Daily globe., 1883-08-29
THE NEW ENGLAND PRIMER.
Extracts from a Remarkable Book Compiled
by John Eliot.

Extracts from a Remarkable Book Compiled
by John Eliot.
The CongregatiO71dlist prints an in
tere6ting article upon some Of the ear
lest primers in use in New England. A
single copy of an Indian primer, com
piled by John Eliot, and printed in
Cambridge in 1863, has been preserved.
Mr.. [. Hammond Trumbul, OF Hart
ford, Conn, it appears, is Of opinion
that its contents are substantially the
same as those of the earliest New En-
gland primer in English before they
were " enlarged" and improved" or
adorned with cuts" This is nearly
twenty years older than the first New
England primer which can be traced,
and sixty-eight years older than the
earliest now known to survive in a com
plete form. ." The New England prisu-
err Of 1737," the C011gregctjouGIiSt
says, has on the inside of the first leaf,
before the title, wood cut OF King
George the Second and on the reverse
a ghastly image labeled The Pope. or
Man Of SIN It has The Great Ca;5i-
tai Letters the Small Letters tle
Easie Syllables for Children and so
on to those caterpilliary ones of six
syllabIes each. Then came the wood
cuts with their rhymes, beginning N
Adams fall we sinned &l'-but stop
ping short Of the late d.. TayIor's a:.a-
gestion of the enunciation Of the ne@t
stage Of the same truth:
In Gains murder
We sinned furdar.
These are succeeded by The Du1ifal
Child's Promises" by "An Alphabet: q
Lessons for Youth" the Lords Pra~cr,
the Greed, the Commandments; siz
verses, one of which every child sl.o-5i,;
learn by heart" among which is '11-ow
[ lay me-" etc, and another:
Have communion with few,
Be intimate with ONE;
Deal justly by all,
Speak evil of none.
Then came prayers at lying down and
for the morning, the names and orders
of the books of the Old and New Testa-
ment, with "Verses for Little Chill
dren," beginning:
Lord, if Thou lengthen out my days, etc.
and the hymn:
Though am young, little one,
followed, over leaf, by the famous and
never to be forgotten picture cut Of
"NIr. John Rogers, Minister Of the
Gospel in London, the first MARTYR ir
Queen Mary's Reign"-his wife with
nine small Children and one at her
Breast following him to the Stake"
Then follow the verses said to have
been made by Mr.. Rogers as an "Ex-
hortation" Tin later editions, "Advice'')
to his children; but which Mr.. Truua-
bull shows were, in fact, composed hv
Robert Smith, contemporary OF Io3e IS
and later martyr also. The "Sho~tc-
Catechism," completes the book Tie
next edition known to exist is called
the New England Primer, Improve(t."
printed at Boston in 17GS, and va!v
considerably altered from It's p.u,:rto.;-
sor. Dr Trumbull points OFT tn ..3o
Great Revival" had INTERVIEWED be
tween these two elition3 and he traces
to the influence Of this fact the Obvious
change which now comes over The s7.ili5
Of the primer, which IS 40 longer rri-
marily ant;-papal, but evangelical Tie
Pope as a bu8bear is gone, aipi g.. II
that savored Of worldliness, friyolity
and vain imaginings was ousted bv
substitute Of a distinctively religious
tone. Notice some such changes Of
this character as the following:
ORIGINAL. "DPRoyED.7
The cat doth play Christ crucifed
And after slay. For sinners dy'd.
dog will bite The Deluge drownd
thief at night. The earth around.
Nightingales sing Noah did view
In time OF Spring. TIL old world & new.
Time cuts down all, Young Timothy
Both great and small. Learnt sin to fly.
Dr.. Trumbull also points out how the
liberty thus taken by this editor en-
boldened those who published later
editions to make still further innova-
tions. Witness the following changes
In regard to the letter K:
1887. Our King the good
No man of blood
i76S. Proud Korahs troop
Was swallowed up. 4
1897. The British King
Lost States thirteen.
1912. 'Tis youths delight
To fly their Kite.
This improved" primer was issued
in succeeding editions in ITO, 1776 and
1777.
SCORPIONS.