“Addy’s striped satchel holds everything you’ll need to help her practice the “three Rs”—reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic! Her Union Reader is a miniature version of a real school-book used in Northern schools in the 1860s. If you have good eyes, you can really ready it! Addy learned to write with a slate pencil and a big double slate. The yarn binding around the edges of the slate keeps it from scraping against her desktop and disturbing her desk partner. Addy used a wood abacus, or “numeral frame,” to learn arithmetic. Slide the little beads back and forth to help her add and subtract.” (Pleasant Company Catalogue, Holiday 1993)