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CHARLES DURAN:
OR,
THE CAREER OF A BAD BOY.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE WALDOS."
[Illustration: CHARLES ON HIS DEATH BED.--SEE PAGE 52.]
New-York:
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER,
SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 200 MULBERRY-STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
LANE & SCOTT,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern
District of New-York.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I
THE HOMESTEAD.
The house--Court-yards--Garden--The well--"Oaken bucket"--The
fields--Flocks--River--Fish--Forest--Church
CHAPTER II.
THE BIRTH OF CHARLES.
Effects on the parents--The Joneses--Parental expectations--An instance
of disappointment--Ann's prophecy
CHAPTER III.
HIS EARLY TRAINING.
Opinions--The Durans indulgent--The sulks--They produce blindness--"I
will"--"I won't"--Faults of parents
CHAPTER IV.
CHARLES DURAN AT SCHOOL.
Good children at home are good in school--Conduct--Inattention to
studies--Unkind to his school-mates--Samuel Howard--Helen Fay--John and
Louisa--Severe whipping--Mr. Spicer--Charles expelled from school
CHAPTER V.
CHARLES'S HABITS.
Good habits--Proverbs of the Rabbins--Charles not
improved--Idleness--Fishing and hunting--No idle boy can be
good--Shooting--Roughness of manners--One vice is followed by
another--Lying--Sabbath-breaking--Intemperance--A standard of wickedness
CHAPTER VI.
THE FATAL NIGHT.
Village balls--Description--Culpability of parents--Demand for
money--Fit--House stoned--Windows broken in--Mr. Duran with the
bag--Charles's wrath appeased--The ball--Charles intoxicated--Falls to
the floor--Brought home speechless--Laid upon his death-bed
CHAPTER VII
SICKNESS AND DEATH.
Sufferings from the debauch--Crisis--Favorable change--Hopes of recovery
cut off--Consumption--Contrivance to change his position--State of
mind--The minister visits him--No evidence of penitence--The dying scene
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONCLUSION.
The way of transgressors hard--Disobedience to parents a fearful
sin--Parental restraint--Pleasures of parental approbation--Disobedience
in scholars--Reflections--Sporting habits in children not to be
encouraged--Importance of early religious training--History of young
Duran a warning to Sabbath-breakers, &c.--Beware of the first sin--The
End
CHARLES DURAN.
CHAPTER I.
THE DURAN HOMESTEAD.
Before giving the history of Charles Duran's birth, life, and early
death, I will partially describe his father's residence. It was situated
in the town of ----, in the State of Connecticut, and about six miles
from the west bank of the beautiful Connecticut river. The house stood
on a level road, running north and south, and was about one mile from
the centre of the town.
Mr. Duran's house was large and commodious. It was built of wood, two
stories high, and painted a deep yellow. In the front was a fine
court-yard. In this yard were lilacs of a large growth, roses of various
kinds, and flowering almonds. These shrubs blossomed early in the
spring, and sent forth their fragrance to perfume the air.
On the south was a rich and well-cultivated garden, producing an
abundance of vegetables, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. The
borders of the main alley were decked with pionies, pinks, and
sweet-williams.
Between the garden and the house was the well. A long sweep, resting on
the top of a high post, with a pole fastened to the upper end, was the
rude contrivance for drawing water. To the lower end of the pole was
attached a bucket. How many of New-England's sons remember with delight
the "old oaken bucket that hung in the well!"
On the north side of the house was a small orchard. In the rear were the
barn, sheds, crib, and other out-buildings.
The grounds in the immediate neighborhood were level or slightly
undulated. On the north and east were beautiful meadows. On the south
and west were excellent tillage and pasture lands. The season that I
spent there was one of nature's bountifulness. The tall herd's-grass,
the rustling corn, and the whitened grain waved in the summer's breeze,
and bespoke the plenty that followed the toil and industry of the
husbandman. The herds were feeding in the fields. The innocent lambs,
free from care, were leaping and frisking about--some in the sun and
some in the shade--while their more sober dames were either grazing, or
quietly masticating the food they had previously collected.
Half encircling these premises was a fine stream of water, varying from
three to seven yards in width. It was supplied with dace, trout, roach,
and perch. Its plaintive, monotonous murmur sometimes impressed the mind
with sadness. This was soon dispelled, however, by the twittering, the
glee, and the sweet notes of the birds, that hopped from spray to spray,
or quietly perched themselves on the overhanging branches.
Some little distance to the northwest of Mr. Duran's house was a forest
of thrifty growth, covered with a varied and beautiful foliage. Its
shady bowers and pleasant walks made it a delightful place of
resort,--especially toward the time of sunsetting. Nature seemed to lend
to it then peculiar charms.
In the centre of the town stood the old church, antiquated in its
appearance, but venerable and holy in its associations. In that
old-fashioned church have been settled three successive ministers of the
gospel. In those high-backed, square pews were other generations wont to
sit. Those pastors and their flocks now sleep in the grave. Their sons
occupy their places in the sanctuary, and another herald of the cross
proclaims to them the word of life. It was in this pleasant place, which
I have briefly described, that Charles Duran was born.