LITTLE TOM, THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. WELLINGTON, SALOP: PRINTED BY AND FOR F. HOUL8TON AND SON. And sold at their Warehouse, 65, Paternoster-Row, London. Price Two-pence. [Entered at Stationers' Hall.\ FRONTISPIECE ii mill w m jITTLE TOM, LONDON: N T £ D FOR HOULSTON AND SON, 65, Paternoster-How; AND AT WELLINGTON, SALOP. 1832. [Entered at Stationers' Hall.] the FOURTH EDITION. JLITTJLE TOM THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. A. LITTLE bov, whose name was George, one day asked his mamma to let him play in the garden. She told him he might do so if he pleas- ed, but he must play by himself if he did, for his brother Edward was learn- ing his Latin Grammar. I George went alone into the garden, and, as he walked along, he saw a boy about his own age standing near p 6 LITTLE TOM, the pales at the bottom of the grass walk ; and when George came in sight, he saw him run away. " This is very odd/' said George to himself, Presently, he heard a noise among some bushes close by, and a plunge, as if some one had fallen into a ditch, and then a cry came from among the bushes. George was frightened, but he did not run away. " Who is there?" said he. " I, Master George," said a dismal voice. " You! and who are vou?" asked George. " Little Tom, the huntsman's son. THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 7 Sir; and I have tumbled into this ditch, and cannot get out." " Well," said George, " I will come and help you." I So he opened the garden-gate, and ran to the ditch. But he soon found that he could do little towards help- ing Tom : for the ditch was deep, and George but a little fellow. As lie was trying, however, to stretch but his hand to meet Tom's hand, a labouring man came near. He saw the two boys' distress, and soon lifted Tom out of the ditch. " But, hold," said he : " what have we here'?" and he put his hand upon a handkerchief tied very tight at the corners. 8 LITfLE TOM, Tom was in a sad plight when 1^ got up, and his face was daubed with mud ; but, through the dirt, you might see that he grew as red as scarle when the labourer said this. M Let us see what's here, Master Tom," said the man. " No, no," said George; " if that handkerchief is his own, you have no business to untie it." " But you have, Master George," said the man. " For do but see here: here's a little branch off the plum tree in your papa's garden, with two plums upon it, and I'll lay any mo- ney these are of the same sort. And THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 9 here's the thief, too" — seizing hold of Tom. Tom now grew very pale, and, fall- ing on his knees, begged George to forgive him, and he would tell him all. " What ! did you steal our plums then, Tom?" said George. B 10 LITTLE TOM, " Yes," stammered Tom. " I am very sorry. How cou|( you do such a wicked thing ? You know that papa has been always s kind friend to you, and you know he has often told you that those who stea are breaking God's commandment." " I know it, I know it," sobbed lit- tle Tom. " O, you young rascal!" said the man, "you'll surely come to a bad end! "Stay a little," said George; "I should like to talk with him, though I am but a little boy. Did you ever steal before, Tom ?" THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 1L " Yes, once, Master George." " I am sorry to hear that. And what did you steal V 9 Tom. Apples, Sir. George. If any body had asked \ou to steal a horse, or a bag of 'money, would you have done so? Tom. O no, Sir, I hope not. George. Then I suppose you think it but a little- matter to steal an ap- ple? Tom paused; hung down his head : at last, to be sure, he did'n't think 12 LITTLE TOM, there could be much harm in that, when other people had such a plenty too. " Ah, Tom!" said George, "but you know the commandment says— ' Thou shalt not covet any thing thai is thy neighbour's. I remember, when I was only four years old, I once took an apple out of mamma's basket, and thought there could be no harm done, But she missed it, and found me out; and she made it so clear to me that I had made myself a thief that day, that I never have forgotten it since." So, when George bad talked a lit- tle more to Tom about the wickedness of stealing, he said, " And now, Tom, THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 13 what must I do ? Will you be willing to come with me to papa, and tell him all you have done?" " O no, Master George, I dare not ; ■ dare not for my life," said this cow- Lrdly boy. " But," said George, " if you are ■not willing to make amends for your Kault, it shews you are not really sor- [ry for it. Even if papa were to pu- nish you severely, you ought to bear it. But I do not think he will : I know he always makes a great dif- ference between those who confess their faults and those who are so afraid of being punished that they dare not be honest. Come with me 14 LITTLE TOM, now, and I will beg him to forgive you/' mr But while George was thus kindly trying to persuade Tom, this foolish boy watched his opportunity, and while the labouring man turned his head on one side, ran off as fast as ever his legs could carry him. THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 15 "Now what is to be done?" said (George. " He has left all the plums behind him, and papa must not be fobbed of those, to be sure. But that must I do about Tom?" "Do, Master George!" said the 'man. " Til tell you what I should do — go directly to your papa, and IgetTom flogged as soon as possible." George shook his head. " No," said he, " I know he deserves it, and I fear he will be punished in a much worse manner one time or other. But I know poor Tom has a very passionate, violent father ; and I dare say he is flogged so often, that he does not so much mind that. I 16 LITTLE TOM, wish I could think of some better plan. Will you promise me that you will say nothing at all about what has happened till I see you again?" " To be sure, Master George, if you wish it; only, I hope, Sir, you don't mean to beg Tom off: 'tis clean encouraging wickedness. " " I hope I shall not do that. But I cannot tell you any more now," said little George : " only promise me." r , " Well, I promise," answered the man, and walked off. George had now been absent a long THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 17 time, and his papa just then came out to look for him. The plums were in George's hand. " What have you there, George?" asked his father. " They are plums, papa, — your plums. But, papa, though I did not gather them, I shall be very much obliged to you if you will not ask me 13 LITTLE TOM, how I came by them. I am sure you wiil not think J took them when I tell vou I did not." " No, that I shall not, George," said his father. " I believe you speak truth. But this is very odd. How- ever, I shall not ask any questions; only, my little boy, you are very young to have secrets to keep, and I hope you will not get into any mischief by it. Whose advice will you ask, if you do not ask mine? and surely you do not think yourself wise enough to do any thing without advice?" * George looked at his father, and felt it a great struggle to be silent; but he thought he would wait a little THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 19 while, and think over the matter by liimself : and when he went to bed pat night, and knelt down to say his [prayers, he did not forget to pray that he might judge and do what was best in this matter. He thought about it a good deal before he went to sleep, and felt very uncomfortable. " 1 see," said he to himself, u that papa thinks it very strange that I, who am but a little boy, should not choose to tell him how 1 got his fruit; and as it is his own, he has a right to know. But then, if I tell him, and Tom knows it, I am afraid he will run away, and I shall not be able to say any thing to him again. " 20 LITTLE TOM, So, the next morning, George re- solved to go to the huntsman's house, and find Tom ; and he asked his fa- ther's leave to go out a little way. George's papa saw there was some- thing passing in his son's mind, and gave him leave to go, being curious to know what would follow. So George went. r THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 2L When he came up to the cottage, iTom was at work in the little garden, land he came to meet George, looking ■very silly. " Well, Tom," said George, |«so you would not go with me to Ipapa yesterday?" "No, Master George, I was afraid," said Tom. " Come with me, Tom, to that seat under the tree yonder." Tom came, and they sat down. "Tom, do vou ever think of death?" said George. " Sometimes/' said Tom. 22 LITTLE TOM, " Were you ever ill, Tom ?" " Yes, Master George, once; and I took a power of bad physic. If I hadVt done so, the doctor said I must have died." "You did not like the physic, did vou?" asked George. u No, not at all." " But yet you took it to save your life. Now what I want you to do, is like that. You have committed a great fault, Tom, and you have not resolu- tion to confess it to a man, not even to a good man, like my father: you won't take the physic, and so you must die." THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 23 " Die, Master George ! Who talks of dying I " said Tom. €i I am not talking of the death of your body, Tom, but of a worse thing. Don't you know that you are destroying your own soul, and hard- ening your conscience, by this way of behaving ? " 24 LITTLE TOM, Tom hung down his head. " Tom/' said George, "I shall say no more to you to-day ; but I found two verses in the Bible, which I wish you would read over to-night before you go to bed, and promise me you will pray earnestly to God before you sleep to-night. I will try and come again to-morrow. " The verses George found for Tom were these — Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear Him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him. (Luke xii. 4, 5.) THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY, 25 The next dav, after breakfast, George asked his papa s leave to go out again. He had been very care- ful, the day before, to do all his lessons well ; and his father saw that, whatever it was that he had upon his mind, he was in such a gen- tle, humble temper, that he thought he might be trusted. So George went. That dav he found Tom watch- ing eagerly for him. " O, Master George !" said he, " I am glad you are come : I wanted to see you. P w May I go and speak to your papa now, and tell him the whole V 9 " O yes," said George, greatly de- 2(5 LITTLE TOM, lighted. u But how is this, Tom? What has made such a change?" M That verse, Master George, has never been out of my thoughts since : and all the night long, whenever I closed my eyes, it came before me, and I thought what a wicked boy I was. I shall be miserable till I have [ told all." " Well then, come directly, come directly," said George. And he walk- ed with Tom homewards, quite happy to think that this poor little boy saw his error. As they drew near the house, they saw George's papa in the garden, r THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 27 looking up at the plum tree which Tom had robbed. " O, Master George, how sorry I am, to think I did such a wicked thing!" said little Tom. " Papa," exclaimed George to his father, " this is the person who took the plums: but he is sorry for it now; so sorry, that I do hope you will forgive him. He wished himself to come and tell you about it ; though, now he is come, he can hardly speak. " Tom indeed could scarcely speak, he felt so sorry and ashamed to think that George's father should consider him a thief; especially as he well knew how kind and good a friend 28 LITTLE TOM, this excellent man was to the poor and everv one round him. But at last he stammered out a confession of his guilt. George's papa said not much to him then, but bade him remain where he was while he talked with his little boy. When he heard from George THE HUNTSMAN'S BOY. 29 the whole story, he said, " Well, George, I think you have made a good beginning with poor Tom ; and as he really seems sorry for his fault, I will forgive him on condition that he will promise to attend you every Sunday as your Sunday-scholar. I do not mean you to suppose that you are able to teach him all he wants to learn, by yourself, but 1 will try to help you : and I think Tom will, per- haps, learn better from you, as you have been his friend in this instance." George was overjoyed at what his father said : and I am happy to say that Tom, by constantly improving his Sunday opportunities of instruc- tion, became a very different boy; so 30 LITTLE TOM, &C much so, that his father, perceiving it, not only treated him better, but became himself more serious and at- tentive to his duties. George had the pleasure, as he grew up, of witnessing this; and though, in the course of his life, he was an instrument of good to many a poor and ignorant person, he never had more pleasure in knowing he was so to any one than to Little Tom, the Huntsman's Boy. FINIS. HOULSTONS, PRINTERS.