There is a certain street in a certain town (no matter for its name) in
which there are two handsome houses of equal size. The owners of these
houses have each six children, and the neighbours have named one the BAD
FAMILY, and the other the GOOD FAMILY.
In the Bad Family there are three boys and three girls; and the
servants, who are always much teased and vexed when they live where
there are naughty children, speak of them thus:--the eldest they call
FIGHTING HARRY, the second GREEDY GEORGE, and the youngest IDLE
RICHARD; the eldest girl is nicknamed CARELESS FANNY, the next LYING
LUCY, and the youngest SELFISH SARAH.
MASTER HENRY indeed well deserves his title, for he thinks it a mighty
fine thing to be a great boxer, and takes great pride and pleasure in
having a black eye or a bloody nose. This does not proceed from courage;
no, no: courage never seeks quarrels, and is only active to repel
insult, protect the injured, and conquer danger; but Harry would be one
of the first to fly from real danger, or to leave the helpless to shift
for themselves. He knows that he is very strong, and that few boys of
his age can match him, so he picks quarrels on purpose to fight, because
his great strength and his constant practice make him almost sure to
conquer. All his schoolfellows hate him, for such a boy can neither
have a good temper, a good heart, nor good manners. It is a pity he
should be sent to school, for learning is thrown away upon him; he will
be fit only to live with men that sweep the streets or drive carts and
waggons, for with such coarse and vulgar habits, gentlemen will not
endure him in their company.
GEORGE, the second boy, is always thinking of eating and drinking. He
follows the cook from place to place to know what nice things she has
got in her pantry. When there is any dainty on the dinner-table, his
greedy eyes are fixed on it from the moment he sits down till he is
helped, and then he grudges every morsel that any one else puts in his
mouth. In his eagerness to get more than his proper share, he crams
great pieces into his mouth until he is almost choked and the tears are
forced from his eyes. He will get slily into the store-room and steal
honey, sugar, or raisins; and in the pantry he picks the edges of the
tarts and pies, and does a number of other mean tricks. When there is
company at dinner, he watches the parlour-door till they leave it, and
before the servants have time to clear the table, he sips up all the
drops of wine that are left in the glasses, and will even eat the
parings of apples and pears that lie on the dessert plates. If he has
an orange or a cake, he runs into some dirty hole to eat it, for fear
his brothers and sisters should ask for a piece. If he has any money
given him, he spends it all at once, and crams and eats till he can
scarcely move.
This greedy boy is always watched and suspected. No one will trust him
in a garden, for he would eat till he made himself sick, or tear down
the branches of the trees to get at the fruit. Nor can he be allowed to
pay any visits, for the manners of a glutton give great offence to all
well-bred people. He has a sallow, ugly look, and is always peeping and
prying about, like a beast watching for its prey.
IDLE RICHARD, the third son of the Bad Family, is a great dunce. Yet he
is very capable of learning well, if he chose to take the trouble, but
he is fond of idleness and of nothing else. In the morning when he is
called, though he knows it is time to get up, he will lie still, and
after he has been called again and again, he is never ready in time for
breakfast. At his meals he lolls upon the table, or against the back of
his chair, and is just as slow and drawling in his manner of eating as
in his learning. When he is sent to school, instead of looking at his
book, he is gazing all round the room, or cutting bits of stick with his
knife; sometimes he lays his head down on the desk and falls asleep, and
then pretends to have the headache to excuse his idleness. His master is
obliged often to punish him, and then for an hour or two he will learn
very well, but next day he gets back to all his idle tricks, and does
nothing; so that he is far below many boys that are much younger than
himself. When other children go to play, he sits still or lies down
upon the ground; he can take no pleasure, for he hates the trouble of
moving, and there he sits yawning and pining for want of something to
do. When he walks, he drags his feet along as if they were too heavy to
lift up. His clothes are always dirty, for he will not brush them; his
eyes are dull and heavy; he looks like a clown and speaks like a
blockhead. Idle Richard is a burthen to himself, and scorned by
everybody.
MISS FANNY has got the title of Careless, because she minds no one thing
that she ought. If she goes out to walk, she is sure to lose one of her
gloves, or lets her bonnet blow off into the mud, or steps into the
middle of some filthy puddle, because she is staring about and not
minding which way she goes. At home, when she should go to work, her
needle-book, or her thimble, or her scissors cannot be found; though
she has a work-basket to put these things in, they are never in the
right place.
At dinner she does not observe how her plate stands on the table, and
perhaps her meat and all the gravy tumble into her lap. If she has a
glass of wine, she spills it on her frock; if she hands a plate of bread
and butter to any one, she is sure either to drop the plate, or to
let the bread and butter fall upon the carpet. She wears very coarse
clothes, for she cannot be trusted with good ones. At night when she
undresses to go to bed, she throws her frock on a chair or the ground,
instead of folding it neatly up, so that it is tumbled and not fit to
put on the next morning. If she writes, she throws the ink about her
clothes; if she tears a hole in her frock, she does not take a needle
and thread to mend it directly, but pins it up; then perhaps the pin
pricks her half a dozen times in an hour, and tears three or four more
holes in the frock. If she has a book lent to her, she will let it fall
in the dirt, or drop the grease of the candle upon the leaves. She is
always a slattern and always dirty; she is a disgrace to herself and a
burthen to her friends.
What a shocking name the next is--LYING LUCY! It is dreadful to think
that any one should deserve to be so called, but this wicked little girl
deserves it, for she has no sense of honour, and seldom speaks the
truth. Even when she does say what is true, on account of her having
told falsehoods so long, people know not how to believe her, for who can
depend upon the word of a LIAR? If she would forbear for a whole month
to tell a lie, there would be hopes of her amendment, and then her word
might be taken. But till she leaves off this shameful practice, she must
expect to be shunned and pointed at with scorn wherever she goes.
SELFISH SARAH loves no one but herself, and no one loves her. She will
not let her brothers or sisters or any other child play with her toys,
even if she is not using them. She hoards up her playthings, and cannot
amuse herself with them, for fear another should touch them. If she has
more sweet cake or fruit than she can eat, she puts it by, and lets it
spoil and get mouldy rather than give it away; or if she sees a poor
child begging in the streets, without shoes, stockings, or clothes to
cover him, she will not part with a halfpenny to buy him a bit of
bread, though she is told that he is starving with hunger. She never
assists any one, nor is ever thankful or grateful for what is done for
her. She covets everything she sees, yet takes no real pleasure in
anything.
The parents of these odious children never look happy, nor enjoy
comfort. The brothers and sisters never meet but to quarrel, so that the
house is always in an uproar. All abuse each other's vices, yet take no
pains to cure their own faults. The servants hate them, the neighbours
despise them, and the house is shunned as though it had some dreadful
distemper within. They live without friends; for no prudent persons will
suffer their children to visit where they can learn nothing but
wickedness and ill manners.