would have done; nor fly out into a violent passion: for
even at this early age he had begun to learn of Him _who was meek
and lowly of heart_; and therefore _when he was reviled, he reviled
not again_. On the contrary he was so very kind and gentle, that
even Jack, vain and idle as he was, could not help loving him,
though he took care never to follow his advice.

Jack's fondness for his boyish and silly diversions in the street,
soon produced the effects which might naturally be expected; and the
same idleness which led him to fly out into the town at the sound of
a fiddle or the sight of a puppet-show soon led him to those places
to which all these fiddles and shows naturally led; I mean the
_ale-house_. The acquaintance picked up in the street was carried on
at the Grayhound; and the idle pastimes of the boy soon led to the
destructive vices of the man.

As he was not an ill-tempered youth, nor naturally much given to
drink, a sober and prudent master, who had been steady in his
management and regular in his own conduct, who would have
recommended good advice by a good example, might have made something
of Jack. But I am sorry to say, that Mr. Williams, though a good
workman, and not a very hard or severe master, was neither a sober
nor a steady man--so far from it that he spent much more time at the
Grayhound than at home. There was no order either in his shop or
family, he left the chief care of his business to his two young
apprentices; and being but a worldly man, he was at first disposed
to show favor to Jack, much more than to James, because he had more
money, and his father was better in the world than the father of
poor James.

At first, therefore, he was disposed to consider James as a sort of
drudge; who was to do all the menial work of the family, and he did
not care how little he taught him of his trade. With Mrs. Williams
the matter was still worse; she constantly called him away from the
business of his trade to wash the house, nurse the child, turn the
spit, or run of errands. And here I must remark, that though parish
apprentices are bound in duty to be submissive to both master and
mistress, and always to make themselves as useful as they can in the
family, and to be civil and humble; yet on the other hand, it is the
duty of masters always to remember, that if they are paid for
instructing them in their trade, they ought conscientiously to
instruct them in it, and not to employ them the greater