posted 07-29-2010 11:58 PM            

The following posts show an old children’s book entitled “The Silver cup”. My wife collects old children’s books and brought this one because of our liking for, of all things, children’s silver cups. It is a delightful tale that has been told in many ways to many generations. Hope you enjoy it.

(Here's THE SILVER CUP OCR -- I tried to remove all the usual OCR typos but there may be a few left.)

THE SILVER CUP;
OR,
ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH

LITTLE Emma Herbert was an only daughter, and was named after her grandmother, with whom she was a very great pet. On one of her birthdays, her grandmother sent her a present of a very beautiful silver cup. It was very heavy and elegantly carved, and on it was her name and the date of her birth. Emma's mother was very careful of this beautiful cup, and would not allow her to use it very often, lest she should let it fall and bruise it.

Mrs. Herbert had a young servant girl living with her, named Phoebe. Phoebe was a very pleasant, good-tempered girl, and very fond of children; and whenever she was at her work, Emma was always playing about her, or pretending to help her, and Phoebe would tell her stories, or sing to her, for she knew a great many pretty hymns and melodies. One day Mrs. Herbert had given the silver cup to Phoebe to clean; and as Phoebe sat under the veranda by the kitchen door, cleaning the silver, Emma, as usual, was very busy about her,with a little cloth helping her to do her work. You never saw a happier pair than little Emma and Phoebe, while they were thus engaged. Emma's tongue was rattling away, and Phoebe was answering her, and laughing at all she said.

Now there happened to be a very deep well just by, the water from which was drawn up by a bucket. The cook had just drawn some water, and set the bucket down on the little shelf inside of the mouth of the well. Phoebe had stepped into the house for something, and so little Emma ran and stood on tiptoe, and looked into the bucket. The water looked so cool and sparkling, she thought she should like to take a drink, and then she thought what a nice thing it would be to drink it out of her own beautiful silver cup. Phoebe had not returned yet, so little Emma ran and took her cup, and went back to the well. She could but just reach over the stone top, and was standing on tiptoe and trying to clip her cup down to the water in the bucket, when she heard her mother's voice calling to her from the upper window, "Emma! where are you, Emma?"

posted 07-29-2010 11:59 PM            

Poor Phoebe ran about in great trouble, asking the cook and every one else if they had seen Emma's silver cup; but they all said they had not seen it since she was rubbing it on the bench. Phoebe then began to cry. "Oh, dear," she said, "Mrs. Herbert will blame me and think I have taken it."

As soon as Emma heard this, she was very sorry that she had not told the truth at once; but now she did not like to say she had told a lie, so she kept silent.

You see, my young readers, how one wrong act brings on another. Emma knew she was doing wrong in taking the cup without permission; so to save herself from being blamed, she told a lie, and then was willing to let the blame fall upon another, rather than confess how naughty she had been.

Mrs. Herbert felt very sad when she heard that the cup was lost, not only because it was very valuable in itself, and a gift from Emma's grandmother, but because she was sorry that there was any one about her house who would do so wicked a thing as to steal. She felt certain that Betty, the cook (who had lived with her a great many years), would not take so much as a pin or needle that was not her own; and no one else had been about except Phoebe and Emma, so she did not know what to think. The cook said that Emma had declared she had not touched the cup, and her mother had never known Emma to tell a falsehood. Besides, she thought Emma would have no object in taking her pretty cup, of which she thought so much, and hiding it. So she said no one could have taken it but Phoebe.

Then, too, she said, she remembered hearing Emma and Phoebe talking about the cup together, and Emma said, "This is a beautiful cup: is it not, Phoebe?" And Phoebe said, "I think it is a beautiful cup. It's worth a great deal of money. Won't you give it to me? I should like such a cup very much." All this made it appear as if Phoebe had taken a fancy to the cup and hid it, until she could have an opportunity of selling it.

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert talked the matter over, and concluded that it was best to send Phoebe away. They said they thought it would not be right to keep her any longer, as she would set. such a bad example to Emma, and they would be likely to suspect her if any thing was missed. So it was determined that Phoebe should go.

Mrs. Herbert called her, and talked to her a long time, and gave her a great deal of good advice; but told her that she could not keep a person about her whom she suspected of doing such things. She begged her to tell her before she left what she had done with the cup. But Phoebe only cried, and said she "knew nothing of it, from the time she left it on the bench, and went to get a little more of the chalk with which she was cleaning the silver."

Emma, who was playing about, knew nothing of all this, till, missing Phoebe, she went to her room, and found the door locked. She called several times, but there was no answer. At length she heard some one sobbing, and she called again, "Phoebe! Phoebe! Won't you please to let me come in? I want to see you very much!" Then the door was unlocked and opened, and there was poor Phoebe, with her apron at her eyes, crying as if her heart would break.

Her little trunk was standing open on the floor, and the clothes were all scattered around, and there she sat down on the floor among them, and began to cry, laying her head on her knees, and rocking to and fro, till little Emma began to cry too. "What is the matter, Phoebe?" at length she asked. "Oh, my poor mother," sobbed Phoebe. "Is your mother dead, Phoebe?" asked Emma. "Oh, no; but she will wish she was dead, before she had seen a child of hers turned away from a good place for stealing!" said Phoebe. "The last thing she said to me was, 'Phoebe, never say a word that is not true; and never take a pin that is not your own. Think of what the Bible commands.' Oh, my poor mother! what will she say?"

posted 07-30-2010 12:00 AM            

"Yes, I must. Your mother has turned me off. She thinks I have stolen your silver cup; and as I am a living creature, I know no more than you yourself do about it."

"Oh, then, Phoebe, know more than you do about it," exclaimed Emma. "Don't cry any more, clear Phoebe. I will go straight to mother, to tell her the truth. I had rather be whipped ever so hard, than have you cry so, Phoebe, or go away from here." So saying, Emma darted off to her mother's room, and throwing herself into her lap, and putting her arms around her neck, she said, "Oh, dear mother, don't send Phoebe away. I took my silver cup, to get a drink, and dropped it in the well; and then did not dare to tell you of it!"

Emma's mother looked very much displeased, and said, "I should have been glad, Emma, if you had come of your own accord, and made this confession, before you were driven to it by seeing Phoebe's distress. This whole affair has given me a great deal of pain; but this is the most painful part of it -- to think that my own little daughter has done such a wicked thing, and that poor Phoebe has been so unjustly suspected. But come, we must go to Phoebe, and tell her who has done all the mischief."

"Oh, dear mother, I have told a lie, and am very, very sorry."

"And, Emma, I shall require you to tell your father and brothers the whole story of how the cup got into the well, and they shall determine what your punishment shall be," said the mother.

This was a sore trial to Emma; but she knew that her mother was in earnest; that she never said what she did not intend to do; and she felt that she was right, and that there was nothing for her to do but to submit.

Phoebe, you may be sure, was very happy to find that she was no longer thought guilty, and that she was not going to be sent away; but she felt very sorry for Emma, and very much shocked to find that she had committed so great a sin.

In the meantime, Emma's brothers had heard all about what had happened, and had secretly applied to their father to have the lost treasure recovered; and on the same day that Emma told her mother, while the little girl was out, a man went down the well, and a few moments after he came up with something bright in his hand, and Emma's brothers clapped their hands for glee, and shouted: "He's got it, father! he's got it!"

Yes, he had brought up the cup, but the boys' faces lengthened as they saw how dreadfully bruised and battered it was, bounding against the sides of the well as it went down to the bottom.

On the evening of the day that Emma confessed her fault, while the family were assembled for tea, her father took her on his knee, and said, "Well, has my little daughter been a good girl today?"

She answered, "No, father, I have been very naughty, and mother says I must tell you all about it." So with many tears and blushes of shame, Emma related the whole thing exactly as it occurred. Her brothers, who were very fond of their sister, thought she had been punished enough, and could not bear the idea of having her suffer any more; but her father said he was afraid it would not do to pass over so great a sin so lightly. He said the first fault of dropping the cup he would not have minded so much, if she had not told the falsehood and persisted in it; but he was afraid, if something was not now done to make her remember it, she would go on in this course and become a confirmed liar. "The most effectual mode of punishment of which I can think," said he, "is to leave Emma at home alone, while the rest go to make their visit to grandmother at Willow Grove."

This was entirely unexpected to poor Emma, who had always been accustomed to spend the midsummer holidays at her grandmother's beautiful place in the country, and she had talked of nothing else for some weeks; so she began to cry again very sadly, and her brothers began to cry too. Then they joined in begging their father to let Emma go with them. "Dear father," said they, "we shall none of us enjoy ourselves at all if Emma is left at home. We feel sure that she will be good after this. She is so sorry, dear father. Take her for our sakes, and we will all strive to be very good."

Then her father said, "Emma shall take her choice. You know, Emma, you have always taken your silver cup with you to your grandmother's to show her how nicely you have kept it. Now you may either stay at home, or go to Willow Grove with the rest, and answer your grandmother when she asks you where your cup is." After some hesitation and a good deal of teasing from her brothers, Emma concluded to go to Willow Grove. But she was so very fearful of her grandmother's displeasure that she could hardly make up her mind to go when the time came.

The lost cup had been found, but Emma knew nothing about this, and supposed it was still at the bottom of the well.

At length the day came for going to the country, and all were in high glee except Poor Emma, who for the first time felt sad when starting for such a visit.

posted 07-30-2010 12:01 AM            

"So, Emma," said her grandmother, "I see you have kept your cup as nice as ever; I am glad you are so careful of it."

Now, thought Emma, is the time; so she said, "Grandmother, I have got a sad story to tell you about this cup." Then she told her grandmother the whole story of her disobedience and falsehood, not seeking to excuse herself in any way. She ended by saying, "But, grandmother, I have felt very sorry about it ever since, and I pray to God every day to forgive me, and to keep me from ever being so wicked again."

Her grandmother was much grieved to hear this sad account, and she talked a long time to Emma and her brothers. "See," said she, "how much sorrow one sin brings to many hearts. Poor Phoebe, how she suffered when falsely accused, and expected to be sent from her place. How sad Emma's parents have felt about it, and her brothers too. How unhappy she has been herself, and how grieved her grandmother feels; but above all, Emma has offended her kind Father in Heaven. But I am happy to find that she feels how necessary it is for her to have His forgiveness. I really think that Emma will never forget this; and as it has been the first, so I hope it will be the last act of the kind of which she will be guilty."

I am happy to say that her grandmother's wish was fulfilled. Emma grew up to be a girl of the strictest truthfulness. She has been long married, and has now a little family of her own. In a conspicuous place on her mantel-shelf stands the gift from her grandmother, and she often points her children to it, and tells them the story of "THE SILVER CUP," and bids them remember its motto,

"ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH."

J. B. E.

posted 07-30-2010 06:40 AM            

Next time you might try doing Optical Character Recognition (OCR). There is a very good free program available FreeOCR OCR Software V3.0 (click here).

chicagosilver converted the book page images to text and the OCR is posted above. Thanks chicagosilver

posted 07-30-2010 11:30 AM            

And as he dug spoons, knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids began to fly out from under his feet. When a big tablespoon landed at the Judge's feet, he exclaimed, "By all that is wonderful, see this spoon! That dog has discovered where the burglar hid my silver. Pretty clever work for a little dog!"

"Well, Zip, you shall have a silver collar for this, made out of one of my solid silver spoons," promised the Judge, as the men went to the hole Zip was digging and helped push away the earth. Soon they counted the pieces, and found they had recovered all that had been missing.

The next day it all came out in the Maplewood daily paper, telling how Zip, Dr. Elsworth's little fox terrier, had tracked the burglar to the spot where he had buried his booty, and that they had recovered it all, not losing so much as a spoon. It also recounted how the Judge had ordered the jeweler to make a solid silver collar for Zip with his name engraved on it and what he had done to deserve this honor.

posted 07-31-2010 12:16 PM            

[Good snip ... the OCR text was re-posted to the start of this thread.]

posted 07-31-2010 09:44 PM            

I added the images.

posted 08-01-2010 02:09 PM            

Please lets us know whether you think (and Like) the OCR version done by chicagosilver and my addition of the photos? If you do and with your permission I was thinking of replacing image pages at the start with the OCR?

posted 08-01-2010 08:09 PM            

Would you please advise if there is an author for this most enchanting book? It appears to be some kind of childrens series & I would love to be able to find it.

Thanking you in advance for any information!

Chicago silver.....Great job!

posted 08-01-2010 10:55 PM            

Jersey the book does not have a date or an author’s name (except the initials J.B. E. at the end), but was published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York and S.W. Partridge and Co in London. The book also has a second story entitled “The Honest Deptford Boy” and I did see one available on the bookfinder search engine.