Below are
photographs of the books, "The Life of Rufus Putnam" (1886) and "Wagons
Away! a social studies primer," (1941)
Many years ago, before I realized the value of
books, my grandmother, Florence Burlingame Taylor,handed me
these irreplaceable volumes, thinking that I would treasure and
protect them as she had done.
The Mary Cone book was already old (published in 1883)
when Gramma gave it to me and it was only by some divine
providence that I was able to hold on to all the books through the
fifteen or so moves I made in forty total years of marriage.
A few years ago "The Life of Rufus Putnam" was so near
complete disintegration that the only way to save it was to have each
page enclosed in plastic. The pages had become so brittle that
they would fairly fall apart when handled.
There is also a clipping here that Gramma
Taylor taped in the front of one of the Phillips "Wagons Away!"
books. The newspaper clipping is from the Marietta Times, June 18,
1954, on the 250th anniversary of Sutton, Mass.
Fortunately, I still have two copies of
"Wagons Away!" and, of course the Rufus Putnam book, and it will
be up to the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of
Florence Taylor who will inherit them all.
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