Worn by the passage of years, and yet...
They will tell you now, the stories in here contain dangerous themes.
The note reads: "1853-1856 Fourth Reader. Probably used by my great-grandmother before and after the family came "Across the Plains in 64," to teach her children and others. From 1865 the family lived in the Coos Bay, Oregon area. Great Grandmother Emily Vanderburg has a school in her home for the Vanderburg children and others. Some of her pupils were grown men."
It was the era of the illustration, photos still being relatively exotic (although less so at the turning of the century than in, say, 1865). The cartoon was in it's heydey, making sharp points with few lines and fewer words.
Not that a steady diet of only the old books is to be preferred. Simply that there is much to learn, and much to be held in memory, which can be forgotten willfully or through ignorance.
Some of my oldest books.
Which leads me, of course, to Project Gutenberg. Where you can find the old books for free and easy reading. Some may be a challenge, and some are awful piffle. Some, though, are worth the effort and will deepen your knowing of the world and who we came from.