Abecederians

THE DISTRICT SCHOOL By William Ladd Taylor

The Youngest Early Country School Learners
A reprint from our former CSAA newsletter...
​By Michael Day, Barkhamsted, CT
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Here's a word you don't hear anymore: Abecedarian (/ā″bē-sē-dâr′ē-ən/). A teacher in the 19th century would have been very familiar with this word, for it denoted those young students whose immediate task was to learn the alphabet. The term was also occasionally used to denote the person who taught the simplest aspects of literacy. Outside of school, the word carried the connotation of learning by rote the basic elements of a subject in a pre-determined order.
Warren Burton, when writing about attending school in 1800 (The District School As It Was) recalled that he was, "three and a half years old when I first entered the old school-house as an abecedarian." In his second year at school, he "looked down upon two or three fresh, slobbering abecedarians with a pride of superiority, greater perhaps than I ever felt again."

The word can be traced back to the early 17th century and clearly is it derived from the first four letters of the alphabet. Some writers emphasized this connection in their spelling of the word. Samuel G. Goodrich (who would later achieve great fame in the world of children's literature as "Peter Parley") in his 1856 autobiography described the seating arrangement of the school he attended as a child: "The larger scholars were ranged on the outer sides at their desks; the smaller fry of a-b-c-darians were seated in the center."

The term was in common use as late as 1880 when the New England Journal of Education in an article on schoolhouse scheduling recommended that, "abecedarians be called to recite four times a day". It's not clear just when the term went out of fashion, but it was probably when the district schools were consolidated, and kindergarten became a standard feature of modern education. While the term is no longer in everyday parlance, it may still be found in a certain research areas.

Modern youngsters love big words, especially those that seem to just roll off the tongue. Next time a group of young visitors comes to your schoolhouse, introduce them the term that might well have described them a century ago: Abecedarian.

Picture: The District School by William Ladd Taylor: Abecedarians slouch on steps and benches awaiting their turn at recitation, while older scholars toe the line.
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Michael Day of Barkhamsted, CT was a regular contributor to our e-newsletter of old, and we thank him again. He also sold print resources for one-room school museums called Clippership Publications, but we hope to hear from him and that he re-opens his business. Help us find Mike Day! I've reached out to the Barkhamsted Historical Society for information on how to contact Mike.

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