How Our Grandfathers Lived: Source Readers in American History Vol. 3

by Albert Bushnell Hart

Jam-packed with firsthand narratives, diary entries, personal letters, and patriotic songs and poems, the "Source-Readers in American History" series truly lives up to its ambitious title. Originally published at the turn of the century as a 4-volume set, here, back in print and available to Club members ONLY are volumes 3 & 4: How Our Grandfathers Lived and The Romance of the Civil War.

Continue the review below...

and

Buy How Our Grandfathers Lived: Source Readers in American History Vol. 3 with: The American Patriot's Almanac by William Bennett List Price : $49.94 Buy Together: $35.90 (Save 28%)

	The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History by Thomas Woods
	The Trivium by Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh

In Town * In the Country * Travelers * Out West * The Indian * At Sea * The Army * At School * On the Plantation * The Underground Railroad and the Contraband * In and Out of the Army * Boy Soldiers and Sailors * In Camp and on the March * Under Fire * On Deck * Women and the War

Extras! Introductions for teachers * Original illustrations * Sidenotes with commentary throughout (like in the originals)

789 pages of pure history

Professor Hart gives us a sneak preview: "These Readers are an attempt to give good literature to children and at the same time to do two other things: to let people of bygone days speak for themselves and to lay good foundations for accurate knowledge of history.... No grammar school history attempts to deal at any length with the life of the people. General, and usually brief, accounts are given, but they lack the reality and the vividness here obtained through the words of the actors themselves.

"Such selections as Brissot de Warville's Visit to Mt. Vernon, showing the simplicity of Washington's life, and Jefferson's Letters to His Daughters give a different idea of the personality of these men from that gained from ordinary study of history. The anecdotes of Hancock contain a hint of the feeling regarding States Rights in 1790. For the War of 1812 there is a wealth of material. The Pleasures of Impressment will naturally illustrate the causes of the war. In Dolly Madison's letter describing the saving of Washington's portrait one can fairly see the impatience of Mr. Carroll as he waited while the painting was secured.

"Especially interesting are such old customs as those described in The Bells and the old method of celebrating New Year's Day in New York. Craving for stories of adventure may be met with in such selections as the Experiences of a Hunter during a Storm, Boone's Adventures, In a Cave, and Hewitt's Escape from the Indians. On slavery, the Southern view is given in Happy Days on the Plantation. The Northern view is shown in a poor white's Opinion of Slavery. The slave's own view is shown in Charity Bowery's narrative. The workings of the Underground Railroad are vividly described by a Cincinnati operator. The sufferings of the Southern women are told by the unknown Southern Lady who describes the woes unspeakable of the besieged at Vicksburg."

A few of our favorites: Fashions in Philadelphia Dolly Madison (1791) * Anecdotes of Daniel Webster Josiah Quincy (1826) * House-Cleaning Francis Hopkinson (1785) * Incidents in the Life of a Bound Boy Asa Sheldon (1797) * A Georgia Camp Meeting Emily Burke (1840) * A Day in a Stage Coach Brissot de Warville (1788) * An Early Steamboat Francis Hall (1816) * Building a Log Cabin (1822) * An Indian Ball Game W. B. Parker (1845) * The Battle of Lake Erie Captain Taylor (1813) * A Soldier in the Whiskey Rebellion John Shippen (1794) * The Loyal Drummer-Boy (1861) * Tent Life John Billings (1861) * An Escape from Prison (Civil War) * Chasing a Blockade-runner Captain John Wilkinson (1863)

College Life in 1820
by Andrew Peabody

Morning prayers were in summer at six; in winter, about half an hour before sunrise, in a bitterly cold chapel. Thence half of each class passed into the several recitation-rooms in the same building, and three-quarters of an hour later the bell rang for a second set of recitations, including the remaining half of the students. Then came breakfast, which in the college commons consisted solely of coffee, hot rolls, and butter, except when the members of a mess had succeeded in pinning to the nether surface of the table, by a two-pronged fork, some slices of meat from the previous day's dinner. Between ten and twelve every student attended another recitation or a lecture. Dinner was at half-past twelve -- a meal not deficient in quantity, but by no means appetizing to those who had come from neat homes and well-ordered tables. There was another recitation in the afternoon, except on Saturday; then evening prayers at six, or in winter at early twilight; then the evening meal, plain as the breakfast, with tea instead of coffee, and cold bread, of the consistency of wool, for the hot rolls. After tea the dormitories rang with song and merriment till the study-bell, at eight in winter, at nine in summer, sounded the curfew for fun and frolic, proclaiming dead silence throughout the college premises, under penalty of a visit from the officer of the entry, and, in case of a serious offence, of private or public admonition. On Sundays all the students were required to be in residence here, not excepting even those whose homes were in Boston; and all were required to attend worship twice each day at the college chapel.