Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-08-13
A LESSON FOR A FIRST READER.


see a book. 1t is u First Reader.
A First Reader is book for very young
children.
And being book for very young
children, containing in condensed
form the milk of literature, who would
have imagined that il ever could have
by any possibility become the means OF
bringing the greatest confusion and
veXation to grown-up? But 1t did.
|, Samuclla Golden, am that grown
up. And j am. the author, or nearly
The author (under the ablest super
vision, frankly confess) of that First
Reader
The way il came about was this.
have always been passionately fond OF
children. When but a decidedly small
specimen OF humanity myself adored
all the smaller specimens with whom l
CHANGED to meet. AT the tender age of
six, there being no baby then at my
own home, deliberately entered the
home of our washcr-woman one day,
knowing her to be absent at the time,
and stole her iivc-months-old Patsey
from the cradle in which he was peace
fully sleeping, and in spite of his kicks
and yclls, when he awoke TO the situa-
ton, managed to carry him safely to
our fortunately not far distant
and place him in the arms of my
very much astonishcd mother. And
when he was reclaimed. and carried
away again by his rightful owner, |
sat Inc down on the floor with q bang,
and opened my mouth To its utmost
width, and lifted my voice TO its utmost
height, and refused most emphatically
TO be comfortcd.
This love of little ones did not
diminish in the least rs grew in stature
and in years. On the contrary. it seemed
to increase, and il became rs natural for
me to talk baby talk and make baby
rhymes for every wee darling that came
in my way rs il was for me to breathe.
and for the older Youngsters / had
always II story ready-some simple
thing about simple things, but, by
virtue of creation, my own. And
having contrived TO be an unobseryed
listener TO several of these stories, and
having also learned from Sue, his little
niece, and 81 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 afternoon
"Miss Golden, have undertaken a
task in which think nay, l am sure
that you can, if you will, be of great
assistance to me"
"And pray what may that task bc?''
asked | wonderingly.
"The preparation of First Reader.
he replied. IL do not expect thu
pecuniary results to be princely
though no doubt you would realize
enough to compensate you for what
ever. time you might cxpcnd; but thu
practice would be excellent for you
and perhaps open the way for better
paving literary work"
Literary work." repeated l. "Why
| never even dreamed of such thing.
"Did YOU not he said, with smile
"Wcll, you are not the first person VIII
has remained i'm ignorance of his or he
particular talent until friend dis
covered it. But are you willing To Civ,
/ me helping hand with the bookp'
Most willingly" said |. Tell m
plainly what am to do, or to try TO do
and l will begin this very evening""
And did begin that very evening
and extremely glad ! was to do SO. Fo
had already, although April hat
scarcely set in, trimmed my usua
amount of spring hats and bonnets
which-our community not follOwin;
strictly, for good and sufficient reasons
the DEGREES of fashion also include,
most of the summer ones, thereby cut
ting off that source OF income for fou
OF five months. And il had been highl
necessary that another source shOul'
be discovered Immediately. From whic
statement we shall naturally infer tina
the Golden family was golden only il
name IL was. Otherwise, of course
mean in money sense, 1t was nickelly
and not that to as great an extent a
desirable.
Father-wcll, any kind of stead
business seemed to disagree with father
consequently he contributed to our sup
port only by fits and starts. Daniel
our eldest boy, worked faithfully rs a
assistant .bookkeeper in publishin
house in New York City, and ser
nearly half his salary to mother tn
first Of every month. George, on
| yOunRcSt oOy, was Clcrh WIN \" uVPo
some day becoming one of the iirm)
the Wildwood general store; and l, Q
have intimated above, was the WILD
wood milliner. But work as hard as W
might, Daniel, George and i, we coul
do no more, even with the intermitter
help from father, than take care OF on
selves and the rest of the family in u
humblest way. (The rest of the famil
consisted of mother-a darling gran'
mother-another darling-and three I
the sweetest, cunningest little girl
two, five and six years old, that eve
needed TO be taken care Of. So, as yo
may well imagine, / was not only d.
lighted, but extremely delighted, to g
the chance Of assisting Mr.. Erickso
with the Reader. And I conhded
much to Matt Brewster when we wei
coming home from church together Il
next Sunday evening. because, yc
see, Matt" said I, "if | succeed wit
this, may be ] can go on writing until
n Il "A. - I.a n. al.