I have an 1888 Noah Webster blue-backed spelling book. It’s fascinating to look through at the illustrations, words, and stories. Times have changed greatly and so have teaching methods, even the words we use. The book has some fables and other short stories. This is one of them:
Of the Boy That Stole Apples
An old man found a rude boy upon one of his trees stealing apples and desired him to come down; but the young saucebox told him plainly he would not.
“Won’t you?” said the old man, “then I will fetch you down;” so he pulled up some turf or grass and threw it at him; but this only made the youngster laugh, to think the old man should beat him down from the tree with grass only.
“Well, well,” said the old man, “if neither words nor grass will do, I must try what virtue there is in stones,” so the old man pelted him heartily with stones, which soon made the young chap hasten down from the tree and beg the old man’s pardon.
Moral: If good words and gentle means will not reclaim the wicked, they must be dealt with in a more severe manner.
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