The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-02
THEN AND NOW.
An Interesting Dip Into
the Volumes of the Past.

given to turn the pages of volumes yell
low with age and musty from long con-
cealment in forgotten cupboards and
unused chests of the family lumber
room.
Think for moment Of "a History OF
the American Revolution" printed in
Boston in 1895, the type excellent, but
peculiar at first glance, with the let
| ter s looking like an (, and to the
unaecustemed eye, causing the most
grotesque errors in reading; the liter
airy character of the history beyond
| enthusiasm of one who might have
been a witness of the stirring scenes
described-if not this, so near in time
to the events narrated, that the read
er's sympathy is fully commensurate
with the earnestness of the author,
when living in thought again the thrill
ing days upon which depended the ex-
istence of the nation.
Then lose all sense. Of the present in
a thorough study of the American
Gazetteer'' sold at Worcester in 1898,
some twenty eight years after The Spy
was founded, wherein, the city is noted
as town of more than 1000 inhabit-
ants, and unusual space given to mem
ton of the printing presses, types and
apparatus in use belonging to Isaiah
Thomas, ESQ.,, believed at the time to
be the largest in America.
In this volume, what Is now the great
west is summed up briefly in every ref
erence as the Northwestern Terri
tory'--the state of Ohio exists only as
q county of Virginia, and Indiana a
territory in the same great division of
country. California is dismissed with
slight notice, and the comment upon
! It's climate comprehensive, but scarce
ly pleasing to the citizen of the golden
state who chants the praises of that
Eldorado today. Altogether, the Ca
zetteer" is admirable, and its owner to
be envied such a souvenir of a previous
century.
Now attention is given to a fascinat-
ing little volume of date about 1900, en-
titled Evening Entertainments" il
which father orally instructs his
children for period of time, extending
through month or more, each evening
being devoted to the development of
one subject, treated in the most ex-
haustive manner.
No attempt to prepare milk for
babies" is evident in the lessons inn
parted by this parent of SO long ago,
nor can q line of the teaching be read
| by the oldest individual of this genera
ton without the consciousness of know
| ledge gained, and thought most power
! fully stimulated. The conclusion of the
eager critic is that this unpretentious
relic OF q former time is grand educa-
ton in itself.
1t is delusion to suppose that child
rem must be written down" to. There
never was more evident error. They
are often the, severest Judges of litera-
ture and quickly select the best, and
make it's rules their own, if given the
proper guidance by educators fitted for
the task. The reading of such books as
Evening Entertainments" could be
continued by the young people of the
twentieth century with beneficial re-
suits, and 1t is really pity that these
charming sources of wisdom should be
entirely forgotten.
A bound volume of various numbers
Of a magazine published in the city of
New York in the year 1911. alone de-
serves a column to set forth it's de-
mands upon the curious readers con-
sideration. 1t has in reality no excuse
for being, and it is not easy to discern
what the social status of it's patrons
are filed with absurdities rendering it
next to impossible to decide whether the
venture was instituted In deadly earn
est or as a vehicle to display the power
ty of what then gained currency as
humor.
cit appears to have been very much in
earnest, gathering news from sources
wide apart and chronieling for its sub
scribers all that it could CLEAN of mo-
ment from the smallest fire in the sub
urbs to the death Of some European
monarch.
The notices of marriages and deaths
are in many instances strange produce
tions testifying singularly enough to
the change of taste in a few genera
tons, for which the later ones should
be supremely thankful.
The subscription price of this literary
curiosity is $500 per year-rather an
exalted demand upon the women in
whose interest 1t was, according to its
title, conducted, These supporters of
it's influence must have been charac-
terized by the same traits of disposi-
ton that mark the lovers of many me-
diocre publications existing in time
present, that are prosperous to de-
gree, but in remarkably circumscribed
spheres. Knowing the city of New
York as the eye of America at this
day, it is difficult to fancy any liter
airy matter whatever as issuing from
it's precincts, so recently as the COM
mencement of the nineteenth century
that that could possibly manifest such
natural provincialism as the small
magazine here described.
Last to be brought to notice is Let
tiers to Young Lady" written by
clergyman. printed in the city of Hart
ford in 1898, and bearing upon it's inn
print the typographical oddities char
acteristic of the press Of that era. No
adequate idea can be given Of it's con-
tents, apart from the testimony to its
immense value; the purpose of the au-.
thor is evident in every lire. He de-
sires only TO conserve the rules of con-
duct he believes to be of specific ft-s
ness, when applied 70 the solution OF
the complex problems that had al
ready become ni6fneftotIs to the men
and women of th&P 1eafier time
Most emphatic dissehsiop is made to
many canons of taste accepted one
hundred years later, and it is not prob
able that the general reader would
agree with the advice given in numer-
Gus instances. However, 1t Is not diff
,ficult to sympathize with the reverend
writer, when he comments upon a Gus
tom he considers too prevalent in his