Mrs. Turner
Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories
Published by Good Press, 2019
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066174347
Table of Contents
Introduction
Bad Boys and Good
THE WINDOW-BREAKER
A GUNPOWDER PLOT
PETER IMITATES THE CLOWN
BEN'S HEAVY PUNISHMENT
THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER
THE FIGHTING WICKET-KEEPER
THE GOOD SCHOLAR
THE GOOD SCHOLAR FIGHTS
THE DEATH OF THE GOOD SCHOLAR'S FOE
ROBERT'S THOUGHTLESS BROTHERS
JOE'S LIGHT PUNISHMENT
FALSEHOOD "CORRECTED"
THE SUPERIOR BOYS
GEORGE'S CURIOUS TASTE
THOMAS BROWN'S DISAPPOINTMENT
CONSIDERATE PHILIP
THE MODELS
POLITENESS
RICHARD'S REFORMATION
JAMES'S SACRIFICE
THE EXCELLENT LORD MAYOR
CLEVER LITTLE THOMAS
WILLIAM'S ESCAPE
Good Girls and Bad
REBECCA'S AFTERTHOUGHT
A HINT TO MARY ANNE
HOW TO WRITE A LETTER
NEWS FOR PAPA
MARIA'S CHARITY
THE NEGLECTED TURK
PRIDE AND PRIGGISHNESS
HOW TO LOOK WHEN SPEAKING
ISABELLA'S PARACHUTE
MARIA SNUBBED
MATILDA'S EXTRAVAGANCE
PAPA'S WATCHFULNESS
ISABELLA'S DEFEAT
THE TWO PATIENTS
FANNY'S BAD HABIT
SARAH'S DANGER
THE HOYDEN
THE GIDDY GIRL
A WARNING TO FRANCES
PLAYING WITH FIRE
HOW TO HEAL A BURN
MARY ANNE'S KINDNESS
AMBITIOUS SOPHY
DRESSED OR UNDRESSED
MRS. BIRCH'S INFLUENCE
REBELLIOUS FRANCES
Kindness and Cruelty
THE HARMLESS COW
THE HARMLESS WORM
THE BAD DONKEY-BOY'S GOOD FORTUNE
GRATEFUL CARLO
GRATEFUL LUCY
GRATEFUL TRUSTY
SOMETHING IN STORE FOR RICHARD
THE RESULT OF CRUELTY
Things to Eat
WHAT IS BEST FOR CHILDREN
BILLY GILL'S GOOD FORTUNE
CIVIL SPEECH
THE COOK'S REBUKE
THE LOST PUDDING
SAMMY SMITH'S SAD FATE
STUPID WILLIAM
POISONOUS FRUIT
HARRY'S CAKE
PETER'S CAKE
WILLIAM'S CAKE
HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Introduction
Table of Contents
The sixty-nine Cautionary Stories that follow have been chosen from five books by Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, written for the pleasure and instruction of our little grandparents and great-grandparents. The books are The Daisy, The Cowslip, The Crocus, The Pink and Short Poems. Between the years 1810 and 1850 they were on the shelves of most nurseries, although now they are rarely to be met with. There was also The Rose, but from that nothing has been taken for these pages, nor are the original pictures again offered. Except for these pictures, a frequent change of title, and a few trifling alterations for grammar's sake, the pieces selected are now printed exactly as at first.
Mrs. Turner's belief, as stated by Master Robert in the verses called "Books better than Toys" in The Pink, was that the children of her day, when they had money to spend and wanted a real treat, could not choose anything more suitable than her Cautionary Stories. The piece runs:
'My dear, as Robert is so good,
I'll give him what I said I would,
Two shillings for himself to spend;
He knows the shop of our good friend.'
'Yes, I know well the pretty shop
Where folks, you know, so often stop
To view the prints. The windows—look!—
Are filled with toys and many a book.
'They have a thousand books and toys
For little girls and little boys;
At toys, indeed, I love to look,
But I prefer to buy a book.
'These two bright shillings, I suppose
Will buy The Cowslip and The Rose;
And when two more I get, I think
I'll buy The Daisy and The Pink.'
In our own time Robert's opinion is not very widely shared: most of us would not care to give up a cannon or a doll in order that we might be cautioned; but Mrs. Turner is not the less an entertaining author because her volumes have fewer attractions for us than some of the things in a Christmas bazaar. She told her tales with such spirit: her verses are so straightforward, the rhymes come so pat at the end of the lines, and you may beat time with your foot and never be put out.
In another piece, "Kitty's Favourites," Mrs. Turner wrote:
The stories Kitty likes so well,
And often asks her aunt to tell
Are all about good girls and boys.