Proud and Lazy Part 5

"He wasn't very bad this morning," said the doctor, who did not know what to make of it.

"He was real sick then, and I knew he was. It was too bad to make him go to school," added the fond mother.

"But I didn't make him go to school," replied Dr. Woggs. "I was only going to give him some medicine to make him better."

The cigar had done its work; and it operated upon him just as that nasty yellow powder would if he had taken it.

"What's this?" said the doctor, after the contents of Tommy's stomach had been thrown up. "What have you been doing, Tommy?"

"Nothing, father," replied Tommy, faintly.

"You have been smoking. You smell as strong of tobacco smoke as a bar-room loafer."

"Smoking!" exclaimed Mrs. Woggs, with horror.

"Have you been smoking, Tommy?" asked his father sternly.

The poor sufferer felt so bad, he had no courage to tell a lie, and he was obliged to own that he had been smoking.

When he felt a little better, his father questioned him so closely, that in spite of his promise, Tommy had to say he had "hooked jack"

that forenoon, and that he had been in the woods with Joe and Ben, where each of them had smoked a cigar.

Dr. Woggs went to the school that afternoon, and told Miss Dale all about it; and then to the parents of Joe and Ben, and told them all about it. The truants were all punished; and as the schoolmistress promised to send word to their homes when either of them was absent again, they had no chance to "hook jack"

afterwards.

Tommy was as well as ever the next day; but that red eye became a black eye, and the children laughed at him for a week.

He thought how much trouble he had caused himself by being proud and lazy, and he resolved to be a better boy. He did very well for some time; he went to school without complaining, and didn't talk big; but he was not entirely cured.

It often takes a great while to get rid of bad habits; but we should banish them, even if it takes a whole lifetime to do so.

CARELESS KATE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: She tried to look as if nothing had happened.--Page 83.]

CARELESS KATE.

I.

"Kate!" said Mrs. Lamb to her daughter, who was playing in the garden, in front of the house.

"What do you want, mother?" replied the little girl, without even lifting her eyes from the ground, in which she was planting a marigold.

I don't think any of my young readers regard this as a proper answer for a little girl to make to her mother; and I hope none of them ever speak to their parents in this manner.

"Come into the house. I want you," added her mother.

But Kate did not go till she got ready. She was not in the habit of minding her mother at once, and without asking any improper questions, as all good children do, or ought to do, at least.

When she stepped out of the bed of flowers, in which she had been at work, instead of looking to see where she put her feet, she kept her eyes fixed on the place where she had just planted the marigold.

"Look before you leap" is a good motto for everybody--for children, as well as for men and women. If Kate had thought of it, perhaps she would have saved herself and her mother a great deal of trouble.

She did not mind where she stepped, and put her foot upon a beautiful, sweet-scented peony, which had just come out of the ground. She broke the stem short off, and crushed the root all in pieces.

Now, this flower was very highly prized by Mrs. Lamb, for she had brought it from a great distance, and it was the only one of the kind in Riverdale at that time.

Kate was very fond of flowers herself, and when she saw the mischief she had done, she cried with anger and vexation. She would not have spoiled this peony for a great deal, for she had looked forward with much pleasure to the time when it should bud and blossom, and fill the garden with its fragrance.

"What is the matter with you, Kate?" called her mother, from the house, when she heard Kate crying.

"I did not mean to do it, mother," sobbed the poor girl.

"Didn't mean to do what, Kate?" said her mother, rus.h.i.+ng into the garden to find out what mischief had been done.

Mrs. Lamb was very angry when she saw that the peony was spoiled; and she took Kate by the arm, and shook her. I don't think this shaking did any good; but it was a great trial to her to see her favorite flower destroyed.

"You careless girl!" said Mrs. Lamb.

"I didn't mean to, mother," replied Kate.

"But you were careless, as you always are. Will you never learn to be careful? You walk about the flower beds as though they were solid rocks."

"I did not mean to tread upon it," was all that poor Kate could say.

It was very true that she did not mean to spoil the peony; but it was almost as bad to ruin it by being careless. Children ought to understand that not meaning to do wrong is not a good excuse, when the wrong might have been prevented by being careful.

Suppose the captain of a s.h.i.+p should run his vessel on the rocks, and lose a dozen lives, by being careless; do you think people would be willing to trust him with another vessel afterwards?

Suppose the engineer should neglect to keep watch of the boiler, and it should burst; would not people blame him? Would they think it a good excuse if he said he did not mean to let it burst?

If the man who has the keeping of a powder house should smoke a pipe in it, and twenty persons should be killed by his carelessness, do you think it would be enough for him to say he did not intend to kill them?

When we go on the water in a sailing vessel or a steamer; when we ride on a railroad, in a stage, or wagon, our lives depend on the carefulness with which the vessel, railroad, or carriage is managed. People don't excuse them, when lives are lost, because they did not mean to kill anybody.

You are liable to lose your life every day by the carelessness of some one. The house in which you are to sleep on a cold winter's night may be burned down by the neglect of those who take care of the fires.

The careless use of a lamp might destroy many lives and much property. If you play with fire, though you do not mean any harm, you may burn the house in which you live, and perhaps destroy the lives of your friends.

A little carelessness may produce dreadful results. The want of thought for a few moments may do more mischief than you can repair in a whole lifetime.