258 
boys’ department. 
Sons’ Department. 
THE HISTORY OF THRIFT AND UNTHRIFT. 
In the neighboring village hard by, there are two 
farmers of equal standing as regards honesty of pur¬ 
pose, benevolence of intention, and all the social vir¬ 
tues. They both mean to discharge all their duties 
to society, their families, and friends, and it is only 
when we try them by their performance, that we find 
any striking difference. But to mark their qualities 
more fully,"and afford instruction through the suc¬ 
cessive progression of their parentage, youth and man¬ 
hood, we must notice them distinctly in each. 
Their Fathers .—They were both born in the vil¬ 
lage in which they now reside, and of equally repu¬ 
table parents. Both were farmers and respectable 
members of society. The same year that the father 
of Thrift was sent to the General Assembly, the fa¬ 
ther of Unthrift received a commission for the office 
of Justice of the Peace. There was a slight differ¬ 
ence in their respective characters in one particular. 
They were both “ well to do in the world,” as the 
phrase is; but while the elder Unthrift had inherited 
all his property, a part of which he had already spent 
by his easy good nature, and somewhat indolent 
habits, the father of Thrift had been a poor boy, and 
worked his own way in the world ; and having mar¬ 
ried early in life, had brought up a large family, 
while the other had but this only son. 
Their Mothers. —The greatest difference, however, 
in their parents was in their mothers. Like her hus¬ 
band, Mrs. Thrift, was a poor child, and an orphan, 
but had been brought up by a widowed aunt, in 
habits of great industry, order, and economy. She 
was early taught to have a place for everything, and 
everything in its place ; to w r aste nothing, and spend 
no time in idleness; and when her work was done, 
instead of sozzling away her time, playing with the 
kitten or her apron strings, or sauntering with Goody 
Tittletattle’s girls, and gossipping about the young 
men, she devoted her leisure hours to reading useful 
books, or making up counterpanes, knitting stockings 
and other articles that might be useful; so that when 
she had become one-and-twenty, she not only had 
her mind well informed, but had made up quite a 
wardrobe for herself, and had acquired so good a cha¬ 
racter, that Mr. Thrift thought, and rightly enough 
too, she was a very good match as a wife. Mrs. 
Unthrift on the other hand, had been indolently and 
indulgently educated, and always having enough on 
hand, without any necessity for looking out for her¬ 
self, her parents being “ well off,” she arrived at what 
ought to be “ years of discretion,” without any par¬ 
ticular habits of any kind; yet being a pretty, amia¬ 
ble girl, and, withal, having a prospect of inheriting 
some money, Unthrift thought himself a lucky dog 
in securing her as a partner for life. 
Their Boyhood. —The boys went to the same dis¬ 
trict school"; yet though Unthrift was nearly two 
years the oldest, little Thrift soon caught up to him 
in his studies, when being put in the same class, he 
easily got above him, and after that, generally stood 
at the head, while Unthrift stood at the foot. This 
was not owing to any want of cuteness on the part of 
Joe, or Josey, as he was generally called, for occa¬ 
sionally, when any prize was offered that Joe wanted 
to obtain, he would, by a little application, outdo ail 
the boys and secure the prize; while Tom, as they 
called young Thrift, would study with all his might, 
without coming within arm’s length of Joe. At hunt¬ 
ing, fishing, or frolicking of any kind, which required 
ingenuity or skill, Joe was sure to be ahead of all 
his playmates. But then, his habits were negligent, 
he was half the time late at school, his lessons given 
him over night, not half learned when he got there, 
and he had very little idea of minding any of the 
rules ; not that he was stubborn or bad tempered, but 
he “ didn’t see any use in sitting in his own seat for 
three hours together, and learning arithmetic, geogra¬ 
phy, and grammar, neither of which would help to 
tree a squirrel, hole a fox, catch a trout, or bring 
down a turkey at a shooting-match.” Tom was al¬ 
ways punctual at school, always had his lesson 
learnt, though he had to work hard for it, and always 
did as he was bid by the master, simply because his 
parents told him, this was the only way to make a 
man of himself—and he believed them. Josey’s pa¬ 
rents indulged him as they indulged themselves, and 
let him take pretty much his own course, as they had 
done before him, and it was universally believed, had 
the boys swapped parents when they were babies, 
Joe would have been much the smartest scholar of 
the two. 
Grown up .—The boys had already got to be men, 
while they still thought they were youngsters, and 
before they were three-and-twenty both were married 
to young women in the village, something after their 
own character. 
Their Wives. —Tom’s wife was the daughter of a 
poor, but hard-working wagon-maker, who had al¬ 
ways been accustomed to industrious habits; while 
the wife of Joe had received many more advantages 
in school, though it is said she had misimproved 
them ; but she could do worsted embroidery, draw 
pretty well from a copy, and play common psalm 
tunes, Yankee Doodle, and country dances, on the 
piano.' 
Their Occupation .—Tom took to farming, as his 
father had done before him, and as he had nothing of 
consequence to begin with, he rented a small farm 
which his father helped him to stock. He had of his 
own, a pair of oxen, a few sheep, and some tools, 
which a couple of years of hard service since he 
“ came of age,’’ had enabled him to purchase; and 
his wife had besides, three good cows given her by 
her mother, while her father gave him a good second¬ 
hand ox-wagon. Tom and his wife went “right” 
to work. They were up by day-light in the morn¬ 
ing, and by the time he had his “ chores” done, the 
cows milked and turned to pasture, the oxen curried, 
fed, and yoked, and the pigs provided for, breakfast 
was on the table, so that he was ready to go out to 
his day’s work by the time Josey and his wife had 
<e turned out of bed.” [ To he continued. 
TJnripe Fruit .—More boys are made sick at this 
season of the year from eating unripe fruit, than from 
any other cause whatever. Be careful then in this 
particular, and learn to govern your appetites. This 
will be good discipline for you. 
Admonition. —Samuel Cook, a young man of 
Norwich, Conn , ruptured a blood-vessel while chas¬ 
ing some turbulent boys from his premises last Sa¬ 
turday, and in the course of an hour was a corpse. 
