ed
upon to do, or to learn any thing, while a game at taw could be had
for love or money. All this time his little brothers, much younger
than himself, were beginning to follow the plow, or to carry the
corn to the mill as soon as they were able to mount a cart-horse.

Jack, however, who was a lively boy, and did not naturally want
either sense or good-nature, might have turned out well enough, if
he had not had the misfortune to be his mother's favorite. She
concealed and forgave all his faults. To be sure he was a little
wild, she would say, but he would not make the worse man for that,
for Jack had a good spirit of his own, and she would not have it
broke, and so make a mope of the boy. The farmer, for a quiet life,
as it is called, gave up all these points to his wife, and, with
them, gave up the future virtue and happiness of his child. He was a
laborious and industrious man, but had no religion; he thought only
of the gains and advantages of the present day, and never took the
future into the account. His wife managed him entirely, and as she
was really notable, he did not trouble his head about any thing
further. If she had been careless in her dairy, he would have
stormed and sworn; but as she only ruined one child by indulgence,
and almost broke the heart of the rest by unkindness, he gave
himself little concern about the matter. The cheese, certainly was
good, and that indeed is a great point; but she was neglectful of
her children, and a tyrant to her servants. Her husband's substance,
indeed, was not wasted, but his happiness was not consulted. His
house, it is true, was not dirty, but it was the abode of fury,
ill-temper, and covetousness. And the farmer, though he did not care
for liquor, was too often driven to the public-house in the evening,
because his own was neither quiet nor comfortable. The mother was
always scolding, and the children were always crying.

Jack, however, notwithstanding his idleness, picked up a little
reading and writing, but never would learn to cast an account: that
was too much labor. His mother was desirous he should continue at
school, not so much for the sake of his learning, which she had not
sense enough to value, but to save her darling from the fatigue of
labor: for if he had not gone to school, she knew he must have gone
to work, and she thought the former was the least tiresome of the
two. Indeed, this foolish woman had such an opinion of his genius,
that she used, f