...written for the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Half leather with marbled boards, 32mo, 36pp. Moderate rubbing to exterior, occasional faint foxing, Very Good. Bookplate of the Sharon, NH Methodist Episcopal Sunday School--among the author's points is the value of Sabbath school libraries in providing a means of occupying children who would otherwise be "trifling away... precious hours" (18).

As entry points for education, Sabbath schools drew from communities at large, not just families already practicing Christianity. An earlier edition appeared in 1834, also attributed only to "A Travelling Preacher," who writes, "it is radically wrong to fill Sabbath school libraries with works of fiction; as they tend to mislead the youthful reader, and induce a false taste..." (3). 

So establishes the mandate for true stories, which were generally grim. Among his case studies (which include reference to revivals in New Jersey), is the story of a girl, one of many children scarlet fever "took off" in her village (30), who becomes pious and ultimately welcomes death--a dominant trope. An example of the genre wrapped into the promotion of not just Sabbath school, but their lending libraries.