The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-19
FIRST RECEPTION,
E. -
The Society of Anti
guilty Entertains
Friends.
mrs. EARLE OF BROOKLYN SPEAKS
Childhood in the Colonial
and Present Days
Contrasted.
MRS. EARLE OF BROOKLYN SPEAKS

The Society Of Antiquity gave its first
reception of the season last night, with
Mrs. Alice Morse Earle of Brooklyn, N.
Y, the guest of honor. Mrs EaIles
talk on childhood in colonial days
was the central event of the evening.
Mrs. Earle, who was very cordially re-
ceived, said in opening her address that
she had chosen her subject partly in
Difference to the interest that was sup
posed to exist in Worcester in child
study, partly because so little was
known about it. THE colonial child,
she continued was emphatically Gle
to be seen, not heard not because he
was held in light regard, for there never
has been a time when American chill
dren's rights We're not more fully re-
garded than they were contemporanc-
ously III England. The early laws of
this country show that their rights were
widely considered here, even to the dis
tributior Of property.
There was q double reason why TINS
should be so here, for children are the
greatest
WEALTH OF A COMMUNITY,
and wherever, as upon the frontier, q
large family is needed there it is sur
enormous dimensions, there beins Is, 20,
and sometimes 30 children in one fam
lily. 1t DID not follow that that num-
Der lived, indeed infant mortality vas
terrible, ana out OF family of is, often
but two grew to maturity.
From the moment a child was
born" said Mrs. Earle, the struggle of
his life began, for in New England and
northern New York and Pennsylvania
as we'll. he was carried to the meeting
house within "a hours after birth. Many
deaths resulted from this practice.
Everything in children's dress, which
was wooden throughout, his food and
his medicine seems to US to have been
calculated to shorten rather than pro-
long life. He was dosed with every
horrible connection, and some of those
still cast shadow over the children of
rural parts.
From the first moment of life he
was
INTRODUCED TO THE BIBLE,
but not the King James version, for
when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
this had not been made. 1t is not diff
cult to account for this devotion to the
Bible, when it is remembered that our
early ancestors had seen it torn from
their hands.
Except in one or two states, great
stress was laid from the earliest days
on schools, where the conditions as
whole resemDied those prevailing in
domestic life. Everything was rude,
with very little furniture, no States
lew pencils, no maps (for there were
no geographies), and either shelves or
blocks of wood for seats, upon which
the pupils sat with their backs to the
centre OF the room. Cruelty Of dis
clpnne was the most marked charac-
terIstic of the colonial school,
This cruelty was carried on almost
up to our days, and leather straps in
al varieties were used. So mortify-
ing and degrading were the punish
ments, that it is a wonder how teachers
held the respect Of their pupils. But
they did.
Precocity" was another trait. 1t
was nothing unusual for a child to be
quite advanced in Latin by three or
four years of age, but it does not ap-
pear that
GIRLS WERE ANY THE HAPPIER
for being well educated. The first text
book was the horn-book; then came
the New England Primer. Painful to
look on are the old arithmetics and
grammars, and almost incomprehensi-
BILE"
Mrs. Earle showed a modern reproduc-
ton of horn-book in the British mu-
story books for children, of which
'Goody Two-Shoes" was a favorite
Isaiah Thomas reprinted a volume OF
English juvenile stories, and to him
said Mrs. Earle, the children of the
country owe an immense debt. Why
It was that he printed them is not
known but he was said to be "a very
ingenious fellow" and certainly he was
clever enough to seize upon this idea.
IL Is interesting to see how few toys
ana how many games the colonial child
had. The same games were played
then as now, in the same ways and al
the same times. At precisely the same
times 200 years ago as now the boys
got over their tops or marbles or be.
gan playing tag, and those games have
continued to be taught by one child K
another-no adult ever has hand in it
Dolls those children had, and such toy!
as they could make themselves, but Of
the toys which bring such wearines.
to our children none"
In concluding, Mrs. Earle spoke OF III,
new way IN which history is now stud
led, and praised warmly the work tina
is being done by the Society Of Anti
guilty and other similar organiza tions
Norman's orchestra had played III
half an hour before the talk on III,
platform. which was decorated Will
palms. AT the conclusion of Mrs Earle,
remarks, there was a reception Mrs
Earle received with Mrs A. Ceol Q,
Bullock and Mrs. n f. Rogers, chair
man OF the entertainment committee
Mrs. H. F. Harris presided at the lem
onade table, which was decorated will
maiden haT and pinks. while Mrs Ma
thaniel Pane and Mrs. c. c. BdIdwil
poured coffee at a larger table, Will
red roses and ferns for a center piece
They were assisted by Miss Grace Bald
win, Miss Cushing Of Lowell, Mrs join
Disco, Mrs. Bradford Sargent, Mrs. II
Winfield Wyman, Mrs w. H. WhippLl
and Mrs. Louis Southgate.
Before President F. L. Hutchins il.