Crafts, Mrs. W. F.; [Timanus, Sara J.]. Open Letters to Primary Teachers, with Hints for Intermediate Class Teachers; By Mrs. W. F. Crafts, [Sara J. Timanus.] With an Appendix, containing Specimen Lessons and Concert Exercises for Little Children. New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1876. First Edition. [9258]
Purple cloth with gilt titles, the spine faded to brown, spine ends and corner tips frayed. 37 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, lacks the front free end papers, 204 clean pp. with index, publisher's catalogue at end. Fair. Hardcover.
"To D. L. Moody, through whose influence I became a Sunday School teacher, this little volumes is gratefully dedicated by his friend, Sara J. Crafts." - printed Dedication page.
This rather scarce book has 14 chapters on how to teach young children - qualities of the teacher, the lesson, attention & discipline, art of questioning, art of memorizing, &c. - followed by 12 lessons on the life of Christ. It concludes with 6 primary class "concerts," or programs for presentation. They are Jesus Our Shepherd, Prayer, Temperance, Missions, Christmas, and How to Spend Christmas.
Sara Jane Crafts, née Timanus (1845-1930), b. Cincinnati, Ohio; d. Washington, D.C. She was a social reformer, author, lecturer, and teacher. Her career began as a public school teacher in Minnesota. After marrying Rev. Wilbur Fisk Crafts in 1874, she turned her attention to Sunday School Union work, Temperance, and the National Reform Association. She lectured on temperance and other social reform causes at Chautauqua, in Europe, Palestine, and in the Orient. She organized Sunday Schools in America and overseas, and wrote frequently for sympathetic periodicals in the cause of temperance and Christian reform. She was for some time an editor of The Christian Herald. Open Letters is one of three books she wrote on her own; she co-authored six with her husband, one with Edward Eggleston, and compiled a song book with Jenny B. Merrill. (9258)