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Child Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle 9 Free Educational Audiobooks Children's Free Library

chapter 9 of child life in colonial days by alice morse earl this liberal vox recording is in the public domain childish precocity

where babies much to their surprise were born astonishingly wise with every science on their lips and latin at their fingertips babb's ballads ws gilbert 1877.

the 17th century was in europe a period of eager development and hasty harvesting english boys were made serious-minded by the conditions they saw around them as well as by a forcing house system of education begun at very early years this early aging is reflected in the writings of the times the religio medici apparently the composition of a man of the large experience and serene contemplation of extreme age was written by sir thomas brown when he was but thirty there are many records of the precocity of children preserved for us many times alas through the sad recounting of early deaths one of the most pathetic records of a father's blasted hopes may be found in the pages of the diary of john evelyn in december 1658 died his little son richard five years and three days old he was a prodigy of wit and learning as beautiful as an angel and of rare mental endowment his father's account of his acquirements runs thus he had learned his catechism at two years and a half old he could perfectly read any of the english latin french or gothic letters pronouncing the first three languages exactly he had before the 50-year or in that year not only skilled to read most written hands but to decline all the nouns conjugate the verbs regular and most of the irregular learned out pureless got by heart almost the entire vocabulary of latin and french primitives and words could make congruent syntax turn english into latin and vice versa construe and prove what he read and did the government and use of relative verbs substantives ellipses and many figures and tropes and made a considerable progress in comenius januar begun himself to write legibly and had a strong passion for greek the number of verses he could recite was prodigious and what he remembered of the parts of plays which he would also act and when seeing a plaitus in one's hand he asked what book it was and being told it was comedy and too difficult for him he wept for sorrow strange was his apt an ingenious application of fables and morals for he had read esau he had a wonderful disposition to mathematics having by heart diverse propositions of euclid that were read to him in play and he would make lines and demonstrate them he had learned by heart diverse sentences in latin and greek which on occasion he would produce even to wonder he was all life all prettiness far from morose sullen or childish in anything he said or did end quote of course this is not given as an ordinary education of an everyday child it is an extraordinary record of a very unusual child but it shows what an intelligent child could be permitted to do evelyn was a man of great good sense not the sort of man who would force a child indeed he veered that he abhorred precocity but in truth it was a time in england's history when such a child could easily be over stimulated when public events the course of history was so exciting that every child of queen wit must have felt the effects the crowding of young minds did not end with the 17th century a striking example of the desire to press education is found in the letters of lord chesterfield to his son beginning in 1738 when the boy was not six years old the language and subjects would be deemed today suited only to mature minds in 1741 the father wrote this is the last letter i shall write to you as a little boy for tomorrow you will attain your ninth year so that for the future i shall treat you as a youth you must now commence a different course of life a different course of studies no more levity childish toys and playthings must be...

Child Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle 8 Free Educational Audiobooks Children's Free Library.
chapter 8 of child life in colonial days by alice morse earl this liberal vox recording is in the public domain diaries and commonplace books and such his judgment so exact his text as what was best in books as what books best that had he joined those notes his labors took from each most praised and praised deserving book and could the world of that choice treasure boast it need not care though all the rest were lost and such his wit he writ past what he quotes and his productions far exceed his notes

egg log on the death of ben johnson lucius kerry lord falkland 1637

grown folk had in colonial days a habit of keeping diaries and making notes in interleaved almanacs but they are not of great value to the historian for they are not what wadsworth declared such composition should be namely abundant in observation and sparing of reflection they are instead barren of accounts of happenings and descriptions of surroundings and are chiefly devoted to weather reports and moral and religious reflections both original and in the form of sermon and lecture notes the note-taking habit of puritan women was held up by such detractors as bishop earl as one of their most contemptible traits today we can simply deplore it as having been such a vain thing for it is certainly true no matter how deeply religious in feeling anyone of the present day may be that to the modern mind a long course of pious sentiments and religious aspiration of others is desperately tiresome reading such records were not tiresome however to those of puritan faith there were but few old-time diaries which were not composed on those lines the chief exception is that historical treasure house judge sewell's diary which shows plainly also the deep religious feeling of its author another of more restricted interest but of value is that of dr parkman the westboro minister governor winthrop's history has much of the diary element in it naturally the diaries of children copied in quality and wording those of their elders a unique exception is those youthful records in the journal of a year or two of the life of a boston school girl anna green winslow fortunately little anna's desire to report the sermons she had heard at the old south church and to moralize in ambitious theological comments thereon was checked by the sensible odd with whom she lived who said a miss of 12 years can't possibly do justice to nice subjects in divinity and therefore had better not attempt a repetition of particulars we therefore have a story of her life not of her thoughts and many references to her diary appear in this volume it is curious and interesting to note how puritan traits and habits lingered in generation after generation and outlived change of environment and mode of living in 1630 reverend john white of dorchester england brought out a puritan colony was settled in massachusetts and named the village dorchester after their english home in 1695 a group of the descendants of these settlers once more immigrated to carolina tradition asserts that they were horrified at the persecution of witches in massachusetts oppam names one daniel andrew as a man who protested so vigorously against the prevailing folly and persecution that he was compelled to fly to south carolina thomas staples was fearless enough to sue and obtain judgment against the deputy governor for saying good wife staples was a witch and members of his family went also to south carolina with loyalty to their two dorchester homes a third dorchester in south carolina was named they built a good church which is still standing though the village has entirely disappeared and the site is overgrown with large trees indian wars poor government church oppression and malaria once more drove forth these undaunted puritans to found a fourth dorchester in georgia in 1752 they left in a body took up a...

Child Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle 7 Free Educational Audiobooks Children's Free Library.
chapter 7 of child life in colonial days by alice morse earl this librivox recording is in the public domain penmanship and letters inc always good store on right hand to stand brown paper for great haste or else box of sand dip pen and shake pen and touch pen for hair wax quills and pen knife see always e-bear from a new book of hands 1650 circa in glancing over old school contracts it will be noted that in a majority of cases the teacher is specified as a writing master without doubt the chief requisite of a satisfactory teacher in colonial days was that he should be a good teacher of penmanship we have seen in our own day distinct changes in handwriting of an entire generation the colonists whose lives ended with the 17th century had a characteristic handwriting which retained certain elements of old english even a medieval script it was a handsome and dignified chirography and an impressive one and was usually easy to read the writing of the first pilgrim and puritan fathers was not over good governor john winthrop's was not much better than horus greeley's bradfords we are familiar with through the beautiful facsimiles of his relation the first half of the succeeding century did not send forth such good writers nor did it send forth writers so universally the proportion of signatures to public documents by cross instead of writing increased our grandparents and great all wrote well in hundreds of century-old letters which i have examined an ill-written letter is an exception children at the close of the 18th century wrote beautifully rounded clear and uniform hands if we can judge from their copy books little anna green winslow writing in 1771 showed page after page in a hand far better than that of most girls of her age today claude blanchard was commissary of supplies for the french army which landed in newport in 1780 he visited the newport school and gave this tribute to the scholars quote i saw the writing of these children it appeared to me to be handsome among others that of a young girl 9 or 10 years old very pretty and very modest and such as i would like my own daughter to be when she is so old she was called abigail earl as i perceived upon her copybook on which her name was written i wrote it myself adding to it very pretty close quote an exhibition piece is here given of the penmanship of annie reynolds a little girl of norwich connecticut who died shortly after this piece was written writing masters were universally honored in every community a part of the funeral notice of one in boston who died in 1769 reads thus quote last friday morning died mr abaya holbrook in this town he was looked upon by the best judges as the greatest master of the pen we ever had among us of which he has left a beautiful demonstration

the beautiful demonstration of his penmanship was a most intricate piece of what was known as fine notting or not work it was said to be written in all the known hands of great britain it was valued at 100 pounds it was bequeathed to harvard college unless it was bought by the revolutionary patriot john hancock who had been one of master holbrook's pupils and as we know from the fine bold signature of his own name to the declaration of independence was a very creditable scholar this work had occupied every moment of what abaya holbrook called his spare time for seven years as he had in the year 1745 220 scholars at one time in one school his spare time must have been very short he and other writing masters of the whole brook family left behind a still nobler demonstration than this dot work in the handwriting of their scholars boston ministers merchants statesmen and patriots whose elegant penmanship really formed a distinct style and was known as boston's style of writing the hands of great britain were many in number among them saxon ole miss chancery gothic running court...

Child Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle 5 Free Educational Audiobooks Children's Free Library.

chapter 6 of child life in colonial days by alice morse earl this librivox recording is in the public domain school books the most worthless book of a bygone day is a record worthy of preservation like a telescopic star its obscurity may render it unavailable for most purposes but it serves in hands which know how to use it to determine the places of more important bodies by a demorgan 1847 when any scholar could advance beyond hornbook and primer he was ready for grammar this was not english grammar but latin and the boy usually began to study it long before he had any book to con a bulky and wretched grammar called lilies was most popular in england locke said the study of it was a religious observance without which no scholar was orthodox it named 25 different kinds of nouns and devoted 22 pages of solid print to declensions of nouns it gave seven genders with 15 pages of rules for genders and exceptions under such a regime we can sympathize with nash's outburst syntaxes and prosodia you are tormentors of wit and good for nothing but to get school masters two pence a week it was said of ezekiel cheeber the old boston schoolmaster who taught for over 70 years he taught a slilly and he gospel taught but he also wrote a latin grammar of his own cheever's accidents which had unvarying popularity for over a century cheever was a thorough grammarian cotton mather thus eulogized him were grammar quite extinct yet at his brain the candle might have well been lit again there was brought forth at his death a broadside entitled the grammarian's funeral a facsimile of it is here given josiah quincy later in life the president of harvard college wrote an account of his dismal school life at andover he entered the school when he was six years old and on the forum by his side said a man of thirty both began cheba's accidents and committed to memory pages of a book which the younger child certainly could not understand and no advance was permitted till the first book was conquered he studied through the book 20 times before mastering it the hours of studied were long eight hours a day and this upon lessons absolutely meaningless the custom was in boston until the century to study through the grammar three times before any application to parsing far better wit than any found in an old time jess book was the subtitle of a very turgid latin grandma a delicious syrup newly clarified for young scholars that thirst for the sweet liqueur of latin speech the first english grammar used in boston public schools and retained in use till this century was the young lady's accidents or a short and easy introduction to english grammar design principally for the use of young learners more especially for those of the fair sex though proper for either it is said that a hundred thousand copies of it were sold it was a very little grammar about four or five inches long and two or three wide and had only 57 pages but it was a very good little grammar when compared with his fellows being simple and clearly worded the fashion of the day was to set everything in rhyme as an aid to memory and even so unpoetical a subject as english grammar did not escape the rhyming writer in the grammar of the english tongue a large and formidable book in fine type all the rules and lists of exceptions and definitions were inverse a single specimen of the definition of a letter will show the best style of composition which when it struggled with moods and tenses was absolutely meaningless a letter is an uncompounded sound of which there no division can be found those sounds to certain characters we fix which in the english tongue are 26. the spelling of that day was wildly varied dilworth's speller was one of the earliest used and the spelling in it differed much from that of the british instructor a third edition of the child's new spelling book was published in...

Child Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle 5 Free Educational Audiobooks Children's Free Library.
chapter five of child life in colonial days by alice morris earl this slipper fox recording is in the public domain hornbook and primer to those who are in ears but babes i bow my pen to teach them what the letters be and how they may improve their abc nor let my pretty children them despise all needs must there begin that would be wise nor let them fall under discouragement who at their hornbook stick and time has spent upon that abc while others do into their primer or their salter gold a book for boys and girls or country rhymes for children by john bunyan 1686

the english philosopher john locke in his thoughts concerning education written in 1690 says the method of teaching children to read in england at that time was always the ordinary road of hornbook primer psalter testament and bible these he said engage the liking of children and tempt them to read the road was the same in new england but it would hardly be called a tempting method the first book from which the children of the colonists learn their letters and to spell was not really a book at all in our sense of the word it was what was called a horn book a thin piece of wood usually about four or five inches long and two inches wide had placed upon it a sheet of paper a trifle smaller printed at the top with the alphabet in large and small letters below were simple syllables such as a b eb ib ob etc then came the lord's prayer this printed page was covered with a thin sheet of yellowish horn which was not as transparent as class yet permitted the letters to be read through it and both the paper and the horn were fastened around the edges to the wood by a narrow strip of metal usually brass which was tacked down by fine tacks or nails it was therefore a book of a single page at the two upper corners of the page were crosses hence to read the hornbook was often called reading a crisscross row at the lower end of the wooden back was usually a little handle which often was pierced with a hole thus the hornbook could be carried by a string which could be placed around the neck or hung by the side when five years ago was published my book entitled customs and fashions in old new england i wrote that i did not know of the preservation of a single hornbook in america though for many years eager and patient inquiries of english and of american blood had vainly sought in american historical collections in american libraries in american rural homes for a true american hornbook that is one studied by american children of colonial times the publication of my statement has made known to me three american horn books the first is the shabby little treasure owned by mrs ann robinson mintern of shoreham vermont found hidden under the dusty eaves of a vermont garrett the illustration shows its exact size on the back is a paper coarsely stamped in red with a portrait of charles ii king of england on horseback this may indicate its age but not its exact date the young colonists who owned it was by this print taught loyalty to the crown though in a far land the second hornbook is owned by miss grace l gordon of flushing long island it is a family heirloom having come to his present owner through a great uncle who was born in 1782 and stated that it was used by his father who was born in 1736 the tablet is of oak and the back is covered with a red paper stamped with the design of a double-headed eagle the third owned by mrs john w norton of guilford connecticut is almost precisely like miss gordon's and is equally well preserved from these shabby little relics and from thousands of their ill-printed but useful kinsfolk childish lips in america first read aloud the letters pointed firmly out by a knitting needle in some dame's hand undisturbed by kindergarten inductions and suggestions unbewildered by baleful processes and diagrams unthreatened by scientific...

Five Minute Stories by Laura E. Richards 4 Betty Read Aloud for Little Children Free Audiobook
section four of five minute stories by laura e richards this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by ruhi hak five minute stories by laura e richards new year the little sweet child tied on her hood and put on her warm cloak and mittens i am going to the wood she said to tell the creatures all about it they cannot understand about christmas mama says and of course she knows but i do think they ought to know about new year out in the wood the snow lay light and powdery on the branches but under the foot it made a firm smooth floor over which the child could walk lightly without sinking in she saw other footprints besides her own tiny bird tracks little hopping marks which showed where a rabbit had taken his way traces of mice and squirrels and other little wild wood beasts the child stood under a great hemlock tree and looked up toward the clear blue sky which shone far away beyond the dark treetops she spread her hands abroad and called happy new year happy new year to everybody in the wood and all over the world a rustling was heard in the hemlock branches and a striped squirrel peeped down at her what do you mean by that little child he asked and then from all around came other squirrels came little field mice and hairs swiftly leaping and all the winter birds tit mouse and snowbird and many another and they all wanted to know what the child meant by her greeting for they had never heard the words before it means that god is giving us another year said the child four more seasons each lovelier than the last just as it was last year flowers will bud and then they will blossom and then the fruit will hang all red and golden on the branches for birds and men and little children to eat and squirrels too cried the chipmunk eagerly of course said the child squirrels too and every creature that lives in the good green wood and this is not all we can do over again the things we tried to do last year and perhaps failed in doing we have another chance to be good and kind to do little loving things that help and to cure ourselves of doing naughty things our hearts can have lively new seasons like the flowers and trees and all the sweet things that grow and bear leaves and fruit i thought i would come and tell you all this because sometimes one does not think of things till one hears them from another's lips are you glad i came

if you are glad say happy new year each in his own way i say to you all now in my way happy new year happy new year such a noise as broke out then had never been hurt in the woods since the oldest hemlock was a baby and that was a long time ago chirping twittering squeaking clattering the wood dove slit on the child's shoulder and glued in her ear and she knew just what they said the squirrels made a long speech and meant every word of it which is more than people always do the field mouse said that she was going to turn over a new leaf the very biggest cabbage leaf she could find while the tit mouse invited the whole company to dine with him a thing he had never done in his life before when the child turned to leave the wood the joyful chorus followed her and she went smiling home and told her mother all about it and mother she said i should not be surprised if they had got a little bit of christmas after all along with their new year end of new year

you

Five Minute Stories by Laura E. Richards 3 Betty Read Aloud for Little Children Free Audiobook.
section three of five minute stories this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox recording by ruhi hak five minute stories by laura e richards

a new year song when the year is new my dear when the year is new let us make a promise here little i and you not to follow quarrelling over every tiny thing but sing and smile smile and sing all the gladiator through as the year goes by my dear as the year goes by let us keep our sky swept clear little you and i sweep up every cloudy skull every little thunder growl and live and laugh laugh and live beneath a cloudless sky when the year is old my dear when the year is old let us never doubt our fear though the days grow cold loving thoughts are always warm many hearts no narrow storm come ice and snow so loves deer glow turn all are grey to gold end of a new year's song

Five Minute Stories by Laura E. Richards 2 Betty Read Aloud for Little Children Free Audiobook
Five Minute Stories by Laura E. Richards 2 Two Calls Read Aloud for Little Children Free Audiobook

Five Minute Stories by Laura E. Richards 1 Betty Read Aloud for Little Children Free Audiobook

Jātaka Tales by H. T. Francis; E. J. Thomas 10 International Stories for Children Free Audiobook

section 10 of jataka tales by h.t francis and e.j thomas this librivox recording is in the public domain the converted miser once on a time when brahmadata was reigning in benares there was a guildmaster eliza by name who was worth 80 crores and had all the defects which fall to the lot of man he was lame and crook backed and had a squint he was an unconverted infidel and a miser never giving of his store to others nor enjoying it himself his house was like a pool haunted by ogres yet for seven generations his ancestors had been bountiful giving freely of their best but when he became guild master he broke through the traditions of his house burning down the almondry and driving the poor with blows from his gates he hoarded his wealth one day when returning home from attendance on the king he saw a yokel who had journeyed far and was a weary seated on a bench and filling a mug from a jar of brank spirits and drinking it off with a dainty morsel of stinking dried fish as a relish at the site he felt a thirst for spirits but he thought to himself if i drink others will want to drink with me and that means a ruinous expense so he walked about keeping his thirst under but as time wore on he could do so no longer he grew as yellow as old cotton and the veins stood out on his sunken frame on a day retiring to his chamber he lay down hugging his bed his wife came to him and rubbed his back as she asked what is gonna miss with my lord what follows is to be told in the words of the former story but when she in her turn said then i'll only brew liquor enough for you he said if you make the brew in the house there will be many on the watch and to send out for the spirits and sit and drink it here is out of the question so he produced one single penny and sent a slave to fetch him a jar of spirits from the tavern when the slave came back he made him go from the town to the riverside and put the jar down in a thicket near the highway now be off said he and made the slave wait some distance off while he filled his cup and fell too now the guildmaster's father who for his charity and other good works has been reborn as saka in the realm of gods was at that moment wondering whether his bounty was still kept up or not and became aware of the stopping of his bounty and of his son's behavior he saw how his son breaking through the traditions of his house had burnt the almondry to the ground had driven the poor with blows from his gates and how in his miserliness fearing to share with others that son had stolen away to a thicket to drink by himself moved by the sight saka cried i will go to him and make my son see that deeds must have their consequences i will work his conversion and make him charitable and worthy of rebirth in the realm of gods so he came down to earth and once more trod the ways of men putting on the semblance of the guildmaster eliza with the latter's lameness and crooked back and squint in this guise he entered the city of raja gaha and made his way to the palace gate where he made his coming be announced to the king let him approach said the king and he entered and stood with due obeisance before his majesty what brings you here at this unusual hour lord guild master said the king i am come sire because i have in my house eighty crores of treasure deigned to have them carried to fill the royal treasury may my lord guildmaster the treasury within my palace is greater than this if you sire will not have it i shall give it away to whom i will do so by all means guild master said the king so be it sire said the pretended eliza as with dual decency departed from the presence to the guildmaster's house the servants all gathered round him but not one could tell that it was not their real master entering he stood on the threshold and sent for the porter to whom he gave orders that if anybody resembling himself should...