Raggedy Ann's Alphabet Book/The Alphabet

The alphabet has twenty-six letters in it.

This does not seem so very many when we consider how much we can do with the letters by placing them together.

Whenever we speak to each other, or whenever we read or write to each other, we ​place letters together which mean just what we wish the other person to understand. For, each little letter means a certain sound, so, when mother reads to you, she has put all the different sounds of the letters in each printed word together and pronounced them aloud.

When a person does not know how to put the letters of the alphabet together to form words, they are just like someone inside a room who never looks beyond the walls of the room. They never know what is going on outside their own little life; for, if they cannot read, they cannot understand what the letters mean when put into word forms and miss the lovely and beautiful thoughts wiser people write for our entertainment and improvement.

​When children go to school, the teacher tells them the name and sound of each little letter. She teaches them how to put the letters together to make different words. The easiest words come first, then the harder words until finally, when the child has studied enough, any written or printed word can be read as easily as the word can be spoken.

Then, the child can open a book and enjoy the wonderful stories the author has wished to give to the world. It is just like having a large box filled with wonderful surprises, but not having a key to open the box.

The alphabet is just like the key to the wonder box, for, when we can understand what the letters of the alphabet mean, we can open the book and read all the fairy tales, ​stories of adventure and beautiful thoughts the book contains. So, the sooner we learn to read, the sooner we can enjoy the contents of our “wonder box” books.