Stories for the Young

Stories for the Young

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories for the Young, by Hannah
More This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Stories for the Young Or, Cheap Repository Tracts: Entertaining,
Moral, and Religious. Vol. VI.
Author: Hannah More
Release Date: February 13, 2005 [EBook #15034]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES
FOR THE YOUNG ***

Produced by David Garcia, Bethanne M. Simms-Troester and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: TAWNEY RACHEL.]

STORIES FOR THE YOUNG;
OR,
CHEAP REPOSITORY TRACTS:
ENTERTAINING, MORAL, AND RELIGIOUS.
BY HANNAH MORE AND OTHERS.
A NEW REVISED EDITION.
VOL. VI.

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK.

CONTENTS
VOL. VI.
Black Giles the Poacher; containing some account of a family who had
rather live by their wits than their work.
History of Widow Brown's Apple-tree; being
Part II. of Black Giles the
Poacher.
Tawney Rachel; or, the Fortune-teller: with some account of Dreams,
Omens, and Conjurers. Being
Part III. of Black Giles the Poacher.
The Happy Waterman.
The Gravestone.
Parley the Porter. An Allegory. Showing how robbers without can
never get into a house unless there are traitors within.
A New Christmas Tract; or, the Right Way of Rejoicing at Christmas.
Showing the reasons we have for joy at the event of our Saviour's birth.
A New Christmas Hymn.
Bear ye one another's Burdens; or, the Valley of Tears. A Vision.
The Strait Gate and the Broad Way; being the Second Part of the
Valley of Tears.
The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.

BLACK GILES THE POACHER:

CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF A FAMILY WHO HAD
RATHER LIVE BY THEIR WITS THAN THEIR WORK[A]
BY HANNAH MORE.

PART I
[Footnote A: This story exhibits an accurate picture of that part of the
country where the author then resided; and where, by her benevolent
zeal, a great reformation was effected among the poor inhabitants of at
least twenty parishes, within a circle of thirty miles.]
Poaching Giles lives on the borders of one of those great moors in
Somersetshire. Giles, to be sure, has been a sad fellow in his time; and
it is none of his fault if his whole family do not end their career either
at the gallows, or at Botany Bay. He lives at that mud cottage, with the
broken windows stuffed with dirty rags, just beyond the gate which
divides the upper from the lower moor. You may know the house at a
good distance by the ragged tiles on the roof, and the loose stones
which are ready to drop out from the chimney; though a short ladder, a
hod of mortar, and half an hour's leisure time would have prevented all
this, and made the little dwelling tight enough. But as Giles had never
learned any thing that was good, so he did not know the value of such
useful sayings as, that "a tile in time saves nine."
Besides this, Giles fell into that common mistake, that a beggarly
looking cottage, and filthy, ragged children, raised most compassion,
and of course drew most charity. But as cunning as he was in other
things, he was out in his reckoning here; for it is neatness, housewifery,
and a decent appearance, which draws the kindness of the rich and
charitable, while they turn away disgusted with filth and laziness: not
out of pride, but because they see that it is next to impossible to mend
the condition of those who degrade themselves by dirt and sloth; and
few people care to help those who will not help themselves.
[Illustration]
The common on which Giles' hovel stands is quite a deep marsh in a

wet winter, but in summer it looks green and pretty enough. To be sure,
it would be rather convenient, when one passes that way in a carriage,
if one of the children would run out and open the gate; but instead of
any one of them running out as soon as they hear the wheels, which
would be quite time enough, what does Giles do but set all his ragged
brats, with dirty faces, matted locks, and naked feet and legs, to lie all
day upon a sand-bank hard by the gate, waiting for the slender chance
of what may be picked up from travellers. At the sound of a carriage, a
whole covey of these little scarecrows start up, rush to the gate, and all
at once thrust out their hats and aprons; and for fear this, together with
the noise