Old-time schools and school-books . -leaf Scribblings 155 Whosoever steals thisBook away mayThink on that greatjudgement day whenJesus Christ shallcome and sayWhere is that book youstole you will sayI do not knowand Christ will saygo down below. The most dubious fly-leaf inscription that I haveseen is this one : — Francis Bartonis my name a mericais my nationpitsfield is mydweling placeand christ is mysalvation wheni am dead andin my grave andall my bones arerotton its youlremember me or elsei will be forgotten. In a tiny volume published in Boston in 1685entitled the Protestant Tuto
Old-time schools and school-books . -leaf Scribblings 155 Whosoever steals thisBook away mayThink on that greatjudgement day whenJesus Christ shallcome and sayWhere is that book youstole you will sayI do not knowand Christ will saygo down below. The most dubious fly-leaf inscription that I haveseen is this one : — Francis Bartonis my name a mericais my nationpitsfield is mydweling placeand christ is mysalvation wheni am dead andin my grave andall my bones arerotton its youlremember me or elsei will be forgotten. In a tiny volume published in Boston in 1685entitled the Protestant Tutor, I find a quatrain of avery different character from the rough humor orthe belligerent threatenings of the usual fly-leafentries. It runs thus : — 156 Old-time Schools and School-books William Graham his Book God grant him grace therein to look, that he may run that blessed race that heaven may be his dwelling Place. A rhyme of similar gentleness was: — This Book was bought for good Intentpray bring it home when it is ^ar^fykv Ma?-£**£$ Lines from a Binghams American Preceptor, 1803. Sometimes a series of jingles was so arranged asto lead the reader on a wild goose chase. At thetop of one of the early pages would be written : — If my name you wish to seelook on page 103. Fly-leaf Scribblings 157 Turn to that page and you have : — If my name you cannot findlook on page 109. Again do as you are bidden, and you are rewardedwith: — If my name you cannot findShut up the book and never mind. On occasion the poetry dealt with some incidentaltopic, as, for example, these lines in an Adamssarithmetic : —- Oh may I learn with true submissionDaniel Adams composition. A ditty which was considered a fitting characteriza-tion to inscribe in the school histories was this : — If there should be another flood, Then to this book Id fly ;If all the earth should be submerged This book would still be dry. Among the schoolgirls attending the academies itwas a fad to write
Size: 2189px × 1142px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublis, booksubjecteducation
