Of the primers available, and likely to be used, there were a host. The first which should be mentioned was that published by Fox in 1659; it is not known whether this primer was used in Philadelphia. It seems that it was not printed there.[905] In 1677-8, the monthly meeting authorized the purchase of “primmers,”[906] however, and the choice must have been either Fox’s or Pastorius’. No student of early printing in Philadelphia has yet been able to determine when the latter’s was published. Hildeburn is in doubt,[907] while Smith thinks the “primmers” ordered by the meeting 1697-8 must have been those of Pastorius.[908] The minute, however, does not state which. In 1696 Pastorius indicated his willingness to take charge of a printing press for Friends,[909] but, since it had to be brought from England, it is not likely, though possible, that he himself could have printed the book, before the time of the “primmer” purchase was mentioned. Since Pastorius lists a Fox’s Primmer among the books in his possession,[910] that book must have been known in the monthly meeting too, and may have been the one used.[911] The data are inadequate and uncertain for reaching a decision in the matter.
Other primers available for use during the century
Other primers published and available in Philadelphia and which may well have gotten into Friends’ schools were Franklin’s, 1764; The New England Primmer Improved, 1770; The Newest American Primer, 1779; The New England Primmer Improved, 1779; and A Primmer, 1779.[912] The minutes of the meetings give little guidance as to which were or were not used. We know only they had this list (and perhaps more) from which to select. Still other books which were probably used in the English work were Dilworth’s A New Guide to the English Tongue and The Child’s New Plaything or Best Amusement, intended to make the Learning to Read a Diversion instead of a Task, both of which were published in 1757.[913]
In the writing schools
Quality of some samples noted
For use in the writing school, we find one definite reference made to Bickam’s Universal Penman, which was purchased for use in Alexander Seaton’s School in 1762.[914] The various primers and spellers already mentioned dealt largely with writing also, giving models which were to be set before the pupil in the books or to be written out for him by the master. Some of the mottoes called to mind were: “Command you may your mind from Play” and “A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.”[915] The first exercises in writing were the making of elements such as straight lines, curves, and then single letters, and words. The various samples which the writer has noticed in the boy’s letter quoted,[916] and the student manuscript papers,[917] were of very good quality, the median grade of them being about “eleven” on the Thorndike Handwriting Scale.[918]
Arithmetics used in some of the schools
Ms. collection indicates the nature of the arithmetic work
Various arithmetics may be mentioned. There were Gough’s A Treatise of Arithmetic, Theory, etc., 1770, and Practical Arithmetic, 1767, neither of which appears to have been published in Philadelphia, but may have been better recommended than others, since gotten up by a Friend. Dilworth’s Schoolmaster’s Assistant published in Philadelphia, 1773,[919] was no doubt a close competitor with Pike’s, Park’s, and Daboll’s arithmetics, which Prowell mentions as being common in the latter part of the century.[920] He also describes a book gotten up by Elihu Underwood, schoolmaster at Warrington, in which he copied very orderly all the exercises of the arithmetic.[921] The Norris Collection likewise contains a few pupils’ copy books filled with neatly arranged exercises in addition, multiplication, division, both decimal and vulgar fractions, and another one which would correspond to our present-day commercial arithmetic, but which Isaac Norris probably called his merchants’ accounts.[922] The books vary in dates from 1729 to 1779.
Classical school curriculum