ncerned
itself, not with matters of the imagination, but with facts and theories
of current and momentous interest. Religion and the affairs of the
separate commonwealths were uppermost in people's minds in colonial
days; political warfare and the defence of the policy of Congress
absorbed attention in Revolutionary times; and later the necessity of
expounding principles of government and of fostering a national feeling
produced a literature of fact rather than of fancy.

Gradually all this had changed. A new generation had grown up with more
leisure for writing and more time to devote to the general culture of
the public. The English periodical with its purpose of "improving the
taste, awakening the attention, and amending the heart," had once met
these requirements. Later on these periodicals had been keenly enjoyed,
but at the same time there appeared American magazines, modelled after
them, but largely filled by contributions from literary Americans. Early
in the nineteenth century such publications were current in most large
towns. From the short essays and papers in these periodicals to the
tales of Cooper and Irving the step, after all, was not a long one.

The children's literature of amusement developed, after the end of the
eighteenth century, in a somewhat similar way, although as usual tagging
along after that of their parents.

With the constantly increasing population the production of children's
books grew more profitable, and in eighteen hundred and two Benjamin
Johnson made an attempt to publish a "Juvenile Magazine" in
Philadelphia. Its purpose was to be a "Miscellaneous Repository of
Useful Information;" but the contents were so largely drawn from English
sources that it was probably, like the toy-books, pirated from an
English publisher. Indeed, one of the few extant volumes contains only
one article of distinctly American composition among essays on
_Education_, the _Choice of a Wife_, _Love_, papers on natural history,
selections from poems by Coleridge and Cowper; and by anonymous makers
of verse about _Consumption_ and _Friendship_. The American
contribution, a discussion of President Washington's will, has already
been mentioned.

In the same year, 1802, the "Juvenile Olio" was started, edited by
"Amyntor," but like Johnson's "Juvenile Magazine," was only issued at
irregular intervals and was short-lived.

Other ventures in children's periodicals continued to be made, however.
The "Juvenil