FRONTISPIECE. See Page 16. THE CARELESS I^ITTI^E BOY. ORNAMENTED WITH CUTS. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND SON, 65, Paternoster-Row ; AND AT WELLINGTON, SALOP. 1832. [Entered at Stationers' Hull.] THE CARELESS BOY. HORACE and William lived at home with their kind papa and mamma. William was a very good hoy; but Horace had one very sad fault — he did not do as he was bid the mo- ment he was told, and when his papa and mamma desired him not to do any thing, he did not leave off doing it a THE CARELESS BOY immediately, but they were obliged to speak to him again, sometimes two or three times, before he paid any attention. He had oft- en been told of tins fault, and had often promised to leave it off, but still he for- got from day to day his purposes of amendment. One morning his mamma called him to her, and she said to him, " Horace, I am going to-morrow to see your grandpapa, and if you would be a good boy, 1 should verv much like to take you with me as well as your THE CARELESS BOY. 9 brother William : but I am afraid that you will not do as I bid you, and then your grandpapa will be very much displeased with you, and perhaps will never let you come to his house again." Little Horace promised that he would be a very good boy: so his mamma said that she would take him. . The next morning the carriage was ordered; and when it drove to the door, William, and Horace, and their mamma, got into it. The door was shut, and the 10 THE CARELESS BOY. horses went quickly away; and in a few hours they got within view of their grand- papa's house. It was a very large old house, with an ave- nue of chesnut trees leading to it, and it stood in a park filled with pretty deer. The old gentleman was THE CARELESS BOY. 11 verv glad to see his daughter and her little boys, and Wil- liam and Horace both be- haved very well. That even- ing they were very much pleased with walking up and down the long rooms, when they were lighted up, and looking at the pictures and the old tapestry. At night, when they went to bed, the old gentleman said to them, " You must be up in good time, my little men; for, if the morning is fine, we are going to-morrow to see some sights which will please you verv much." 12 THE CARELESS BOY. William an4 Horace were up very early; and before breakfast was ready they went to walk in the avenue. The grass was crimp and white with the hoar frost, for it was autumn, and the sun, which was breaking through a mist, did not yet THE CARELESS BOY. 13 oive warmth enough to thaw the ground. On one side of the avenue, but almost hid by the trees, was a high wall; and the children did not know what was on the other side of it. Now, as they were run- ning about from one place to another, Horace picked up a white stone. " Look," said he to William, " what a pretty stone this is!" " So it is," answered Wil- liam. After looking at it for some time, Horace benran to toss it up and down like 14 THE CARELESS BOY a ball, and from doing that he proceeded to tossing it forward a little way, and then he ran after it and picked it up again: and by degrees he £Ot to throwing it up into the trees and catching it again. " If I was you," said Wil- liam, " I would throw that stone quite away." " Whv so?" asked Ho- race. " Because we have been forbidden to throw stories; and the last time, you know, that we threw any, papa and mamma said that if we ever THE CARELESS BOY, 15 did it again, we should be punished." "Well," answered Horace, " I will put it away in a mi- nute: I will only sfive one more toss." " But, dear Horace, that one toss will be naughty*" Horace did not mind what William said, but threw the stone once more; and lie threw it hiirher than he in- tended, and it went over the wall. "Well," said he, "it is gone now; so I cannot throw it any more." The little boys thought no more of the stone, for just 10 THE CARELESS BOY. then a servant came to teli them that breakfast was rea- dy. Thev ran in, and found their mamma making tea. All the other ladies and gen- tlemen that were in the house were come down; bnt their grandpapa was not there. William and Horace beuan their breakfast, as their mamma desired them. Almost every body had breakfasted when the old gen- tleman came in. He held his handkerchief to his face, and appeared as if something dis- turbed him. 44 I am sorry," THE CARELESS BOY. 17 lie said, " to be so late; but I have met with a little acci- dent. I went into my hot- house this morning- to give some orders before breakfast, and while I was speaking to my gardener, a stone fell upon the glass over my head and broke it. Happily, I only received a slight blow on the forehead ; but I might have been killed. Some of the school-boys, I fear, have been throwing stones in their way to school; but I shall keep the stone, and make en- quiries about it." The old gentleman now 18 THE CARELESS BOY. sat down to breakfast; and the company were so busy in talking to him, that they did not take any notice of Horace, whose face had turn- ed quite red. Breakfast was soon over; and as the old gentleman seemed enough recovered from his fright to set out upon their little journey, the carriages were ordered. " Come, William, come, Ho- race," said their mamma, " are you ready ? " " Mamma," said Horace, as all the party were met to- gether in the hall, and the THE CARELESS BOY. 19 horses and carriages were driving about, " mamma, may I just go into grandpa- pa's study, and speak to him jefore he goes ? " His mamma gave him leave; and Horace went to his grandpapa's study and knocked at his door. 2Q THE CARELESS BOY. His grandpapa opened the door, and found little Horace there. " Grandpapa," said Ho- race, " will von let me see the stone which was thrown at vou this morninir?" His grandpapa shewed it to him, and Horace knew that it was the white stone which he had picked up. Then he said, " Oh, grand- papa! 1 threw the stone, and I broke the window, and I cut your face! Oh, grand- papa! I have been a naugh- ty little boy; I must not go with you, for mamma said, THE CARELESS BOY. 2L when 1 threw stones again, I should be punished." Horace's grandpapa knew that he had often thrown stones before. He thought it was right therefore that he should be punished: yet he felt pleased that Horace had not concealed from him how naughty he had been: and he told him so, which was a comfort to the poor child, when he saw all the horses and carriages go away with- out him. When every body was gone, Horace went to walk ill the park by himself. And 22 THE CARELESS BOY. first he went up a little hill, from which he might see the road. Upon the top of this hill there was a clump of fir trees. Here he stood for a long time, watching the carnages on the road a great way off, till at last he saw them no more: and then, being very sad, and not disposed to run about, he sat down upon a rough stone under a fir tree. The sun shone warn) for the time of year, but the wind swept gently along the tops of the fir trees. The fern grew high about him; and below the lull the deer were feed- THE CARELESS BOY. 23 ing quietly. No sound of living creatures was to be heard but a cock crowing at a distance, and sometimes the flapping of the par- tridge's wing, as she got up out of the fern. Many sad thoughts passed in the mind of little Horace. "Ah!" said he to himself, " if I had not been so silly as to throw that stone, 1 should now have been with mamma and William, and I should not have hurt poor grandpapa." Then he re- membered that, if lie had attended to what his brother 24 THE CARELESS BOY. had said to him, he would not have thrown the stone: and he remembered too how often he had neglected to mind what his papa and mamma said to him, and he felt very sad to think what a naughty little boy he had been. " William is not such a naughty boy as I am," said he to himself; " but William loves to read his Bible and pray: while I am asleep, William gets up, and he does not say his prayers in a hurry, as I do; and so he is a better boy than I am." Then Horace felt more sad THE CARELESS BOY. 25 than he had done before. At last, a pleasant verse came into his mind, which his mamma had taught him — Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; and he said, " Jesus Christ died on the cross for me, and he will help me too, as well as brother William, to be good."' So he knelt down amidst the fern, and he prayed God for his Saviour's sake to forgive all his past sins, and to help him to be a good boy, and to obey his papa and mam- ma. * \ , Poor little Horace got up 2G THE CARELESS BOY. from his knees, and felt very much comforted; and just that minute he heard some- body calling, u Horace, Ho- race," and in a minute Wil- liam came running' towards him. At first he was too much out of breath to speak : at last he said, 64 O, brother! THE CARELESS BOY. 27 I am grlad to find you here, for it has saved niv running all the way to the house. 1 have got leave of mamma and grandpapa for you to come to us; and they are stop- ping to look at the school near the park-gate; and I have got leave to come and 28 THR CARELESS BOY. fetcli you. So make haste, dear brother, and come: we shall not be back till it is quite dark, and we are to have a very pleasant day." " Thank, thank you, Wil- liam," answered Horace; " and I hope I shall never be so naughty a little boy again, and vex papa, and mamma, and grandpapa, but learn to do as I am bid that very moment. You shall teach me to pray, and read my Bible, William." " We love to play toge- ther," answered William, " and we will love to read THE CARELESS BOY. 29 together, and to say our prayers together; and then how happy we shall be! But now, brother Horace, away ! " So off they ran, and bounded away as fast as any of the deer in the park. i N.