The Choice of Friends
The moon was shining on a clear cold night, and it was near ten o'clock,and all the children of the village of Newton, except one, were in bedand asleep. That one, whose name was Frank Lawless, was above threemiles from home, weeping with pain and fear, alone, forlorn, cold, andwretched, with no shelter but a leafless hedge and no seat but a hardstone; while his father and mother were running wildly about the fieldsand lanes, not knowing what had become of their naughty boy.
Frank Lawless had been playing truant that day, and was met by hisfather with a number of bad boys, to whom he ought not at any time tohave spoken. They were the children of brickmakers, and most likely theyhad never been taught what was right; so that if they said wicked words,told lies, and took things which did not belong to them, one couldscarcely wonder at it; but that Frank Lawless, who had the means ofknowing the value of good conduct and good manners, should choose suchboys for his friends and playfellows, was indeed most strange. Yet thusit was; their shouting, laughing, and vulgar mirth pleased Frank. Theyhad also a great share of cunning, and found the way to manage him, soas to get from him what they wanted to have. When they told Frank thathe was very handsome and very clever, and that it was a shame so fine aboy should be forced to go to school if he did not like it, he was sillyenough to be pleased, and gave them in return his playthings and hismoney; nay, he would even take sugar, cakes, fruit, and sweetmeats fromhis mother's store-room to bestow on these ill-chosen friends; and theirfalse pretence of love for him made him quite careless of gaining thereal love of his father and mother.
On meeting his son in the midst of the brickmakers' children, Mr.Lawless[2] was very angry, and, taking him home by force, he gave him asevere reproof, and then locked him up in his chamber. Frank, who hadlately grown very sullen and froward, was far from being sorry for hisfault, and said to himself that his father was both cross and cruel, andwished to prevent his being happy. With these wicked thoughts in hishead, he began to contrive how to make his escape; and the window notbeing very high above the ground, and having a vine growing up to it,whose branches would serve as a sort of ladder, he got out, reached theground, and passing unseen through the garden-gate, ran with all hisspeed till he came up to the boys, who were still at the cruel sport ofrobbing birds'-nests in the lane where he had left them.
But he did not seem half as welcome to them now as in the morning, whenhe had brought a pocket full of apples, and as he said he was come tolive with them, and should never go home again, their manner was quitechanged. One took away his hat and another his shoes. They cut sticks tomake a bonfire, and, having got a great pile, they made Frank carry it.The weight was too much for him, and when he let it fall, they gave himhard words and still harder blows. He now began to find that the serviceof the wicked is by no means so easy as to obey the commands of the good.
While Frank Lawless was toiling under his heavy load of sticks, the boyswere laying a plan to rob an orchard. It was the autumn season of theyear, and all the fruit of the orchard was gone, except the pears of onetree, which, as it stood very near the dwelling-house of the owner ofthe orchard, these boys had been afraid to climb. Now having FrankLawless in their power, they thought of making him, in the dusk of theevening, commit the theft and run all the hazard, while they stayed insafety by the hedge, ready to receive the stolen fruit. Frank, dreadingwhat might happen to him in the daring attempt, begged and prayed themnot to force him there; but he had made himself a slave to hardtask-masters, and they cuffed and kicked him, till, to escape from theirhands, he climbed the tree.
Scarcely had Frank pulled half-a-dozen pears, when his false friendsheard the farmer who owned the orchard come singing up the lane: and, tosave themselves from being thought to have any concern with it, theybegan to pelt Frank with stones, and cry aloud--'_See, see, there is aboy robbing Farmer Wright's pear-tree._' Frank got down as quickly as hecould, but not soon enough to escape the angry farmer, who gave him amost severe horse-whipping, while those who had brought him into thissad scrape stood laughing, hooting, and clapping their hands. It wasuseless to try to excuse himself; he had been seen in the tree, thepears were found in his pocket, and the farmer, after whipping himwithout mercy, pushed him out of the orchard and bade him be gone.
Smarting now with pain, and almost blinded by his tears, he ran to getaway from the false and cruel boys who were making sport of what theyhad caused him to suffer, when one, still more wicked than the rest,threw a great stone after him, which, hitting his ankle-bone, gave himsuch extreme torture that he sank on the ground not able to proceed astep farther. The boys made off in alarm at what they had done, andFrank, in terror and pain, sat sobbing on a stone till he was found byhis father, who had been searching for him in the greatest distress.
His father took him home, warmed and fed him and healed his bruises,though after such extreme bad conduct, he could not esteem and caresshim like a good child. It was happy for Frank Lawless that he took thewarning of that day. He had gained nothing but shame, pain, and sorrowby his choice of wicked friends, and from that time he chose with morewisdom. Good conduct brought him back to his father's favour, and now atten o'clock at night, when the moon and stars were shining in the sky,and the air was cold and frosty, Frank Lawless was always snug in bed,like the rest of the good children of the little village of Newton.[3]
[2] One drawback to bringing Frank's father into the story is that he,in spite of his character, has to be called Lawless too.
[3] There is one error in this story which perhaps it is worth while topoint out. Birds'-nesting and orchard-robbing are not in seasontogether.