The New England Primer, introduced in Boston in 1690 by Benjamin Harris, was the first textbook printed in America. It was the beginning textbook for students well into the 20th century, which can't be denied and is well-documented in a 1930 edition. Our Founding Fathers, and millions of other Americans, learned to read from the Primer.
You may wonder why this little book means so much to me. Well, for one thing, it proves that our Founders were religious men and were Christians at heart. In the Primer the alphabet is learned using short phrases - for instance, "A," "In Adams Fall -- We sinned all." When you get to "Z" is says "Zaccheus - he did climb the tree - Our Lord to see."
The 1900 edition described the impact of the Primer: "The New England Primer was one of the greatest books ever published. It went through innumerable editions; it reflected in a marvelous way the spirit of the age that produced it, and contributed, perhaps more than any other book except the Bible, to the molding of those sturdy generations that gave to America its liberty and its institutions."
Those sturdy generations, which included some of our Founders and early leaders, referenced in the above paragraph, were men and women who are head and shoulders above the leaders we have today.
Just the other day, someone asked me what I thought of our current leadership in Washington.
"Well," I said, "in my opinion, our Washington leadership is a lot like a big oak tree that is surrounded by a lot of pecan trees." He said, "I don't understand what you mean." Then I said, "To put it in real simple terms -- we've got a real businessman in the White House and he’s surrounded by a bunch of nuts."
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It's more evident every day that many members of Congress are leeches who have never prepared a payroll or even run a business. If we're not careful, they may destroy the best and greatest nation in the world.