3V1234.02 Peggy’s Reception of Card-words (6/9/81)

After setting up the world subsystem with last minute perfections, I went off to the dentist, leaving four sets of cards stacked separately near the computer with the WORLD word leaning against the front of it. I left with the WORLD display set up, with a HOUSE in place and a JET ZOOMing across the sky.

When I returned later (having left everyone asleep except Gretchen), Peggy came to greet me and asked excitedly that I come see her new world. She showed me a world cleared of “my” objects with a SUN (which she described as “peeking” [it appeared at the bottom of the screen and was less than half visible]. The words WORLD, SUN, and UP had been typed (the latter five or more times). Who did it ? PEGGY. Who showed her how ? NO ONE. Who suggested it ? NO ONE. The WORLD card was still leaning against the front of the computer. SUN topped one stack on the back of it and UP topped another at its side.

As Peggy played with her WORLD later in the day, it was clear that she had become quite comfortable in copying letters from left to right (and could do so with no errors)/ I heard her several times say (for a sequence of all the letters in a card word) “it tells me (optional letter name)” as she touched the first letter on the card and then the letter on the keyboard.

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