Bl Prl1L1pS, t'<lC.HN<D Fl.RS"7 · - 1621 THE FIRST or MOTHER's CATECHISM, CONTAINING COMMON Tf-IINGS NECESSARY TO BE J{NQTVN . AT AN EARLY AGE·. I , By the Rev. DAVIDBLAIR, AUTHOR OF THE SCHOOL DICTIONARY, UNIVERSAL PRECEP'.fOR1 MODELS OF LETTERSt READING EXERCISES, &c. &c. THIRTY-EIGIJTH EDI'TJON. -------=- JLonnon: Printed for WILLIAM' D.ltltTON, 58, Holborn..J1ill; And sold Ly Darton, Han·ey, an1I Co. Gracecl1urch-street; -G. and W. B. Whiuaker, Ave-mari,a-Jane ;-Long­ man, Hurst, and Co.; Sherwood, Neely, ~d Jones; and Baldwin, Crarlock, and Joy, Paternoster-row·;­ Simpkin anci Marshall, Srationen,'-court ;-J'huq.Je aod Burch, Jewry-street, Aldgate ;-Jolin Harri~, corner _of St. Paul's Church-yard ;-Wilson· and S011~, York_;-. Henrv Mozley, Derby ;-and all otli'er Booksellers. Printed by J, and C, A<llard, 23, Bartholomew Cloae. 821 I CAUTION. As ~everal very inferior Works have been brought out in IMITATION of this sue- . cessful and approved FVork, the Pttbli., {!,re request~d to beware of such 1 MIT A­ TIONS, and to order BLAIR'S FIRST or l\tloTH:t:rt's CATECHISM. PREF ACE. -- THE Author of this simple performance has always been a zealous admirer of the ex- - cellent · Catechism of the Church of England, and ,of the successive Catechisms of Dr. W .at.ts. As Introductions to the first Princi­ ples of Religion, they cannot be taught with too much diligence, and he hopes they will uever be aband~ned in every system of Chris­ ~an Education~ In presenting to Mothers of Families, and ~o Teachers of Children of both Sexes, a new Catechi~m, his object will speak sufficiently f pr itself. He presumes he shall tWt be COi\- ( 4 ) sidered by any one as interfering with works, the sole object of which is religious know­ ledge, while the obvious utility and impor­ tance of his own plan, will, he trusts, occasion him to be hailed as a welcome intruder in that epoch of the infantine mind, for which this and other Catechisms are adapted. Every Parent and Instructor of Youth must have had occasion to lament the-want of such a depository of common Facts, about which Children are always curious, but to whicli they have hitherto had no easy means of ac­ cess. The Author found some difficulty in steering between what might be thought too trifling or too complex; he has, however, sub­ mitted the whole to the test of the capacity of various children between the age of five and ~even, and he has found that all of them were alive to his topics, an<l amused and instructed by his details and explanations. The work has been written of such length .as that it may be committed to memory, ( 5 ) without being ren<lered irksome to the chiltl within the space of half a-year, and th~t in a year any of the questions may be ask ed promiscuously, and answered with readi­ ness. Those Parents and Tutors who are desir­ ous to enlarge on many of the Topics con­ tained in this Catechism will be able to do so by consulting the Author's Reading E..,xer­ cises for the earliest Classes, (a supplement to Ma,vor's Spelling Book) ; his Class Boek, or 365 Lessons; or his l]m"versal Preceptor; books which he has reason to believe are now in the hands of all' intelligent School­ masters and Governesses. AJ JUST ·pun~JSHEJJ, iBY W. DARTON, 58, Holborn-hill, In One Volume, 18mo. Price 4s. 6d. A First or Mother's Dictionary· FOR CHILDREN-; Containing upwards of Three Thousand Eight Hu_ndred Words which occur most fre­ quently in Books and Conversation; simply and familiarly explain'ed, and interspersed throughout with occasional Remarks. By.dNN.d BROT¥J.aVELL MURPHY. This little Volume. intended as a Companion to the FIRST oa MOTHER's CATECHISM, is suited to the capacities o! Younger Pupils, who should, as so'?n as th~ir understandmgs begin to expand, be made acquamted with the meaning of words; 'but who do not, in an early stage Qfinstruction, need a voluminous Dictionary.- In com­ pilin~ this Work, therefore, it has been the Author's aim to umte simplicity with correctness; while she has omitted all technical terms, and all words the knowledge of Whicl1 would be useless to children, and those whi~h could not ~ell be explained in a manner adap_ted t? the_ rnf~nt_ capa­ city. Most of the definitions contained in tins Dictionary are., indeed, short enough to be committed to memory, or a page or two may be read over at a time, till the whole are sufficiently impressed on the mind. "The arrangement of this Dictionary is most excellent. The explanations are simple and perspicuous. In short, they are adapted to tile comprehtnsion ef the infant mind, in a way that, we tlz£nk, admits ef no improvement." Vide Critical Review, Aug. 18r4. 'l'HE ·FIRST or MOTHER's CATECHISM. ~esti01z,. LET me hear you count ten? .L'lnswer. One • 1 Five • 5 Nine 9 Two 2 Six • 6 Ten 10 Three 3 Seven 7 Four 4 Eight 8 ~- How many days are there in a week A. Seven. Q. What are their names? A. Sunday Monday Thursday Tuesday Friday Wednesday Saturday A4 ( 8 ) ~ How many months... are there in a year? A. Twelve. ~- Repeat their names ? A. January May September February June October March July November April August December. ~ How many Seasons are there in the year? A. Four. ~ What are they called? A. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Win­ ter. ~- When does Spring commence? A. Spring succeeds to Winter in March, and continues till June. Q. When does Summer commence? A. Sum mer begins in June, and ends ( 9 ) ii:i September, when the days shorten and the weather becomes cold. ~ When does Autumn begin and end? A. Autumn begins in September, when the corn is ripe, and ends in No- ,· vember. ~ When does Winter begin and end? A. Winter begins in N ovem her and ends in March, when it is followed by Spring and warm weather. ~ When does the year begin, or when is New Year's day? A. The firs~ of January. ~- Which is the last day of the year? · A. The thirty-first day of December. ~ When is the quarter-day called Lady•day? ( 10 ) .A. Lady-day is on the 25th of March. ~ \,V~en is the quarter-day called Midsummer-day? A. On the 24th of June. ~ When is the quarter-day called . Michaelmas-day? A. On the 29th of September. ~ When is the quarter-day and great festival of the birth of Christ, called Christmas-day? A. On the 25th of December. ~. When is the birth-day of his present majesty, · King George the Fourth? A. On the 12th" of August. -~• When is the birth-day of the Duke of York, heir apparent to the crown? A. On the 16th of Au~ust. ( 11 ) ~- When is the longest day? A. The 21st of June. ~ When is the shortest day? A. The 21st of December. ~ When is Easter Sunday? " A. On the first sunday which follows the first full moon after the 21st of March. ~- When is Whit-Sunday? A. The seventh sunday after Easter~ ft How many days are there in the respective months? A. Thirty days bath September, April, June, and NoYember February hath 28 alone ; And all the rest have 31 . A6 ( 12 } ~ How many days are there in a year? A. Three hundred and sixty-five. I ~ How many hours are there in a day? A. Twenty-four, which are divided by the clock into twice twelve. ~ How are the hours divided? A. Into sixty minutes; also into halves and quarters, thirty minutes being half an hour, and fifteen minutes a quarter of an hour. Q. How do you tell what it is o'clock? , A. By looking first to the short hand of the clock for the hour, and then to the long hand for the quarters and mi­ nutes. Q. How do you tell the hour ? ( 13 ) A. By the numbers which are paint.. ed on th;e clock, as I. - for one o'clock II. - for two o'clock . III. - for three o'dbck IHI. - for four o'clock V. - for five o'clock VI. - for six o'clock VII. - for seven o'clock VIII. - for eight o'clock IX. - for nine o'clock X. - for ten o'clock xr. - for eleven o'cJock XU. - for twelve o'clock. Q. How do you distinguish the minutes? .A. There are sixty minutes in one hour, and the minute-hand goes c,om­ pletely round th<;; clock, while the hour 1 hand moves over the small space be .. tween the numbers !,. JI, III, &c. ( 14 ) • j Q. How long then is the minute­ hand passing between each of those numbers? .A. Five minute3, being the twelfth part o.f si.xty minutes. Q. ,How are the· quarters d istin­ guished? A. \'Vhen the minute-hand stands at III, jt indicates a quarter of an hour; when at VI, half an hour; and, when at lX,'th_ree quarters of an hour. ~' What are the divisions or parts uf a, dav? I • ✓ : A. Morning, noon, afternoon, eve.p- ~ l,1 g, and night. · , Q What is the morning·? . - A. Tne morning is that portio;~ of the twenty-four hours, between twelv¢ o•cloo~ at night, · ap,d tvvelve o'clock at noon. ( 15 ) ~ What is 1100n? .- , A. Noon is that time of the day when the sun has risen to the highest, and is directly south.