Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-06-13
THAT FIRST READER.

see book. 1t is a First Reader. A
First Reader is book for very young
children.
And being book for very young
children, containing in a condensed form
the milk of literature, who would have
imagined that it ever could have by any
possibility become the means of bringing
the greatest confusion and vexation to
grown-up But it did. /, Samuella
Golden, am That grown-up And l am
the author, or nearly the author (under
the ablest supervision, I frankly con-
fess), Of that First Reader
The way it came about was this.
have always been passionately fond of
children. When. but decidedly small
specimen of humanity myself adored all
the smaller specimens with whom 1
Glanced to meet. At the tender age of
six, there being then no baby at my own
home, | deliberately entered the home of
our washer-woman one day, knowing her
to be absent at the time, and stole her
five-months-old Patsey from the cradle
in which he was peacefully sleeping, and
in spite of his kicks and yells, when he
awoke to the situation, | managed to
carry him safely to our house fortunately
not far distant-and place him in the
arms OF my very much astonished mother.
And when he was reclaimed and carried
away again by his rightful owner, | sat
me down on the floor with bang, and
opened my mouth to its utmost width,
and lifted up my voice to its utmost
height, and refused most emphatically to
be colnforted.
This love of little ones did not dimin-
ish in She least as l grew in stature and
in years. On the contrary it seemed to
increase, and it became as natural for me
to talk baby talk to and make baby
rhymes for every wee darling that came
in my way as it was for me to breathe.
And for the older youngsters had always
a story ready-some simple thing about
simple things, but, by virtue of creation,
my own. And having contrived to be an
unobserved listener to several of these
stories, and having also learned from Sue,
his little niece, that | "made up out of
my own head" the jingles with which
she often sought to entertain him, Mr..
Erickson, our school-master-and very
clever fellow, too-said to me one after
noon, "Miss Golden, i have undertaken q
task in which l think-nay, am sure
that you can, if you will, be of great as
sistance to me-"
And pray what may that task be?"
asked !, wonderingly.
1.-THE preparation of First Reader
he replied. II do not expect the pecuniary
results to be princely, though no doubt
you would realize enough to compensate
you for whatever time you might expend !;
but the practice would be excellent for
you, and perhaps open the way for better
paying literary work"
Literary work." repeated I. "Why.
Inever even dreamed of such thing :"
did you not?" he said, with smile.
"Well, you are not the first person who
has remained in ignorance of his or her
particular talent until friend discovered
it. But are you willing to give me a
helping hand with the book?"
'Most willingly" said 1. "Tell me
plainly what | am to do or to try to do,
and will begin this very evening""
And | did begin that very evening,
and extremely glad 1 was to do so. For
l had already, although April had scarcely
set in, trimmed my usual amount of spring
hats and bOnnets, which-our community
not following strictly, for good and suf-
ficient reasons, the DEGREES of fashion
also included most of the summer ones,
thereby cutting off that source of income
for four or five months. And it had
been highly necessary that another source
should be discovered Immediately. From
which statement you will naturally infer
that the Golden family was golden only
in name. 1t was. Otherwise, of course
| mean in money sense, it ..as nickelly,
and not that to as great an extent as
desirable.
Father-well, any kind of steady bust
ness seemed to disagree with father; con-
sequently he contributed to our support
only by fits and starts. Daniel, our eldest
boy, worked faithfully as an assistant
book-keeper in publishing house in
Now York city, and sent nearly half his
salary to mother the first of every month.
George, our youngest boy, was clerk
with hope of some day becoming one
of the FIRM at the Wildwood general
store; and |, as | have intimated above,
was the Wildwood milliner But work
as hard as we might, Daniel, George, and
|, we could do no more, even with the
intermittent helps from father than take
care of ourselves and the rest of the
family in the humblest way. CThe rest
of the family consisted OF mother--a
darling grandmother another darling
land three of the sweetest, cunningest
little girls, two, five, and six years old,
that ever needed to be taken care of.
So, as you may we'll imagine, I was not
only delighted, but extremely delighted,
to get the chance of assisting Mr.. Erick-
son with the reader. And | con6ded as
much to Matt Brewster when we were
coming home from church together the
next Sunday evening. "Because, you see,
Matt, ;" said l, ''if | succeed with this,
maybe can go on writing until"-and
caught my breath at the boldness of the
idea-'T am found worthy of place in
the juvenile magazines, and, as a success
full writer, could help the family much
more than can now, for literary work is
for all seasons, and millinery only for
two OF three months out of tho whole
rear"
"You forget" said Matt, "year rich