Evening star., 1927-11-17
OLD SCHOOL BOOKS
HAUNTED BY. DEATH
Readers Indicate Children
Had Gruesome Dreams a
Century Ago.

truoSono dreams must have how
cred over the pillow of the American
school child a century ago.
Some old school readers. which may
nave been used in the private schools
or Washington. were reSurrected from
the shelves of the Library Of Con-
gress the other day which show that
the pursuit Of learning in those days
was FAR from pleasant occupation
As soon AS the child learned the alpha
bet he was turned loose in readers
on nearly every page Of which the
word death" appeared In capital
letters
The burden of two-thirds of the les
sons was that the child should never
forget 1T work or play. that death
was Just around the corner.
Among the old text books was
"Miscellanies. Moral and Instructive"
This volume carried the highest
recommendation from Benjamin
Franklin as a text book for children.
The first selection is a short poem,
stressiug the thought that death en-
ters the home only to relieve its vic
tim from the miseries of life.
Death and Corpses.
Farewell. ye earth. / hate your
WAYS" is the title upon which the
eve of the youthful reader fell few
pages further on. Then came a long
prose selection describing the scene
at the deathhed of Joseph Addison.
Another selection deemed proper for
the education of young children was
q long, gruesome poem describing
dream in which the dreamer found
himself lying among the corpses in
the graveyard Along came La%rus,
covered with leprosy sores. and lay
dnsyr1 haSido him I ihon St
ed to talk, lamenting that those still
living were not devoting more time to
thinking of the dread eternity they
would spend in coffins.
The child turned over a few pages,
all loaded with ponderous moral re-
fiections. and read. "Elegy When the
Bells Were Tolling for the Interment
of a Corpse" The next selection was
entitled, The Contemplation of
Night" The burden Of the piece was
that after death there is no night. and
thus that death is something to he
thankful for and not dreaded
A couple of pages later the school.
hoy of 1887, when this particular edi-
tion was published. found verses en-
titled, "Refiection of n Person in His
Sxtieth Year" The old gentleman is
rejoicing that soon his troubles will be
over and he will sleep in the sweet,
sweet grave.
CompiIer's Name Missing.
The next selection was 1.-The Hus-
handman's Meditation" The farmer.
working in the fields with his Scythe,
reflects morally that it will not be
long before Father Death will come
along with a different sort of scythe
and NOV him down. just as he himself
Is moving down the yellow wheat.
Then comes a poem on THE Church
yard and the reader ends with verses
entitled, Thoughts on the Death of
Child"
The compiler neglected to put his
name on the title page of this reader.
The only name on this page is that
of Franklin, and there is some in
ternal evidence upon which to base
a suspicion that the book was the
work of the colonial philosopher and
patriot himself. There are many pas
sages which might very well have
been written by Poor Richard" al
though they are somewhat more lu
gubrious than Franklin's customary
epigrams.
A still more somber reader was pro-
vided for the school children in 1907.
This opens with a long poem on "The
Last Day." describing with vivid de-
tail the horrors of the day of judg
ment for those persons, children
among them. who have lived without
proper reflection on the impending de-
etruction of the world Next comes
reflections at Evening" Evening is
O sad time, the poet says, but the
children should remember that a time
Is coming when there will he no night.
The concluding selection in this book
is "An Ode on the Shortress of HUI
man Life"
Reform Sets In.
BY 1911 some reform was evident.
One reader, imported from England in
that year, appeared far less like the
handbook of an undertaken and more
like a modern text book. For the first
so pages death is not mentioned. The
selections are mmostlv fables, some of
them even humorous.
Text books makers of a few years
before apparently would not have
dreamed, OF placing such light matter
before young children. But the com.
pliers conscience was bothering him.
on page SO he introduces Gray's
Elegy in a Country Churchyard and
follows it Immediately by Verses on
the Death of a Young Lady" From
this time on death" is sprinkled
quite literally through the pages. end
ing with solemn selection: "Elegy
on Captive Fly"
This was before the day Of anti-fy
campaigns. The child is urged to
contemplate mseries of the unfor-
tunate creature struggling on sticking
paper and fly himself solemnly warns
the public that he never would have
gotten into such a plight il he had
needed the wise counsel of elder flies.
Several hundred readers used at
various periods in American schools
are on the shelves Of the Library OF
Congress. Through the nineteenth
century they show steady improve
n1ent, seiections dealing with death
and sorrow becoming fewer and
fewer until the present. when IL
would be considered almost criminal
TO incorporate in text book for young
children anything calculated to pro.
mote fear and horror.
Adolph Mensch recently ra ised six
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