The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-07-07
SOME ANCIENT SCHOOL BOOKS.
|Webster's Spelling Book-The English Reader-Dabols
Arithmetc-Brown' Grammar, and Others, and
Their Virtuous Precepts.
By JOEL BENTON.

In the literature that abides with
the individual memory and becomes
a part of the souls furniture, so to
speak, I know of nothing that sur
passes a disused and departed school
book.
The Webster Spelling Book and
the English Reader-the first m OBJ
solescent and the last now nowhere
used-have probably had the longest
history of any, going through at least
three full generations. Beginning
with the symbolic picture Of the TEN
pie of Fame and knowledge, to which
q Minerva-like female figure points
the young girl pupils whom she is
leading, and continuing to the end,
there is hardly a page in this spell
ing book which an old student who
has used it ever forgets. Although
1t has gone through several editions,
its type and essential style are pre-
served in every change Of 1t.
How Familiarity, after you pass the
alphabet page, these lines appeal to
us: Am I to go..in? I am to go
In" "She fed the old hen" "The
hen was fed by her" Ann can hem
my cap" "She has a new n"
Fire will burn wood and coal"
"Coal and wood will make a fire."
"Will you help me pin my frock?"
-'The good girl may jump the rope"
bakers bake bread and cakes" i
like to play in the shady grove"
"Cider is made of apples" "A tiger
will kill and eat a man" "Ann can
spin flax, "a shad can swim" Got
ton velvet is very soft to the feel
1--WE can burn fish oil in lamps"
"Never poster the little boys" i
had some green corn in July on a
plate"
Things Ann Doesn't Know.
The self-obviousness and simplicity
of these sayings have now a distinct
charm. But they were gagged, 1t
must be remembered, for infant1le
minds not long graduated from the
cradle. Some changes in society
have taken place since they were
written. Ann cannot spin flax now,
because the crop has lost its preVa-
lence, and we no longer burn fish oil,
but use, where gas and electricity are
not in hand, John D. Rockefeller's
product. A shad can still swim, but
he now does his !ocomotion with
rare and rarer frequency-and very
soon will not do it at all unless we
quit the filthy and criminal pollu-
ton of our streams and waterways.
At the middle and end Of the book
the words and lessons are arranged
for the older and higher classes OF
pupils, and finish all the equipment
that Is required for a speller n
reader. The pictures and the fables
perhaps interest most of us in the re-
trospect. The milkmaid in her care
less dreamland, the boy driven from
the apple tree by the irate farmer
and the bull that gored the OK are
still unfaded treasures which carried
in their day notable instruction. The
wood-cuts that were used, that were
of the Anderson and Bewick fashion,
look quaint enough now.
Who, at any rate, that has nur-
tured on Webster's Speller can ever
forget the Milkmaid's Reverie? She
was carrying the full pail of milk on
her head when she said: "The mon
ey for which I sell this milk will en-
able me to increase my stock OF eggs
to 800" After deducting for adding
and vermin there would be at least
$50 chickens got from them. These
were to 90 to market at Christmas
for good prices. Consequently by
May Day, she says, II cannot fall OF
having money enough to purchase a
new gown. Then!-let me consider
yes, green becomes my complexion
best. and green it shall be. In this
dress I will go to the fair, where all
the young fellows will strive to have
me for a partner; but I SHALL. per-
hans. refuse everyone Of them, and
with an air of disdain and toss from
them" Being transported by this
thought" she gave a sudden toss OF
her head, land down came the pail
of milk, and with it all her imaginary
happiness" ,
It must be that from this fable
came the proverb Never count your
chickens before they're hatched.'
The Webster Speller is chiefly USED
in the South and West now. But 1t
has absolute merit still, and, inter-
preted in Tagalog and the other
tongues Of the Philippines, might
prove an excellent purveyor OF Eng
lish to those who speak them.
Solemn Lindley Murray.
Lindley Murray's English Reader
was held to be excellent in its day.
But 1t was overwhelmingly serious
and solemn, and was so advanced
that many of the younger pupils who
used it had to wait for years to haVe
all its meaning made clear to them
Murray was not only a stern Quaker,
but he seems to have been a man who
could not smile even. To him a laugh
was a levity, and in one OF the edi-
lions of his reader he apologized In a
foot-note for a few sentences in which
he though there was something play
N.Y. am n1oa hnunuar