 | The youth's coronal |  |
170
IDLE JACK.
See mischievous and idle Jack!
How fast he flies, nor dares look back!
He seized Horatio's pretty cart,
And broke and threw it part from part;
The body here, and there the wheels;
And now, by taking to his heels,
He makes the Scripture proverb true,—
The wicked flee when none pursue.
How fast he flies, nor dares look back!
He seized Horatio's pretty cart,
And broke and threw it part from part;
The body here, and there the wheels;
And now, by taking to his heels,
He makes the Scripture proverb true,—
The wicked flee when none pursue.
Oh! Jack's a worthless, wicked boy,
Who seems but evil to enjoy.
He often racks his naughty brain
Inventing ways of giving pain.
He loves to torture butterflies—
To dust the kitten's tender eyes—
To break the cricket's slender limb;
And pain to them is sport to him.
Who seems but evil to enjoy.
He often racks his naughty brain
Inventing ways of giving pain.
171
To dust the kitten's tender eyes—
To break the cricket's slender limb;
And pain to them is sport to him.
He sometimes to your garden comes,
To crush the flowers and steal the plums—
The melons tries with thievish gripe,
To find the one that's nearest ripe—
His pocket fills with grapes or pears,
No matter how their owner fares;
When, by its lawless, robber track,
You trace the foot of idle Jack.
To crush the flowers and steal the plums—
The melons tries with thievish gripe,
To find the one that's nearest ripe—
His pocket fills with grapes or pears,
No matter how their owner fares;
When, by its lawless, robber track,
You trace the foot of idle Jack.
Whenever Jack is sent to school,
He, playing truant, plays the fool:
Or else he goes, with sloven looks
And hands unclean, to spoil the books—
To spill the ink, or make a noise,
Disturbing good and studious boys;
Till all who find what Jack's about
Within the school, must wish him out.
He, playing truant, plays the fool:
Or else he goes, with sloven looks
And hands unclean, to spoil the books—
To spill the ink, or make a noise,
Disturbing good and studious boys;
Till all who find what Jack's about
Within the school, must wish him out.
172
If ever Jack at church appears,
He knows not, cares not, what he hears.
While others to the word attend,
He has a pencil-point to mend—
An apple, or his nails to pare,
Or cracks a nut in time of prayer,
Till many wish that Jack would come,
A better boy, or stay at home.
He knows not, cares not, what he hears.
While others to the word attend,
He has a pencil-point to mend—
An apple, or his nails to pare,
Or cracks a nut in time of prayer,
Till many wish that Jack would come,
A better boy, or stay at home.
In short, he shows, beyond a doubt,
That, if he does not turn about,
And mend his morals and his ways,
He yet must come to evil days;
And of a life of wasted time—
Of idleness, and vice, and crime,
To meet, perhaps, a felon's end,
With neither man, nor God his friend.
That, if he does not turn about,
And mend his morals and his ways,
He yet must come to evil days;
And of a life of wasted time—
Of idleness, and vice, and crime,
To meet, perhaps, a felon's end,
With neither man, nor God his friend.
| The youth's coronal | |