At this time no text-books had been published in America and books of all kinds were very scarce in the frontier settlements, so that the few books attainable were quite generally provided by the teacher as the tools of his profession. The hornbook was used for teaching beginners. This was a flat piece of wood with a handle. On the flat part of this there was fastened a piece of horn, scraped thin to make it transparent. A strip of paper on which the lesson was written or printed, was placed between the horn and the wood. These lessons, protected by the horn, would last a long time and could be used by many different pupils. The hornbook was used for teaching the letters, some of the combinations of vowels and consonants and either the Lord's Prayer or some other verses of easy reading. A copy of the Bible was often the only printed book in the school and was used as a reading book.
The material for the instruction in arithmetic, in language and the more difficult words in spelling were contained in the teacher's note-book, which he had carefully prepared, under the direction of some other teacher, similarly equipped. These note-books contained the rules and tables in arithmetic, many problems, lists of words for spelling and selections for memorizing. In fact, the teacher's note-book was his tool-chest, and its size and completeness were his recommendations. The possession of a Bible, a psalm book, a copy of Dillingham's arithmetic or some other English work, and a few books of general literature were sufficient to mark the pioneer pedagogue as a man of great distinction in his profession.
On the hornbook the letters of the alphabet were usually followed by the character &, to which were added the Latin words per se and the English word and, making & per se and. Many of the teachers knew no Latin and condensed this into "Ampersand," and this word has come down to us meaningless, except as we know its origin.
When the pupils had learned to use the quill pen, which the teacher fashioned for them with his penknife, they were provided with a few sheets of paper, bound together in strong covers, and they proceeded to make, more or less carefully, a note-book like the teacher's. Some of these note-books, still preserved, show the character of the work done in these early schools. Besides the matters enumerated above some have riddles and anecdotes, evidently intended as practice in language. One which I have seen, written by a young lady, has the following exercise for punctuation:
"There is a lad in this land
Hath twenty nails upon each hand
Five and twenty on hands and feet
And this is true without deceit."
Much attention was paid to penmanship, and the copies prepared by the teacher were often as perfect as the engraved copies of the modern copy-book. These copies were kept by the pupil and practiced with painstaking care. A reproduction of a copy written by Joseph Dolph, with a quill pen of his own make is given to show the skill in lettering with which some of these old schoolmasters prepared their copies.
It would be of great interest if we could know more of these pioneers of the teacher's profession and their work. But there are few records of them left. They were generally men, in the early days always men, and probably few of them possessed much learning beyond the rudiments which they taught.
There was no opportunity for higher studies and the few young men who desired to enter college had to find a tutor, usually a clergyman, who could give him instruction in the preparatory studies.
When the first schoolhouse in Orange County was built I do not know. It is possible that there was a building used for this purpose on the Quassaick, now Newburgh, during the occupancy of the Palatinate colony, previous to 1730. It is certain that a building for school purposes was erected there soon after 1752, although it is not possible to determine when this school was opened. There is reason to suppose that a teacher was installed soon after the transfer of the Glebe lands to Alexander Colden and Richard Atherton "as trustees thereof, for the sole use and behoof of a minister of the Church of England, as by law established, and a school-master, to have the care of souls and the instruction of the children of the neighboring inhabitants." This transfer was made in 1752.