School of Good Manners.

^Original Poems for Infant Minds, p. 38.

"Earle, op. dt. f p. 302.

100 Mavor, op. cit., p, 53.

101 Buchan, op. cit., p. 305.

102 EarIe, op. cit., p. 302.

103 Dewees, op. at., p. 191.

SNARES

OF THE

OLD DELUDER

"Let thy Recreation be Lawful, Brief, and Seldom." This terse injunc-
tion found in the School of Good Manners epitomized the attitude of
adults towards play in Colonial days, but not that of children. Boys and
girls, despite this edict, followed at least furtively the natural bent of
childhood, sublimely heedless of the prevailing conviction that a desire
for play was a "snare of the Old Deluder" or another evidence of their
"corrupt nature." According to the record, little Americans, among them
Sammy Mather and the children of Judge Sewell, from within the very
stronghold of Puritanism itself, displayed, to the dismay of their parents,
"an inordinate love of play." These children contrived to amuse them-
selves with a variety of games, indifferent to the scornful stand of their
elders for such foolish and sinful waste of time.

This condemnation of the universal love of play was partly conditioned
by the poverty, the incessant labors, the dangers and privations incidental
to Colonial life, as well as by a religion that glorified thrift and industry.
Until well after the Revolution most adults had little time and less in-
clination to indulge in pastimes. The grim struggle for existence on the
borders of an unexplored wilderness furnished sufficient occupation for
the minds and bodies of these more responsible members of American
society. A disapproving attitude exalted to a virtue by necessity kept
a tenacious hold on the American mind, for as late as 1814, a litde book
named The Seasons bore this warning to young and old:

Unless care and labor are taken to keep down the evil propensities of litde
children to anger, idleness, and too much play, they will grow up in evil habits;
and instead of being useful members of society they will be pests and burdens;
will drag out an unprofitable existence here, and must expect in the coming
y that their lot will be among the miserable. 1

192 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

An enthusiasm for play was classed by some adults as a temporary
weakness or a passing defect of the childish character which, like many
disagreeable habits, would eventually be outgrown or lost with the milk
teeth. In the ensuing interval, until the seriousness of life was fully
appreciated, the follies of youth and their yearnings for pleasures must
be tolerated or suppressed as occasion demanded. Other adults bitterly
deplored an enthusiasm for play as a childish inclination to evil the sad
result of original sin. Quite aptly, then, did Dr. Watts in his collection
of Divine Songs express the popular sentiment on this head. Witness the
sense of shame and grief he put into the child's complaint of his love
of sports:

How senseless is my heart and wild,
How vain are all my thoughts!
Pity the weakness of a child.
And pardon all my faults. 2

Another little book, A Present to Children, printed in New London
in 1783, underscored the popular theory that play was a waste of time
and that the love of it was an unfailing sign of a perverted nature. In
somber tones little readers were warned:

Improve your time. When you play do it because God gives you leave. Learn
to get good and do good in your plays. Don't learn foolish songs by heart, nor
read them. Some songs are made for your play; not too solemn, that so you
may say them in your sports without being profane and have no occasion to
learn worse. 3

As a whole, the moral songs in this work were dedicated to the appar-
ently impossible task of directing the child's natural inclination to play
into more profitable channels. Indicative of the conflict between the
two worlds that of adulthood with its moral repression for the playful
minor members of society, and that of childhood with its passive re-
sistence to unnatural restraint and gloom the Present gives illuminating
glimpses of the limited emotional life of the Colonial child. The lines
"On Good Company" convey the impression that, even at this early stage
of our national social development, halos were not the universal adorn-
ment of American youth, notwithstanding the stern, unyielding pietism
with which their lives were surrounded:

How many Children do I see
With Noise and Folly fill the Street?
They're lewd, call wicked Name and lye,
Quarrel and rail at all they met.

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 193

With those who fear my God I'll walk,
And their dear Conversation court.
Often we'll mingle serious Talk,
Nor lose Salvation in our Sport. 4

Quite clearly also does "A Song for Little Miss" in this same volume
define, on the one hand, the adult standards of industry and sobriety
for the godly American girl and, on the other, reveal the little maid's
interior anguish for her supposedly blamable love of toys. After a pathetic
confession of the pleasure she derived from her "painted toys," and the
rapture with which she "carest her jointed babies and hugged them to
her breast," or reveled m the "glittering shelves" and tiny "tables, plates,
and chairs of her Baby-Room," she resolves:

Fain would I guard this prattling Voice,
These haughty Airs suppress;
No more shall Baubles be my Choice
Nor Plays nor Idleness.

In Work my tender Hands, shall strive,
And Wisdom watch my Tongue;
My Lips shall learn, and in my Life,
111 copy out the Song. 5

The "Plays" for boys, as depicted in this same work, were made the
occasions for introspection, and were accompanied by suitable homilies
exposing the vain and fleeting pleasures of this transitory existence. After
learning how eagerly the boy rushed from school to his "marbles, whirl-
ing top, or bounding ball," the little reader could meditate on these lines:

The changing Marbles to me show,
How mutable all things below,
My fate and their's may be the same,
Dasht in an instant from the Game.

Now on the Ice I shape the Slide,
And smoothly o'er the Surface glide,
I learn amidst the slipp'ry Play
Most dangerous is the easiest Way. 6

Happily for the young, the disparaging attitude of most adults for
what was considered an excess of play had changed in some degree by
the turn of the century. Not only did more secure economic conditions
provide richer opportunities for the majority of Americans to relax a
little; but the romanticism of the age had raised the child, as a distinct
personality, to a position of some importance in the family. At the same

i 9 4 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

time the strict principles o Puritanism had been somewhat mitigated.
With this change in adult thinking came a partial shift in the popular
attitude toward the child, expressed in this case by a desire to afford
him amusement and recreation, at least to a limited degree. Instead of
viewing the ordinary juvenile propensity for play as "a snare of the Old
Deluder, Satan," many adults now saw the value of "rational and useful
sports." Children's books reflected the change, and as a result there ap-
peared such surprising sentiments as those expressed in The Child's
Spelling Book of 1802:

Youth to pastime is inclined
Ever x'd on play:
Sport unbends the studious mind
And makes the heart more gay. 7

The idea of making "the heart more gay," or the indulgence of a
mere personal gratification, was not yet widely considered the legitimate
end of children's play. The goal was to refresh the bodily powers for a
more successful discharge of duty. It was now a recognized fact, sup-
ported by the writing of medical authorities, that the constitution of the
child's mind was such that it could not bear to be intensively employed
on a given subject for a long time without interruption. It was also be-
lieved that in the attempt to keep it thus employed, far less was accom-
plished than might be gained with occasional relaxation; for the observa-
tion was made that under prolonged strain the energies of the young
mind, instead of being improved, were definitely diminished. Hence,
on the basis of an adult desire to obtain from the little men and women
the greatest usefulness, amusements gradually became a recognized part
of child life. Even under the new code, children were still told that they
had no right to forget their accountability to God by refusing to acknowl-
edge Him either in the selection of their amusements, or "in yielding
themselves to them." 8

A Catholic juvenile book of the times, in quite the same strain, de-
clared that since recreation was necessary to relax the spirits, particularly
of children, play then was not contrary to morals, but rather an act
of virtue, when it was done well. It was necessary above all things that
the motive for playing be good; that the purpose be to recreate the mind,
and to make the child more capable of labor which it could not be able
to undergo if it were always employed. Hence labor was again defined
as the end of juvenile sport and recreation. 9

In order to grow up "good and virtuous," these small Christians were
given three conditions to observe in their pastimes. The first was to

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER

195

observe moderation; for it was pointed out that excess in play rendered
it no longer recreation, but rather employment which dissipated the spirits,
enfeebled the powers of the body, and frequently ruined health by the
"distempers" it caused. The second condition was not to have an "irregu-
lar affection' 5 for amusements the common fault of childhood. Plainly,
this affection made children fall into excess, kept them from applying
themselves seriously to labor, and, when they were at study, continually
diverted their minds to sports. The third condition was to avoid all games
of chance which, on the testimony of St. Augustine in his Confessions,
were considered a fruitful source of juvenile delinquency, because youth
played these games out of covetousness, which was a criminal motive.
Young readers were told of the temporal punishments that followed
gamblers the loss of time and money, and the ruin of families. 10

Despite the cautious acceptance of juvenile recreation as a necessity
simply as a means of enabling children to perform best the grim business
of life most adults of 1835 were still far from understanding the modern
approach to this important subject. Today busy parents consider building
block houses, cutting and pasting pictures, blowing soap bubbles, scrib-
bling with crayons, or "dressing up," as a variety of interests to keep
little ones absorbed and "good" and out of the way. On the other hand,
play means something else to the modern educator; to him it incorpo-
rates such aims as the development and control of muscles, the exercise
of the imagination, and the growth of creative expression. In the early
nineteenth century, as the literature of the age proves, these points of
view were for the most part nonexistent. 11

In reference to children's amusements of these early days, Theodore
Dwight sounded a typical note when he advocated that playthings,
sports, and games should always be connected with some useful end.
Surprisingly enough, he longed for the time when "good men would
devote due attention" to the improvement of toys and games for children,
in which field, he claimed, there was much room for the exercise of
ingenuity, talent, and learning. In fact, he advised fathers to use their
own judgment in selecting and inventing toys, until such time as the
toyshops and bookstores were better supplied with objects appropriate
to the needs of children in rational sports. 12

Since toys for "useful amusements" were scarce, this author advised
that boys be permitted to witness the operation of various trades, because
he noticed that they invariably enjoyed standing beside carpenters,
masons, or stonecutters to watch the unfolding mysteries of their work.
With equal fervor he dwelt at length on the pleasant moments boys
might spend wandering about the "solitary but busy" lofts of mills,

196 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

or watching the operations of domestic looms in retired homes. On fine
mornings, he remarked, boys loved not only to observe the movements
of fishermen with their nets, but also to rejoice with them in their catch;
or they eagerly followed the plowman through the fresh furrows, and
"heard his wisdom on crops and seasons." 13

As girls were usually better furnished with useful work and amuse-
ment than were boys, this author believed it would have been a "happy
thing" for many lads if they had been supplied with some substitute for
needlework and knitting, since these "useful amusements" made the
evenings pass in peaceful pleasure without interruptions to conversation
or reading. It was advocated that the boys' daily schedule be as system-
atically divided as that of the girls between domestic cares and useful
activities. 14 The record does not show what the youthful male reactions
were to such recommendations, but it does contain the words a small
boy scornfully addressed to his sister, who was trying to spin his top.
From his reply interesting inferences may be drawn of boyish aversions
to the play patterns of the genteel female:

A top my dear girl is ill chosen for you.
Go take up your doll, to your baby house go,
And there your attention much better bestow!
Leave the Pegtop behind and behave like a miss,
And 111 give you this picture, these nuts, and a kiss.
And should I sit on a stool with a needle and thread,
And dress up Miss Dolly and put her to bed?
Or do you not think 'twould be pleasant to see,
Master Neddy turned fribble, and pouring out tea? 15

Some idea of what constituted the "useful pleasures" of little girls
has been left by another writer of the period whose work advised
mothers to teach their daughters to knit, to weave bobbins, watchguards,
and chains, and to become adept in all kinds of sewing, so that, according
to tradition, the devil might not find in their homes employment for
idle hands. 16 In almost every family the girls had a "stint" of sewing
to do daily; some cross-stitched the alphabet large and small, the figures
up to ten, and their name and age in bright-colored wools or silks on
canvas; others embroidered slippers or made crocheted bags of twine
for carrying their luncheons and other school properties. 17

Such tasks were not always congenial to the little maids, nor were
they always classified by them as "p^v"; a fact that can be gathered
from the very frank inscription deliberately stitched into a sampler by
Patty Polk of Maryland, in 1800. Patty left a permanent record of the
rebellion that seethed in her young heart when she daringly cross-

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 197

stitched the words, "Patty Polk did this and she hated every stitch she
did in it. She loves to read much more." Then to atone for her unladylike
outburst, this studious child bowed to convention and patriotically em-
broidered on a white tomb the initials G. W. in honor of the Father
of her Country, and surrounded the whole with garlands of forget-me-
nots. 18

Indeed, among the more enlightened parents of the last century there
were some who recognized in play a natural outlet for the abundant
energies of childhood, and who sought to direct this power into proper
channels. These adults, in advance of their age, understood that what
was commonly considered an innate love of mischief was in fact nothing
more than the bubbling activity of youth seeking an outlet and expres-
sion. The busy hands and brains of children, then as now, were restless
for employment ever seeking something to do and if they were not
furnished with that which was useful and innocent, they invariably got
into mischief.

To harness this energy, as well as to point the moral of charity, adults
fostered, even in the very little, a desire to help others, on the theory
that the young were supposed to be happy when they thought themselves
useful. Children were encouraged to assist their elders, although such
exertions at times probably caused as much trouble as profit. It is recorded
ihat little ones were sent with their baskets on their arms and in the
name of peaceful pleasure to pick peas for dinner, to weed the garden,
or to feed the chickens, although constant supervision was necessary
to prevent such disasters as their pulling up flowers as well as weeds.
In the house, too, various small tasks were found to "amuse children
innocently." To avoid habits of listlessness or of useless play, little girls
dusted chairs and wiped spoons, while their brothers carried firewood
and water or ran errands. After these useful pursuits had been accom-
plished, the attention and skill of the girls might be turned to such
"ornamental work" as the making of boxes and baskets as gifts for their
friends. 19

In her Juvenile Anecdotes, Pricilla Wakefield gives an intimate de-
scription of the "useful amusement" in which a number of little girls
engaged:

I was pleased at seeing a little group of girls sitting around a large table, busily
employed at needlework; by the cheerfulness of their countenances and the
assiduity in their occupations, I guessed they were performing some voluntary
task, and enquired whether they were making their dolls new suits ... or
whether the baby house was to be furnished anew. . , . They smiled at my
enquiry and the eldest replied that they were making clothes for the poor . . .

198 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

and that they made up different things according to their choice. Sometimes
they made a complete dress for an infant; one selecting the cap for her share,
another a little shirt, a third a printed cotton gown, and a fourth a flannel
waistcoat; when the whole suit was finished, it was granted as a peculiar
reward to any of them ... to find some poor helpless babe, who stood in need
of such a gift. 20

In this same book the author described a garden contrived to offer
boys various kinds of amusements. In one part was a lawn on which
they might play at bowls, trap-ball, or such active sports. Among some
tall trees was fixed a rope swing which was supposed to contribute
equally to their health and happiness; while in an obscure corner, shel-
tered by thick shrubs, stood a small building furnished as a carpenter's
shop where the boys might prove their skill and ingenuity by making
useful objects. Boardwalks were laid for the accommodation of hoops
and skipping ropes; and a small piece of ground was allotted to the
children to cultivate as they pleased* There they sowed seeds and planted
shrubs, cultivated their miniature garden with small spades, hoes, and
rakes, and in due season had "a showing of flowers and vegetables." 21

Although Colonial adults usually did not raise serious objections to
the "form" of the games played by their children (such, for instance,
as the abhorrence with which New Englanders regarded playing cards
and dice), early Americans did begrudge youth the "time" spent in amuse-
ments, except that which was necessary to prevent "bodily weakness
and infirmity." This distinction must be kept in mind if one is to under-
stand the prevailing sentiment that held it proper to utilize the child's
inclination to perpetual motion by his "studies and stints in due season,"
with no definite allowance for playtime. Early in the nineteenth century
the editor of a litde book, Remarks on Children s flay, frequently ob-
served that the "litde innocents" in a city were much to be pitied for
the want of "safe and suitable room in the pure air to exercise and
recreate themselves." He was far from wishing to encourage too much
play, for he wrote:

Tho' all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
Yet all play and no work makes him a mere toy. 22

The author of Youthful Recreations declared that he did not know
who this Jack was, but since he did assent to the principle that youth
was the time to obtain a "stock of health," and health was best promoted
by moderate exercise, he would warn his little readers:

For he who sits by the fire all day,
And never goes abroad to play,

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 199

May keep himself from being cold,
But may not live till he is old. 23

In order to guarantee the blessings of old age, the boys and girls of
the land were advised to engage in some "rational recreation." This
writer moreover admonished: "Children will remain more apt for in-
struction, if we do not break the spring of their capacity for it, by too
eagerly overstraining; nay they may enjoy it perpetually, if we but have
the art of mixing it with their bodily exercise." To play with the battle-
dore and shuttlecock or with a trap and ball was good exercise; and
he went on to say that not only the children of the wealthy, but even
those of the poor who were compelled to pick cotton, card wool, or to
spin and reel all day, should have at least one hour morning and evening
for some youthful recreation. He also pointed out that the children of
the poor, who could not afford to buy toys, could at least play at hop-
scotch. 24

Although games and toys were accepted as part of the child's equip-
ment for the business of life, this concession was made with some reser-
vations. Witness the admonitions found as late as 1822:

They can employ themselves indoors with their tops to unbend the mind
from their studies, when the storm, howling without, forbids their chasing the
hoop, or tossing the ball; and in clear cold winter mornings, driving the whip-
top has a good effect to exercise the arms and body, and of giving a free cir-
culation to the blood. We would here remind our little readers, that although
we recommend divers kinds of plays, as rational, innocent, etc., yet we would
wish to be understood that we are far, very far, from being willing to encourage
more of any kind, than simply and alone to unbend the mind, invigorate
the body, that they may again return to their studies, or other useful employ-
ments with fresh energy and vigor. 25

Among the books of quiet games for the entertainment of children
were: The Whim Wham: or Evening Amusement for all ages and sizes;
Being an entire set of riddles, charades, questions, and transportations,
by a friend of innocent mirth, and also The Puzzling Cap, a Choice
Collection of Riddles in familiar verse, with a curious cut to each. This
last-named work was not all nonsense; for here and there among the
riddles it supplied the child with a moral lesson. For example, under
the picture of a barrel of beer were the following lines obliquely preach-
ing temperance:

My habitation's in a wood,
And Fm at any one's command;
I often do more harm than good,
If once I get the upper hand. 26

200 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

A new game was published in Philadelphia in 1806, under the title:
Geographical Statistical, and Political Amusement; by which may be
obtained a general and particular \nowledge of the United States. In a
series of interesting games on a map designed for the purpose. The pur-
pose was to help the child remember the relative importance o states
in their area and population, cities, rivers, and mountains, and to stimu-
late an interest in national geography. It was also meant to convey to
those unacquainted with such mysteries the process of electing the
highest officials, such as the President and Vice President. That the
geographical information at this date was meager is shown by the
section on the comparatively new state of Ohio, which read: "The time
of the first settlement unknown, but presumed to be about the year
1790 . . . area in square miles exclusive of Lakes, 39,128. Exports un-
known." In other items the information was more specific and exact.
For instance, the child was told that the Navy had twenty vessels of
560 guns; and that the public debt of the United States was $74,247,991 . 27

Amusements which led to exercise in the open air were considered
to have the advantage over all others, and certain writers during the
feminist movement of the early nineteenth century advocated that no
difference should be made in the outdoor sports of girls and boys. If
health and cheerful spirits were as necessary for one as for the other,
then such sports as gardening, skating, and snow-balling were as good
for girls as for boys. To the objection that such play would make girls
rude and noisy, these authors replied that such would not be the case
if influences "within doors favored gentleness and politeness"; and that
even if there were any dangers of this sort, it was easier to "acquire
elegance" in after life than it was to regain lost health. 28

While little ones were thus exposed to the quiet delights of "rational
play," older boys and girls helped to relieve the shortage of manpower
by such useful frolics as apple bees and cornhusks, or by spinning bevies
and quilting parties. The youth who voluntarily united to assist a neigh-
bor in any emergency that required dispatch were amply repaid at the
conclusion of their tasks, not only by the stores of refreshments, but
generally by that ever attractive diversion a "ball."

Of all cooperative pastimes in this scheme of "exchanging works,"
the husking bee oiJered perhaps the most rollicking amusement. After
the Indian corn had been gathered from the fields and deposited in
heaps in the cornhouse, an evening was appointed for the husking. Those
who were invited assembled early, took their seats in rows or circles
at strategic points, and attacked the monstrous heaps before them. The
ears were stripped with a dextrous hand and cast into a general pile,

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 201

while the husks were thrown behind the operators. During this process,
if a boy found an ear of red corn, he had the privilege of kissing the
girl of his choice. This was a pleasant tradition which usually inspired
most boys to come provided with one or more red ears in their pockets.
While the husking was in progress, songs, jests, and laughter lightened
the labor. Cider circulated freely to stimulate the workers to their best
efforts and to prepare them for the "banquet and ball" which were
regularly arranged to climax these occasions. 29

Besides these useful recreations of economic value to families, there
were others that were supposed to offer an educational or aesthetic ad-
vantage to children. Only by an examination of this "rational play" that
adults imposed on children at the beginning of the last century can the
modern reader appreciate to what lengths the patience of youth must
have been tried by the boring "amusements" in vogue. The prevailing
ideas of adults on the merits of "educational play" were frequently sugar-
coated in verse for youthful consumption. A typical example of this
"improvement" propaganda is found in the lines entitled "Holidays":

He found that employment created enjoyment,
And past the time cheerful away;
That study and reading, by far were exceeding
His cakes, his toys, and his play. 30

Among the classics in this field, the little volume, Garden Amusements
for Improving the Minds of Little Children, illustrates the recreational
diet of the times. Built around a slight story, this work deals with the
habits of plants and vines, earthworms, butterflies, bees, ants, snails, and
birds. The author remarks that the questions which even very little chil-
dren put to those about them, by way of gathering knowledge of what
they see and hear, fully prove that the "youthful mind is open at an early
age to receive instruction." Parents were advised not to waste time, but
to avail themselves of this desire in their children to teach them little
by little everything they should know. The modern reader is reassured
to find that during the recital of an obviously tiresome homily on plants,
"little Ann" plainly became bored and hungry:

One plant hath an oily nature, another is watery; one flower is of a red colour,
another is green or yellow; and some of both. One fruit is sweet, another is
bitter; one shrub is prickly, another is smooth; one root is wholesome, another
is poisonous; one tree is lofty, another is low. And thus is proved to us both
the wisdom and goodness of God, the Almighty Author; so that we may truly
say, "O Lord! how manifold are thy works, m thy wisdom thou hast made
them all; the earth is full of thy riches!

202 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Little Ann seemed tired of what I was saying, and, by her looks toward the
grape vine, gave me to understand what she wished. I love to please children,
and to be beforehand, if possible with them, in gratifying their innocent desires.
I soon gathered for them a bunch each. . . . But while they were thus happy
in the enjoyment, I thought it proper to mix instruction with it.

"You see, dear Ann, what a poor dry stick this is, on which those grapes
grow; should you have thought, my dear, had you looked upon it in the winter
season when no leaves or fruit appear, that it would ever be capable of affording
such delicious fruit?" Ann said, "No, I should not." "Well, then my dear, let
you and I learn never to judge of things by appearances alone. Many a man like
this vine may look poor and unpromising, and yet capable of doing us very
great acts of kindness." 31

Pictures have always been a perennial delight for children, hence a
number of picture books were published at the opening of the last century
for the "amusement and instruction" of the young. Although the motive
for producing these works was undoubtedly good, the results were de-
cidedly bad, until at length several writers were driven to open rebellion
against the practice of placing disproportionate pictures in the hands
of boys and girls. Engravings of animals on large cards were in much
demand at this time; but here especially the great aim of having objects
in proportion was utterly disregarded by most illustrators. It frequently
happened that when a child had been given at the same time a small
image of an elephant and a large one of a mouse, he naturally came
to the conclusion that both creatures were of the same size. Mary Jane
Kilner was among the first to voice disapproval of the old form and
content of juvenile books as sources of "amusement and entertainment"
for the young: "Though the sentiments should always be suited to their
simplicity, they ought to be expressed with propriety, since a taste for
elegance may be insensibly acquired; and we should always endeavour
to present them with proper models of imitation." 32

When the fundamentals of design were thus outraged, Lydia M. Child
was among those who sent up the plea for better illustrated juvenile
books: "No matter how coarse or common they are, but let them be
correct imitations of nature; if they be graceful as well as correct, so
much the better." 33 The adult world slowly awakened to the realization
that the sort of pictures children saw had an important effect in forming
their tastes; that good tastes were of no less consequence than fine feel-
ingSj lofty principles, and good sense.

In the process of crystallizing aesthetic values for youth, the diminu-
tive volume, A Picture Boo\ for Children, may easily have acted as a

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 203

catalytic agent. This book was precisely what it was stated to be on the
title page, and carried beneath each picture a line or two of text contain-
ing a moral precept, platitude, or explanation. For instance, a cut of a
mirror bore the obvious label: "We cannot see ourselves in this glass."
On the other hand, what looked like a discouraged robin had the re-
markable comment attached: "This turkey looks as if she had been in
a shower of rain perhaps she is not very well." A picture of a man and
woman sitting back to back on a bench before a fireplace gave the
counsel: "It is not genteel to sit back to back always look at a person
when you speak to him." Undoubtedly the book's most important con-
tribution to the world was the injunction found under a picture of a
mother and daughter: "Old folks should never forget they were once
young." 34

The title of another book, Amusement for Good Children by G.S.C., or
an Exhibition of Comic Pictures by Bob Sketch; Be Merry and Wise,
might be misleading to the modern reader. The author sought to remedy
the moral ills of youth by poking fun and ridicule at the violators of
social amenities. For instance, one of its poorly illustrated stories re-
counted a quarrel over the styles of the day by two "belles" Miss Fanny
Furbelow, an "old Maid" who had never changed her fashions since
her youthful days, and Miss Dolly Dabcheek, a young "flirt" who changed
to new styles at their yearly appearance. In a manner typical of the age,
girlish readers were told that the dress of both belles was preposterous,
although each regarded her own as perfect. From these premises, the
child was to draw the supposedly sound conclusion that "Fashion, the
whimsical child begot by Folly and Fancy, made many a ridiculous
figure of those who pay too great attention to her various modes." 35

A Peep into the Sports of Youth and the Occupations and Amusements
of Age likewise gave some interesting sidelights on early juvenile recrea-
tion. This book endorsed cricket wholeheartedly as the "most pleasing"
of the youthful sports, because in this diversion "healthful exercise and
exciting amusements were most happily connected." Seesawing, on the
other hand, was spurned as a useless pastime, and little horsemen were
warned that they had "better be mindful of their tasks, than mounted
on a dangerous plank where they would ride long before they got
home." 36 In accordance with the spirit of an age that extolled industry,
the book closed by dividing praise between the "industrious Dolly who
rose just as day broke in the East and forthwith began her churning,"
and the no less "diligent Mary who at the first song of the lark pumped
and heated water for her household tasks," as described in the verse:

204 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

With some she scours the dressers smart,
Or mops the kitchen bricks;
And in the kettle sings apart,
Above the crackling sticks. 37

According to this book, "peep shows" were in that day an irresistible
attraction of childhood. A description was given of a patriotic display
calculated to inspire the hearts of young Americans: "Here is Master
Curious and his sister spending their holiday money at the show box.
They are now taking a view of the battles fought by the great and
glorious Washington." 38 The international situation of the next decade
was similarly reviewed for the child's pleasure; and the American pastime
of "twisting the British lion's tail" was clearly indicated. For example,
Peter Pry's Puppet Show gave in their order the following explanatory
verses, under sketches of a bull dressed in men's clothing and smoking
a pipe, a representation of a huge bear, and a miniature figure of Napo-
leon in a bird cage guarded by an English peasant.

Here's Johnny Bull from England come.
Who boasts of being a sailor,
But Yankee tars will let him know
He'll meet with many a failure.

Here's Bruin next from Russia come,
Don't let him you affright. Sir,
Tho in his manner rather rough
You'll find him here polite, Sir.

Now here is somebody indeed!
You'll know him I'll engage, Sir,
If not, I'll tell you who it is
'Tis Boney m a cage, Sir. 39

As early as 1785, Isaiah Thomas published for dramatization in schools
several plays for children. Among them was Beauty and the Monster,
a comedy based on a fairy story by Stephanie-Felicite de Genlis, the
author of the Theater of Education. The closing lines of this work, ad-
dressed to the audience, gave the excuse for the play's existence: "Virtuous
hearts, never complain of your fate: and may this example teach you
to know that goodness and benevolence are the surest means of pleasing
and the only claims to love." 40 In another play, Hagar in the Desert, the
same author had the Angel Gabriel address the mother, Hagar, with
reassuring advice which might reflect for us the current adult attitude
toward the child: "Hagar, rejoice from henceforth in happiness un-
changeable: God sent me to try you. He is satisfied and all your troubles
are at an end. Train up your child in virtue: inspire him with the fear

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 205

and love of God. This is the most acceptable sacrifice your gratitude can
offer." 41

The "spectacle of Cinderella, calculated to arrest the attention and
to show virtue in her own image and vice as a deformity," was listed
among the happiest tales that could possibly be selected for dramatization
to instruct and amuse the generation of 1790. Such performances were
advertised as highly deserving of liberal patronage, because they kept
morals in view, and 'held virtue forth in such fascinating colors. The
last scene of this favorite fairy tale was described in verse for the child:

No longer his illness the Prince did endure;
A smile from Cinderella completed his cure;
The Queen to his nuptials did gladly consent,
The sisters were pardoned and all were content. 42

After the first decade of the new century the pleasure incidental to
the production of a child's play was set aside for the more useful "train-
ing in speaking of single pieces, or the acting of single scenes." John
Hamilton Moore expressed the sentiments of an age which reveled in
the art of "elocution." The long title of his work gave the aim and object
of those who substituted in the child's recreational life for the delight-
fully dramatized fairy stories of preceding years 43 what now seem tedious
"selections from celebrated authors." Commenting on this action, the
author said: "Though the acting of plays at school has been univer-
sally supposed a very useful practice, it has of late years been much laid
aside." The advantages arising from the production of juvenile plays
were no longer judged equal to the inconveniences necessitated and to
the "long interruptions to the common school duties occasioned by the
preparation of a play." It was also observed that the prevailing sentiment
of most plays did not sufficiently recommend them to the guardians o
youth. 44

Thus the sober business of life continually intruded on the child's
pursuit of happiness; but it seems that the "best-laid plans" of those who
sought to prevent the youth's amusements from engrossing his time and
thoughts came to naught before the avalanche of nonsense rhymes that
began to inundate juvenile reading early in the century. This nonsense
began with verses for the infant; the youngest reader could find in Old
Dame Margery's Hush~a-Bye, under the picture of a mother cuddling
her baby, the following rhyme:

Great A, little a, Bouncing B;

The cat's in the cupboard, and he can't see. 45

206 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Although the realists did their best to exclude such books as Dame
Trot and Her Comical Cat from the shelves of children's libraries, the
prodigious feats of the cat, Grimalkin, must have enchanted many little
boys and girls. A cat that could not only prepare a feast for her mistress
or play cards with the dog, Spot, and teach him to dance, but could also
dress herself so that those who saw her "look'd, admir'd, and curtsied
low," certainly merited a place among the children's friends. They could
read of Grimalkin's costume:

A hat and feather then she took,
And stuck it on aside;
And o'er a gown of crimson silk,
A handsome tippet tied.* 6

Another book of nonsense rhymes of equal appeal to the young was
The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog, in which
fifteen hand-colored "elegant copperplate engravings" offered a special
attraction. Since this has been one of the most popular jingle books of
childhood, some variations of it have survived to our time. One particu-
larly interesting scene of the old version described Mother Hubbard's dog
in the verse:

She went to the market to buy a sheep's head,
When she came back he was sick in his bed.
She ran away quick to call Dr. Hulse,
When she came back he was feeling his pulse. 47

In this group also belonged the rhymed version of the old familiar
story of ]ac\ and the Bean Stal{ f which at that time was called The
History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvelous Achievements of Her
Son fac{. Jack's timely warning by the damsel "with a cap all of lace"
that the giant would kill and eat him that night undoubtedly sent shivers
of delight up juvenile spines:

Soon as Jack saw him fall, he crept from the bed,
Then snatched a large knife and chopped off his head.
Thus he killed this great man, as he loudly did snore,
And never again was a giant seen more. 48

Stories of adventure, particularly the English tales reprinted in this
country, such as those of Robin Hood and his merry men, furnished
stimulating entertainment for American boys who loved

To read how Robin Hood and Little John,

Brave Scarlet, stately, valiant, bold, and free,

Each of them did bravely, boldly play the man,

While they did all reign beneath the Greenwood tree.

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 207

Bishops, Friers [sic], and Monks, likewise many more,
Parted with their gold to increase their store,
But ne'er would be guilty of robbing the poor. 49

Perhaps it was the popularity of this tale that inspired "a Citizen of
Philadelphia" to write "an original story of adventure," the scene of
which was laid in the castle of Vauban in Burgundy. The tale related
the experiences of Henry and Louis Boileau at the hands of the mur-
derous Count de Vauban, after they had been lost exploring the wonders
of his mysterious old castle. Prison, chains, dagger-wounds, and long
fevers were but the prelude to the boys' escape when the castle burned;
while their heroism during captivity led both lads to riches and a roman-
tic marriage. The last sentence of this story indicates the appeal such
fiction might have held for the peace-loving youth of Philadelphia: "No
foe to domestic tranquility ever passed their threshhold, no intestine
uneasiness inhabited their retirement, but as far as possible for humanity
they enjoyed permanent and unalloyed happiness." 50

The festivities of a people are assumed to reflect their national or sec-
tional character, hence the various states of the country, except those of
New England where Christmas was rejected as a feast, followed, as a
part of the English heritage, a definite cycle of holidays. This yearly
round of religious feasts and national holidays highlighted the recrea-
tional life of American boys and girls in an era that offered little excite-
ment. Not only were the holidays themselves unusually welcome pauses
free from the small irksome duties of other days but for the junior
members of the household the weeks of eager anticipation heightened
the enjoyment of their sumptuous dinners and gay family reunions.

The child's participation in the celebration of Christmas was curtailed
for many decades in New England by the moral discipline and religious
tenets of Puritanism, which were incompatible in many respects with
the traditional feasts of the mother country. Among the early Colonial
penal enactments of Plymouth was one that defined the stand of that
section on the question of amusements: "No one shall keep Christmas,
or any saint-day, read common-prayer, make mince pies, dance, play
cards, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet,
and Jew's harp." 51

Cotton Mather denounced Christmas festivities in strong terms: "Tis
an evident affront unto the grace of God for men to make the birth of
our holy Saviour an encouragement and an occasion for very unholy
enormities. Can you in your consciences think that our holy Saviour is
honored by mirth, by long eating, by hard drinking, by lewd gaming,

208 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

and by rude revelling?" 52 Despite this attitude, some communities such
as Narragansett, which was settled by wealthy Anglicans, observed two
weeks o Christmas visiting and feasting on the part of the planters and
their slaves alike. 53

The frequent and rigid observance of days of "fasting and abstinence
and the mortification of the flesh/ 5 which New Englanders set apart for
themselves, further manifested the resistance to Anglican feast days.
In prosperity or adversity, in peace or war, a general fast was their
favorite mode of expressing thanks or contrition. Whether the occasion
was joyful or sorrowful, a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer was
authorized, on which day all servile labor, and "recreation inconsistent
with the solemnity of the said day and all creature comforts were abso-
lutely forbidden by law." 54 But this solemn prohibition did not prevent
many children from regarding "Fast Day" merely as a time when they
were permitted to eat at random unlimited quantities of molasses ginger-
bread instead of sitting down to their regular meals. 55

Thanksgiving, which was definitely a New England feast, was ob-
served with fitting ceremonies and sports as the climax of the year's
activities. This holiday may have originated as a substitute for Christmas,
for it took place late in the autumn after the harvest had been gathered.
Generally the first or second Thursday of December was appointed by
the Governor for this purpose, and a copy of his proclamation was read
by every clergyman on the preceding Sunday. On Thanksgiving day
the people, dressed in their finest, assembled in the churches to listen to
appropriate sermons, and to join in prayers and hymns. These devotions
occupied about two hours of the morning; and the rest of the day
was given to feasting, games, football for boys, and a variety of amuse-
ments for adults. 56

Children found the Thanksgiving dinner the most attractive feature
of the day because most tables were supplied with an abundance of fish
and fowl, meat and game, as well as with a host of dainty desserts led
by the traditional pumpkin pie. Apprentices from the city, who were
allowed to visit their homes but once or twice a year, were sure to be
present to share these delights. This feast was therefore a jubilee that
drew together the members of the same family who had long been
separated. As a "ball" invariably closed the day's celebration, eager excite-
ment must have prevailed among the village lads and lasses. 57

Thanksgiving was not celebrated with the same strictness in the towns
south of New England, nor was it enjoyed with the same zest. Although
the churches held appropriate services, these exercises were not followed
by any extraordinary feasting and rejoicing. This attitude was probably

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 209

conditioned by the general introduction o other holidays, especially
Christmas, which was kept by Christians of other denominations; but
it was celebrated with particular solemnity by the people o New York. 68

Many of the Dutch customs and distinct observances of the early set-
tlers were still prevalent as late as 1835 in the city and state of New
York. The readiness with which the English copied the festivities of a
Dutch Christmas, New Year's, and Paas led to the observation that the
"jolly Saint Nicholas on a dark night was unable to distinguish his own
legitimate urchins from those of pure English blood. And as a result,
he good-naturedly distributed his gifts to all with no distinctions except
those that arose from superior conduct." Notwithstanding the fact that
the population of the middle and southern states included representatives
from almost every nation on the globe, there was little dissimilarity in
their holiday amusements. 59

New Year's Day, the first feast of the yearly cycle, was observed not
only as one of the Christmas holidays, but also "as a landmark in the
journey of life, an inn or stopping place for refreshments, at which the
wayworn traveller pauses with delight, and then passes forward with
renovated hope and vigor." 60 On that day the heads of most households
liberally dispensed spiced beverages and cakes to all visitors, and petty
disputes and jealousies were temporarily forgotten in the exchange of
"Happy New Year" greetings.

A contemporary account of New Year's celebrations gives a glimpse
of the children's participation in the joys of that day, near Philadelphia:
"Some gambolled and tumbled on the frozen Delaware; others played
at hurley with crooked sticks, with which they sometimes hit the ball,
and sometimes each other's shins." A few of the boys who were fortunate
enough to own a pair of skates enjoyed that sport in which they were
"emulated by some half dozen little urchins with smooth bones fastened
to their feet, skating away with a gravity and perseverance worthy of
better implements." The author declared these lads made the "frost-bit
ears of winter glad with the sounds of mirth and revelry . . . and that
the icy mirror of the noble Delaware reflected as light hearts as ever
beat together in the new world." 61

Easter or the Paas, by which term the merry schoolboys of the middle
states understood nothing more or less than Easter Monday, the "day
of cracking eggs," was next in the cycle of the great feasts. In this section
the ancient practice of dyeing eggs was widely practised. Paas eggs dyed
in a variety of bright colors were displayed for sale on Easter Monday
by grocers and hucksters. For centuries the egg had expressed the idea

210

AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

of the resurrection of Christ; for the chick emerging from its shell
symbolized Our Lord ascending from the grave to a new life.

Descendants of the Dutch developed, in connection with the Paas
celebration, a new game that was believed to be peculiar to the United
States. Both parties in preparation equipped themselves with the "muni-
tions of war," which were in this case a dozen or more eggs carefully
selected and scientifically tested by tapping the "butts" and "points" (the
large and small ends) against the front teeth to make sure that the shells
were hard and strong. The challenger then enclosed an egg in one hand
with only the "point" or "butt" visible as the choice might be. As the
egg generally protruded some distance below the circling thumb and
fingers, the lower end was supported by the palm of his other hand.
Holding the egg in this manner, the boy challenged his opponent to
hit it with the point or butt of another egg; the egg that cracked after
one or more trials became if so facto the prize of the victor. In this man-
ner, hundreds of eggs usually exchanged hands within a short time; and
since the crack which they had received did not lessen their intrinsic
value, the victors made some profit by the sale of their winnings. 63

Human beings, even in childhood, are prone to take advantage of their
fellow creatures, hence it is not surprising to learn that artificial eggs,
curiously made of wood, marble, or other hard substances, were often
used with such cleverness as to deceive the eye of an unsuspecting youth.
The deluded one would, as a result, find himself suddenly stripped of
his capital without being able to account for his losses. Records testify
that when such tricks were detected, retribution overtook the young
villain with lightning speed. 63

The Fourth of July seems to have been a far more welcome holiday
for boys and girls in the early iSoo's than it is in modern times. Cannon
were fired off at morning and noon, and bells rang joyously; while in
some places there were firecrackers or torpedoes to endanger the life
and limbs of the young. After watching a military parade march through
the main street and seeing the display of colors, children decked in their
Sunday clothes attended the church services in which a blessing was
asked on the nation. Some statesman of more or less importance delivered
an oration in which much was usually said about "this universal Yankee
nation." It is recorded that young people at noon devoured amazing
quantities of fried chicken and cake at the public dinners; and in the
evening from some vantage point they watched the rockets that were
sent skyward from their own or a neighboring town. After completing
this program, children went wearily to bed with the comfortable feeling
that they had been good patriots. 64

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 211

Undoubtedly it was Christmas, the closing holiday of the year, which
eclipsed all other festivals by the gayety and splendor of its celebration
in all sections except New England. A stranger in the city of New York
described in phrases that have a delightfully familiar tone, the "pleasing
and effective spectacle" of the streets on Christmas Eve:

Whole rows of confectionary stores and toy shops, fancifully, and often
splendidly decorated with festoons of bright silk drapery, interspersed with
flowers and evergreens, are brilliantly illuminated with gas-lights. . . <, During
the evening until midnight, these places are crowded with visitors of both sexes
and all ages; some selecting toys and fruit for holiday presents; others merely
lounging from shop to shop to enjoy the varied scene. But the most interesting
and most delightful of all, is the happy and animated countenances of the
the children on this occasion. Their joy cannot be restrained, but bursts out
in boisterous mirth, or beams from their countenances in sunny smiles, which
are still more expressive. 65

The Christmas season in the rural districts, where homeborn pleasures
were obviously the only ones at hand, still afforded children the highest
degree of satisfaction and joy. The boys and girls of a family carefully
selected a gigantic yule log long before the day came on which they
were to drag it home. With appropriate ceremony on Christmas Eve
they rolled this log upon the hearth, and placed before its crackling
flames supplies of nuts, cakes, and cider. Children, according to the tradi-
tion of the particular family, hung their stockings to be filled by Santa
Clause either on the mantelpiece or at the foot of their beds. 66 A con-
temporary story illustrates the practice:

On Christmas Eve, little Charles hung his stocking carefully by the chimney
corner, and after saying his prayers, got into bed and soon fell asleep. Charles
dreamed that he was in bed peeping at his stocking over the bed-clothes, when
he saw a very pleasant-looking gentleman come down the chimney on a nice
little pony. His hair was made of crackers, and as he came nearer to the lamp
that stood on the hearth, pop went off one of the crackers, then another, and
then another. But Saint Nicholas was not a bit frightened; he only rubbed his
ears, patted the pony to keep him quiet, and laughed till he showed the con-
cave of his great mouth full of sugar plums. 67

Most of the active motion games played by early American children
were of old English origin. These were accompanied by rhymed formulas
such as "London bridge is falling down, etc.," which had been transmitted
from generation to generation. In this process of handing down the
rhymes and rules of juvenile play, the printed word had practically no
part. Since the tradition was almost wholly oral, the rhymes of American
children differed slightly from the form of the same game played in

212 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Great Britain. A few games were also borrowed from Ireland, France,
and Germany, but these formed only a small portion of the stock m
trade of American youth.

Boys' games, impelled by some mysterious force, succeeded one another
with little variation at fixed times every year; a phenomenon which can
hardly be explained except as a matter of instinct in some measure con-
ditioned by the climate and by the traditions of the mother country. As
a matter of fact, in all the states from Maine to Georgia, the first play
"time" of the year was marble-time. Thus in New England, when the
snow had hardly melted, boys scooped out the necessary holes and
"knuckled at taw" on the oozing ground, while at that very time the
lads of Georgia were absorbed in the same game. 68

Subsequent to the period for marbles, the appropriate series of sports
in New York was explained by the adage: "Top-time's gone, Kite-time's
come, and April Fool's Day will soon be here." In Georgia the succession
was kites, tops, and hoops. In that region, too, the season for popguns
was determined by the time when chinaberries were ripe; for then the
pith of the elder reed was ripe enough to be pushed out, and the empty
stalk could be used for the barrel of the weapon. Baseball was the special
holiday game for the New England Fast Day on the first of April, just
as football was their regular amusement for Thanksgiving afternoon. 69

To determine who was to be "It" or who had the onerous duty of
commencing a game, an amazing variety of counting-out rhymes was
used by children in the different parts of the country. A child told off
the words of a rhyme by tapping every player; and the one on whom
the last word fell was "out." Often each player m a small group put
his finger on the brim of an inverted hat, and the words were told ofif
on the fingers. This rite in either form was repeated until only one child
was left; he was then obliged to lead the game. 70 Most of these rhymes
made no sense, but were mere gibberish of unmeaning sounds with
rhythm the most important quality. The following examples illustrate
this jargon and give the locality in which it was most popular:

1234

Mary at the kitchen door

5678

Mary at the garden gate.
(Massachusetts)

Eny, meny, mony, mine,
Hasky, pasky, daily, ine,
Agy, dagy, walk.
(Connecticut)

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 213

Apples and oranges, two for a penny,
Takes a scholar to count as many;
OUT, out goes he.

Three potatoes in a pot
Take one out and leave it hot.

Red, white, and blue,
All out but you.
(Philadelphia)

Monkey, monkey, bottle o beer,
How many monkeys are there here?
123 You are he.

Intry mintry cutry corn,

Apple seed and apple thorn,

Wire brier limber lock,

Five geese in a flock:

Set and sing by the spring,

OUT, out.

(Massachusetts to Georgia) 71

The origins of this childish lore belong for the most part to medieval
England to the days before religious distinctions existed hence there
were no striking contrasts in the ordinary amusements of American chil-
dren, either in the North or South, or in the descendants of Puritan,
Quaker, or Anglican. The old active games were usually accepted by
Americans as part of the tradition of their ancestors. Certain timeworn
sports of youth were maintained even in Puritan localities, with the
result that some of the grace, music, and gayety of merry England sur-
vived to brighten the formality and gloom of the child's existence. 72

The volume of works on children's games and sports produced in the
middle section, and particularly in the Philadelphia area, suggests that
active play was either more in keeping with the tastes of this region or
that the publishers of this locality were more concerned with supplying
children's recreational needs. At any rate, more than three times as many
works on juvenile sports were published in the middle states as in New
England, where amusement of a quiet nature, such as stories, was sup-
plied by the publishers. As already indicated, the active sports so attrac-
tive to the young were perpetuated there chiefly by an oral tradition.

Youthful Sports, published in Philadelphia in 1802, contained not only
practical descriptions of active sport, but also gave warning of the dan-
gers lurking in them for young players. An idea of the fearful and
awful caution behind recreational advice can be gathered from the rules
for such apparently harmless frolics as "Blind-man's Buff." The direc-

214 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

tions began with the plea: "Stop him! he is running against the wall!
Blmdman's Buff is a rather dangerous play unless it be in some open
place, or very large room. It seems to be very amusing! How they laugh!
But if the blinded boy should fall down and break his nose, what then!" 73
In "Peg Top/' the author tells of a child who nearly lost a toe "by a
violent blow from one of these tops"; so he concluded: "Surely then, Peg
Top is hardly safe." He also observed that in trundling hoops, little boys
were so taken up with their play that they were often heedless where
they drove. 74 Directions for the use of the bow and arrow gave extrava-
gant warning:

Bend well your bow, your skill to try,

Then shoot the target in the eye!

Tis better thus to be employed,

Than have the birds for nought destroyed.

Children are fond of variety; and this play will do
If care be taken not to shoot each other, or to
Kill birds wantonly. It will not answer at all in
The crowded streets of New York. 75

The aim of many writers evidently was to instill a regard for caution
in the heart of youth; for in such works as A Mother s Remarks on a
Set of Cuts for Children, a variety of "harmless sports" were described
and recommended. Among those for boys, looking through a microscope
held high place a diversion which reflected the growing popularity of
science as well as the attempts then being made to harmonize religion
and science in current thought. Budding scientists were told that many
animals were so small as to be invisible to the human eye, but, with the
assistance of a magnifying glass, observers could see the goodness and
wisdom of God in the most minute insects. 76

Some reform writers at the beginning of the century objected to girls'
playing with dolls because they thought such toys led to a love of dress
and finery. The majority of children's books, however, listed the dressing
of a doll by an "industrious little girl" as the "most innocent amusement
for tender youth, and the most agreeable to their future employ." Making
dolls' gowns and hats not only stimulated the child's imagination and
afforded her a useful experience in "neat sewing," but it was thought
that the rocking and crooning to a doll as a creature from the world
of "make-believe" developed strong affections in the little owners. 77

Pets were supposed to have a good effect on youth for this same reason;
and the feeding and care of such animals as dogs, cats, lambs, or rabbits
was encouraged because it aroused kindness and stimulated a love of

'T/f&

I wis

. said Ellen, in her walk,
Doll codld gun aM talk.

SA/ZSATO rxe

1 ^ Who, saicf; Churlcs "wil taKe a iripf

: To Bdsttttl, in my ttim tuilt Skip ?

. r f i *

From JUVENILE PASTIMES IN VERSE, 1830

MT STOPS Reading to ROBERT andfo SISTER.

m

"Eviy lady^ in this laud

"Has twenty nails u|><p. _pkch hand

^Isf

ftt twnitfy oii.liaiids&wfeet ^

this is true williorii djeeeitT ^ ;

Hie real sense

From PUNCTUATION PERSONIFIED; OR POINTING
MADE EASY, 1831

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 215

usefulness in children. There were frequent references to this pastime
in the books of children's amusements; for instance. The Seasons has
this passage:

The feeding of chickens is a very pleasing business for little children. What
a pretty sight they make when they are fed, or when their mother hovers
over them. And the litde chicks if they are hungry or have lost their mother
have a language to tell their distress, which makes tender litde children feel
for them. 78

The care of pets was also employed to foster humanitarian virtues in
children. One finds in the juvenile literature early in the century evidence
of the same humane trends which later appeared in the national social
reforms of the iSoo's. In a little book entitled Limed Twigs, for exam-
ple, the child was told to deny himself the pleasure of keeping rabbits,
pigeons, and other wild creatures penned up in cages, since it was their
nature to frisk about and fly at will in search of food. 79 The story of
The Tame Goldfinch was a favorite among the publishers of children's
moralistic tales for several decades. The woeful account of Louisa Man-
ner starving her goldfinch through neglect ended with this lesson to
careless youth:

Mr. Manners regarded her with a severe look and reprimanded her on
account of her negligence, observing that if he had twisted off the bird's neck
when he bought it, the cruelty would have been small indeed, when compared
to that of suffering it to perish with famine.

Louisa stood over the bird, clasping her hands with unutterable grief. . . . Mrs.
Manners was deeply affected by her daughter's unfeigned sorrow, and pleaded
so powerfully as to obtain her forgiveness; but whenever she was guilty of
any giddiness or inattention, the bird (which was stuffed for that purpose)
was immediately produced, and everyone exclaimed, "She had forgot the bar-
barous death of the Tame Goldfinch." 80

Cruelty to animals was further denounced in JEsop's Fables, especially
in the story of the mischievous boys who threw stones at the frogs in
a pond, and were reproached in turn by one of the victims: "Children,
you should consider, that though this may be sport to you it is death
to us." The "Application" of this fable declared that the cruel practice
many children had of throwing stones at harmless birds and other
creatures, of torturing flies, setting dogs on cats to worry them, or in
any way afflicting an animal for sport showed that their education had
not been of the proper sort. They were unfeeling children with depraved
morals; and such callousness, if continued, would end in brutality and
tyranny. 81

2i6 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Children of this country played various kinds of ball games including
football, cricket, stool-ball, fives, baseball, tip-cat, and trap-ball. 82 This
sport was advocated for schoolboys as an "excellent exercise to unbend
the mind and to restore to the body that elasticity and spring which the
close application to their studies had a tendency to blunt." 83 In this age
of caution, football, although popular with boys, was given only a half-
hearted approval by adults. "This play is not so desirable as some others
of the kind; for in the hurry to kick the ball, boys sometimes hurt each
other sadly." 84 An old description of "Fives" is typical of the verses for
other forms of ball games:

With what force the little ball
Rebounds, when struck against the wall;
See how intent each gamester stands!
Mark well his eyes, his feet, his hands!

Rule of hfe

Know this (which is enough to know)

Virtue is happiness here below. 85

Even in Colonial days horseback riding was not only a pleasure en-
joyed by most children, but a necessity as well, because other means of
travel were few and inconvenient. Hence a number of children's manuals
were published in the eighteenth century dealing with the "art of riding
and reducing the horse to proper obedience, as well as necessary direc-
tions for a journey." Young riders were warned to heed the golden rule
of this art: "Mad men and mad horses never will agree together." 86
Although horseback riding was still considered in 1835 a healthful exer-
cise for both sexes, as well as a favorite "rational sport," it was steadily
losing ground to the pleasures of "the more luxurious modes of travel
on steamboats and railroad cars." 87 But boys still had their ponies and
learned to ride them early, as can be inferred from such verses as the
following:

I gracefully sit in saddle with ease,

To manage my poney with art;

My toes I hold in, and I keep tight my knees;

I have my whole lesson by heart.

I low hold my bridle, and steady and still,
Nor wriggle nor sidle about;
I lean myself forward, when going up hill
And downhill lean backward no doubt. 88

"Skipping the rope" has now been taken over by the girls as their own,
but in the early days this game was considered a "pretty play for active

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 217

boys," 89 By the 'thirties a concession was made in favor of the equally
active little maids: "Little boys and girls can amuse themselves in this
play with much propriety. In cities especially where play ground is scarce,
this exercise is very commendable." 90 For the sake of economy little boys
were advised "never to skip with their shoes off" as that practice wore out
stockings very fast "a waste that all good children should endeavor to
avoid." 91

The method of playing the well-known game "I Spy" varied somewhat
from the procedure followed today. According to the old rules, six or
eight boys stayed at "home/' as the base was called, while an equal
number hid themselves within a given district. At a signal, those on
base went in search of the hiders; and when a seeker spied a lad in his
hiding place, he called out: "I spy Tom Brown. Home for Tom Brown!"
Then the boy spied rushed forth and caught, if he could, any one of
the seekers and rode home on his back. 92

On the index of outlawed games were those that were condemned as
being either too rough or too cruel, hence not proper for children.
Wrestling was described as a "violent and dangerous exercise" that might
easily produce broken or dislocated bones. Fishing and bird-nesting,
although alluring pastimes for many boys, were branded as "detested
sports that owed their pleasure to another's pain." 93 "Badger the Bull" or
"Bait the Bear" was thought so "foolish and dangerous a game that not
one word could be said in its favor." An interesting description of this
old favorite of the boys is given in Youthful Sports:

A boy kneels down on the ground and has another to stand over him to guard

him from the blows of the rest Some boys stand around with their

handkerchiefs twisted up, and tied in a knot at one end, to strike the harder;
while he that is to bear the blows sits in the middle, with his arms over his
head, to defend it from their attacks, until his keeper may catch an assailant,
who lies down in his turn. Boys should be taught not to look upon any sport
as a pleasure which has been attended with some bad consequences; at best it
tends to wear out the handkerchiefs, and to make children careless about
their clothes, which are not made without much labour, nor procured without
much expense. 94

In a typical book of juvenile pastimes forty-five games were described,
of which all but three were for boys; while eight others swinging, bath-
ing, jumping rope, hunting the slipper, riding on hands, threading the
needle, tossing bialls, and shutdecock were recommended either for boys
or girls as "profitable and suitable to occupy the reasonable time allowed
as a respite from the needle or study." In the accounts of the three diver-
sions reserved exclusively for girls dressing dolls, blowing soap bubbles,

2i8 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

and cup and ball the description of the last game not only indicates
the contemporary attitude towards the female sex, but definitely sets the
proper bounds for girls' amusements. The game cup and ball is charac-
terized as a "trifling diversion as there seems not much to be gained by
it on the score of exercise; it is fit only for girls to amuse themselves
with, and for them only in rainy weather, or on a very hot day. It requires
a steady hand and a nice eye for the player to be expert in catching the
ball in the point of the ivory handle." 95 Older girls were told to amuse
themselves by reading, and by the study of natural science especially
by "arranging flowers, by walking abroad in solitude, or by useful and
cheerful conversations with their friends." 96

Dancing was always a favorite amusement for older children; young
people in towns and villages assembled at every opportunity to "trip
merrily to the sound of music." Many of these dances, by their very
names, reflected the historical trend of the times. For example, in a
Choice Collection of New and Approved Country Dances of 1796, there
were directions given young Americans for performing The Democratic
Rage, The President, De La Bastille, and Genet's Recall Even in New
England, dancing masters taught little boys and girls their steps as a
part of a liberal education; for this complicated art was everywhere re-
garded as a pleasant accomplishment as well as a solemn business in good
society. Hence it is recorded that when a Philadelphia girl, who was
taking part in a country dance, spoke for a minute to a friend and con-
sequently forgot her turn, the master of ceremonies rushed to her saying:
"Give over, Miss. Take care what you are about. Do you think you came
here for your pleasure?" 98

The vanity and dissipation which at times accompanied dancing
brought it into disrepute; and the controversy on its merits as a juvenile
pastime raged bitterly in children's books. As a mere exercise, dancing
raised no objections; but on moral grounds it was charged with bringing
the sexes together in circumstances "unfavorable to the cultivation of
female delicacy." It was blamed for monopolizing the thoughts of youth
with preparations days before the event occurred, and with stealing hours
ordinarily given to sleep and rest. As dancing was believed by some to
foster vanity and "to work up the mind to a feverish excitement," it
was also condemned on the score that it was followed by "a state of
body and mind which for a time at least forbade any useful exertion." 99
Denunciation of this pleasure was futile, nevertheless, in an age which
offered so little other excitement and so few opportunities for social
gatherings. 100

Children's balls and parties were common occurrence by the 'thirties,

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER

219

and though reformers were grieved to see "innocent creatures thus early
trained to vanity and affectation," their protests were likewise futile.
Lydia M. Child particularly deplored those balls "where children in
imitation of their elders in the fashionable world, ate confectionery, stayed
up late, dressed in finery, talked nonsense, and affected what they did
not feel." 101

While it is true that early American children played a variety of
games, they did not have an equal assortment of toys. During most of
this period such orthodox playthings as boys and girls did enjoy were
imported from Europe and especially from England. Dolls of various
kinds were first ( on the list of these juvenile importations, ranging from
small jointed wooden figures to the more elaborate creations with a kid
body and china head dressed for the most part like adults of the
period. 102 Since these puppets required homes, there were also intriguing
"baby houses" fully equipped with tiny figures, furniture, and cooking
utensils. All kinds of military apparatus had its age-old appeal in these
days; toy bows and arrows were used in spite of the warnings found
in little books; and pop-guns with pellets of clay, or slings made to send
missiles a distance, were always popular with boys, if not with their
families. Small warriors, armed with little wooden swords, stepped to
martial music furnished by elder pipes, cow-horn trumpets, or by regular
drums. Troops of dashing tin or wooden soldiers, painted and dressed
in gay uniforms, were reviewed by many little American boys as the
climax of their hopes and dreams. 103

The English "penny toys," sold in this country during the nineteenth
century by the Yankee peddlers, included carved wooden horses mounted
on wheels that could be pulled about by the child, or bright-colored
jumping jacks on a stick, whose arms and legs jerked frantically when
a string was pulled, as well as toy acrobats who could whirl around a
wooden bar and "never pause for breath." Among the mechanical toys
of painted wood were small merry-go-rounds that revolved to wheezy
tunes as a handle was turned, birdcages that squeaked when the top was
pressed, and boats, "occupied by ladies and gentlemen," which swung
blithely from a crossbeam. 104

There are only a few allusions to specific toys in the children's books
of this period, but among the references is a good description of "The
Wax Doll," a work which shows that these toys were an established in-
stitution with little girls as early as 1804:

Mamma now brought her home a Doll of wax,
Its hair in ringlets white and soft as flax;

220 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Its eyes could open, and its eyes could shut,
And on it with much taste its clothes were put.

She plac'd it in the sun, misfortune dire:
The wax ran down as if before the fire!
Each beauteous feature quickly disappeared,
And melting left a blank all soil'd and smeared. 105

Most American girls were mercifully spared the loss of their dolls in
the above manner, for either the poverty of their parents or their remote-
ness from toyshops prevented the purchase of such treasures. Always,
in the serious business of play, children have naturally copied the objects
which surrounded them, and have imitated the activities of adults. Thus
these little ones who were denied the artistic toys of the shops cleverly
supplied their play needs by objects of their own manufacture. There are
records of little country girls whose imagination and busy fingers con-
trived cows of fir-cones, and tiny chairs, sofas, and cradles of prickly
burdock balls, as well as cups and saucers of acorns. These little maids
could fashion dolls of small stickswithout arms and legs or features,
to be sure but gorgeously costumed in hollyhock skirts and petunia
bonnets! No less ingenious were they in exploiting the recreational
facilities of a neighboring hill; for there is evidence to show that in the
fantastic world of make-believe the stony ledges of the hillside might
readily become the winding stairs up castle towers with breakfast rooms
and boudoirs on the landings. There the little girls could set tables with
bits of broken glass and china for imaginary guests; or the young
mothers might leave their weather-beaten rag families asleep beneath
mullein-blankets or plantain-coverlets while they amused themselves on
the lofty turrets at the summit. 106

Skillful little boys made kites and reed fifes, pegged together carts
from bits of wood, or whittled ingenious toys for themselves and others.
Very small lads galloped miles on broomstick horses; while others, a
litde older, expertly managed hobby-horses fashioned from a long-necked
squash that had been bridled and placed on four sticks. There are also
records of numerous sham battles fought by determined youth armed
with wooden swords and reed popguns; others of a more tranquil nature
fastened smooth bones to their shoes for skates, or coursed down hills
on homemade sleds. 107

Children learned early that their talents were not given them solely
for pleasure, but rather for the sober business of life. It was almost a

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 221

universal assumption that one's faculties were to be diligently employed
either at work or at some "rational sport/' and not merely squandered
in idleness and frivolous pursuits. 108 To early American children, play
was indeed a part of the business of life, but always a minor part. Boys
and girls at this period were quite adept at mixing work and play, and
one may recognize in many phases of our modern morale either in
athletics or in warfare traces of that vibrant energy and grim drive
for victory which animated the youth of former days an such competitive
frolics as corn huskings and spinning bevies.

The majority of young Americans whose parents could not afford
expensive imported toys lost nothing in constructing playthings for them-
selves. Thus left to their own devices in childhood, they proved espe-
cially resourceful in later life. The crude creations of youth were un-
doubtedly supplied by the childish imagination with the qualities de-
manded by their age and talents. Since fineness of form is indeed of
small importance to the young, and the instinct for destruction is always
strong within them, those absurd playthings which the early children
fashioned for themselves best answered their quickly changing whims.
In deference to the play instinct, which abhors relics of its recent past,
either the girl's flower-dressed doll or the boy's squash horse conveniently
fell to pieces and disappeared as soon as it had satisfied some fleeting
need. Such were the capacities of youthful imaginations and the impetus
given to creative genius by work and play that early American boys and
girls, in the serene orbit of their simple childhood experiences, could
dream dreams of greatness and lay the groundwork for the miracles of
art and science wrought by succeeding generations.

Seasons, p. 21. Italics are mine. The mutual appraisal of the worlds of adult-
hood and childhood is further revealed by the inscription on the frontispiece of a
small book entitled A Peep Into The Sports of Youth: "The cradle age is that of
helplessness. In a few years after, when we get the use of every faculty, we think that
old folks are fools, while they, by experience, know that we are so." See A Peep Into
The Sports of Youth, And The Occupations And Amusements of Age, Frontispiece.

2 Isaac Watts, Divine Songs For The Use of Children, p. 22.

3 /4 Present to Children, Part of the Dedication.

^lbid.> p. 10.

*lbid., pp. 13, 14-

*lbi d., p. 15.

7 A Child's Spelling Book, P- 5 1 -

*The Daughter's Own Book, PP- 123-25.

9 W. E. Andrews, The Catholic School Book, p. 187.

Ibid., p. 188.

11 Edgar W. Knight, Twenty Centuries of Education, pp. 494-96.

12 Theodore Dwight, Jr., The Father's *Boo\, p. 97.

n lbid., pp. 106, 107.

222 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

d., p. 108.

15 Mary Jane Kilner, The Memoirs of a Peg Top, pp. 88, 89.
16 Sigourney, op. at., pp. 246, 247.

17 Caroline Hewins, A Mid-Century Girl and Her Eoo\s, p. 19.
18 As quoted in Ethel S. Bolton and Eva J. Coe, American Samplers, p. 96.
19 Lydia Maria Child, The Mother's Book PP- 61, 62 - 7 .

20 Pricilia Wakefield, Juvenile Anecdotes founded on facts. Collected for the Amuse-
ment of Children, p. 81.
M-lbid., pp. 114-16.
^Remarks on Children's Play, p. 2.
^Youthful Recreations, pages unnumbered.

^Children's Amusements, p. 15 See also Mrs. Teachwell (pseud.), Rational Sports
in Dialogues passing among Children of a Family.

ZQ The Whim Wham; see also The Puzzling Cap, pp. 10, u.

& Geographical, Statistical, and Political Amusement; by which may be obtained
a general and particular knowledge of the United States. In a series of interesting
games on a map designed for the purpose, pp, 10, u.

^Child, op. at., pp. 58, 59.

29 Horatio Smith, Festivals, Games and Amusements, Ancient and Modern, pp.

^Original Poems for Infant Minds, By Several Young Persons, I (1816), 91.

^Garden Amusements for Improving the Minds of Little Children, p. 8.

32 Mary Jane Kilner, The Adventures of Pincushion, Preface, v.

Child, of. at., pp. 54, 55- , ,

U A Picture Boo{ for Little Children, pages unnumbered.

^Amusements for Good Children by G. S. C., pp. 17, 18.

A Peep into the Sports of Youth and the Occupations and Amusements of Age,
pp. 11-15.

Mlttd., p. 30.

**lbid., p. 29.

Peter Pry's Puppet Show. Part Second. There's a Time for Wor\ and a Time for
Play, pages unnumbered.

40 Stephanie-Felicite de Genlis, The Beauty and the Monster, A Comedy from the
French. Extracted from the Theatre of Education, p. 36.

41 Madame Leprince de Beaumont, The Beauty and the Monster, p. 31.

^Charles Perrault, Cinderella; or the Little Glass Slipper, Illustrated with elegant
engravings, p. 16; see also Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, A Grand Allegorical
Pantomimic Spectacle as performed at the Philadelphia Theatre, pp. 1-12.

43 John Hamilton Moore, The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English
Teacher's Assistant; being a collection of select pieces from our best modern writers
calculated to facilitate the reading, writing, and the speaking of the English language
with elegance and propriety, title page.

"Ibid., p. 8.

^OldDame Margery's Hush-a-Bye, pages unnumbered.

46 Dame Trot and Her Comical Cat, pages unnumbered.

^Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog, pages unnumbered.

The History of Mother Twaddle, and the Marvelous Achievements of her son
]ac\, by H. A. C,, pages unnumbered.

^The Life and Death of Robin Hood, complete in twenty -four songs, p. i.^

Adventures in a Castle, An Original Story, Written by a Citizen of Philadelphia,
p. 72.

51 Srmth, op. cit., p. 321.

62 As quoted by Abram Brown, "The Ups and Downs of Christmas in New Eng-
land," in New England Magazine, New Series, vol. 29 (1904), 483.

SNARES OF THE OLD DELUDER 223

**Ibid., p. 484.
54 Srmth, op. tit., p. 322.

55 Lucy Larcom, A New England Girlhood, p. 98.
56 Horatio Smith, op. cit., pp. 322, 323.
, p. 324.

59 1 bid., p. 331. Although William Penn, in a quarrel with the governor of New
York, hinted that the custom of observing holidays "savoured not only of popery,
but paganism," this idea was set aside by most of his colonists, particularly by the
Germans, with the result that the observance of Christmas, for example, suffered
httle if any sea change.

lbid., p. 332.

lbid., p. 336.
**I&id. f p. 337.
^Larcom, op. cit., p. 98.
65 Smith, op. at., pp. 339, 340.

ibid., p. 341.

^The Christmas Dream of Little Charles, pp, 3-6.

68 Newell, op. cit. r pp. 175, 176.

lbid., p. 176.

Ibtd., pp. 194, 195-

t^lbid., pp. 199-202; See also Mother Goose's Melody, or Sonnets for the Cradle,
pp. 21-25; Peter Prim's Profitable Present to Little Misses and Masters of the United
States, pp. 14-16. The Connecticut rhyme, "Eny meny, etc.," according to Alexander J.
Ellis, is an imitation of a curious old Gipsy system of counting from one to ten:
"unemi, dunemi, troemi, ronemi, donemi, etc/" The Philadelphia version went:
Eny, meny, mony, mite,
Butter, lather, bony strike,
Hair cut, froth neck,
Halico, bahco,
We, wo, wack. (See Newell, op. cit., p. 199.)

72 William Wells Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, pp. 1-3.

Youthjul Sports, p. 40.

lbid. t pp. 43, 44. See also Tommy Lovechild, Pretty Poems in Easy Language for
the Amusement of Little Boys and Girls, p. 3.

^Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, p. 13.

A Mother's Remarks on a Set of Cuts for Children, Part i, p. 83.

77 Child, op. cit., p. 57; see also A Mother's Remarks, p. 85; Useful Sports, p. 31;
Esther Singleton, Dolls, Introduction, v.

78 The Seasons, p. 14; see also Peter Kalm, "Colonial Pets" in Albert B. Hart,
Colonial Children, Source Readers in American History No, i, p. 82.

79 Ann and Jane Taylor, Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds, p. 116.

^The Tame Goldfinch or the Unfortunate Neglect, p. 35.

81 Aesop's Fables, p. 5.

^Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, p. 4; See also Remarks on Children's Play, pp. 30-33.

^Children's Amusements, p. 9.

^Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, p. n.

>A Little Pretty Poc\et-Boo\, p. 46.

88 Philip Astley, The Modern Riding-Master, p. 21.

87 Dwight, op. cit., p. 105.

88 Adelaide O'Keefe, Original Poems, p. 4.

A Little Pretty Pocket-Book p. 56.

^Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, p. 16.

91 A Little Pretty Pocket-Boo^, pp. 56, 57.

224 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

%s on Children's Play, p. 34.

lbid., pp. 42, 43.

^Youthful Sports, p. 53.

^Remarfys on Children's Play, p. 40.

* Q The Daughter's Own BooJ^, or Practical Hints, p. 132.

Q7 A Collection of New and Approved Country Dances, pp. 1-16.

9S As quoted in Alice M. Earle, Child Life in Colonial Days, pp. no, in; see also
Noah Webster, Elements of Useful Knowledge, third edition, p. 206.

m The Daughter's Own Boo\, or Practical Hints, pp. 128, 129.

100 Child, op. cit,, p. 60; See also Earle, op. cit., p. no.

l01 Child, op. cit., p. 60

102 Earle, op. cit., p. 361. Dolls were also sent to this country from France and Eng-
land as models of the latest fashions prevailing in those countries either for ordinary
or for ceremonial dress. After fulfilling this mission, the fashion dolls were consigned
to little girls for real play. See Earle, op. cit., p. 365.

102 C. Geoffrey Holme, Children's Toys of Yesterday, p 7. See also Elizabeth
Godfrey, English Children in the Olden Time, p. 72.

104 Holme, op. cit., pp. 112-19.

^Original Poems for Infant Minds, p. 53.

106 Lucy Larcom, A New England Girlhood, pp. 29, 30. See also Child, op. cit. f p.
55; Grober, op. cit., pp 1-4.

107 Horatio Smith, op. cit., p. 333.

108 Archer ? Rousseau on Education, p. 89.

SUMMARY

This study, by an examination o the various aspects of child life as
revealed in juvenile literature, has indicated the changing status of the
American child during the Colonial and early national periods. The
curve of that status begins with the gradual emergence of the child from
a submerged position in an adult world and ends with his occupying a
place of honor as a cherished social entity, charged only with the respon-
sibilities of an immature human being. The recognition of the child
as a distinct personality constitutes the first revolution of juvenile life in
our national history. This revolution, disquieting as it was to some writ-
ers of the early nineteenth century, was but the prelude, however, to
the phenomenal developments which have transformed childhood in the
last fifty years.

Religion for the Colonial child was not confined to the life of the
spirit; one does not read very far into the juvenile literature of the period
before he discovers the sovereignty of religion in every phase of child
life. Not only were his education, manners, and morals motivated by
theological concepts, but even his recreation and hygienic care were con-
ditioned by the same principles.

Although children of every faith were expected to "walk in the ways
of the godly and to wage war with the devil," they had no special re-
ligious status, but shared that of their elders. The foundations of their
transitory existence rested on the lesson so early and so often heard
"Our days begin with trouble here, our life is but a span." Since this
other-worldly attitude was consciously fostered, what now seems to have
been a morbid pietism overshadowed the young and tended to confine
their activities to the awful duty of an early spiritual conversion as the
preparation for an untimely death. The Colonial boy and girl repeatedly
heard such warnings as, "You Children are daily liable to the stroke of
Death; in the midst of seeming health you may drop down and die."
Since, in this pioneer society, such utterances were indeed far from
fiction, the child was left to ponder the frightful implications of his
impending doom.

The decline of Puritanism, the growth of skepticism, and the influence
of deistic philosophy, as well as the emotional reactions of the American
Revolution, combined to change the religious status of the child. The
spiritual standards of the young American shifted from their early
theological foundations to a mild moral basis. This new status, which

226 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

stressed tie temporal expediency of good conduct, was soon characterized
by a steadily increasing disregard for variations in points of Protestant
dogma. By blurring their former sharp theological distinctions and by
fostering a new spirit of toleration according to the "live and let live"
concept, Protestant sects were able ultimately to merge and cross various
denominational traditions.

Deism also tended to eliminate the element of fear from the spiritual
life of many early American children by changing the basis of ethics
from a sense of sin to a desire for happiness, and by repudiating the
idea of evil as a part of the natural order. Instead of emphasizing the
importance of dogmatic instruction in the religious training of the young,
a new spirit of indifference to doctrinal variations fostered the belief that
"one religion is as good as another." By contemplating the order and
grandeur of nature, youth was led to the conviction that life is essentially
good and that the universe is governed by a beneficent God who might
be approached by many avenues of worship.

By 1835, theological concepts were being gradually displaced in re-
ligious training by rules for good conduct or by moral stories calculated
to develop the natural virtues into habits of honesty, industry, and
sobriety all of which were judged essential to the good of American
society. A comfortable code of ethics and certain fixed standards for tem-
poral prosperity were supplanting those stern theological tenets which
had demanded personal sanctity according to a specific creed and had
laid firmly the religious foundation of early American childhood. The
Colonial child's well-defined conceptions of the duties owed to God, to
his fellow men, and to himself those black and white dogmatic patterns
by which he had "lived and breathed and had his being" were fading
into vague uncertain hues. The little books indicate that much of the
direction and vitality that had previously conditioned the child's religious
experience was lost in the misty shadows that confused the spiritual life
of later decades.

Manners and customs in every colony were based on the authority
of God as manifested in the Bible, and on the national traditions as
discovered in the American cultural heritage. Parents and "superiors"
exercised their acknowledged authority and ruled children with a re-
lentless hand. The burning zeal of Colonial adults for a more perfect
way of life inspired them to eradicate from childhood all that was judged
frivolous and vain by the stringent standards of the times. As a result
of this rigid exercise of power, the narrow circle of childhood was hedged
in by the barriers of minute regulations. The young were bound by a
formidable code of manners and drilled in the "art of decent behaviour "

SUMMARY 227

A change of disciplinary standards was apparent by the close of the
American Revolution. Some adults realized that coercion itself was not
discipline; and although they might subdue children by the fear of the
rod, such exercise of authority contributed little to the formation of a
noble character. Adults' attitudes henceforth turned from their original
severity to an appeal to reason as the guiding force in youthful conduct.
When a new freedom supplanted the petty tyranny of Colonial days,
children were gradually permitted opportunities to make decisions for
themselves, and also to accept the results of their own judgments. Those
adults who deplored the "unhappy restraint" of Colonial days thus aban-
doned the use of formal precepts and the rod for the force of moral
suasion. The practice of concealing rules of conduct in didactic tales
helped to shape the mind and heart of the young. Although the adult
world was still convinced that a "little good Breeding may do the Chil-
dren some Good," violence was repudiated as a factor in producing that
"decent behaviour" or the poise and dignity so highly cherished in the
last century. Most Americans of the growing democracy believed that
since true politeness was the result of education and habit and not in-
herent in the nature of the child, good manners could accordingly be
produced in a hovel as well as in the home of the rich.

The emphasis of the Colonial educational system was also directed
by far-reaching social forces from religious to secular interests. Although
most of the schools were still church-controlled and accordingly cherished
the classical traditions, by 1776 some offered vocational training and all
were gradually introducing useful subjects into the curriculum. This
secularization of education, once begun, proceeded steadily to its logical
conclusion, even though it was for years viewed with suspicious distrust
by many Colonial scholars. Since the chief aim of education was to fit
children adequately for their probable vocation in life, such responsible
agents as the church, the school, and the home assisted year by year in
the steady injection of secular interests into juvenile training.

On the other hand, certain positive forces operative by the first quarter
of the nineteenth century not only aided the "rise of the common man,"
but incidentally stimulated an interest in a democratic system of in-
struction. Accelerated means of transportation and communication, the
growth of cities and towns, the development of the factory system, the
aggressive spirit of the frontier, and an incipient proletarian conscious-
ness continually centered public attention on the necessity of a free
elementary school system.

The hygienic care of the Colonial child was given meager considera-
tion, for parents and educators were handicapped by a lack of scientific

228 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

knowledge. Since the belief persisted that demons exerted an influence
over bodily health, ministers at times gave medical as well as spiritual
aid. In direct contrast to the present generation, so solicitous in mat-
ters of child care, parents of the Colonial era committed the fate of
their children in health, as in death, to the will of Providence. The
rates for child morbidity and mortality were extremely high, hence the
natural reaction of godly people was to resign themselves to the inevitable
as best they could, and to give the cross under which they bowed a
spiritual significance. In the poor health and early deaths of their "pious
children," they therefore consoled themselves with the reflection that
salvation depended "not on the length of time," but on an effectual
cooperation with divine grace. Hence many were able to say: "Blessed
are the Dead in Christ, that are soon passed from Sin and Sorrow here,
to the Eternal Fulness of Holiness and Comfort in the Presence of God
forever."

The progress made in the nineteenth century by the medical profession
in anatomical and pathological studies, as well as the advance in sanitary
reform and the rise in standards of living, resulted in a marked improve-
ment in the lot of the young. Adult education in child care also relieved
little ones of many of the sufferings incidental to frontier life, and re-
forms in sanitation eliminated much disease and many health hazards
from American homes. Although superstition and "kitchen physick"
still held forth, regular physicians, overcoming their prejudice against
pediatrics, were consulted with greater frequency and confidence by
adults. As a result of improved standards of living, many mothers
had more leisure to devote "to the wants and infirmities of their
children." By all these factors medical authorities were heartened to
face the stupendous problems of child welfare; preventive measures were
taken to control the diseases incidental to a newly settled country, and
to dispel the general ignorance of hygiene, as well as to correct the
improper diet and dress which had previously threatened youthful lives.
The advance in child welfare by 1835 was, however, but a minor victory,
for there were many Americans who still clung to the ancient traditions
of "kitchen physick" and others who hesitated to place much confidence
in natural and material aids.

An examination of the function of play in the organization of early
American life reveals the most remarkable change in adult attitudes.
From the Colonial warning to the young to let their recreation be "law-
ful, brief, and seldom," this adult philosophy shifted by the third decade
of the nineteenth century to the approbation of a mild program of
"rational play" in the interests of juvenile health and efficiency. Whether

SUMMARY

229

the controlling motive of the new attitude was to refresh and invigorate
the child's bodily powers and thus make him more competent in the
performance of his tasks, or whether it was simply to afford youth periods
of unalloyed joy "to make the heart more gay" play was ordinarily
kept at the minimum requisite for the peace of families. Although amuse-
ments varied with the age, sex, and the natural bent of the individual
child, moderation, on moral grounds, was considered of the highest im-
portance in any recreation. Not all adults had accepted in its entirety
Rousseau's exhortation, "Love childhood; look kindly on its play, its
pleasures, its lovable instincts. ..."

The major conclusion from this investigation is that the era of the
American Revolution marked the beginning not only of the political
freedom of the American people, but also of the emancipation of the
American child. Some adults in the early national period still failed to
penetrate the child's mind and to recognize his needs as fully as later
generations were to do, but the status of the child advanced with the
growth of the country toward democratic goals. It is now clearly evident
to the student of society that childhood thus forged ahead and shared
the progress of the "more perfect government," until by 1835 the founda-
tion of that freedom and self-expression which characterizes -both today
had been established.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" had special connotations
for children in the minds of many thoughtful Americans by the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century. This formula of the Founding Fathers
was interpreted by social reformers to mean the freedom of children to
live as immature human beings with special needs and definite rights
that had to be respected by grown-ups. It also meant the freedom of
little ones to pursue happiness according to the ideals of childhood, and
not, as previously, in conformity with adult behavior patterns. Impelled
by the humanitarianism of the age, most adults agreed that children had
the right to develop spiritually, socially, and mentally by a gradual
process. Parents and guardians, in general, no longer expected their small
charges to leap at one bound from infancy into maturity in order to
play the role of "little men and women" without the stabilizing interlude
of carefree childhood.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GUIDES

Barry, Florence V., A Century of Children's Boo fa New York, 1923.
Darton, F. J. H., Children's Boo\s in England: Five Centuries of Social Life,

London, 1933.

Field, E. M., The Child and His Roo\, London, 1892.
Field, Walter Taylor, fingerposts to Children's Reading, Chicago, 1918.
Gardner, Emelyn E., and Ramsey, Eloise, A Handbook of Children's Literature,

New York, 1927.

Griffin, G. G., Writings on American History, Washington, 1906-30.
Halsey, Rosalie V., Forgotten Boo\s of the American Nursery, Boston, 1911.
James, Philip, Children's Boo^ of Yesterday, ed. C. Geoffrey Holme, New

York, 1933.
Jordan, Alice M., "Early Children's Books" Bulletin of the Boston Public

Library, XV, Boston, April 1940.
Moore, Annie E., Literature Old and New for Children, New York, 1934.

, New Roads to Childhood, New York, 1923.

, The Three Owls; a Boo^ about Children's Boo\s, New York, 1924.

Rosenbach, A. S. W., Early American Children's Boo\s, Portland, Maine, 1933.
Smith, E. S., A History of Children's Literature, A Syllabus with Selected

'Bibliographies, New York, 1937.
Tuer, A. W., Stories from Old Fashioned Children's Boo^s, New York, 1900.

, Pages and Pictures from Forgotten Children's Boo\s, New York, 1899.

Weekes, Blanche E., Literature and the Child, New York, 1935,

Welsh, Charles, "Early History of Children's Books in New England," New

England Magazine, XX. Boston, 1899, 146-60.
Wilson, H. W., Children's Catalogue, 3d rev., New York, 1937.

SECONDARY WRITINGS
GENERAL WORKS

Adams, James Truslow, Provincial Society 1690-1763, New York, 1938.
Andrews, Charles M., Colonial FolJ^ Ways, A Chronicle of American Life in

the Reign of the Georges, New Haven, 1919.
Andrews, Charles M., Colonial Background of the American Revolution, New

Haven, 1924.
Bamberger, Florence, E., Effects of the Physical Ma\e-up of a Boo\ upon

Children's Selection, Baltimore, 1922.
Bossard, James H,, Social Change and Social Problems, New York, 1938.

, Marriage and the Child, Philadelphia, 1940.

Chitwood, Oliver P., A History of Colonial America, New York, 1931.
Greene, E* B., Foundations of American Nationality, New York, 1935.
Hart, Albert B. (ed.) Source Readers in American History, vols. 1-4

New York, 1925.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 231

McMaster, John Bach, History of the People of the United States from the
Revolution to the Civil War, 8 vols., New York, 1891-1910.

Nettles, Curtis P., The Roots of American Civilization, New York, 1939.

Nicholas, and Nicholas, The Growth of American Democracy, New York,
1939.

Sanders, Jennings B., Early American History, New York, 1938.

RELIGION

Bates, Ernest S,, American Faith, Its Religious, Political, and Economic Founda-
tions, New York, 1940.

Burtt, Edwin A., Types of Religious Philosophy, New York, 1939.
Curtis, J. G., "Saving the Infant Class," Scnbner's Magazine, New York Nov.

1929,564-70.

Fleming, Sanford, Children and Puritanism, New Haven, 1933.
Green, E. B., "The Anglican Outlook on the American Colonies in the Early

Eighteenth Century," American Historical Review, XX, October, 1914, 64-85.
Hall, Thomas C., The Religious Background of American Culture, Boston,

1930.
Haroutunian, Joseph, Piety Versus Moralism f The Passing of New England

Theology, New York 1932.

Homan, Walter J. Children and Quakerism, Berkeley, Calif., 1939.
Hough, Lynn H., The Christian Criticism of Life, New York, 1941.
McConnell, S. D., History of the American Episcopal Church, Milwaukee, 1916.
Manross, William W., A History of the American Episcopal Church, New

York, 1936.

Maynard, Theodore, The History of American Catholicism, New York, 1941.
Morais, Herbert M., Deism in Eighteenth Century America, New York, 1934.
Sweet, William Warren, The History of Religions in America, New York,

1930.

MANNERS AND MORALS

Bolton, Ethel S. and Coe, Eva J., American Samplers, Boston, 1921.
Brooke, Iris, English Children's Costume Since 7775, London, 1930.
Calhoun, Arthur W., A Social History of the American Family from Colonial

Times to the Present, 3 vols., Cleveland, 1917.
Earle, Alice M., Child Life in Colonial Days, New York, 1924.

, Costume of Colonial Times, New York, 1894.

, Customs and Fashions in Old New England, London, 1893.

, Home Life in Colonial Days, New York, 1910.

Furness, Clifton J., The Genteel Female, New York, 1931.

Godfrey, Elizabeth, English Children in the Olden Time, New York, 1907.

Goodsell, Willystine, A History of the Family as a Social and Educational

Institution, New York, 1924.

Hewins, Caroline M., A Mid-Century Girl and Her Boo^s, New Yoik, 1926.
Horace, Elisha S., Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago,

New York, 1876.

232 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Larcom, Lucy, A New England Girlhood, Cambridge, 1889.

Reed, Ruth, The Modern Family, New York, 1929.

Rhodes, Lillian, The Story of Philadelphia, New York, 1900.

Schouler, James, Americans of 1776, New York, 1906.

Stoddard, Lothrop, The Story of Youth, New York, 1928.

Sweetzer, Kate Dickinson, "The American Girl/' D.A.R. Magazine, No. 9 LIII,

Philadelphia, September, 1919.
Ware, John F. 3 Home Life: What it is, and What it Needs, Boston, 1866.

EDUCATION

Archer, R. L., Rousseau on Education, London, 1928.

Brambaugh, Martin G., The Life and Worlds of Christopher Doc\, Phila-
delphia, 1908. .

Brewer, Clifton H., A History of the Religious Education in the Episcopal
Church to 2835, New Haven, 1924.

Burns, James A., The Growth and Development of the Catholic School System
in the United States, New York, 1912.

Butterweck, Joseph, and Seegers, J. Conrad, An Orientation Course in Educa-
tion, New York, 1933.

Comenius, John, Orbis Pictus, London, 1777.

Curti, Merle, The Social Ideas of American Educators, New York, 1935.

Dexter, Edwin G., A History of Education in the United States, New York,
1904.

Eby, Frederick, and Arrowood, Charles F., The Development of Modern Edu-
cation in Theory, Organization, and Practice, New York, 1941.

Eversall, Harry Kelso, Education and the Democratic Tradition, Marietta,
1938.

Ford, Paul L., The New England Primer, New York, 1897.

Graves, Frank P., Great Educators of Three Centuries, New York, 1912.

Guernsey, Lucy Ellen, School-days in 1800; or, Education As It Was a Century
Since, Philadelphia, 1875.

Johnson, Clifton, Old Time Schools and School-Boo {s f New York, 1904.

Knight, Edgar W., Twenty Centuries of Education, Boston, 1940.

Monroe, Paul, Founding of the American Public School System, New York,
1940.

Noble, Stuart G., A History of American Education, New York, 1938.

Tuer, Andrew, The History of the HornbooJ^, 2 vols., New York, 1898.

Woody, Thomas, Educational Views of Benjamin Franklin, New York, 1931.

, A History of W omens Education in the 'United States, 2 vols. New

York, 1929.

HEALTH

Eggleston, Edward, "Some Curious Colonial Remedies," American Historical

Review, V. December, 1899, I99,~2o6.

Lea, Henry C v (edL), A Century of American Medicine, Philadelphia, 1876.
Ruhrah, John, Pediatrics of the Past, New York, 1925.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

233

Shryock, R. H., The Development of Modern Medicine, Philadelphia, 1936.
Wilson, Elizabeth Andrews, "Hygienic Care and Management o the Child in

the American Family Prior to 1860." Unpublished M. S. thesis, Duke

University, 1940.

RECREATION

Grober, Karl, Children's Toys of Bygone Days, New York, 1928.
Holme, C. Godfrey, ed., Children's Toys of Yesterday, New York, 1932.
Newell, William Wells, ed., Games and Songs of American Children, New

York, 1883.
Singleton, Esther, Dolls, New York, 1927.

CONTEMPORARY JUVENILE LITERATURE
RELIGION

Barbauld, Anna Letitia, Hymns in Prose for the Use of Children, New York,
1814.

Burder, George, Early Piety, or Memoirs of Children Eminently Serious,
Interspersed with familiar Dialogues, Prayers, Graces, and Hymns, Balti-
more, 1821.

Coleman,, Benjamin, A Devout Contemplation on the Meaning of Divine
Providence, in the Early Death of Pious and Lovely Children. Preached
upon the Sudden and Lamented Death of Mrs. Elizabeth Wainwright, Who
Departed this life, April 8, 1714. Having ^ust completed the Fourteenth
Hear of Her Age, Boston, 1714.

Curious Hieroglyphic Bible, Worcester, Mass., 1788.

Davies, Samuel, Little Children Invited to Jesus Christ, A Sermon Preached
in Hanover County, Virgma, May 8, 775$, Boston, 1761.

Doddridge, Phillip, The Principles of the Christian Religion: Divided into
Lessons and adapted to the Capacities of Children, Worcester, Mass., 1805.

Fuller, Samuel, Some Principles and Precepts of the Christian Religion by
One of the people called Quakers, Philadelphia, 1753.

Gallaudet, Thomas H., The Child's BooJ^ of the Soul, Hartford, 1831.

Gregory, John, A Father s Legacy to His Daughters, Norwich, 1785.

Hendley, George, A Memorial for Children, being an authentic account of the
Conversion, Experience, and Happy Deaths of Eighteen Children. Designed
as a Continuation of ]aneway's To^en, New Haven, 1806.

Heywood, Henry, Two Catechisms by Way of Question and Answer: designed
for the Instruction of the Children of the Christian Brethren who are com-
monly J{nown and distinguished by the name of Baptists, Charles-Town,
1749.

Hill, Hannah, A Legacy for Children, being some of the Last Expressions and
Dying Sayings, of Hannah Hill, Junr. of the City of Philadelphia, in the
Province of Pennsylvania, in America, Aged Eleven and near Three Months,
Philadelphia, 1717.

Janeway, James, A To'ken for Children. Being an Exact Account of the Con-
version, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young

2 34 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

Children, Philadelphia, reprinted and sold by B. Franklin and D Hall,

1747. To the original English edition Cotton Mather added the Tofen -for

the Children of New England.
Keach, Benjamin, War with the Demi; or the Young Man s Conflict with the

Powers of Darkness, New York, 1707.
Lane, Jeremiah, A Few Drops of Choice Honey, extracted from Old Comb

of a very ancient Hive, Exeter, 1794.
Lewis, John, The Catechism Explained by Way of Question and Answer, and

Confirmed by Scripture Proofs, tfth edition, London, 1787.
Mackarsie, John, The Children's Catechism: or an Help to the more easy

Understanding of the Doctrine taught in our Concession of Faith, and

catechisms larger and shorter, Philadelphia, 1780.
Mason, William, The Closet Companion, or an Help to Serious Persons,

Hartford, 1815. 7-7
The Pious Parent's Gift, or a plain and familiar sermon wherein the

Principles of the Christian Religion are proposed and clearly represented to

the minds of Children, Hartford, 1815.

Mather, Cotton, Magnalia Christi Americana, vol. n, Hartford, 1820.
Mavor, William, The Mothers Catechism, or First Principles of Knowledge

and Instruction, Leicester, Eng., 1815.
Moodey, Samuel, Judas the Traitor Hung up in Chains. To give Warning to

Professors that they Beware of Worldly mmdedness, and Hypocrisy; Preached

at Yor^ in New England, Boston, 1714.
Oakman, John, Moral Songs for the Instruction and Amusement of Children,

Intended as a Companion to Dr. Watts' Divine Songs, London, 1802.
Penn, William, Fruits of a fathers Love. Being the Advice of William Penn

to His Children Relating to Their CM and Religious Conduct, Philadelphia,

1727.
Phillips, Samuel, The Orthodox Christian: or, a Child Well-Instructed in the

Principles of the Chiristian Religion, Boston, 1738.
Pilkington, Mary, Biography for Boys; or, Characteristics calculated to impress

the youthful mind with an admiration of Virtuous Principles, and a detesta-
tion of Vicious Ones, Philadelphia, 1809.
, Biography for Girls; or, Moid and Instructive Examples for the

Female Sex, Philadelphia, 1809.
Porteus, Bielby (Bishop of London), A Summary of the Principal Evidence

for the Truth and Divine Origin of the Christian Revelation, Designed for

the Use of Young Persons, Worcester, Mass., 1808.
Potter, John, The Words of the Wise, Philadelphia, 1768.
Prince, Thomas, Morning Health No Security against the Sudden Arrest

of Death before Night. A Sermon, Boston, 1727.
Sampson, Ezra, Beauties of the Bible, being a selection from the Old and New

Testaments with various remarks and brief dissertations, designed for the

use of Christians in general, and particularly for the use of schools, and for

the Improvement of youth, New York, 1802.
Seeker, William, A Wedding Ring fit for the Finger, Or, the Salve of Divinity

on the Sore of Humanity . . . laid open in a Sermon in Edmonton by

William Seeder, Preacher of the Gospel, Boston, 1705

BIBLIOGRAPHY 235

Smith, Frederick, A Letter to the Children and 'Youth of the Society of Friends,

Philadelphia, 1906.
Taylor, Ann and Jane, Hymns for Infant Minds, We use great plainness of

speech, Newburgh, 1820.

, A Selection of Hymns for Infant Minds, Boston, 1820.

Taylor, John, Verbum Sempiternum, The Third Edition with Amendments,

Boston, 1755.
Vincent, Thomas, An Explicatory Catechism; or, an Explanation of the

Assemblies Shorter Catechism, Boston, 1729.
Watts, Isaac, Divine Songs, Attempted in an Easy Language for the Use of

Children, Boston, 1774.

Westminister Assembly of Divines, A Shorter Catechism, Boston, 1762.
Witherspoon, John, A Sermon on the Religious Education of Children,

Preached in the Old Presbyterian Church in New Yor^ to a very numerous

audience, Elizabeth-Town, 1789.

SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE

American Suday School Union, First Lessons on the Great Principles of Re-
ligion, Designed to be used in Infant Sabbath Schools and Private Homes,
Philadelphia, 1833.

, The Glass of Whiskey, Philadelphia, 1825.

, Memoirs of an Infant Scholar, Philadelphia, 1838.

, The Six-Penny Glass of Wine, Philadelphia, 1833.

, The Youth's Friend, No. 33, Philadelphia, 1826.

, Youth's Penny Gazette, vol. Ill, Philadelphia, 1833.

American Tract Society, The History of Ann Lively and Her Bible, New
York, c. 1830.

, A New Picture Boo\, New York, c. 1830.

New Jersey Sunday School Journal, vol. i, Princeton, 1827.

Sunday and Adult School Union, MilJ^ for Babes or a Catechism in Verse for
the Use of Sunday Schools, Philadelphia, 1824.

Anonymous, The Children's Bible, or an History of the Holy Scriptures, Re-
printed in Philadelphia, 1763.

, A Fathers Advice to His Child; or, the Maiden's Best Adorning,

Exeter, 1792.

, The Happy Child, or A Remarkable and Surprising Relation of a

Little Girl, Boston, 1774.

, A Present to Children, consisting of several New and Divine Hymns

and Moral Songs, New London, 1783.

, The Prodigal Daughter, Boston, 1771.

The Rule of the New Creature, To Be Practiced Every Day, in all

the Particulars of It Which are Ten, Boston, 1682.

Ta\e Your Choice; or, the Difference betwen Virtue and Vice shown

in Opposite Characters, Philadelphia, 1804.

Wisdom in Minature or the Young Gentleman and Lady's Magazine.

Being a Collection of Sentences Divine and Moral. Embellished with Cuts,
Philadelphia, 1805.

236 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

MANNERS AND MORALS

Cameron, Lucy Lyttleton, The Pohte Little Children, Andover, 1820.

Chambaud, Louis, Fables Choisis, Philadelphia, 1796.

Chesterfield, Philip D.S., Principles of Politeness and of Knowing the World,

Norwich, 1785.
Cooper, Charles, Blossoms of Morality Intended for the Amusement and In-

struction of Young Ladies and Gentlemen, Philadelphia, 1810.
Darton, William, The First, Second, Third Chapter of Accidents, and Remar\-

able Events: Containing Caution and Instruction for Children, Philadelphia,

1807.
Earl, Alice M. (ed.), Diary of Anna Green , Winslow, A Boston Girl of ijji,

Boston, 1894.

Edgeworth, Maria, Idleness and Industry, Philadelphia, 1804.
- , The Parents' Assistant; or, Stones for Children, 3 vols. London, 1796.
Farrar, Eliza Ware, The Young Lady's Friend, Boston, 1837.
Pollen, Eliza Lee, Little Songs for Little Boys and Girls, Reprinted in Boston,

Francis, C S., The True Mother Goose, Boston, 1842.

Franklin, Benjamin, The Way to Wealth; or Poor Richard Improved, Industry

Leads to Wealth, New York, 1814.
Goodrich, Samuel G., Peter Parley's Tale about the State and City of New

Yor^, illustrated by a map and many engravings. For the use of schools, New

York, 1832.
L'Estrange, Robert, A History of the Life of Aesop; to which is added a

choice Selection of Fables with Instructive Morals for the the Benefit of

Youth, Philadelphia, 1798.
Moodey, Eleazer, The School of Good Manners, fifth edition, New London,

1754-

Murray, Hannah and Mary, The American Toilet, New York, c. 1825.
O'Keefe, Adelaide and Taylor, Ann and Jane, Rhymes for the Nursery, London,

1805.

- , Original Poems for Infant Minds, Philadelphia, 1816.

Oliver, Daniel, The Foreign Visitant: containing interesting observations and
remarks made by an Inhabitant of Terra Incognita, on the character and
manners of the inhabitants of this earth, particularly in relation to the Lord's
Day., Boston, 1814.

Phillips, Richard, A View of the Character, Manners, and Customs of the
Inhabitants of the United States, Philadelphia, 1810.

Anonymous, Be Merry and Wise; or the Cream of Jests and the Marrow of
Maxims, for the Conduct of Life, Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, Massachusetts,
1786.

- , The Brother's Gift; or, the Naughty Girl Reformed, Worcester, Mass-
achusetts, 1795.

- , The Cries of New Yor%, New York, 1814.

- , False Stones Corrected, New York, 1814.

- 9 A Father to His Daughter, The Daughters own Boo\, or Practical
Hints, Philadelphia, 1815.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 237

, History of Goody twoshoes, Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, Massachusetts,

1787.

, History of ]ac\ Idle and DicJ^y Diligent, Philadelphia, 1806.

, History of Little DicJ^, Philadelphia, 1807.

, History of Little Fanny, exemplified in a Series of figures, Philadel-
phia, 1825,

, Jac\ Halyard and Ishmael Bardus, Wendell, Massachusetts, 1828.

-, Jac^ Dandy's Delight: or the History of Birds and Beasts; in Verse

and Prose, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1788.

Juvenile Biographer; containing the Lives of Little Masters and Misses;

including a Variety of Good and Bad Characters, Worcester, Massachusetts,

1787.

Lilliputian Masquerade, Occasioned by the Conclusion of Peace be-

tween those potent Nations, the Lilliputians and the Tommy thumbians,
Worcester, Massachusetts, 1795.

Little Prattle over a Boo\ of Prints, With Easy Tales for Children,

Philadelphia, 1808.

-, Little Pretty Poc\et-'Boo\, First Worcester Edition by Isaiah Thomas,

Worcester, Massachusetts, 1787.

-, Mother Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle Reprinted by Isaiah

Thomas, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1794.

-, Nurse Truelove's New-Year Gift: or, The Boo\ of Boofys for Children,

Adorned with Cuts, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1788.

, Picture of New Yor\, New York, 1825.

, Post Boy, Philadelphia, c. 1807.

, Present to Children, New York, c. 1830.

Pretty New-Year's Gift; or, Entertaining Histories for the Amusement

and Instruction of Young Ladies and Gentlemen in Winter Evenings,
Worcester, Massachusetts, 1786.

School of Good Manners, Containing an Explanation of many terms

used in moral philosophy and divinity, New London, 1796.

, The Seasons, New York, 1814.

Silver Penny; or, the New Lottery BooJ^ for Children, by J. Homer,

Esq., Fellow of the Royal Society of A. B.C., Philadelphia, 1806.

Sugar Plum; or Sweet Amusement for Leisure Hours: Being an En-

tertaining and Instructive Collection of Stones embellished with Curious

Cuts, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1787.

, True Stories Related. By a Friend of Little Children, New York, 1814.

, Useful and Necessary Companion in Two Parts, Boston, 1708.

9 Variety of Stones for Children, New York, 1828,

Vice in Its Proper Shape; or, The Wonderful and Melancholy Trans-

formation of Several Naughty Masters and Misses into those Contemptible
Animals which they most resembled in Disposition. Worcester, Massachusetts,

1789.

Wisdom of Crop the Cojuror, Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, Mass., 1786.

Wisdom in Miniature; or the Young Gentleman and Lady's Pleasing In-
structor, Being a Collection of Sentences, Divine, Moral, and Historical,
Worcester, Mass., 1795.

, Young Lady's Parental Monitor, Hartford, 1792.

238 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

EDUCATION

Andrews, W. E., The Catholic School Boo%, containing easy and familiar
lessons for the instruction of youth of both sexes, m the English Language
and the paths of true religion and virtue, Philadelphia, 1824.

Bailey, Nathan, English and Latine Exercises for School Boys, Comprising,
all the Rules of Syntax, Boston, 1720.

Benezet, Anthony, The Pennsylvania Spelling-Bool^ or, Youth s friendly in-
structor and Monitor, Philadelphia, 1779.

Bingham, Caleb, The American Preceptor; Being a Selection of Lessons for
Reading and Speaking, Boston, 1821,

9 Juvenile Letters, Being a Correspondence between Children from eight

to fifteen years of age, Boston, 1803.

Burton, Richard, Some Excellent Verses for the Education of Youth, Boston,

1708.

Cooper, W. D., The History of North America, Albany, 1795.

Corry, John, Biographical Memoirs of the Illustrious General George Wash-
ington, New Haven, 1810.

Oilman, Leonard, Sententiae Pueriles Anglo-Latinae. Collected out of sundry
Authors long since . . . for the first Entrers [sic] into Latin, Boston, 1702.

Davidson, Robert, Georgaphy Epitomized; or, a Tour Round the World;
attempted in verse for the sa\e of the memory; and principally designed for
the use of schools. By an American, Philadelphia, 1784.

Dilworth, Thomas, A New Guide to the English Tongue, Philadelphia, c.
1770.

Dwight, Nathaniel, A Short but Comprehensive System of Geography of the
World: by way of question and answer, Hartford, 1800.

Dwight, Timothy, A Valedictory Address to the Young Gentlemen who com-
menced Bachelors of Arts, at Yale-College, July 2$th, 17*76, New Haven, 1776.

Ely, John, The Child's Instructor, consisting of easy lessons for children; on
subjects familiar to them, in language adapted to their capacities, Phila-
delphia, 1793.

Penning, Daniel, The American Youth's Instructor; or, a New and Easy Guide
to Practical Arithmetic, Dover N. H., 1795.

Fisher, George, The American Instructor: or the Young Mans Best Com-
panion, Containing Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Ninth
Edition revised and corrected by B. Franklin and D. Hall, Philadelphia,
1748.

Fox, George, Instructions for Right-Spelling and Plan Directions for Writing
True English, Philadelphia, 1702.

Franklin, Benjamin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensil-
vania [sic], Philadelphia, 1749.

Frenau, Philip and Hugh Brackenridge, A Poem on the Rising Glory of
America; being an Exercise Delivered at the Public Commencement at
Naussau-Hatt, September 25, 1777, Philadelphia, 1772.

Greenwood, James, The Philadelphia Vocabulary; English and Latin, Phila-
delphia, 1787.

Hall, John, On the Education of Children While under the Care of Parents
or Guardians, New York, 1835.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 239

Hodder, James, H odder s Arithmetic: or that Necessary Art Made Most Easy,

Boston, 1719.
Johnson, Benjamin, The New Philadelphia Spelling BooJ^: or a Pleasant Path

to Literature, Philadelphia, 1809.

Lamb, Charles and Mary, Poetry for Chidren, entirely original, Boston, 1812.
Martinet, Johannes F., The Catechism of Nature for the Use of Children.

Translated from the Dutch by John Hall, Philadelphia, 1794.
Mavor, William, Catechism of Animated Nature, New York, 1821.
Milns, William, The Well-Bred Scholar, New York, 1797.
Moore, John Hamilton, The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and

English Teacher's Assistant, New York, 1809.
O'Keefe, Adelaide, Original Poems; calculated to improve the minds of youth

and to allure it to Virtue f Philadelphia, 1810.
Osborne, Henry, An English Grammar adapted to the capacities of children,

Charleston, c. 1785.

Peters, Richard, A Sermon on Education, Philadelphia, 1751.
Philadelphia Society for the Establishment o Charity Schools, Manual of the

System of teaching Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Needle-Wor^ in the

Elementary Schools of the British and Foreign Society, Philadelphia, 1817.
Sigourney, Lydia Huntley, Tales and Essays for Children, Hartford, 1835.
Simmons, John, The Juvenile Class Boo\. Compiled for the use of schools,

No. 4, Philadelphia, 1832.
Taylor, Ann and Jane, Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds; or Easy Reading

in Large Letters for Schools and Families, Philadelphia, 1849.
Webster, Noah, The American Spelling Boo\, Fifth edition, Boston, 1793.
Webster, Noah, A Dictionary of the "English Language; Compiled for the use

of the Common Schools in the United States, Boston, 1807.
Webster, Noah, Elements of Useful Knowledge, New London, 1807.
, The Prompter; A Commentary on Common Sayings and Subjects

which are full of common sense, the best, sense in the world, Boston, 1798.
Weed, Enos, The American Orthographer, in three boo\s by a Physician and

Surgeon in Difficult Cases, Danbury, 1797.
Whittenhall, Edward, A Short Introduction to Grammar for the Use of College

and Academy in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1762.

Williard, Samuel, The Franklin Primer, Containing a new and careful selec-
tion of moral lessons, Boston, 1802.
Anonymous, The ABC with the Church of England Catechism, Philadelphia,

^ 8 5-
, The American Letter-Writer: Containing a Variety of Letters on the

most common Occasions in Lije, Philadelphia, 1793.

, Beauties of the New England Primer, New York, 1814.

The Boo\ of the Sea for the Instruction of Little Sailors, New York,

c., 1835.

Boy's Manual: Comprising a Summary of the Studies, Accomplish-

ments, and Principles of Conduct Best Suited for Promoting Respectibility
and Success in Life, New York, 1837.

Child's Spelling Boo\: Calculated to render Reading Completely

Easy to Little Children; to impress upon their Minds the Importance of
Religion, and the Advantages of Good Manners, Hartford, 1802.

240 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

, Compendious History of the World from the Creation to the Dis-
solution of the Roman Republic, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1774.

Das Neue Deutsche A B C und Buchstabir Buchlein fur die

Schulen oiler Rehgionen in Nord-Amerifa, Baltimore, 1795.

, Easy Lessons for Children, Philadelphia, 1794.

, Elements of Georgaphy Made Easy, Philadelphia, 1825.

, The Fortune Teller, Philadelphia, 1793.

General Description of the Thirteen United States, Reading, 1788. ^

History of America, abridged for the use of Children of all Denomi-

nations, Philadelphia, 1795.

, History of Animals, Wendell, Massachusetts, 1828.

, The Infant's Grammar } Baltimore, c. 1825.

, Instructive Alphabet, New York, 1814.

Lessons for Children from Two to Four Years Old, Part One, Phila-

delphia, 1788.

, Lessons for Children of Four Years Old, Part Two, Philadelphia, 1788.

Letters to a Young Student in the First Stages of a Liberal Education,

Philadelphia, 1832.

, The Life of General George Washington, Philadelphia, 1794.

, Little Sketch Boo\, New York, c. 1835.

Miscellanies, Moral and Instructive in Prose and Verse Collected

from Various Authors for the Use of Schools and Improvement of Young

Persons of Both Sexes, Philadelphia, 1787,

9 Natural History of Four-Footed Beasts New York, 1795.

, The New England Primer, Boston, 1749.

, New England Primer, Hartford, 1800.

The Pilgrims, or the First Settlers of New England, Philadelphia,

1825.

Progressive Primer Adapted to Infant School Instruction, Concord,

1835-

, Punctuation Personified: or Pointing Made Easy. By Mr. Stops,

Steubenville, Ohio, 1831.

The Remarkable Story of Augi: or a Picture of True Happiness.

First American Edition. Translated and reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, Jun.,
Worcester, Mass., 1796.

-, Royal Primer Improved; Being an Easy and Pleasant Guide to the Art

of Reading, Philadelphia, 1783.
, Sententiae Puenles: or, Sentences for Children, fitted to the funda-
mental rules of Latin Syntax, Philadelphia, 1761.

Seven Wonders of the World; and Other Magnificent Buildings, New

York, 1814.

, Tom Thumb's Picture Alphabet in Rhyme, New York, c. 1835.

, Washington Primer: or First Eoo\ for Children, Philadelphia. 1836.

, Wisdom in Miniature: or the Young Gentleman and Lady's Magazine,

Philadelphia, 1805.

Wonderful History of an Enchanted Castle Keft by Giant Gumbo,

Albany, 1813.
, Youth's Cabinet of Nature, New York, 1814.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 241

HEALTH

Ackerley, G., On the Management of Children in Sickness and in Health,
Second Edition, New York, 1836.

Alcott, William A., (de.), The Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human
Constitution, vol. i, Boston, 1835.

Anonymous, The Daisy; or. Cautionary Stories in Verse. Adapted to the Ideas
of Children from four to eight years old, Philadelphia, 1808.

Buchan, William, Domestic Medicine: or, A Treatise on the Prevention and
Cure of Disease by Regimen and Simple Remedies, London, 1786.

Chavasse, Pye Henry, Advice to Mothers on the Management of their Off-
spring during the periods of infancy, childhood, and youth, New York, 1844.

Dewees, William, A Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of
Children, Ninth Edition, Philadelphia, 1847.

Faust, B. C. ? Catechism of Health for the Use of Schools and for Domestic
Instruction, Boston, 1795.

Mavor, William, (Fordyce), The Catechism of Health; containing simple and
easy rules and directions for the management of children, and observations
on the conduct of health in general; for the use of schools and families, New
York, 1815.

Struve, Christian Augustus, A Familiar View of the Christian Education of
Children during the Early Period of Their Lives, Translated from the Ger-
man, London, 1800.

RECREATION

Aesop's Fables, New York, 1814.

Astley, Philip, Modern Riding-Master: A Key to the Knowledge of the Horse
and Horsemanship, Philadelphia, 1776.

Dorset, Catherine Ann, Peacoc\ at Home: or Grand Assemblage of Birds,
Philadelphia, 1814.

de Genlis, Stephanie-Felicite, Beauty and the Monster, A Comedy from the
French, Extracted from the Theatre of Education, Worcester, Mass., 1785.

Kilner, Mary Jane, Adventures of a Pincushion, Worcester, Mass., 1788.

, Memoirs of a Peg Top, Worcester, Mass., 1788.

Perrault, Charles, Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper, Illustrated with ele-
gant engravings, Philadelphia, 1822.

Roscoe, William, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, London,
1807.

Sandham, Elizabeth, Adventutres of Poor Puss, Philadelphia, 1809.

Smith, Horatio, Festivals, Games, and Amusements, Ancient and Modern,
New York, 1831.

Teachwell, Mrs., (pseud.), Rational Sports in Dialogues passing among Child-
ren of a Family, London, 1783.

Wakefield, Pricilla, Juvenile anecdotes founded on facts. Collected for the
Amusement of Children, Philadelphia, 1809.

Anonymous, Adventures in a Castle, An Original Story Written by a Citizen
of Philadelphia, Harrisburg, 1806.

, Amusement for Good Children by G. S. C., Or an Exhibition of Comic

Pictures by Bob Sketch. Be Merry and Wise, Baltimore, 1806.

242 AMERICAN CHILDREN THROUGH THEIR BOOKS

, Children's Amusements, New York, 1822.

, Christmas Dream of Little Charles, New York, 1835.

-, Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, A Grand Allegorical Panto-

mimic Spectacle as performed at the Philadelphia Theatre, New York, 1807.
-, Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog, Philadelphia,

1817.

, Dame Trot and Her Comical Cat, Philadelphia, 1814.

-, Dances, A Collection of New and Improved Country, Northampton,

1796.

-, Garden Amusements for Improving the Mtnds of Little Children,

New York, 1814.

-, Geographical, Statistical, and Political Amusement; by which may

be obtained a general and particular knowledge of the United States. In a
series of interesting games on a map designed for the purpose, Philadelphia,
1805.

~, History of Mother Twaddle, and the Achievements of her son ]ac\,

by H.A.C., Philadelphia, 1814.
, Juvenile Pastimes in Verse, New York, 1830.

-, Life and Death of Robin Hood, complete in twenty -jour songs, Phila-

delphia, 1803.

-, Mother's Remar\ on a Set of Cuts for Children, Part 1, Philadelphia,

1803.

Old Dame Margery's Hush-a-Bye, Philadelphia, 1814.

, Peep into the Sports of "Youth, and the Occupations and Amusements

of Age, Philadelphia, 1809.

-, Peter Prim's Profitable Present to Little Misses and Masters of the

United States, Philadelphia, c. 1821.
, Peter Pry's Puppet Show, Part Second, Philadelphia, 1821.

-, Picture BooJ^ for Little Children, Philadelphia, c, 1812.

-, Present to Children. Consisting of Several New and Divine Hymns

and Moral Songs, New London, c. 1783.

-, Puzzling Cap, A Choice Collection of Riddles in familiar verse with

a curious cut to each, Philadelphia, 1805.

, Remarks on Children's Play, New York, 1814.

, The Seasons, New York, 1814.

, Tame Goldfinch or the Unfortunate Neglect, Philadelphia, 1808.

, Tommy Lovechild, Pretty Poems in Easy Language for the Amuse-
ment of Little Boys and Girls, Litchfield, 1808.

, Whim Wham: or Evening Amusements for all ages and sizes, being

an entire set of riddles, charades, questions, and transportations, by a friend
of innocent mirth, Philadelphia, i8n.

, Youthful Recreations, Philadelphia, 1810.

, Youthful Sports, Philadelphia, 1802.

BOOKS ABOUT CHILDREN:
PARENTS' GUIDES, MANUALS, ETC.

Abbott, Gorham, D. The Family at Home, or Familiar Illustrations of Various
Domestic Duties, Boston, 1834.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 243

Abbott, John S., The Child at Home; or, the Principles of Filial Duty Fa-
miliarly Illustrated, American Tract Society, New York, 1833.

Babington, T., A Practical View of Chirstian Education in Its Earliest Stages,
Boston, 1818.

Bonhote, Mrs., The Parental Monitor, Boston, c. 1800.

Burgh, James, Rules for the Conduct of Life, American reprint of London
publication of 1767, Philadelphia, 1846.

Child, Lydia Maria, The Mother's BooJ^, Baltimore, 1831.

Crocker, John, Advice to His Children in Friends Library, XIV, Plymouth,
Eng., c. 1727.

Dwight, Theodore, The Father's Boo fa or Suggestions for the Government
and Instruction of Young Children on Principles Appropriate to a Christian
Country, Springfield, Mass., 1835.

Grant, Mrs., Sketches on Intellectual Education and Hints in Domestic Economy
Addressed to Mothers, London, 1812.

Griffith, Mrs. Richard, Letters Addressed to Young Married Women, Phila-
delphia, 1796.

Harris, Walter, A Treatise of the Acute Diseases of Infants Translated from
the Latin by John Martyn, London, 1742.

Hersey, John, Advice to Chiristian Parents, Baltimore, 1839.

Hoare, Louisa, Hints for the Improvement of Early Education and "Nursery
Discipline, Salem, 1826.

Jennings, Samuel K., The Married Lady's Companion; or, The Poor Man's
Friend, Richmond, n. d.

Mather, Cotton, Family Well-Ordered, Boston, 1699.

Myres, James, (ed.), The United States Catholic Almanac; or Laity's Direc-
tory, Baltimore, 1836.

Nelson, James, An Essay on the Government of Children Under Three General
Heads: viz. Health, Manners, and Education, London, sold by M. Cooper,
New York, 1753.

Robertson, John, Observations on the Mortality and Physical Management of
Children, London, 1827.

Rush, Benjamin, Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical, Philadelphia. 1806.

Sewall, Samuel, Diary 1674-1720.. Coll. of Mass. Hist. Soc. vols. V-VTI. Boston,
1878. vol. I of series.

Sigourney, Lydia Huntley, Letters to Mothers, New York, 1829.

Smedley, Jacob, (ed.), Hints for the Training of Youth; A Scrap BooJ^ for
Mothers, Philadelphia, 1875.

Tuttle, George, A Parent's Offering; or, My Mother's Story of Her Home and
Childhood, about 1800, New Haven, 1844.

Whittelsay, Mrs. A. G. (ed.), The Mother's Magazine vol. VIII, New York,
May 1840.

Anonymous, Cares About the Nurserie, Boston, 1702.

, (). G.), A Small Help Offered to Heads of Families for Instructing

Children and Servants, Morris-Town, 1814.

, ( A Mother), Thoughts on Domestic Education, Boston, 1829.

INDEX

Age of Enlightenment, effects on edu-
cation, 1 1 6-1 8

Akerley, Dr. G., on child health, 173
Amenities, change in social, 82, 83
American Revolution, effects on estab-
lished religions, 45-49
Anglican Church, its demand o chil-
dren, 28, 29, 40; effects of Revolu-
tion on, 46, 47; Sunday School, 61
Assembly of Divines, Shorter Cate~
chtsm, 2, 15; on Sabbath observance,

4i

Augustine, Saint, on play, 195; an ex-
ample to youth, 15

Barbauld, Anna Laetitia, didactic
stories, 1 8, 19; nature study, 55

Basedow, Johann Bernhard, on educa-
tion, 115

Battledore, as a textbook, 120

Behavior, see Manners and Discipline

Benezet, Anthony, on education, 124,
^125, 129, 130

Bible, for religious instruction, 9;
authority for rigid code of manners,
69

Bingham, Caleb, on child training,
136, 137; on letter writing, 148-50

Books, earliest types, 6-n; to amuse,
12-15; textbooks, 16, 17; didactic, 17-
21 ; new type, 23-25; Sunday School
publications, 61-63

Boys, status of, 78-81

Bribes, as factors in child training, 72;
condemnation of, 86

Bunyan, John, Eoo\ for Boys and Girls,
7; Pilgrim's Progress, 10

Burder, George, lives of pious children,

59
Burgh, James, on child training, 131

Carey, Mathew, early books for schools,
142

Catholic Church, growth, 48; John Car-
roll, bishop of, 48; early textbooks,
194

Chapbooks, description, 10; uses, u

Child care, American theory and prac-
tice, 161-65; diet, * 74-77* eating hab-
its, 178; evils of "confectionary," 178-
80; sleep, 1 80, 181; clothing, 182,
183; reforms in dress, 184, 185; bath-
ing, 185, 1 86; care of teeth, 187
Child, Lydia M., on juvenile books, 202
Christmas, its celebration, 207, 208, 211
Coleman, Benjamin, sermon on child

mortality, 168

Comenms, John Amos, influence on ed-
ucation, 112, 113
Counting-out rhymes, 212, 213
Cries, books of New York and Phila-
delphia customs, 93, 94
Croker, John, on reading, 7

Dancing, as a duty and a pleasure, 218;

at children's balls, 218, 219
Delinquency, reasons given for, 84-86
Dewees, Dr. William, on child care, 165
Diaries, childish revelations in, 77-81
Diet, theories and practices applied to

children, 174-80

Discipline, techniques used in, 71; ri-
gidity of code, 72-77; use of moral
suasion, 87-91
Dock, Christopher, rules of conduct,

70, 71; on use of time, 98
Dress, design for children, 94; effects
of American and French Revolutions
on, 94, 95; girls' fashions, 95; boys'
fashions, 95; reaction in America
after 1825, 95; of the poor, 96, 97;
indicating class distinctions, 97; for
purposes of health, 182, 183; shoes,
184

D wight, Nathaniel, on geography, 154
Dwight, Theodore, on "Sabbath, go-
ing," 58; on playthings and sports,

195

Dwight, Timothy, lecture on the fu-
ture of America, 128

Easter, early celebration, 209, 210
Edgeworth, Maria, didactic stories, 18,
20, 21

246

INDEX

Education, elementary, 107, 108; class
distinctions in, 108; private instruc-
tion, in; chanty schools, in; influ-
ence of Comenius on, 112; ideas o
John Locke on, 113; Rousseau on,
114; influence of Basedow on, 115;
methods of Pestalozzi, 115; influence
of Philadelphia Academy on, 118;
methods of teaching, 120; early cur-
riculum, 119-29; Benezet on, 124,
129; of girls, 132; monitorial system,
133; low salaries of teachers, 137;
aim of, 139; enlarged curriculum, ,
139-55

Fairy tales, as a part of children's lit-
erature, 19, 20; condemnation of, 18-

23

Family government, 70-72
Fast Day, in Puritan New England,

208; observance by children, 208
Faust, R. C., on child health and care,

173

Follen, Eliza Lee, opposition to Mother
Goose, 22, 23

Fourth of July, early celebration by
children, 210

Franklin, Benjamin, juvenile books of
8, 13; Poor Richard, 99; concepts of
education, 117, 118; on teaching
English, 123, 124; his American Pre-
ceptor, 125, 126, 129, 130; on child
care, 169-72

Freneau, Philip, commencement ad-
dress on America, 128

Gallaudet, Thomas, advice to parents,

56
Games, regular cycle of, 212; methods

used in playing, 216, 217
Geography, early methods of teaching,

.153-55

Girls, education of, 130, 137, 138; oc-
cupations for, 99-101; "decent be-
haviour" of, 79, 80; medical treat-
ment of, 172, 173; rational sports for,
196, 197; amusements of, 214, 219;
games for, 217

Goldsmith, Oliver, as author of chil-
dren's books, 12

Goodrich, Samuel, Peter Parley Tales,
24,25

Greenwood, James, on teaching gram-
mar, 146

Harris, Walter, on child care, 172

Hersey, John, on discipline, 84

Hill, Hannah, her legacy for children,

History, lack of, 126, 153

Holme, Thomas, on dame schools, no

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, lines on
stately bearing, 96

Horace, Elisha S, description of ap-
prentice, 97

Hornbook, its function, 119, 120

Janeway, James, on deaths of pious
children, 33, 44

Kilner, Mary Jane, illustrations in juve-
nile books, 202

Lancaster, Joseph, his monitorial sys-
tem, 133-35

Library, need for school, 137

Little Pretty Pocket Boo^, typical new
juvenile work, 13; influence, 86

Locke, John, influence on juvenile lit-
erature, 9; aims and methods of
teaching children, 12, 13; on educa-
tion, 113

Manners, early art of "decent behav-
iour," 69, 70; family government, 70-
72; School of Good Manners, 72-77;
as reflected in diaries, 77-79; status
of girls, 78-80; status of boys, 78-81;
change in social amenities, 82-84;
juvenile delinquency, 84, 85; moral
suasion, 85-90; as discovered in
travelogues, 91-94; dress, 94-97; use
of time, 97, 98; thrift and diligence,
99-101

Mather, Cotton, educational aims, 8; re-
ligious counsels, 30-32; New England
Token, 44; on parental discipline,
71; on play, 81; on education, 106;
on fear of reverting to barbarism,
107; denunciation of Christmas fes-
tivities, 207

INDEX

247

Mavor, William, child care, 173, 174;

on proper clothing, 183
Moodey, Eleazer, on good manners, 72,

73
Moodey, Samuel, on predestination, 32,

38,39

Moore, Clement, Christmas ballad, 24
Moore, John Hamilton, on elocution,

205

'Mother Goose, objections to, 15; melo-
dies, 88, 89

Nelson, James, on child training, 130,

131
Newbery, John, publications, 12, 13;

attempts to amuse, 14, 15
New England Primer, uses, 9, no, 120
New Year's Day, early observance, 209

O'Keefe, Adelaide, didactic works, 21
Our Young Fol%s, early juvenile maga-
zine, 4

Parley, Peter, place in child literature,

6; factual stories, 24, 25
Penn, William, on family discipline,

29. 43. 7*> 72

Penmanship, index of good breeding,
50; equipment for, 129, 130

Perrault, Charles, nursery tales, 15

Pestalozzi, Johann, on education, 115,
116

Peters, Richard, education of youth,
118, 119

Pets, care of, 215; cruelty to animals,
63, 215

Philadelphia Academy, foundation of,
117-19

Pictures, use in books, 6-n, 202; im-
proved types, 203

Play, disapproval of, 192; later change
of attitude, 195; useful, 196; books
for amusement, 201; pictures, 202;
shows, 204; celebration of holidays,
208-10; games, 212; dolls, 213; pets,
213-15; dances, 218, 219

Primers, New England, 30, no; to in-
struct and amuse, 144

Propaganda, anti-war, 143; temperance
and anti-slavery, 62-63, 143

Puritanism, in children's books, 25;
demands on young, 30-39; church

membership, 35; baptismal covenant,
35; on salvation, 38, 39; Sabbath ob-
servance, 41; decline of, n, 45, 46;
effects on conduct, 71-76; influence
on education, 109, no; effects on
play, 191, 192, 194

Quakerism, conversion, 35, 36, 39, 40;
effects on discipline, 29, 43, 71, 72

Religion, in child life, 28-63; sectional
and denominational variations, 28-
32; seventy of early practices, 29;
catechisms, 30-32; sermons, 32, 33;
psalms and hymns, 33, 34; church
membership, 34, 35; compendium
of faith, 35; predestination, 38, 39;
religious duties, 41-44; changes in
established churches, 45-49; growth
of toleration, 49-53; "natural," 55,
56; lives of godly children, 56, 59;
Sabbath observance, 57, 58; memento
mori literature, 59-61; Sunday School
movement, 61-63

Respect, owed to elders and betters, 74,

75

Riding, as a rational sport, 216
Roscoe, William, early writer of non-
sense verse, 23

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, theories of so-
cial progress, 17; influence on edu-
cation, 114, 115

Sabbath observance, 57, 58

Safety, early lessons, 166, 167; as taught

in games, 213, 214
Saint Nicholas, early juvenile magazine,

4

Schools, types, 109; dame, no; ele-
mentary chanty, in; academy, 117-
19; Latin, 121, 122; Lancasterian,
133, 134; general criticism of, 135-39;
see also Education

Sewell, Samuel, on parental discipline,
80; on play, 191

Sherwood, Martha, didactic works, 18,
20

Sigourney, Lydia Huntley, on child
training, 152, 153

Society for the Propagation of the Gos-
pel in Foreign Parts, educational
activities, in

INDEX

Status, definition, 2; types, 2, 3;
changes in, 6

Sunday School, beginning o move-
ment, 61; literature of, 61-63

Taylor, Ann and Jane, graveyard lit-
erature, 21, 22, 60

Teachers, status of, 136, 137; low sal-
aries paid, 137; women in profession,

138

Thanksgiving, early celebration, 208,

209

Theater, children's plays, 204, 205
Thomas, Isaiah, printer o children's
books, 14; works using moral sua-
sion, 85-90

Time, on proper use of, 97, 98; dili-
gence and its rewards, 99-101
Titles, denoting respect for parents and

elders, 74

Toleration, growth of, 49, 52
Toys, scarcity of, 195; types, 219-22
Travelogues, revealing American cus-
toms, 91-94

Trimmer, Sarah K., didactic stones,
18, 20

Utilitarian philosophy, effects on edu-
cation, 1 08, 109

Washington, George, on education,
133; early biographies of, 150, 151

Watts, Isaac, attitude toward children,
7; Divine Songs, 33, 34; on educa-
tion, 120; disapproval of play, 192

Webster, Noah, early textbooks, 16, 126,
144; on education, 135; on diseases,
168

Wesley, John, on breaking the child's
will, 84

Wiggleworth, Michael, Day of Doom,
9, 10

Wmslow, Anna Green, on going to
church, 34; advice to parents, 78

Winthrop, John, medical practice, 164

Wood, Samuel, printer of children's
books, 143, 144

Woodcuts, types, u

Youth's Companion, place in literature,
4

1 34 376