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Article THE FIRST OFFENCE. ← Page 3 of 13 →
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The First Offence.
alarming future which was to be the result of the shameful way in which they brought up their children . Mrs . Osborne was a clever woman , certainly more so than Mrs . Wilmot , and an immense upholder of education . She had a number of poor children closeted with her between the services on Sundaywhose little heads she endeavoured to fill with
, what she termed a thorough knowledge of scripture history , and while she , with a large map , was showing them the passage of the Israelites , they were giving stealthy glances out of window , watching the , to them more interesting , passage of some butterfly , whose joyous liberty they so envied . The same course she pursued with her own childrenfor
, ever educating their minds and forgetting how necessary it was that their hearts should be educated likewise ; shocked at and for ever deploring the neglected education of Mabel Wilmot , who , without a governess , and without anything like a school-book , had learnt on her grandfather ' s knee to
be gentle and forgiving , to love and reverence the Great Being who had made the bright world , and the flowers and birds ; and how that above the clear sky those who loved its Maker truly would one day find an eternal rest , in a world more beautiful than he could picture to her , or she imagine . Freddy Osborne , after his paltry revenge on his poor
little playmate , ran home , and going to his study , prepared a Latin exercise very carefully , and took it to his mother to correct . It was very well done , and she told him so ; and then asked him what he had been doing next door . Among Freddy ' s good qualities , for he had many , was truthfulness , which , properly understood , would have grown into a fine
principle , but , missing this well-directed management , it seemed now more the effect of fearlessness of consequences than an honest abhorrence of subterfuge and that right moral courage which at all risks speaks the truth , so he replied to his mother ' s query by saying , he had been playing with Mabel , and she had been tiresome , so , in a passion , he had broken her doll with a brickbat .
" Oh I tiresome , no wonder ; it is not the poor child ' s fault , she has been so spoilt . You can never be sufficiently grateful , Fred , to your father and myself that we don't spoil you . You are not tiresome and fretful because your mind is occupied , and play becomes a relaxation instead of wearying you from being so incessant—Mabel does nothing but play . Now go and get your French history , and read to me while I work . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The First Offence.
alarming future which was to be the result of the shameful way in which they brought up their children . Mrs . Osborne was a clever woman , certainly more so than Mrs . Wilmot , and an immense upholder of education . She had a number of poor children closeted with her between the services on Sundaywhose little heads she endeavoured to fill with
, what she termed a thorough knowledge of scripture history , and while she , with a large map , was showing them the passage of the Israelites , they were giving stealthy glances out of window , watching the , to them more interesting , passage of some butterfly , whose joyous liberty they so envied . The same course she pursued with her own childrenfor
, ever educating their minds and forgetting how necessary it was that their hearts should be educated likewise ; shocked at and for ever deploring the neglected education of Mabel Wilmot , who , without a governess , and without anything like a school-book , had learnt on her grandfather ' s knee to
be gentle and forgiving , to love and reverence the Great Being who had made the bright world , and the flowers and birds ; and how that above the clear sky those who loved its Maker truly would one day find an eternal rest , in a world more beautiful than he could picture to her , or she imagine . Freddy Osborne , after his paltry revenge on his poor
little playmate , ran home , and going to his study , prepared a Latin exercise very carefully , and took it to his mother to correct . It was very well done , and she told him so ; and then asked him what he had been doing next door . Among Freddy ' s good qualities , for he had many , was truthfulness , which , properly understood , would have grown into a fine
principle , but , missing this well-directed management , it seemed now more the effect of fearlessness of consequences than an honest abhorrence of subterfuge and that right moral courage which at all risks speaks the truth , so he replied to his mother ' s query by saying , he had been playing with Mabel , and she had been tiresome , so , in a passion , he had broken her doll with a brickbat .
" Oh I tiresome , no wonder ; it is not the poor child ' s fault , she has been so spoilt . You can never be sufficiently grateful , Fred , to your father and myself that we don't spoil you . You are not tiresome and fretful because your mind is occupied , and play becomes a relaxation instead of wearying you from being so incessant—Mabel does nothing but play . Now go and get your French history , and read to me while I work . "