_It is my hope that children as well as grown folk will find in these pages much to interest them in the accounts of the life of children of olden times. I have had this end constantly in my mind, though I have made no attempt, nor had I any intent, to write in a style for the perusal of children; for I have not found that intelligent children care much or long for such books, except in the very rare cases of the few great books that have been written for children, and which are loved and read as much by the old as by the young. As our tired century has grown gray it has developed an interest in things youthful,--in the beginnings of things. Its attitude is akin to that of an old man, still in health and clear-headed, but weary; who has lived through his scores of crowded years of action, toil, and strife, and seeks in the last days of his life a serene and peaceful harbor,--the companionship of little children. There is something of mystery, too, in "the turn of the century" something which then makes our gaze retrospective and comparative rather than inquisitive into the future. Hence this year of our Lord MDCCCXCIX has been the allotted day and hour for the writing of this book. There has been a trend of destiny which has brought not only a book on oldtime child life, and that book at this century end, but has included the fate that it should be written by Alice Morse Earle. Kismet!_ Contents Page I. Babyhood 1 II. Children's Dress 34 III. Schools and School Life 63 IV. Women Teachers and Girl Scholars 90 V. Hornbook and Primer 117 VI. School-books 133 VII. Penmanship and Letters 150 VIII. Diaries and Commonplace Books 163 IX. Childish Precocity 176 X. Oldtime Discipline 191 XI. Manners and Courtesy 211 XII. Religious Thought and Training 227 XIII. Religious Books 248 XIV. Story and Picture Books 264 XV. Children's Diligence 305 XVI. Needlecraft and Decorative Arts 321 XVII. Games and Pastimes 342 XVIII. Children's Toys 361 XIX. Flower Lore of Children 377 List of Illustrations John Quincy, One Year and a Half Old, 1690. Owned by Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, Mass. _Frontispiece_ Page Miniature, Governor Edward Winslow, Six Years Old, 1602. Owned by Rev. Dr. William Copley Winslow, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 4 Mayflower Cradle, 1620. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. 10 Townes Cradle. In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 14