The penalty for reading the English Scriptures, or for offering
Protestant prayers, was death. In his autobiography, Benjamin
Franklin says that one of his ancestors, who lived in England in
Mary's reign, adopted the following expedient for giving his family
religious instruction. He fastened an open Bible with strips of tape
on the under side of a stool. When he wished to read it aloud he
placed the stool upside down on his knees, and turned the pages under
the tape as he read them. One of the children stood watching at the
door to give the alarm if any one approached; in that case, the stool
was set quickly on its feet again on the floor, so that nothing could
be seen.