Oxford Democrat., 1913-07-29
Some interesting Old Books.


small volumes, mostly bound In leather,
though some are in boards and one or
two 10 cloth, which are Of interest from
their greater or lesser degree OF antiqui-
ty, IL not for the matter they contain,
and some of them are by no means to be
slighted on the latter account.
OF them the most modern is that book
once famous, Towns Fourth Reader,
compiled by Salem Town without the
final e). This reader was published fn
Portland in 1851 by Sanborn & Carter,
but the date of copyright Is 1S47. This
was before the height Of production OF
that splendid volume of literature which
charsct terizsd the Victorian age, in both
England and America, though the book
contains several Of Webster's orations'
and extracts from such writer's as Irving,
Cooper, Bryant, and little from Long.
fellow. In these days when current
'sliterature" has become so uutrammeled
in form and expression as almost 10
make dictionary of slang necessary for
full understanding Of II, the stilted
style OF many of the selections In Towns
Fourth Reader doubtless seems anti
quated to readers of this generation
But the careful study of it could hardly
help but raise any ones literary standard
a little. There is to be found in 1t very
little of that slovenliness which char
acterizes much presentday writing.
An older collection is that made by
Lndley Murray, the once famous gram
marian. The book was published in
Newark, n. j., in 1886. Its complete
title is: "The English Reader; or pieces
in prose and verse, from the best writers
desi signed to assist young persons to read
with propriety aud effect; improve their
language and sentiments; and to incul-
cate the most important principles OF
piety and virtue; with few preliminary
observations on the principles Of good
reading" In the course of his preface
the compiler assures his readers that he
"has been careful to avoid every express
sion and sentiment, that might crafty a
corrupt mind, or, in the least degree,
offend the eye or ear of innocence-and
be enlarges upon the necessity OF such
care.
Farther on in his preface the compiler
says: 1.-THE Author has endeavored TO
relieve the grave and serious parts OF his
collection, by the occasional admission
of pieces which amuse as we'll as instruct.
II, however, any of his readers should
think it contains too great portion OF
the former, it may be some apology to
observe, that in the existing publications
designed for the perusal of young per-
sons the preponderance is greatly on the
side of gay and amusing productions.
When the imagination, Of youth especial
", s much entertained, the sober die
tates of the understanding are regarded
with indifference; and the influence Of
good affections is either feeble, or tran
sient. A temperate use of such enter
tainment seems therefore requisite, to
afford proper scope for the operations of
the understanding and the heart"
Written in the days when, as judged
iu the light of our time, the "grave and
serious" comprised about all the ltera-
ture, and the novel and other forms of
"gay and amusing productions" were
very little developed. What do you
think of that, you misunderstanding
twentieth century generation?
The selections are about two.tbirds
prose and one-third poetry, and are di-
vided into classes, denominated "Narra-
tive Pieces" "Didactic Pieces" "Argu
mentative pieces" descriptive Pieces"
and so on. A number of the selections
are from that book now so much neg
lected as fount of literature, the Bible,
and Milton, Goldsmith, Addison, and
other writer's of English classics, appear
frequently in its pages.
There is also a revised edition Of
Towns Speler and Definer. published in
Portland in 1854 by Blake & Carter.
The oldest book In the collection Is
ELIZA; or, The Pattern OF Women. A
moral romance. Translated from the
German of Maria Regina Roche, author
ess of The Children of the Abbey etc" I"
This was published in 1902, in Lancaster
presumably England) The conversa-
ton given in the story is in dialogue
form, and the Typography is of that time,
so that the opening sentence of the book
looks about like this: 81 have lived al
mott half a century, have feen many
men, but feldom met with real happi-
nefs."
Turning from literature to borticul-
ture, there is little pamphlet which is
the annual catalogue for 1888 and 1894 of
fruit trees, etc, from the nursery of
William Kenrick, sin Newton, near Bos-
ton." In quite lengthy list of varieties
of apples are to be found some, though
by no means all, of the standard market
kinds of the present day, but many
others which sound strange to our ears.
We recognize the Pumpkin Sweet, the
Fall Sopsavine, the Gravenstein (even If
il is specified as "Italian or Danish') },
the Ribston Pippin, the Baldwin, the
"Ro1bury Russeting"; but who could
Identify the Dutch Goblin, Kenrick's 8
Red Autumn, Crows Egg, Yellow Inges-
trie, Michael Henry, Summer Cheese, or
dozens of others?
Perhaps the two books of the most
general interest are geographical. One
is a "School Atlas to Cummings Ancient
& Modern Geography" II is the ninth
edition, bears no date of publication, but
is marked on the fly leaf as the property
of Asa Woodbury., "October the 23 1881" y"
1t is bound in paper, and contains, in
stead of the dozens which would be re-
quired in an atlas to-day just eight maps.
They have many interesting features, the
most conspicuous of which on cursory
review ia the map of the United States,
extending from Canada on the north to
Florida (then Spanish territory on the
south, and from the Atlantic on the east
to the Mississippi on the west, and no
farther.
Very little resembling modern text
book is the geography of Jedediah
Morse, D. d. 1t is compact volume
4 IA < I inches, and is long on descrip-
ton but short on maps, containing only
two small specimens of the latter, though
the fact is noted on the title page that it
is illustrated by separate atlas of nine
select maps. Boston is the place of pub
LEGATION, and the date is Sept, 1918. This
book is prolific in matter of present day
interest. For instance, we learn that
Vincennss, with population OF S93, is
the capital of Indiana, which was already
q state; that Kaskaskia, with about 100
houses and 622 inhabitants, is the estab-
lished capital of Illinois Territory (Chi-
cago was still in the unsupported future);
that st. Louis is village of 200 or 800
houses, beautifully situated on the Mis-
sisippi, IA miles below the Missouri.
New Orleans was the capital of the
great Louisiana territory, and even then
a town of considerable Importance. Its