arely do we find any suspicion of that
alloy of nonsense supposed by Miss Edgeworth to make the sense work
well. It is all quite serious. "Little Nancy, or, the Punishment of
Greediness," is representative of this sort of moral and cautionary
tale. The frontispiece, "embellishing" the first scene, shows Nancy in
receipt of an invitation to a garden party:

"Now the day soon appear'd
But she very much fear'd
She should not be permitted to go.
Her best frock she had torn,
The last time it was worn;
Which was very vexatious, you know."

However, the mother consents with the _caution_:

"Not to greedily eat
The nice things at the treat;
As she much wished to break her of this."

Arrived at the party, Nancy shared the games, and

"At length was seated,
With her friends to be treated;
So determin'd on having her share,
That she drank and she eat
Ev'ry thing she could get,
Yet still she was loth to forbear."

The disastrous consequences attending Nancy's disregard of her mother's
admonition are displayed in a full-page illustration, which is followed
by another depicting the sorrowful end in bed of the day's pleasure.
Then the moral:

"My young readers beware,
And avoid with great care
Such _excesses_ as these you've just read;
For be sure you will find
It your interest to mind
What your friends and relations have said."

Perhaps of all the toy imprints of the early century none are more
curious in modern eyes than the three or four German translations
printed by Philadelphia firms. In eighteen hundred and nine Johnson and
Warner issued "Kleine Erzaehlungen ueber ein Buch mit Kupfern." This seems
to be a translation of "A Mother's Remarks over a Set of Cuts," and
contains a reference to another book entitled "Anecdoten von Hunden."
Still another book is extant, printed in eighteen hundred and five by
Zentler, "Unterhaltungen fuer Deutsche Kinder." This, according to its
preface, was one of a series for which Jacob and Benjamin Johnson had
consented to lend the plates for illustrations.

Patriotism, rather than diversion, still characterized the very little
original work of the first quarter of the century for American children.
A book with the imposing title of "Geographical, Statistical and
Political Amusement" was published in Philadelphia in eighteen hundred
and six. "This work," says its advertisement, "is designed as an easy