Child Life in Colonial DaysAt the end of the 19th century, after Americans had endured thirty years of tremendous change due to rapid industrial growth, social upheavals, and the excesses of the Gilded Age, they began to look back with increasing fondness to their own past. The Colonial Revival in architecture was one fruit of this nostalgia; another was the insightful chronicles of social history in earlier days written by Alice Morse Earle. Following the success of her book "Home Life in Colonial Days," Alice Morse Earle wrote a detailed and fascinating account of American children and their lives from the very earliest settlers to the first decades of the new republic. Covering everything from dress to toys, schools to play, discipline and religion, she described in highly readable prose a child's life in the days before the railroad and telegraph. Her book has endured for a century, enthralling readers and inspiring scholars to new research into the field. |
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Page vii
... record of the life of young children ; classic Rome furnishes no data for child study ; the Greeks left no child forms in art . The student of original sources of history learns little about children in his searches ; few in number and ...
... record of the life of young children ; classic Rome furnishes no data for child study ; the Greeks left no child forms in art . The student of original sources of history learns little about children in his searches ; few in number and ...
Page viii
... records have been made from affectionate interest , not from scientific interest ; no profound search has been made for motives or significance , but the proof they give of tenderness and affection in the family are beautiful to read ...
... records have been made from affectionate interest , not from scientific interest ; no profound search has been made for motives or significance , but the proof they give of tenderness and affection in the family are beautiful to read ...
Page ix
... record of the life of children in the American colonies , I have freely compared the con- ditions in this country with similar ones in England at the same date , both for the sake of fuller elucidation , and also to attempt to put on a ...
... record of the life of children in the American colonies , I have freely compared the con- ditions in this country with similar ones in England at the same date , both for the sake of fuller elucidation , and also to attempt to put on a ...
Page 2
Alice Morse Earle. ditions . The first years of life at Plymouth are the records of a bitter struggle , not for comfort but for existence . Scarcely less sad are the pages of Gov- ernor Winthrop's journal , which tell of the settlers of ...
Alice Morse Earle. ditions . The first years of life at Plymouth are the records of a bitter struggle , not for comfort but for existence . Scarcely less sad are the pages of Gov- ernor Winthrop's journal , which tell of the settlers of ...
Page 3
... records . perous peoples will not be morose ; thanksgiving proclamations reflect the rosy hues of successful years . Child life was in harmony with its sur- roundings ; it was more cheerful , but there was still fearful menace to the ...
... records . perous peoples will not be morose ; thanksgiving proclamations reflect the rosy hues of successful years . Child life was in harmony with its sur- roundings ; it was more cheerful , but there was still fearful menace to the ...
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Common terms and phrases
ALICE MORSE EARLE American Anna Green Anna Green Winslow baby beautiful Bible Billey born Boston boys called Catechism century chil child childish church colonial days color Connecticut Cotton Mather cradle dancing daugh daughter delightful diary dolls dren dress Dutch early Elizabeth England English Essex Institute facing father flowers given Goody Two Shoes Governor hand hath hornbook Isaiah Thomas James Janeway John John Quincy Adams Judge Sewall juvenile Lady lesson letters little books little girl lived maid married Massachusetts master mind minister Miss mother never Noah Webster old-time painted parents picture play portrait pretty primer printed Puritan Quincy religious rhyme Robert Gibbs Salem Sampler says scholars seen Shoes silk sister spelling taught teacher teaching tell things Thomas tion to-day told town toys verses whipped William words writing written wrote young youth
Popular passages
Page 257 - A crime it is, therefore in bliss you may not hope to dwell; But unto you I shall allow the easiest room in hell.
Page 113 - They braced my aunt against a board, To make her straight and tall ; They laced her up, they starved her down, To make her light and small; They pinched her feet, they singed her hair, They screwed it up with pins; — Oh, never mortal suffered more In penance for her sins.
Page 111 - Who the painter was none may tell,— One whose best was not over well; Hard and dry, it must be confessed, Flat as a rose that has long been pressed; Yet in her cheek the hues are bright, Dainty colors of red and white, And in her slender shape are seen Hint and promise of stately mien. Look not on her with eyes of scorn,— Dorothy Q. was a lady born! Ay! since the galloping Normans came, England's annals have known her name; And still to...
Page 367 - Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw: Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite...
Page 20 - And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty : why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me...
Page 181 - Puerilis,' got by heart almost the entire vocabulary of Latin and French primitives and words, could make congruous syntax, turn English into Latin, and vice versa, construe and prove what he read, and did the government and use of relatives, verbs, substantives, ellipses, and many figures and tropes, and made a considerable progress in Comenius's Janua; began himself to write legibly, and had a strong passion for Greek.
Page 409 - Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; How oft hereafter rising look for us Through this same Garden — and for one in vain!
Page 254 - Or, Some Examples of Children, in whom the Fear of God was Remarkably Budding before they Died; in several Parts of New England.
Page 234 - ... thought it better to dislodge betimes to some place of better advantage and less danger, if any such could be found. Thirdly; as necessitie was a taskmaster over them, so they were forced to be such, not only to their servants, but in a sorte, to their dearest children...
Page 380 - Though mangled, hack'd, and hew'd, not yet destroy'd ; The little ones, unbutton'd, glowing hot, Playing our games, and on the very spot, As happy as we once, to kneel and draw The chalky ring, and knuckle down at taw...