Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories.

by Elizabeth Turner.

Introduction

The sixty-nine Cautionary Stories that follow have been chosen from five books by Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, written for the pleasure and instruction of our little grandparents and great-grandparents. The books are _The Daisy_, _The Cowslip_, _The Crocus_, _The Pink_ and _Short Poems_.

Between the years 1810 and 1850 they were on the shelves of most nurseries, although now they are rarely to be met with. There was also _The Rose_, but from that nothing has been taken for these pages, nor are the original pictures again offered. Except for these pictures, a frequent change of t.i.tle, and a few trifling alterations for grammar's sake, the pieces selected are now printed exactly as at first.

Mrs. Turner's belief, as stated by Master Robert in the verses called "Books better than Toys" in _The Pink_, was that the children of her day, when they had money to spend and wanted a real treat, could not choose anything more suitable than her Cautionary Stories. The piece runs:

'My dear, as Robert is so good, I'll give him what I said I would, Two shillings for himself to spend; He knows the shop of our good friend.'

'Yes, I know well the pretty shop Where folks, you know, so often stop To view the prints. The windows--look!-- Are filled with toys and many a book.

'They have a thousand books and toys For little girls and little boys; At toys, indeed, I love to _look_, But I prefer to _buy_ a book.

'These two bright shillings, I suppose Will buy _The Cowslip_ and _The Rose_; And when two more I get, I think I'll buy _The Daisy_ and _The Pink_.'

In our own time Robert's opinion is not very widely shared: most of us would not care to give up a cannon or a doll in order that we might be cautioned; but Mrs. Turner is not the less an entertaining author because her volumes have fewer attractions for us than some of the things in a Christmas bazaar. She told her tales with such spirit: her verses are so straightforward, the rhymes come so pat at the end of the lines, and you may beat time with your foot and never be put out.

In another piece, "Kitty's Favourites," Mrs. Turner wrote:

The stories Kitty likes so well, And often asks her aunt to tell Are all about good girls and boys.

Kitty's taste, like Robert's, is no longer general. The common view is that stories about bad children are more fun; and therefore I think you will be amused by these pages. Whether or not punishment always did follow the offences as surely and swiftly as Mrs. Turner declares, I am not prepared to say. If you are in any doubt you had better ask your parents.

E. V. LUCAS.

_November 1897._

Bad Boys and Good

THE WINDOW-BREAKER

Little Tom Jones Would often throw stones, And often he had a good warning; And now I will tell What Tommy befell, From his rudeness, one fine summer's morning.

He was taking the air Upon Trinity Square, And, as usual, large stones he was jerking; Till at length a hard cinder Went plump through a window Where a party of ladies were working.

Tom's aunt, when in town, Had left half a crown For her nephew (her name was Miss Frazier), Which he thought to have spent, But now it all went (And it served him quite right) to the glazier.

_Note._--The foregoing story is stated to be "founded on fact."

A GUNPOWDER PLOT

"I have got a sad story to tell,"

Said Betty one day to mamma: "'Twill be long, ma'am, before John is well, On his eye is so dreadful a scar.

"Master Wilful enticed him away, To join with some more little boys; They went in the garden to play, And I soon heard a terrible noise.

"Master Wilful had laid a long train Of gunpowder, ma'am, on the wall; It has put them to infinite pain, For it blew up, and injured them all.

"John's eyebrow is totally bare; Tom's nose is bent out of its place; Sam Bushy has lost all his hair; And d.i.c.k White is quite black in the face."

_Note._--As a matter of fact, a train of gunpowder does not make a terrible noise; it makes hardly any noise at all--a mere _pfff!_ and though John, Sam Bushy, and d.i.c.k White are shown to have been hurt as they might have been, a train of gunpowder could not bend Tom's nose, it could only burn it. Probably Mrs. Turner did not often play with explosives herself, and therefore did not know. Master Wilful seems to have escaped altogether.

PETER IMITATES THE CLOWN

Poor Peter was burnt by the poker one day, When he made it look pretty and red; For the beautiful sparks made him think it fine play, To lift it as high as his head.

But somehow it happen'd his finger and thumb Were terribly scorched by the heat; And he scream'd out aloud for his mother to come, And stamp'd on the floor with his feet.

Now if Peter had minded his mother's command, His fingers would not have been sore; And he promised again, as she bound up his hand, To play with hot pokers no more.

BEN'S HEAVY PUNISHMENT

'Tis sad when boys are disinclin'd To benefit by kind advice; No little child of virtuous mind Should need receive a caution twice.

The baker on a pony came (Oft us'd by them, and butchers too), And little Ben was much to blame For doing what he should not do.

They told him _not_ to mount the horse; Alas! he did; away they flew; In vain he pull'd with all his force, The pony ran a mile or two.

At length poor little Ben was thrown; Ah! who will pity? who's to blame?

Alas! the fault is all his own-- Poor little Ben for life is lame!

THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER