1861 STUDENT AND SCHOOLMATE. Superb Civil War Periodical for the Young. Extensive War & Slavery Content.

Rather scarce Civil War era periodical. The Student and Schoolmate had initially been two separate periodicals [The Student; The Schoolmate], but joined together in 1858, under the editorship of William T. Adams, i.e. Oliver Optic. The new format provided both practical help for student and teacher in a final section of each month's paper, and fiction and non-fiction narratives, heavily illustrated, for the bulk of it, focusing on history, morality, emerging sciences and exploration, etc., 

The tone of the paper shifted noticeably and immediately in 1861, with regular updates on the Civil War, poems and tales related to soldiers, the nobility of father's leaving their beloved families, on the Union, on slavery, etc., All years rather rare and desirable, but the Civil War years even moreso. 

Contents include: Lines Written by a Mother in Her Son's Bible; A Cradle Song for the Poor; Illustrated Body Declamations for Speech; The Young Giant of the West; Musical Score and Lyrics for Our Father's Land by Oliver Wendell Holmes; The Union by B. P. Shillaber [Urging commitment to the union of America based on the Constitution, the values of Freedom and Liberty, etc.]; Mr. Mardy's Lottery Ticket; Where There's a Will There's a Way. A Peep into Backwoods Ambition by E. L. Meigs; On the Treatment of Animals by E. C. Jackson; The Laborer and the Warrior by Epes Sargent Barbara's Tooth by Gail Hamilton; The Union by John Greenleaf Whittier; Effe's Fairy by H. S. A.; Studying Nature; Or, How Charles Anderson Kept His Eyes and Ears Open by Charles C. Coffin; Speech on Dissolution  by William H. Seward [at outset of the Civil War; extract]; A Real Ghost Story; Willy and the Wicked Fairies by Lizzie True; Extract of a Speech of James Otis before the Revolution [clearly contextualized for the Civil War]; Killing a Walrus [with woodcut]; A Fourth of July on the Prairie by Mrs. E. L. Meigs; Slavery and War by Paul Creton [with excellent woodcut]; The Stars and Stripes by John A. Andrew [abolitionist]; Progress of the War; The Soldier's Boy by Harriet C. Hilton [a narrative meant to help explain to children where their father's had gone and why at the outset of the War]; Poetic Patriotism by Lemuel Porter; The Flag of the Union; Stand by the Union by W. T. Adams; Uncle Sam and His Family; Hail Columbia; Arm for Freedom; Paddies by Gail Hamilton [fascinating tale of discrimination against the Irish in America]; Union War Song; Corss and the Indians by Frances Lee; A Visit to Camp Cameron and the Sixteenth Regiment; The Ragged Soldier - A True Story of the Revolution by Julia Gill; The Battle of Bull run, July 21, 1861 by S. N. D. N. - Twelve Years or Age [a poem]; Our Duty to Our Country by Lieutenant J. H. Treadwell of Col. Northedge's Regiment; In the Arctic Regions; The Polar Expedition; God Save Our Noble Union by H. Clay Preuss; About Bomb Shells; etc.

Adams, William T. [Ed, aka Oliver Optic]. The Student and Schoolmate. Vol. X. January through December, 1861. 456pp. 

A good - copy with early naive rebacking in cloth, boards well worn. Binding a bit stuff, and text handled, but sound and complete.