The New England Primer

What I researched and why: After reading Anna Mae Duane’s article “Casualties of the Rod,” I was interested in learning about the types of literature and leisure that Puritan children would be permitted to engage in. The first thing I learned was that leisure was not permitted. I imagined that there might at least be some kind of Biblical game or activity, but was unable to find evidence of any such thing. As far as literature goes, it is obvious that the Bible would be the “NY Times Bestseller” of the day, even for children. I thought that this couldn’t possibly be the only book that they would read. This assumption was correct, though not entirely. The Bible influenced every aspect of Puritan life, including what I assume was the second source of written word accessed by children: textbooks.

What I found: After several searches involving the words “Puritan”, “children”, “stories”, and “literature,” I realized that each search led me to the same work, titled The New England Primer. It was originally written by Benjamin Larkin around 1700. The exact date of publication was not something I could easily find, as the primer was published in London before it was published in Boston. There are many editions of the primer. A partial facsimile of The New England Primer (created in 1901) can be found here. The facsimile does not illustrate the entire contents of the primer (which includes the famed alphabet, verses, catechism questions, and the poem A Dialogue Between Christ, Youth, and the Devil). A typed version of the contents of the primer from 1777 can be found here.

My interpretation: One of the aspects of Duane’s article that struck me the most was her discussion of Mather and his views on children and God. She writes, “According to Mather, God inflicts an astonishing variety of retributions upon the body of an insubordinate child” (71). She goes on to discuss a sermon in which Mather illustrated this point through the use of Proverbs 30:17. To be a child in the time period when you might hear things like this frightened me. I know that around the same time, the philosopher John Locke had suggested the idea of tabula rasa – that children were born into this world as “blank slates” waiting to be written on. It makes sense, then, that the Puritans would fear for the goodness of their children and surround them with cautionary Bible tales, as well as to guard them from what they felt was the wild abandon and sinfulness of the American Indians. But the poem A Dialogue between Christ, Youth and the Devil portrays such a hopeless situation: It is easier to follow the way of the Devil, but his way leads to pain and suffering; furthermore, following the way of Christ is difficult and most likely will lead to the same end. Surely, I thought, the entire childhood of a Puritan was not filled with such hopelessness and fear. Again, I was wrong - as is evidenced by the contents of the primer.

What I think this adds to our discussion: The Duane article and A Dialogue Between Christ, Youth, and the Devil alone paint us what I felt was an abstract picture of Puritan childhood. I feel that – especially for those students who are interested in the historical aspects of literature – The New England Primer offers a little bit of insight into the life of a Puritan child. Though it may be a life of fear, it is important to understand that children’s literature written during this time can most likely be read with the understanding that it was intended to keep Puritan children as sinless as possible.