The New England Primer was first published circa 1690 in Boston. It was heavily used in 18th and early 19th century classrooms to teach reading and the basics of Calvinism. There was much emphasis on death, as in the section that taught about the alphabet under X: “Xerxes the great must die, And so must you and I.”, and Y: “No Youth, you see, From death is free.”
New England Primer. ca. 1800. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/y-cat-7824/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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