Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1883-11-29
NOAH WEBSTER, IL. D.
The Evolution Of His Never.to-be
Forgotten Spelling.Book.
Tho First Edition Published In
l7S3.--" Poor Tray" and Other
FabIes---beventy-F Five
Millions Sold.

Joel Benton writes for the October number
of the Magazine of American History an
article on the centennial anniversary OF the
Webster spelling book, in which he traces
some Of the changes which occurred in the
earlier editions The first edition OF the
spelling book was published in 1888. OF the
book as it was ultimately Mr.. Benton says:
1t was not born all at once, but, like Topsy, it
"growed" The oldest copy have before me
is dated 1928. 1t had then dropped its
synopsis of grammar, and was titled as fol-
lows: "The American Spelling Book; Con-
tanning the Rudiments OF the English Lam
guage, for the Use of Schools in the United
States" The copyright of the book had now
been running eleven years, and IN lsS9 IL
passed through revision so thorough that a
new name was given it, and new copyright
was secured. 1t appears from this time forth
"The Elementary Spelling Book, being an I'M
provement on the American Spelling Book
The first copy I have Of this new edition
bears date of 1884 1t is noticeable that the
book has now achieved substantially its final
form, as it has been known and quoted and
remembered for nearly fifty years In sub
sequent years from this date You will see
few changes, but they are slight and OF
detail merely
THAT WONDERFUL MlNERVAs
The tables now 10 long familiar, such as
that on the twenty-fifth page beginning with
"baker," are the same to-day in every import
ant feature that they were fifty years and
more ago. But the matter of the pictures Il
a varying note; in some years they wero
given and in some they were omitted, which
necessitated, Of course some new text in their
place. find that nearly all the plates OF the
copy printed in 1884 coincide with that copy
righted in 1880, the variations occurring i'll
the last twenty or thirty pages. The Ele-
mentary Spelling Book gave more readings
than its predecessors, which had none until
itreached the forty third page That Won
derful picture of Minerva, the goddess Of
wisdom, with her lofty and digniid cap
Il suppose it was She though when boy it
bewildered me not little) taking q
young aspirant by tho hand and
pointing, with her right arm appraised. to the
distance, everybody will remember. 1t
served, and still serves, as a frontispiece; and
dates back, ! think, to 1929. 1t was pic
ture which have poured over for hours on
the school bench, wondering how those rocks
and precipiccs could ever he surmounted
which stood SO gloomiiy i'll the way of the
coveted journey. In the book, Us now pub
lishcd, this picture is given in little more
artistic form, with two or three Slightly diff
ferent touches in the background and fore
ground; but it seems to lose in interest as
much as it gains in quality 10y the change.
POETRY.
The copy OF 1929 has number OF selections
of poetry toward the end II the book about
"The Rose, "The Lamb, The Biris Nest"
and "On Goldtinch Starved i'll His Cage"
intended for advanced scholars. Tho first is
the well known poem in the English Reader,
but its first verse is givon with the names Of
Julia and Emma substituted for Mary and
Anna, with some other changes which must
have come from an imperfect copy, or the
names might have been chosen to please some
Of the authors intimate acquaintanc~s or to
honor members of his family. "The Lamb"
was not "Mary's Little Lamb, but another
less funny and more pathetic
1t has pleased me to note that in the
"American Spelling Book, in list Of towns
given (Which was not reprinted in the 'Ele-
mentary Spelling Book'0, Mr.. Webster has
sgnalzed his interest in Sharon. where his
first studies for the book were begun, by
using Sharon and its adjacent towns,
Amenia Kent, Salisbury, and Cornwall rs
ulStsllfCSS lOl hiSh hc "oAAA
hardly have done had they mover been in
proximity to him.
THE MAIDS SPILLED MILK.
lr speaking Of the alternate appearance
and disappearance of the fables and their ac-
companying cuts, should have said that
they wore not always precisely the same
from year to year. But you were always
sure when they appeared to find the one Of
"The Boy Who Stole Appcs," and The
Country Maid and Her MilkPail.' This
last seemed to mo particularly pathetic.
always felt profoundly sorry for that milk
maid. She was little too much elated AMI
imaginative perhaps, and she was building
q very big castle on n somewhat diaphanous
basis But it was, after all only the pardon
able luxury Of lille revery. The fable was
different from those most familiar to us, too,
by having the moral drawn very solemnly
as preface to the story, and that mo al was
not at all the one that would have occurred
to me. Tho most obvious and valuable les
son that it told, used to think was that it
would be better to carry a pail OF milk with
your hands, instead of trying to balance it on
your head. The boy in the apple trsc, how
ever, seemed to richly deserve his fate
VARIOUS EDITION.
The fables in the edition of 1923 are: /.
"Of the Boy Who Stole Apples 2 The one
above given. 3. ''The Fox and the Swal-
low" 4 1.-The Cat and the Rat" s. "rhe
Fox and the Brambe." +. 1.-The Bear and
the Two Friends" Z. "The Two Dogs this
is the story of poor Tray" s. "The Partial
Judge" o. 1.-The Boy Who Went to the
Woods to L,ok for Birds Nests When He
Should Have Gone to School" The last one,
probably, while the teachers whip was in
sight, as it usually was half century ago,
was impressive enough without a picture;
and SO it stands unil'strated, on the naked
enorlnty of the crime itself.
In the oil lest edition which l possess the
fables used are Nos. l, 4, 5, 6,7 and g.
preceded by three pictures on the dog, the
stag and the squirrel, which are simply de-
scribed The pictures accompanying these
fables are entirely made over to conform to
different style Of art.
There is one edition, at least, of the SPELL
ing-book, Published about thirty-flve years
ago, which, like the old Farmers Almanac"
had running pictures at the top of each page,
the text being unatered beneath them ex-
cept that it was compressed so as to give the
needed space for this addition For some
reason these border pictures were soon aban.
doned, and never again made their appear.
ance
ALEXANDER ANDERSON.
Very few can tell, presume the artist
that made the strictly simple, and now very
interesting, wood-cuts that hold for us still,
as in amber, the remembrance Of that green
silk dress the milkmad never got, the beaux
she did not see i'll order to jilt them, and the
"a,