The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes | Page 7

that Tyrant of the Parish, that
Graspall, heard of her being there, he applied first to Mr. Smith, and
threatened to reduce his Tythes if he kept her; and after that he spoke to
Sir Timothy, who sent Mr. Smith a peremptory Message by his Servant,
that he should send back Meanwell's _Girl to be kept by her Relations,
and not harbour her in the Parish_. This so distressed Mr. Smith that he
shed Tears, and cried, _Lord have Mercy on the Poor!_
The Prayers of the Righteous fly upwards, and reach unto the Throne of
Heaven, as will be seen in the Sequel.
[Illustration]
Mrs. Smith was also greatly concerned at being thus obliged to discard
poor Little Margery. She kissed her and cried; as also did Mr. Smith,
but they were obliged to send her away; for the People who had ruined
her Father could at any Time have ruined them.

CHAP. IV.
How Little Margery _learned to read, and by Degrees taught others._
Little Margery saw how good, and how wise Mr. Smith was, and

concluded, that this was owing to his great Learning, therefore she
wanted of all Things to learn to read. For this Purpose she used to meet
the little Boys and Girls as they came from School, borrow their Books,
and sit down and read till they returned;
[Illustration]
By this Means she soon got more Learning than any of her Playmates,
and laid the following Scheme for instructing those who were more
ignorant than herself. She found, that only the following Letters were
required to spell all the Words in the World; but as some of these
Letters are large and some small, she with her Knife cut out of several
Pieces of Wood ten Setts of each of these:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r (s) s t u v w x y z.
[Post-processor's note: (s) is an old-English style non-terminating letter
"s".]
And six Setts of these:
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.
And having got an old Spelling-Book, she made her Companions set up
all the Words they wanted to spell, and after that she taught them to
compose Sentences. You know what a Sentence is, my Dear, I will be
good, is a Sentence; and is made up, as you see, of several Words.
The usual Manner of Spelling, or carrying on the Game, as they called
it, was this: Suppose the Word to be spelt was Plumb Pudding (and
who can suppose a better) the Children were placed in a Circle, and the
first brought the Letter P, the next l, the next u, the next m, and so on
till the Whole was spelt; and if any one brought a wrong Letter, he was
to pay a Fine, or play no more. This was at their Play; and every
Morning she used to go round to teach the Children with these
Rattle-traps in a Basket, as you see in the Print.
[Illustration]

I once went her Rounds with her, and was highly diverted, as you may
be, if you please to look into the next Chapter.

CHAP. V.
How Little Two-Shoes _became a trotting Tutoress and how she taught
her young Pupils._
It was about seven o'Clock in the Morning when we set out on this
important Business, and the first House we came to was Farmer
_Wilson's_. See here it is.
[Illustration]
Here Margery stopped, and ran up to the Door, _Tap, tap, tap_. Who's
there? Only little goody _Two-Shoes_, answered Margery, come to
teach Billy. Oh Little Goody, says Mrs. Wilson, with Pleasure in her
Face, I am glad to see you, Billy wants you sadly, for he has learned all
his Lesson. Then out came the little Boy. _How do doody Two-Shoes_,
says he, not able to speak plain. Yet this little Boy had learned all his
Letters; for she threw down this Alphabet mixed together thus:
b d f h k m o q s u w y z [f] a c e g i l n p r t v x j
and he picked them up, called them by their right Names, and put them
all in order thus:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r (s) s t u v w x y z.
[Post-processor's note: (s) is an old-English style non-terminating letter
"s".]
She then threw down the Alphabet of Capital Letters in the Manner you
here see them.
B D F H K M O Q S U W Y Z A C E