Hi there, I confirm that Terry, from my early school days in late 1930s - they were used in infants' classes - and I didn't have courage enough before your message to suggest this rather being as it were "waylaid" by another subscriber's confident reference to "mental arithmetic" - which I also remember at a senior school much much later on, which mental arithmetic tests were the very first form/class test lesson of the morning. I bow my head in shame to confess I did not enjoy them very much! Dennis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry Taylor" <trees.taylor@sympatico.ca> To: "Kent-L" <KENT-ENG-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 6:33 PM Subject: Re: [KENT-ENG] "Long Tots" > Hi, > This brings back memories! > > What we were given "Tots" to do at school in the 50s, they were tables of > numbers that were added (i.e. totted up) across rows and down columns. > Obviously since the number in the bottom right cell is the sum of the > bottom > line and the sum of the last column, they should be the same. If they > were > different, you had an error somewhere! > > Terry, Oakville, Ontario > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > KENT-ENG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks to everyone for all the information and taking the time to reply! As luck would have it, some time after I'd asked my question, I read in the same school log book, some months later, that the head teacher had received an "Arnold's Revolving Tots Frame". I tried 'Googling' this, with no success, until today when up popped an ebook, on education in the 1890s, with the two following statements. On what "tots" were:- "Tots. - A footnote to Schedule L in the Code requires the inspector to demand of scholars of the Fourth Standard and upwards the addition of columns of pounds, shillings, and pence within a specified time, in order to show readiness and accuracy. Occasionally a long column of figures may be written in the sight of the scholars, and they may be required to name in quick succession the results of each addition as the inspector or teacher points to the several figures in any order." Then it goes on:- "Arnold's Revolving Tots. - This piece of apparatus consists of a revolving sheet of figures, which can be covered so far as is desired by a revolving curtain. Both sheet and curtain are worked by screws at the top right-hand corner of the frame." The book was, basically, a teacher's guide to the 1890 Education Code and it's requirements, and it was published in 1897 (there were some later editions in the early 1900s). My grandfather, in 1895, as head teacher, must have worked to that code and, probably, that book. Sorry for the long explanation but I couldn't think how to shorten it! Thanks to all once again, John