Testimonial on Behalf of Miss Marsha Shearer's Moral Character and Ability to Teach Common School, Harrisburg, PA, 1854 \snake and think it's a real

and think it's a real beauty--and wonderfully direct

this is a prime example--a bit of a mystery

looking as if aimed at a cat holding a shield with little bird flying overhead (methinks this boy had a nasty family cat

I'm always on the prowl for Victorian sea moss pressings

Testimonial on Behalf of Miss Marsha Shearer's Moral Character and Ability to Teach Common School, Harrisburg, PA, 1854 \snake and think it's a realI was happy to find this manuscript letter, written in Harrisburg (then Harrisburgh) PA in 1854 on behalf of a Miss Marsha Shearer, attesting to her (most important) moral character, learning, and ability to instruct, such that she be granted a one year teaching appointment at the town's common school. Lead by Horace Mann, it was in the 1830s that the Common School movement took hold, advocating for (and leading to) the widespread creation of tax