When Rufus was a little boy he behaved well, obeyed his parents, and was
kind to his sister. He used to go to school and to Sunday School with her,
and they studied their lessons together; but as he grew older he began to
get acquainted with bad boys, and preferred playing with them in the
street to playing with Maria at home. He is now a big boy, has learned to
fight, and thinks it manly to smoke a cigar and to swear. His father and
mother have taken a great deal of pains to induce him to break off his
evil habits, but if he follows his present course, he will become a bad
and miserable man, and be likely to come to an untimely end by accident or
the punishment of crime.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]