In paging through a battered copy of "Monroe's Fourth Reader,"1 which was published in 1872, I came across a few pages that feature the writing of a long-ago schoolgirl.
Here's a look at the title page...
Joan and I deciphered this together and this is what we came up with:
Mechanicsburg Pa.
Sits with
Miss Carrie E. Donson
Mechanicsburg Pa.
in the year
1883
But the back of the textbook is where the true secret is revealed.
Here's the last page of the book...
We think the wraparound pencil-writing states:
On the following page, which is the inside back cover, is this statement:
Of course, we're counting on both (1) Joan and I having deciphered Stella's cursive writing correctly and (2) Stella having known the correct spelling of Jim's last name.
Wouldn't it be great to find out how the lives of Stella, Carrie and Jim turned out?
Footnote
1. The textbook was written by Lewis B. Monroe, the dean of the Boston University School of Oratory. It was published out of Philadelphia by Cowperthwait & Co. The first section of the textbook teaches the sounds of the English language with the help of the illustrated boy pictured at right. The short reading lessons in the book's second section include:
- Audubon and His Pictures
- The Lost Penknife
- The Merry Autumn Days
- A Dog Saving a Ship
- The Nail-Maker
- Underground Travels (by C.L. Matteaux)
- The King and the Goose-Herd
- The Poor Tavern-Keeper
- The Gunpowder-Harvest
- Thanksgiving Dinner at Plumfield (by Louisa May Alcott)
Since books were expensive, in many schools, children shared desks and books. I am imagining the two girls writing notes to each other in the book since they probably would get in trouble for talking while they were supposed to be reading.
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