Reward of merit to Elizabeth Schimss
Attributed to Ruben Kramer
Probably Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1850
Ink and watercolor on heart-shaped cut paper, approximately 7 ½ x 6 3/8 inches, with a period gilt frame
Translation of German inscription: “To Elizabeth Schimss belongs this pretty heart, January the 28th, 1850, and the teacher hopes she will be very well behaved in school and study hard, for the teacher loves children who are well-behaved in school but the ill-behaved he will flog if they do not study hard.”