er of Siloam. But to
return to Badman.

His father, being unable to manage so unpromising a child, bound him
out as an apprentice. The master to whom he was assigned was as good
a man as the father could find: uptight, Godfearing, and especially
considerate of his servants. He never worked them too hard. He left
them time to read and pray. He admitted no light or mischievous books
within his doors. He was not one of those whose religion 'hung as a
cloke in his house, and was never seen on him when he went abroad.'
His household was as well fed and cared for as himself, and he
required nothing of others of which he did not set them an example in
his own person.

This man did his best to reclaim young Badman, and was particularly
kind to him. But his exertions were thrown away. The good-for-nothing
youth read filthy romances on the sly. He fell asleep in church, or
made eyes at the pretty girls. He made acquaintance with low
companions. He became profligate, got drunk at alehouses, sold his
master's property to get money, or stole it out of the cashbox. Thrice
he ran away and was taken back again. The third time he was allowed to
go. 'The House of Correction would have been the most fit for him, but
thither his master was loath to send him, for the love he bore his
father.'

He was again apprenticed; this time to a master like himself. Being
wicked he was given over to wickedness. The ways of it were not
altogether pleasant. He was fed worse and he was worked harder than he
had been before; when he stole, or neglected his business, he was
beaten. He liked his new place, however, better than the old. 'At
least, there was no godliness in the house, which he hated worst of
all.'

So far, Bunyan's hero was travelling the usual road of the Idle
Apprentice, and the gallows would have been the commonplace ending of
it. But this would not have answered Bunyan's purpose. He wished to
represent the good-for-nothing character, under the more instructive
aspect of worldly success, which bad men may arrive at as well as
good, if they are prudent and cunning. Bunyan gives his hero every
chance. He submits him from the first to the best influences; he
creates opportunities for repentance at every stage of a long
career--opportunities which the reprobate nature cannot profit by, yet
increases its guilt by neglecting.

Badman's term being out, his father gives him money and sets him up as
a tradesman on his own account. Mr. Attent