The Royal Oak; or, The Reformed Village. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, ca. 1850. [9455]
Leather spine with marbled boards, 5 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches, Baptist Sunday School bookplate, wood-engraved frontispiece, 35 pp., second ffep loose. Good. Hardcover.
The royal oak of the story is a tree overlooking the town square, courthouse, jail, and "rum shop." It is set in America. A temperance tale, the story tells of how the town was reformed and drinking and gambling put down.
"Why this tree has been christened 'Royal Oak,' tradition does not say. Perhaps it is because King Alcohol has reigned there over a most loyal people, for several generations."