Soon Margery wished, above all things, to learn to read. She would
borrow books from the school children and sit down and read and read.
Very soon she could read better than any of her playmates.

Margery took such delight in her books that she wished everybody else
could read, too, so she formed this plan of teaching very little
children how to read.

First, she made letters out of bits of wood with her knife. She worked
and worked until there were ten sets of the small letters:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

and six sets of the large letters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

She then made the little tots spell words with her wooden letters. Take
the word "plum-pudding" (and who can think of a better one!); the first
little child picked up the letter p, the next l, the next u, the next m,
and so on, until the whole word was spelled.

If a child took up a wrong letter, he was to pay a fine or play no more.

Each morning, with her basket full of wooden letters, Margery went
around from house to house. The little children learned to read very
fast.

Can you see Margery with her basket of letters in this picture?