STORY AND PICTURE BOOKS
_If we are to consider that the condition of the human mind at
any particular juncture is worth studying, it is certainly of
importance to know on what food its infancy is fed.
--The Book Hunter. John Hill Burton, 1863._
Locke says in his _Thoughts on Education_ that "the only book
I know of fit for children is Æsop's 'Fables' and 'Reynard the
Fox.'" By this he means the only story-books. A chap-book, a cheap,
ill-printed edition of Æsop's _Fables_, was read in New England, but
I have found nothing to indicate that these fables were specially
printed or bought for children, or that children were familiar with
them.
There seem to have been absolutely no books for the special delight
of young men and maids in the first years in the new world, no
romances or tales of adventure; nor were there any in England. One
Richard Codrington, a Puritan, and a tiresome old bore, wrote a book
"For the Instructing of the Younger Sort of Maids and Boarders at
Schools." It is about as void of instruction as a book well could
be; and this is his pleasant notion of a "girl's own book":--
"To entertain young Gentlewomen in their hours of Recreation
we shall commend unto them God's Revenge against Murther and
Artemidorous his Interpretation of Dreams."
It isn't hard to guess which one of these two was "taken out" most
frequently from the school library. Speculation about dreams was one
of the few existing outlets to youthful imagination, and many happy
hours were spent in elaborate interpretations. Thus tired Nature's
sweet restorer, balmy Sleep, supplied the element of romance which
the dull waking hours denied, and made life worth living.
Though no great books were written for children during all these
years, three of the great books of the world, written with deep
purpose, for grown readers, were calmly appropriated by children
with a promptness that would seem to prove the truth of the
assertion that children are the most unerring critics of a story.
These books were _Pilgrim's Progress_, first published in 1688;
_Robinson Crusoe_, in 1714; and _Gulliver's Travels_, in 1726. The
religious, political, and satirical purposes of these books have
been wholly obscured by their warm adoption as stories. They have
been loved by hundreds of thousands of English-reading children,
and translated into many other languages. Hundreds of other books,
chiefly for children, have been written, that have been inspired by
or modelled on these books--thus the debt of children to them is
multiplied.
[Illustration: MERRY TALES. OF THE Wi[f.]e Men of GOTHAM.
Printed and Sold in London.
Title-page of _Merry Tales_]
The history of children's story-books in both England and America
begins with the life of John Newbery, the English publisher, who
settled in London in 1744. His life and his work have been told at
length by Mr. Charles Welsh in the book entitled _A Book Seller
of the Last Century_. Newbery was the first English bookseller
who made any extended attempt to publish books especially for
children's reading. The text of these books was written by himself,
and by various English authors, among them no less a genius than
Oliver Goldsmith. His books were promptly exported to America,
where they were doubtless as eagerly welcomed as in England. The
meagre advertisements of colonial newspapers contain his lists.
During Newbery's active career as a publisher--and activity was his
distinguishing characteristic--he published over two hundred books
for children. One of the earliest was announced in 1744 as "a pretty
little pocket book." It contained the story of Jack the Giant Killer.
[Illustration: TALE III.
[Illustration two men with a cuckoo]
On a time the men of Gotham fain would have pinned the cuckoo, that
[f.]he might [f.]ing all the year, all in the mid[f.]t of the town
they had a hedge made in a round compa[f.]s, and got a cuckoo,
and put her into it, and [f.]aid, Sing here and you [f.]hall lack
neither meat nor drink all the year. The Cuckoo when [f.]he [f.]ee
her[f.]elf encompa[f.][f]ed within the hedge, flew away. A vengeance
on her [f.]aid the Wi[f.]e Men, we made not the hedge high enough.
Page of _Merry Tales of Wise Men of Gotham_]
An amusing, albeit thrifty, intermezzo of all children's books was
the publisher's persistent advertisement of his other juvenile
literary wares. If a generous godfather is introduced, he is at
once importuned to buy another of good Mr. Newbery the printer's
books. When Tommy Truelove is to have his reward of virtue and
industry, he implores that it may be a little book sold at the Book
Shop over against Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane. If a kind mamma
sets out to "learn Jenny June to read," she does it with one of
Marshall's "Universal Battledores, so beloved of young masters and
misses." The old-time reader was never permitted to forget for over
a page that the good, kind, thoughtful gentleman who printed this
book had plenty of others to sell.
Newbery was the most ingenious of these advertisers. This is an
example of one of his newspaper eye-catchers printed in 1755:--
"This day was published Nurse Truelove's New Years Gift or the
book of books for children, adorned with cuts, and designed as
a present for every little boy who would become a great man,
and ride upon a fine horse; and to every little girl who would
become a great woman and ride in a lord-mayor's gilt coach.
Printed for the author who has ordered these books to be given
gratis to all boys and girls, at the Bible and Sun in St. Paul's
Churchyard, they paying for the binding which is only twopence
for each book."
Other books were sold "with a Ball and Pincushion, the use of which
will infallibly make Tommy a good boy, and Polly a good girl." The
juvenile characters in the books are always turning aside to read or
buy some one of Mr. Newbery's little books; or pulling one of Mr.
Newbery's "nice gilded library" out of their pockets, or taking Dr.
James' Fever Powder, which was also one of Mr. Newbery's popular
specialities.
The Revolutionary patriot and printer, Isaiah Thomas, was said to
be very "ingenious in spirit." I do not know the exact significance
of this term unless it means that he was a wide-awake publisher,
which he certainly was. He was a bright, stirring man of quick wit
and active intelligence in all things. He brought out just after
the Revolution many little books for children. Few of them have
any pretence of originality, even in a single page. Nearly all are
wholesale reprints of various English books for children, chiefly
those of John Newbery.
I don't know what made Thomas so ready to catch up the reprinting
of these children's books in advance of other American printers.
Perhaps his attention was led to it by the fact that his "Prentice's
Token," or specimen of his work when he was a printer's 'prentice,
was one of those little books. It was issued in 1761 by A. Barclay
in Cornhill, Boston, and a copy now in the possession of the
American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Massachusetts, is
indorsed in Thomas' own handwriting as being by his 'prentice hand.
The book is entitled, _Tom Thumbs Play Book. To Teach Children their
letters as soon as they can speak_. It contains the old rhyme,
"A, Apple pye, B, bit it, C, cut it," etc. Then came the rhymes
beginning, "A, was an Archer and shot at a frog;" also a short
catechism.
Isaiah Thomas lived in Worcester, printed these books there, and
founded there the American Antiquarian Society; in the library of
that society now in that city may be seen copies of nearly all these
children's books which he reprinted; and a collection of pretty,
quaint little volumes they are.
It is the universal decision of the special students of juvenile
literature, that Goldsmith wrote _Goody Two Shoes_. Washington
Irving thought the title-page plainly "bore the stamp of the sly and
playful humour" of the author of the _Vicar of Wakefield_. It reads
thus:--
"The History of Little Goody Two Shoes, otherwise called Mrs.
Margery Two Shoes, with the means by which she acquired her
Learning and Wisdom, and in consequence thereof, her Estate; set
forth at large for the Benefit of those
"Who from a state of Rags and Care
And having Shoes but half a pair,
Their fortune and their fame would fix
And gallop in a Coach and Six.
[Illustration: _The Renowned history of GOODY TWOSHOES."_
your rooks do. You [f.]ee they are going to re[f.]t already.
Illustration: Two people in front of a building.
Do you so likewi[f.]e, and get up with them in the morning; earn,
as they do, every day what you eat, and eat and drink no more than
you earn, and you'll get health and keep it. What [f.]hould induce
the rooks to frequent gentlemen's hou[f.]es only, but to tell them
how to lead a prudent life? They never build over cottages or farm
hou[f.]es, becau[f.]e they [f.]ee, that the[f.]e people know how to
live without their admonition.
_Thus health and wit you may improve,
Taught by the tenants of the grove._
The gentleman laughing gave Margery [f.]ixpence, and told her [f.]he
was a [f.]ensible hu[f.][f]ey.
CHAP. VI.
_How the whole Pari[f.]h was frightened._
Who does not know Lady Ducklington, or who does not know that [f.]he
was buried at this pari[f.]h church?
Well,
_The Renowned History of Goody Two Shoes_]
"See the original manuscript in the Vatican at Rome, and the
Cuts by Michael Angelo. Illustrated by the Comments of our great
modern Critics. Price Sixpence."
Copies of _Goody Two Shoes_ are seldom seen for sale to-day, and
many copies are expurgated. The following quaint chapter is the one
chosen for excision, because our children must never hear the word
ghost.
"HOW THE WHOLE PARISH WAS FRIGHTENED
"Who does not know Lady Ducklington, or who does not know that
she was buried at this parish church?
"Well, I never saw so grand a funeral in all my life; but the
money they squandered away would have been better laid out in
little books for children, or in meat, drink, and clothes for
the poor. This is a fine hearse indeed, and the nodding plumes
on the horses look very grand; but what end does that answer,
otherwise than to display the pride of the living, or the vanity
of the dead. Fie upon such folly, say I, and heaven grant that
those who want more sense may have it.
"But all the country round came to see the burying, and it was
late before the corpse was interred. After which, in the night,
or rather about four o'clock in the morning, the bells were
heard to jingle in the steeple, which frightened the people
prodigiously, who all thought it was Lady Ducklington's ghost
dancing among the bell ropes. The people flocked to Will
Dobbins, the Clerk, and wanted him to go and see what it was;
but William said he was sure it was a ghost, and that he would
not offer to open the door. At length Mr. Long, the rector,
hearing such an uproar in the village, went to the clerk to know
why he did not go into the church and see who was there. I go,
says William, why the ghost would frighten me out of my wits.
Mrs. Dobbins, too, cried, and laying hold on her husband said
he should not be eat up by the ghost. A ghost, you blockheads,
says Mr. Long in a pet, did either of you ever see a ghost,
or know anybody that did? Yes, says the clerk, my father did
once in the shape of a windmill, and it walked all round the
church in a white sheet, with jack boots on, and had a gun by
its side instead of a sword. A fine picture of a ghost truly,
says Mr. Long, give me the key of the church, you monkey; for
I tell you there is no such thing now, whatever may have been
formerly. Then taking the key he went to the church, all the
people following him. As soon as he opened the door what sort of
a ghost do you think appeared? Why little Twoshoes, who being
weary, had fallen asleep in one of the pews during the funeral
service and was shut in all night. She immediately asked Mr.
Long's pardon for the trouble she had given him, told him she
had been locked into the church, and said she should not have
rung the bells, but that she was very cold, and hearing Farmer
Boult's man go whistling by with his horses, she was in hopes he
would have went to the Clerk for the key to let her out."
It would seem that even an advanced pedagogist and child culturist
might forgive this delightful ghost--like a windmill with jack-boots
and a gun, just as a modern grammarian must forgive the verb "would
have went" from little Two Shoes, who, as Mr. Charles Welsh says,
"really ought to have known better."
The first Worcester edition of _Goody Two Shoes_ was printed in
1787, with some alterations suited to time and place. Margery sings
"the Cuzzes Chorus which may be found in the Pretty Little Pocket
Book of Mr. Thomas," etc., and when she grows up she is made a
teacher in Mrs. Williams' "College," which is described in Nurse
Truelove's American books.
It will doubtless be a surprise to many that _Tommy Trip's History
of Beasts and Birds_, etc., was written by Goldsmith. This little
book opens with an account of Tommy and his dog Jowler, who serves
Tommy for a horse.
"When Tommy has a mind to ride, he pulls a little bridle out of
his pocket, whips it upon honest Jowler, and away he gallops
tantwivy. As he rides through the town he frequently stops at
the doors to know how the good children do within, and if they
are good and learn their books, he then leaves an apple, an
orange or a plumb-cake at the door, and away he gallops again
tantwivy tantwivy."
As a specimen of Tommy's literary skill he gives the lines
beginning:--
"Three children sliding on the ice
Upon a summer's day," etc.
The description of animals are such as would be expected from
the author of _Animated Nature_, an amusing medley of truth and
tradition.
[Illustration: A NEW
LOTTERY BOOK,
ON
_A Plan Entirely New_;
Designed to allure _Little Ones_ into a Knowledge of their Letters,
&c. by way of Diversion.
BY TOMMY TRIP,
_A Lover of Children_.
_EDINBURGH_
_Printed and Sold Wholesale_,
BY CAW AND ELDER, HIGH STREET.
1819
_Price Twopence._
Title-page of _A New Lottery Book_]
The name Tommy Trip seems to have been deemed a taking one in
juvenile literature, and is found in many books for children, both
in the titles and as the name of ascribed author. It was used until
this century. The title-page of _A New Lottery Book by Tommy Trip_
is here shown. The manner of using this little _Lottery Book_ is
thus explained:--
"As soon as the child can speak let him stick a pin through
the page by the side of the letter you wish to teach him. Turn
the page every time and explain the letter by which means the
child's mind will be so fixed upon the letter that he will get a
perfect idea of it, and will not be liable to mistake it for any
other. Then show him the picture opposite the letter and make
him read the name of."
The antique mind seems to have found even in Biblical days a vast
satisfaction in riddles. Quintilian said the making and study of
riddles strengthened the reflective faculties.
Old-time jest-books called _Guess Books_ were deemed proper reading
for children, such as _Joe Miller's_ and _Merry Tales of the Wise
Men of Gotham_; very stale and dull were the jests. The _Puzzling
Cap_ was a popular one; also _The Sphinx or Allegorical Lozenges_.
Others were _Guess Again_, and one entitled _Food for the Mind_,
which bore these lines on the title-page:--
"Who Riddles Tells and Many Tales,
O'er Nutbrown Cakes and Mugs of Ale."
--HOMER.
Nurse Truelove was a popular character in these books, and a popular
story was _Nurse True Love's New Year Gift, designed as a present to
every little Boy who would become a great Man, and ride upon a fine
Horse, and to every little Girl who would become a fine Woman and
ride in a Governour's Coach; But Turn over the Leaf and see More of
the Matter_. This was originally an English book, one of Newbery's,
as shown by his advertisement already quoted. Thomas Americanized
the Lord Mayor's coach into a Governor's coach, but he carried out
to the fullest extent the English publishers' mode of advertising.
The sub-title of the book was _History of Mistress Williams, and her
Plumb Cake; With a Word or Two Concerning Precedency and Trade_.
[Illustration:
24 _A New Lottery Book._
Ii _Ii_
Jj _Jj_
IX Jay. 9
Kk _Kk_
X Key. 10
25
J Was a Jay, that prattles and toys,
K Was a Key, that lock'd up bad boys.
Two Pages of _A New Lottery Book_]
"Mrs. Williams when I first became acquainted with her was a
Widow Gentlewoman who kept a little College in a Country Town
for the Instruction of Young Gentlemen and Ladies in the
Science of A, B, C. The Books she put into the hands of her
Pupils were, 1st, The Christmas Box. 2nd, The Father's Gift.
3rd, Mr. Perry's Excellent Spelling Book. 4th, The Brother's
Gift. 5th, The Sister's Gift. 6th, The Infant Tutor. 7th, The
Pretty Little Pocket Book. 8th, The Pretty Plaything. 9th,
Tommy Trip's History of Birds and Beasts. And when their minds
were so enlarged as to be capable of other entertainments she
recommended to Them the Lilliputian Magazine and other Books
that are sold by Mr. Isaiah Thomas at his Book Store near the
Court House in Worcester, &c., &c."
It will be noted that the word college is employed in its old-time
meaning of school; but I am not sure that Thomas used it innocently.
For in the following pages the text compares Mrs. Williams to
"any other old Lady in the European Universities." _The Christmas
Box_ referred to has a decided American flavor. It was printed
in 1789 and is entitled _Nurse True Love's Christmas Box or a
Golden Plaything for Children_. It gives the history of one Master
Friendly, and is specially forced in style. Here are two sentences:--
"He learned so fast, Dear me! it did my heart good to hear him
talk and read. Why! he got all the little books by rote that are
sold by Mr. Thomas in Worcester, when he was but a very little
boy. Then he never missed church. Ah! he was a charming boy.
"He is chosen Congressman already and yet he is not puffed
up. Well, I saw him seated in a Chair when he was chosen
Congressman, and he looked--he looked--I do not know what he
looked like, but everybody was in love with him."
[Illustration: _He! He! He!_
Frontispiece of _Be Merry and Wise_]
This latter sentence is accompanied by a cut of Congressman
Friendly, imbecile in countenance, seated in a chair fixed on
two handles, and borne aloft by four footmen in full livery. This
picture had evidently seen service as "a chairing" in some English
book. When we think what the Congressmen of that day were,--earnest,
simple-hearted patriots, and that Thomas knew them well,--it seems
strange that he could have given such stuff to American children. On
the inside of the cover are printed these lines:--
"Come hither, little Lady fair,
And you shall ride & take the Air.
But first of all pray let me know
If you can say your criss-cross row.
For none should e'er in coaches be,
Unless they know their A, B, C."
It may interest children to read a short story from one of these
little volumes to see the sort of thing children had to amuse them a
hundred years ago. This is from a book called _The Father's Gift, or
How to be Wise and Happy_.
"There were two little Boys and Girls, the Children of a fine
Lady and Gentleman who loved them dearly. They were all so good
and loved one another so well that every Body who saw them
talked of them with Admiration far and near. They would part
with any Thing to each other, loved the Poor, spoke kindly to
Servants, did every Thing they were bid to do, were not proud,
knew no Strife, but who should learn their Books best, and be
the prettiest Scholar. The Servants loved them, and would do any
Thing they desired. They were not proud of fine Clothes, their
Heads never ran on their Playthings when they should mind their
Books. They said Grace before they ate, and Prayer before going
to bed and as soon as they rose. They were always clean and
neat, would not tell a Fib for the World, and were above doing
any Thing that required one. God blessed them more and more, and
their Papa, Mama, Uncles, Aunts and Cousins for their Sakes.
They were a happy Family, no one idle; all prettily employed,
the little Masters at their Books, the little Misses at their
Needles. At their Play hours they were never noisy, mischievous
or quarrelsome. No such word was ever heard from their Mouths
as "Why mayn't I have this or that as well as Betty or Bobby."
Or "Why should Sally have this or that any more than I;" but it
was always "as Mama pleases, she knows best," with a Bow and a
Smile, without Surliness to be seen on their Brow. They grew
up, the Masters became fine Scholars and fine Gentlemen and
were honoured; the Misses fine Ladies and fine Housewives. This
Gentleman sought to Marry one of the Misses, and that Gentleman
the Other. Happy was he that could be admitted into their
Company. They had nothing to do but to pick and choose the best
Matches in the Country, while the greatest Ladies for Birth and
most remarkable for Virtue thought themselves honoured by the
Addresses of the two Brothers. They all married and made good
Papas and Mamas, and so the blessing goes round."
_The Brother's Gift, or the Naughty Girl Reformed_, of which the
third Worcester edition was printed in 1791, bore these lines as a
motto:--
"Ye Misses, Shun the Coxcomb of the Mall,
The Masquerade, the Rout, the Midnight Ball;
In lieu of these more useful arts pursue,
And as you're fair, be wise and virtuous too."
Though useful arts were inculcated by this book, the reward of
virtue to the reformed girl was a fine new pair of stays, which are
duly pictured.
Another of Newbery's beloved books was _The History of Tommy
Careless, or the Misfortunes of a Week_. On Monday Tommy fell in the
water, spoiled his coat, and was sent to bed. On Tuesday he lost his
kite and ended the day in bed. On Wednesday he fell from the apple
tree, and again was put in bed. Thursday the maid gave him two old
pewter spoons; he made some dump-moulds, and in casting his dumps
scalded his fingers, and as ever was put in retirement. On Friday he
killed the canary bird--and to bed again. On Saturday he managed to
incite Dobbin to kick the house dog and kill him; then he caught his
own fingers in a trap, and ended the week in bed as he began it.
[Illustration:
Be MERRY and WISE;
OR, THE
CREAM of the JESTS
AND THE
MARROW of MAXIMS
For the Conduct of LIFE.
_Publi[f.]hed for the U[f.]e of all good Little_
BOYS _and_ GIRLS.
By TOMMY TRAPWIT, E[f.]q.
ADORNED with CUTS.
_Would you be agreeable in Company, and u[f.]eful
to Society; carry [f.]ome merry Je[f.]ts in your
Mind, and hone[f.]t Maxims in your Heart._
GROTIUS.
THE FIRST _WORCESTER_ EDITION.
WORCESTER, (MASSACHUSETTS)
PRINTED BY ISAIAH THOMAS,
AND SOLD AT HIS BOOK STORE.
MDCCLXXXVI.
Title-page of _Be Merry and Wise_]
When we think of the vast number of these books, it seems strange
that so few have survived. The penny books were too valueless to be
saved. Sometimes we find one among abandoned or discarded piles or
bundles of books. It has been the fate, however, of most children's
books to be destroyed by children. With coarse, time-browned paper,
poor type, and torn, worn leaves, they are not very attractive. Open
one at random. Ten to one you have before you the page upon which
centres the interest of the book, its climax, its adventure, or its
high wit. That page was a favorite. Many times you will find crude
attempts at amateur coloring of the prints.
In these books is found an entirely different code from that
inculcated by modern books or taught by earlier books. The first
books for children simply exhorted goodness, giving no reasons, but
commanding obedience and virtue. The books of the Puritan epoch
taught children to be good for fear of hell. This succeeding school
instructed them to be good because it was profitable. All the
advice is frankly politic; much is of mercenary mould. Children are
instructed to do aright, not because they should, but because they
will benefit thereby--and profit is given the most worldly guise,
such as riding in a coach, having a purse full of gold, wearing
silks and satins, becoming Lord Mayor, or most exalted station of
all, "a proud Sheriff." As chief officer of the Crown, the old-time
sheriff of each English county was superior in rank to every
nobleman in the county. The diarist Evelyn tells that his father
when sheriff had a hundred and fifty servants in livery, and many
gentleman attendants. Punishment, the abhorrence of parents, and
evil results fall upon children not so fiercely for lying, stealing,
treachery, or cruelty as they do for soiling their clothes, falling
into the water, tumbling off walls, breaking windows or china, and
a score of other actions which are the result of carelessness,
clumsiness, or indifference, rather than of viciousness. These books
would educate (had they been forcible enough to be of profound
influence) generations of trucklers, time servers, and money lovers.
The natural inclination and the diversity of inclination of children
made them rise above these instructions.
[Illustration:
COBWEBS TO CATCH FLIES 52
In another part of the fair the boys [f.]aw [f.]ome children
to[f.][f]ed about thus.
They were [f.]inging merrily the old nur[f.]e's ditty.
"Now we go up, up, up,
"Now we go down, down, down;
"Now we go backward and forward,
"Now we go round, round, round."
Page from _Cobwebs to Catch Flies_]
It was the constant effort of the artists, authors, and teachers
of olden times to imbue youth with the notion that no harm could
possibly come to the good--unless early death could be counted
an evil. Children were taught that virtue and each good action
was ever, immediately, and conspicuously rewarded. The pictures
repeated and emphasized the didactic teachings; and morality,
industry, and good intentions were made to triumph over things
animate and inanimate. That the old illustrations were a delight
to children cannot be doubted; they were so easily comprehended.
The bad boys of the story always bore a miserable countenance and
figure, and the good boys were smugly prosperous. The prim girls are
shown the beloved of all, and the tomboys equally the misery and
embarrassment. All this is lacking in modern picture books, which
so truly represent real life and things that the naughty boy is not
blazoned at first glance as a different being from the pious delight.
I am inclined to believe that the old-time grotesqueness was more
amusing and impressive to children than modern realism; that
there was a stronger association of ideas with the emphasis of
disproportion; the absurdities and anachronisms of scenery and
costume were unnoted by the juvenile reader because he knew no
better.
In the children's books which I have examined, the colored
illustrations are all of dates later than 1800 (when dated at
all). Mr. Andrew W. Tuer, in the preface to his most interesting
collection entitled _Pages and Pictures from Forgotten Children's
Books_, says that the coloring was done by children in their teens
who worked with great celerity. Each child had a single pan of
water-color, a brush, a properly colored guide, and a pile of
printed sheets. One child painted in all the red required by the
copy, another the green, another the blue, and so on till the
coloring was finished.
[Illustration: "William and Amelia," from _The Looking Glass for the
Mind_]
There was one book which children loved, that every little child
loves to-day--_Mother Goose's Melodies_. Attempts have been made
to show that the name and collection were both American; that the
former referred to one Mrs. Goose or Vergoose, a Boston goodwife.
The name Mother Goose is believed by most folk to be of French, not
of English or American origin. A collection of nursery rhymes was
printed for John Newbery about 1760, under the popular name _Mother
Goose's Melodies_; about 1785 Isaiah Thomas issued at Worcester,
Massachusetts, an edition of _Mother Goose's Melodies_ with the
songs from Shakespeare, and certainly this must have been an oasis
in the desert of dull books for New England children.
There is no pretence in this edition of Thomas' that the book had
any American origin; it is said to be a collection of rhymes by
"old British nurses"; and such it really was. Halliwell says many
of these nursery rhymes are fragments of old ballads. Mr. Whitmore
deems the great popularity of "Mother Goose" due to the Boston
editions issued in large numbers from 1824 to 1860.
The preface to the Worcester edition of 1785 _circa_ is said to be
written by a very great writer of very little books. Could this have
been Oliver Goldsmith? Irving, in his _Life of Goldsmith_, refers
to the poet's love of catches and simple melodies, and tells of his
singing "his favorite song about An old woman tossed in a blanket
seventeen times as high as the moon." A Miss Hawkins boasted late in
life that Goldsmith taught her to play Jack and Jill with bits of
paper on his fingers just as we show the trick to children to-day.
Included in these melodies are the verses "Three children sliding
on the ice," which we know were written by Goldsmith. Here is an
example of one of the melodies and its note:--
"Trip upon Trenchers
Dance upon Dishes
My mother sent me for some Barm, some Barm.
She bade me tread Lightly
And leave again Quickly,
For fear the Young Men should do me some Harm.
Yet! don't you see?
What naughty tricks they put upon me!
They broke my Pitcher
And spilt my Water
And huffed my Mother
And chid her Daughter,
And kiss'd my Sister instead of me.
"What a Succession of Misfortunes befell this poor Girl? But the
last Circumstance was the most affecting and might have proved
fatal."
--WINSLOW'S _View of Britain_.
According to the notion of humor of the day,
the notion of Goldsmith, or some other book-hack-wag,
these notes were all ascribed as quotations from
some profound author, just as the cuts in _Goody
Two Shoes_ were said to be by Michael Angelo, and
the text from the Vatican. Thus after the rhymes,
"See-saw, Margery Daw," etc., is the sober comment,
"It is a mean and Scandalous Practice in
an author to put Notes to a Thing that deserves
no Notice. Grotius." After the "Three Wise
Men of Gotham," which ends with the lines--
"If the bowl had been stronger
My tale had been longer,"
is the sententious note "It's long enough. Never lament the Loss of
what is not worth having. Boyle." Puffendorf, Coke on Littleton,
Pliny, Bentley on the _Sublime and Beautiful_, Mapes' _Geography of
the Mind_, are other authors and books that are soberly cited.
[Illustration: "Caroline, or a Lesson to Cure Vanity," from _The
Looking Glass for the Mind_]
A very priggish little book was entitled _Cobwebs to Catch Flies_.
The tone of its text may be shown in the dialogue about "The Toss
About." The brothers who attended a country fair had been forbidden
by their mother to ride in the Merry-go-round. Dear Ned wished
to try the fun. Dear James said with propriety, "Dear Ned, I am
sure our mamma would object to our riding in this Toss-about." Ned
answered, "Dear James, did you ever hear her name the Toss-about?"
"No, dear Ned, but I am certain that if she had known of it
she would have given us the same caution as she did about the
Merry-go-round." Ned paused a moment, then said, "How happy am I to
have an elder brother who is so prudent." Whereupon James replied,
"I am no less happy that you are so willing to be advised," etc.
A distinctly American book for children was printed in Philadelphia
in 1793, a _History of the Revolution_. It was in Biblical
phraseology. This sort of writing had been made popular by Franklin
in his famous _Parable against Persecution_ which he wrote,
committed to memory, and pretended to read as the last chapter in
Genesis.
[Illustration: "Sir John Denham and his Worthy Tenant," from _The
Looking Glass for the Mind_]
Exceeding plainness and even coarseness of speech was presented in
the pages of these old-time story-books. It was simply the speech
of the times shown in the plays, tales, and essays of the day, and
reflected to some degree even in the literature for children. As
an example of what was deemed wit may be given a portion of the
prologue to "Who Killed Cock Robin." The book is entitled _Death
and Burial of Cock Robin_.
"We were all enjoying ourselves very agreeably after dinner,
when on a sudden, Sir Peter's Lady gave so loud a sneeze as
threw the whole company into disorder. Master Danvers instead
of cracking a nut gave his fingers a tolerable squeeze in the
nut-crackers. Miss Friendly who had carried with intent to put
a fine cherry in her mouth missed the mark and bit her finger.
Sir Peter himself, who was filling a glass of wine, spilled
the bottle on the table. Miss Comely and Miss Danvers who were
talking with each other with their heads very close to each
other very politely knocked them together to see which was the
hardest. I myself had twelve of my ten toes handsomely trod on
by one of the young ladies jumping off a chair in a fright. But
this is not all, no nor half what I was an eye witness of; for
just at the time her Ladyship sneezed, I was busy contemplating
the beauty and song of Miss Prudence's Cock Robin that was
singing and as noisy as a grig when my Lady sneezed which so
frightened him he fell to the bottom of the Cage as dead as a
Stone."
A widely read little book was somewhat pompously entitled _The
Looking Glass for the Mind_. It was chiefly translated from that
much-admired work, _L'Ami des Enfans_. Those terse and entertaining
tales of Berquin had perennial youth in their English form and
were reprinted till our own day. The illustrations of Bewick have
a distinct value as showing the dress of children. A few are here
shown. The first is from _William and Amelia_; both children are not
eight years old. The long trained gowns, bare necks, elbow sleeves,
and tall feathered hats are precisely the dress of grown women of
that day, as William's coat and knee-breeches are the garb of a man.
The two "ladies" were "walking arm in arm humming a pretty song then
fashionable in the village collection of Ballads." When they glanced
at the apples in the tree William, "the politest and prettiest
little fellow in the village," dropped his shepherd's pipe, climbed
the tree, and threw down apples in the ladies' aprons. As Charlotte
got more and bigger apples Amelia abandoned her "usual pleasing
prattle," sulked and at last ordered William to fall down "on his
knees on this instant" to apologize. As he refused Amelia pouted
at dinner, would not touch her wine nor say "Your good health,
William," and at last was ordered by her mother from the table.
William, after many attempts, sneaked out with some peaches for her,
and thus an affectionate and generous friendship was restored.
[Illustration: "Clarissa, or the Grateful Orphan," from _The Looking
Glass for the Mind_]
Another illustration is for the tale, _Caroline, or a Lesson to Cure
Vanity_. Caroline's dress is further described in the text as of
pea-green taffety with
fine pink trimmings, elegantly worked shoes, hair a clod of powder
and pomatum. Her "fine silk slip was nicely soused in the rain"; her
hoop and flounces and train caught in the furzes, her gauze hat blew
in a pond of filthy water, etc.; all these made her glad to return
to a more modest dress. The illustration for the _Worthy Tenant_
shows Farmer Harris speaking to polite Sophia, while "Robert was
so shamefully impertinent as to walk round the farmer, holding his
nose, and asking his brother if he did not perceive something of
the smell of a dung heap. He then lighted some paper at the fire,
and carried it around the room in order to disperse, as he said, the
unpleasant smell," etc. _Clarissa, or the Grateful Orphan_, who was
so good that the king relinquished a large fortune to her, complete
the quartette of illustrations.
A group of books was published just after the end of the colonial
period, which had a vast influence on the children of our young
Republic. These books were English; the most important of them
were: _The History of the Fairchild Family_, 1788 _circa_, by Mrs.
Sherwood; _Sanford and Merton_, 1783, by Thomas Day; _The Parents'
Assistant_, 1796, by Maria Edgeworth; _Evenings at Home_, 1792, by
Dr. Aikin and Mrs. Barbauld.
[Illustration: _The Juvenile Biographer 83_
When Mi[f.]s Fiddle Faddle is in the Company of little Females of
her Acquaintance, her whole Di[f.]cour[f.]e turns on the prevailing
Fa[f.]hion of Head-dre[f.]s; what an elegant Ta[f.]te one little
Mi[f.]s has, and how terribly impolite is another.
Page from _The Juvenile Biographer_]
The painfully religious tales of James Janeway were not the only
ones to familiarize death to the reading child. _The Fairchild
Family_ was once deemed a most charming, as it was certainly a most
earnest book, and it has ever had popularity, for within a few
years it has been reprinted in a large edition. I wonder how many
death-bed scenes and references there are in that book! Nor are
ordinary death-beds the saddest or most grewsome scenes. The little
Fairchilds having lost their little tempers and pommelled each other
somewhat, their father takes them as a shocking object-lesson to
see the body of a man hung in chains on a gibbet. The horror of
the progress through the gloomy wood to this revolting sight, the
father's unsparing comments, the hideous account of the _thing,_
rattling, swinging, turning its horrible countenance while Mr.
Fairchild described and explained and gloated over it, and finally
kneeled and prayed,--all this through several pages no carefully
reared child to-day would be permitted to read. Mr. Fairchild's
reason for taking them to this gibbeted corpse should not be omitted
from this account; it was "to show them something which I think they
will remember as long as they live, that they may love each other
with perfect and heavenly love."
A painful and ever present lesson found on every page is the
sinfulness of the world. The children recite verses and quote Bible
texts to prove that all mankind have bad hearts, and Lucy commits to
memory a prayer, a portion of which runs thus:--
"My heart is so exceedingly wicked, so vile, so full of sin,
that even when I appear to be tolerably good, even then I am
sinning. When I am praying, or reading the Bible, or hearing
other people read the Bible, even then I sin. When I speak, I
sin; when I am silent, I sin."
_Sandford and Merton_ is most insincerely recommended by many folk
to children to-day. I cannot believe any one who has recently read
the book would ever expect a modern child to care for it. It is
haloed in the memory of people who read it in their youth and fancy
they still like it, but won't take the trouble to read it and see
that they don't.
Jane and Ann Taylor should be added to this class of authors. The
poem, _My Mother_, by Ann Taylor, was published in book form,
and had many imitations. _My Father, My Sister, My Brother, My
Grandmother, My Playmate, My Pony, My Fido_, and lastly, _My
Governess_,--all, says the advertisement, "in the same stile,"--a
style so easily imitated as to seem almost like parody:--
"Who learnt me how to read and Spell,
And with my Needle work as well,
And called me her good little Girl?
My Governess.
"Who made the Scholar proud to show
The Sampler work'd to friend and foe,
And with Instruction fonder grow?
My Governess."
We have the contemporary opinion of Charles Lamb of this new school
of juvenile literature. In 1802 he wrote thus to Coleridge:--
"Goody Two Shoes is almost out of print. Mrs. Barbauld's stuff
has banished all the old classics of the nursery, and the
shopman at Newbery's hardly deigned to reach them off an old
exploded corner of a shelf, when Mary asked for them. Mrs.
Barbauld's and Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense lay in piles about.
Knowledge as insignificant and vapid, as Mrs. Barbauld's
books convey, it seems must come to a child in the shape of
knowledge; his empty noddle must be turned with the conceit of
his own powers when he has learned that a horse is an animal,
and Billy is better than a horse, and such-like, instead of the
beautiful interest in mild tales which made the child a man,
while all the time he suspected himself to be no bigger than a
child.... Hang them!--I mean the cursed Barbauld crew, those
blights and blasts of all that is human in man and child."
[Illustration:
40 The Juvenile Biographer.
One Day, [f.]ome one of Mi[f.]s Polly's little Acquaintances,
coming along the Road near Mi[f.]s Charity's Hou[f.]e, found her
[f.]tanding and crying over a little Beggar, who [f.]at by the Side
of the Road. This is a ju[f.]t Repre[f.]entation of this pitiful
Scene.
Her Acquaintance a[f.]ked her what [f.]he
The Juvenile Biographer. 41
was crying for. "My dear, ([f.]aid Polly) this poor little Creature
is [f.]tarving, and I have not a Penny to give her; but if you
will lend me Two-pence, if you have [f.]o much about you, I will
certainly pay you again very [f.]oon. What a terrible Thing it is
to think, that while we live upon Dainties, this poor little Girl
[f.]hall be [f.]tarving!"
"My dear, ([f.]aid Miss Polly's Acquaintance) I am happy that I
have Two-pence about me, which is all I am worth in the World, and
tho[f.]e were ju[f.]t now given me by a Gentleman for my pretty
Behaviour to him. Here they are, and you [f.]hall be indebted to
me only One Penny, for I will give her the other my[f.]elf." They
eagerly embraced each other,
The Juvenile Biographer]
In the _Boston Gazette and Country Journal_, January 20, 1772, the
Boston booksellers, Cox and Berry, have this notice of their wares:--
"The following Little Books for the Instruction and
Amusement of all good Boys and Girls:--
The Brother Gift or the Naughty Girl Reformed.
The Sister Gift or the Naughty Boy Reformed.
Hobby Horse or Christian Companion.
Robin Good-Fellow, a Fairy Tale.
Puzzling Cap, a Collection of Riddles.
The Cries of London as exhibited in the Streets.
Royal Guide or Early Instruction in Reading English.
Mr. Winlove's Collection of Moral Tales.
History of Tom Jones, abridg'd.
" " Joseph Andrews "
" " Pamela "
" " Grandison "
" " Clarissa " "
It may be seen by the last-named books on this list that another
series of books for children were abridgments of _Tom Jones_,
_Joseph Andrews_, _Pamela_, and other great novels of the day.
Rabelais said no abridgment of a book could be a good abridgment;
these are worse than none. The childish reader is notified that if
he likes the little books, his good friend, Mr. Thomas, has the
larger books for sale.
The engraving of the great Mr. Richardson sitting in his grotto,
in 1751, in turban, banyan, and slippers, reading _Sir Charles
Grandison_ to a group of friends, chiefly admiring young ladies in
great hats and padusoy sacques, is typical of his life. He lived in
a flower garden of girls, one intimate circle around his feet, and
swelling circles extending even to America,--all facing inward and
worshipping him and his works. They wept and smiled in a vast chorus
at the dull pages of _Pamela_, at the surprising ones of _Clarissa_,
and the thousands of interesting ones of _Sir Charles Grandison_.
These seven volumes of letters exchanged between sixteen women,
twenty men, all lovers, and fourteen Italians who are enumerated as
of another sex, and are likewise chiefly lovers, are too prolix to
be read to-day, but were a record of love-making which touched every
girl's heart a century and more ago.
[Illustration:
14 _The_ FATHER'S GIFT.
_Father._ Now my Dear, as I find you have learned to [f.]pell
and read ea[f.]y words, let me advi[f.]e you to purcha[f.]e
the Ladder to Learning, which is printed in three Parts, or
Steps; the fir[f.]t Part is a Collection of pretty Fables,
Con[f.]i[f.]ting of Words of only one Syllable; the [f.]econd
Part, of Words not exceeding two Syllables; and the third Part
of few Words more than three Syllables. When you have reached
the third Step, Attention and Application will [f.]oon enable
you to read with Plea[f.]ure to your[f.]elf and Satisfaction
to your Friends, all the little Books publi[f.]hed for good
Ma[f.]ters and Mi[f.][f.]es, by your Friend in WORCESTER, near
the COURT-HOUSE; a View of who[f.]e Shop I here give you.
_The_ FATHER'S GIFT. 15
Illustration
By an attentive Peru[f.]al of tho[f.]e little Publications, you
will attain the e[f.]teem of all who know you; you will learn to
be dutiful to your Papa and Mama, obedient to your Superiours,
loving and kind to your Equals and Inferiours; and, above all,
you will learn to fear God, and to call upon him often, that you
may, through his Grace, become wi[f.]e and happy.
Two Pages of _The Father's Gift_]
Little Anna Green Winslow speaks occasionally in her diary
of story-books. She had for a New Year's gift the "History of
Joseph Andrews abbreviated in guilt and flowered covers." She
read the _Pilgrim's Progress_, the _Mother's Gift_, _Gulliver's
Travels_, _The Puzzling Cap_, _The French Orators_, and _Gaffer Two
Shoes_--this may have been our own Goody, not Gaffer.
The "flowery and gilt" binding of these books, so often spoken of in
the notices, is wholly a thing of the past. It was made in Holland
and Germany; but recent inquiry about it discovered that the stamps
and presses used in its manufacture had all been destroyed. An
enthusiastic lover of these little books wrote:--
"Talk of your vellum, gold embossed morocco, roan, and calf,
The blue and yellow wraps of old were prettier by half."
They were cheap enough, but a penny apiece, some of them, others
sixpence. It is doubtful whether they were ever sold in America in
vast numbers. Children lent them to each other. Anna Green Winslow
borrowed them, and letters of her day show other children doing
likewise. It was a day of book-lending; for circulating libraries
were slow of formation. The minister's library was often the largest
one in each town, and he lent his precious books to his flock.
In the sparse advertisements of colonial newspapers are many
advertisements of book owners who have lent books, forgotten to
whom, and wish them returned. The only way country children had of
reading many books was by borrowing.
[Illustration:
Vice in its proper Shape 39 he had lived to years of maturity, kind
death was plea[f.]ed to di[f.]patch him in the twelfth year of his
age, by the help of a dozen penny cu[f.]tards, which he greedily
conveyed down his throat at one meal, and thereby gorged his
stomach, and threw him[f.]elf into a mortal fever. After his
Page of _Vice in its proper Shape._]
American boys and girls felt till our own day both bewilderment
and impatience at forever reading stories whose local color was
wholly strange to them. Dr. Holmes thus expresses this condition of
things:--
"Books where James was called Jem not Jim as we heard it; where
naughty schoolboys got through a gap in the hedge to steal
Farmer Giles's red-streaks, instead of shinning over the fence
to hook old Daddy Jones's baldwins; where Hodge used to go to
the ale-house for his mug of beer, while we used to see old
Joe steering for the grocery to get his glass of rum; where
there were larks and nightingales instead of yellow-birds and
bobolinks; where the robin was a little domestic bird that fed
at table instead of a great, fidgety, jerky, whooping thrush."
The debt of amusement which American children owed to Newbery was
paid in this century by the supply to English children of a vast
number of little books of profit and pleasure, all written by a
single author, "Peter Parley," or Samuel G. Goodrich. In the middle
of the century this gentleman stated that he had written one hundred
and twenty books that were professedly juvenile. Of these and his
books for older minds about seven million copies had been sold, and
about three hundred thousand were still sold annually. They were
sent to England in vast numbers, and were reprinted there both with
and without the author's permission. And when the original books
were not pirated, the name Peter Parley was calmly attached to the
compositions of English authors, as a vastly salable trade-mark.
Scores of American authors, by the middle of this century,
were writing little books for children. These were a class by
themselves--Sunday-school books. They do not come within the very
elastic time limit set for this chapter. They are not old enough
in years, though they are rapidly becoming as obsolete as any
children's books of the last century.
Books written avowedly for Sunday-schools are in decreasing demand.
Those with sectarian teachings, especially, find fewer and fewer
purchasers.