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 69
... masters , indignant at the carelessness of parents who failed to send the expected load of wood early in the winter , banished the unfortunate child of the tardy parent to the coldest corner of the schoolroom . The town of Windsor ...
... masters , indignant at the carelessness of parents who failed to send the expected load of wood early in the winter , banished the unfortunate child of the tardy parent to the coldest corner of the schoolroom . The town of Windsor ...
Page 72
... masters that a chorus of colonial " gerund - grinders " might sing in Goldsmith's words : - " Let schoolmasters puzzle their brains With grammar and nonsense and learning , Good liquor , I stoutly maintain , Gives genius a better ...
... masters that a chorus of colonial " gerund - grinders " might sing in Goldsmith's words : - " Let schoolmasters puzzle their brains With grammar and nonsense and learning , Good liquor , I stoutly maintain , Gives genius a better ...
Page 74
... began and closed with prayer . On Wednesdays and Saturdays the children . were taught the questions and answers in the cate- chism and the common prayers . The master was paid ( usually in wheat or corn ) for " paid يد مدرب 11 14.
... began and closed with prayer . On Wednesdays and Saturdays the children . were taught the questions and answers in the cate- chism and the common prayers . The master was paid ( usually in wheat or corn ) for " paid يد مدرب 11 14.
Page 75
... masters and disturb the school . The bark roof was a little higher at one side that the rain might drain off . Usually the teacher sat in the middle of the room , and pegs were thrust between the logs around the walls , three or four ...
... masters and disturb the school . The bark roof was a little higher at one side that the rain might drain off . Usually the teacher sat in the middle of the room , and pegs were thrust between the logs around the walls , three or four ...
Page 81
... master brought in a score that had been ordered to supply his pupils . He asked if any scholar had a bit of string . My old gentleman thrust his hand in his pocket and confidingly brought out his best fishing - line . The master took it ...
... master brought in a score that had been ordered to supply his pupils . He asked if any scholar had a bit of string . My old gentleman thrust his hand in his pocket and confidingly brought out his best fishing - line . The master took it ...
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Common terms and phrases
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 LIBRARY little books little girl 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 tells things Thomas tion to-day town toys UNIVERS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA verses whipped William words writing written wrote young youth
Popular passages
Page 253 - 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 111 - 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 270 - 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.
Page 108 - 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 14 - 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 107 - GRANDMOTHER'S mother: her age, I guess, Thirteen summers, or something less; Girlish bust, but womanly air; Smooth, square forehead with uprolled hair; Lips that lover has never kissed ; Taper fingers and slender wrist; Hanging sleeves of stiff brocade; So they painted the little maid.
Page 177 - 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 403 - 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 230 - ... 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 376 - 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...