In Noah Webster’s 1788 essay advocating for universal education in America, the founding-era lexicographer distinguishes winter as the season most appropriate for schooling. After listing the subjects with which American citizens ought to be acquainted—beginning with ethics and the principles of law—Webster explains that “[t]his acquaintance they might obtain by means of books calculated for schools, and read by the children, during the winter months, and by the circulation of public papers.”
