unless we had every where amongst us Examples of it, that a Child should be forced to learn the Rudiments of a Language which he is never to use in the Course of Life that he is designed to, and neglect all the while the writing of a good Hand and casting Accounts, which are of great Advantage in all Conditions of Life, and to most Trades indispensably necessary? But though these Qualifications, requisite to Trade and Commerce and the Business of the World, are seldom or never to be had at Grammar-Schools, yet thither not only Gentlemen send their younger Sons, intended for Trades, but even Tradesmen and Farmers fail not to send their Children, though they have neither Intention nor Ability to make them Scholars. If you ask them why they do this they think it as strange a Question as if you should ask them, Why they go to Church. Custom serves for Reason, and has, to those who take it for Reason, so consecrated this Method, that it is almost religiously observed by them, and they stick to it, as if their Children had scarce an orthodox Education unless they learned Lilly's Grammar.

§ 165. But how necessary soever Latin be to some, and is thought to be to others to whom it is of no manner of Use and Service; yet the ordinary Way of learning it in a Grammar-School is that which having had Thoughts about I cannot be forward to encourage. The Reasons against it are so evident and cogent, that they have prevailed with some intelligent Persons to quit the ordinary Road, not without Success, though the Method made use of was not exactly what I imagine the easiest, and in short is this. To trouble the Child with no Grammar at all, but to have Latin, as English has been, without the Perplexity of Rules, talked unto him; for if you will consider it, Latin is no more unknown to a Child, when he comes into the World, than English: and yet he learns English without Master, Rule, or Grammar; and so might he Latin too, as Tully did, if he had somebody always to talk to him in this Language.

228. The Bible as a Reading Book

(Locke, John, Some Thoughts concerning Education. London, 1693)

In this selection Locke describes the course of study and the textbooks for the elementary education of children in his day, and sets forth some very sensible advice, for the time, regarding the common practice of using the Bible as a school reading-book for children.

$157. The Lord's Prayer, the Creeds, and Ten Commandments, 't is necessary he should learn perfectly by heart; but, I think, not be reading them himself in his Primer, but by somebody's repeating them to him, even before he can read. But learning by heart, and learning to read, should not I think be mix'd, and so one made to clog the other.

But his learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.

What other Books there are in English of the Kind of those abovementioned, fit to engage the Liking of Children, and tempt them to read, I do not know: But am apt to think, that Children being generally delivered over to the Method of Schools, where the Fear of the Rod is to inforce, and not any Pleasure of the Employment to invite them to learn, this Sort of useful Books, amongst the Number of silly ones that are of all Sorts, have yet had the Fate to be neglected; and nothing that I know has been considered of this Kind out of the ordinary Road of the Horn-Book, Primer, Psalter, Testament, and Bible.

$158. As for the Bible, which Children are usually employ'd in to exercise and improve their Talent in reading, I think the promiscuous reading of it through by Chapters as they lie in Order, is so far from being any Advantage to Children, either for the perfecting their Reading, or principling their Religion, that perhaps a worse could not be found. For what Pleasure or Encouragement can it be to a Child to exercise himself in reading those Parts of a Book where he understands nothing? And how little are the Law of Moses, the Song of Solomon, the Prophecies in the Old, and the Epistles and Apocalypse in the New Testament, suited to a Child's Capacity? And though the History of the Evangelists and the Acts have something easier, yet, taken altogether, it is very disproportional to the Understanding of Childhood. I grant that the Principles of Religion are to be drawn from thence, and in the Words of the Scripture; yet none should be propos'd to a Child, but such as are suited to a Child's Capacity and Notions. But 't is far from this to read through the whole Bible, and that for reading's sake. And what an odd jumble of Thoughts must a Child have in his Head, if he have any at all, such as he should have concerning Religion, who in his tender Age reads all the Parts of the Bible indifferently as the Word of God without any other Distinction! I am apt to think, and this in some men has been the very Reason why they never had clear and distinct Thoughts of it all their Lifetime.

Under the general name of "Spellers" the first of the schoolbooks which departed from the religious Primer type were classified. On the opposite page the title-pages of two of these early books are given. The book by Edmund Coote, first issued in 1596, was a schoolmaster's general manual and guide. Its very general nature may be seen from the following statement as to its

contents.

TITLE-PAGE OF DILWORTH'S "A NEW GUIDE TO THE ENGLISH TONGUE"

(First edition, 1740)

THE

ENGLISH

SCHOOL-MASTER.
Teaching all his Scholars, of what
age foever, the moft eafy, fhort, and perfect or-
der of diftinct Reading, and true Writing our
English-tongue, that hath ever yet been
known or published by any.

And further alfo, teacheth a direct courfe, how any
unskilful perfon may easily both understand any hard English
words which they fhall in Scriptures, Sermons, or elfe-where
hear or read, and alfo be made able to use the fame aptly themfelves,
and generally whatfoever is neceffery to be known for the English
Speech fo that he which hath this Book only, needeth to buy no
other to make him fit from his Letters to the Grammar-School,
for an Apprentice or any other private ufe, fo far as concerneth
Englifh. And therefore it is made not only for Children.
though the firft Book be mere childish for them; but
alfo for all other, efpecially for thofe that

are ignorant in the Lalin Tongue.

In the next Page the School-Mafter hangeth forth his Table to the view of all beholders, fetting forth fome of the chief Commodities of his Profeffion.

FIG. 54. TITLE-PAGES OF THE EARLIEST ENGLISH SPELLING-BOOKS AND SCHOOLMASTER'S MANUALS

The book by Thomas Dilworth appeared in 1740, and at once became very popular in both Old and New England. It was more secular in character than any of its predecessors and contained numerous graded lists of words for spelling, a series of graded reading lessons, and some illustrations. The title-page gives the outline of contents of the book.

In an edition of Dilworth's Schoolmaster's Assistant in the possession of the author, published in 1797, there appears, after the title-page and two long dedicatory prefaces, two poems eulogizing the author for his great services. One, signed by William Deane, dated at Halifax, October 20, 1765, and addressed "To Mr. Thomas Dilworth, on his Schoolmaster's Assistant," is as follows:

DILWORTH, the man by gracious Heaven design'd,

A friend, a father to the human kind;
Whose active diligence, and warmer zeal
United, center in the public weal!

Fain would my muse discharge the debt of praise,
With fresh addition to thy circling bays.

Learning, the glory of Britannia's isle,
Within thy fav'rite leaves are taught to smile;
No more perplexed in error's maze we run,
And meet the danger which we sought to shun:
Since, drawn by thee, now shines before our eyes,
The path where virtue and fair knowledge lies:
There waits a Guide by nicest model plann'd,
Here stands an Usher with assisting hand;
A work so clear, delighted we pursue,
And think the pleasing prospect ever new.

So the kind sun, with all reviving ray,
Cheers the dark world with an approaching day;
Before his light the empty shadows fly,
And nature glows with a serener sky.

230. Noah Webster's Description of Pre-Revolutionary Schools (Letter, in Barnard's American Journal of Education, vol. xxvI, pp. 195–96) In response to a request, Noah Webster sent Mr. Barnard the following letter. Mr. Webster was born in Connecticut, in 1758, so that the schools he describes are those of the decade preceding the outbreak of the American Revolution.

MR. BARNARD:

New Haven, March 10, 1840

Dear Sir- - You desire me to give you some information as to the mode of instruction in common schools when I was young, or before the Revolution. . . .

When I was young, the books used were chiefly or wholly Dilworth's Spelling Books, the Psalter, Testament, and Bible. No geography was studied before the publication of Dr. Morse's small books on that subject, about the year 1786 or 1787. No history was read, as far as my knowledge extends, for there was no abridged history of the United States. Except the books above mentioned, no book for reading was used before the publication of the Third Part of my Institute, in 1785. In some of the early editions of that book I introduced short notices of the geography and history of the United States, and these led to more enlarged descriptions of the country. In 1788, at the request of Dr. Morse, I wrote an account of the transactions in the United States, after the Revolution; which account fills nearly twenty pages in the first volume of his octavo editions.

Before the Revolution, and for some years after, no slates were used in common schools: all writing and operations in arithmetic were on paper. The teacher wrote the copies and gave the sums in arithmetic; few or none of the pupils having any books as a guide. Such was the condition of the schools in which I received my early education.

The introduction of my Spelling Book, first published in 1783, produced a great change in the department of spelling; and, from the information I can gain, spelling was taught with more care and accuracy for twenty years or more after that period, than it has been since the introduction of multiplied books and studies.

No English grammar was generally taught in common schools when I was young, except that in Dilworth, and that to no good purpose. In short, the instruction in schools was very imperfect, in every branch; and if I am not misinformed, it is so to this day, in many branches. Indeed there is danger of running from one extreme to another, and instead of having too few books in our schools, we shall have too many. I am, sir, with much respect, your friend and obedient servant, N. WEBSTER

231. Teachers in Gotha in 1741

(From the German of Karl von Raumer; trans. in Barnard's American Journal of Education, vol. xx, p. 584)

Though Duke Ernest the Pious (1640-75) had raised little Gotha to a place of first importance by his educational reforms (R. 163), the reforms he instituted were not carried forward after his death, and by 1741 we find the school conditions there as in