(1442–1800), was the schoolbook used to teach children to read in early English, and later American, schools. Invented in response to the expense and scarcity of paper, the hornbook consisted of one sheet of vellum or paper pasted to a flat board with a handle, shaped like a table-tennis paddle, and covered over with a thin piece of transparent cow’s horn, giving the appearance of lamination. On the paper was printed the Criss-Cross Row (Christ’s-Cross followed by the alphabet), the Benediction, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Roman numerals. The hornbook ceased being used in the early 1800’s, when paper became less expensive and more easily available. The Benediction written on the Hornbook was:
In the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.24