human
TIMOTHY INCLE.
gpt
O! cried the afflicted father, as he tore the letter in a rage,
human
Miss Bragwell married to a strolling actor! How shall I bear it?
gpt
Why, I would not bear it at all, cried the enraged mother;
human
I would never see her; I would never forgive her; I would let her starve at the corner of the barn, while that rascal, with all those pagan, popish names, was ranting away at the other.
gpt
Nay, said Miss Betsy,
human
Come, come, said Mr. Worthy,
gpt
It grieves me to say how much your own indiscretion has contributed even to bring on your present misfortune. You gave your countenance to this very company of strollers, though you knew they were acting in defiance of the laws of the land, to say no worse. They go from town to town, and from barn to barn, stripping the poor of their money, the young of their innocence, and all of their time. Do you remember with how much pride you told me that you had bespoke _The Bold Stroke for a Wife_, for the benefit of this very Mr. Frederic Theodosius? To this pernicious ribaldry you not only carried your own family, but wasted I know not how much money in treating your workmen's wives and children, in these hard times, too, when they have scarcely bread to eat, or a shoe on their feet; and all this only that you might have the absurd pleasure of seeing those flattering words, _By desire of Mr. Bragwell_, stuck up in print at the public house, on the blacksmith's shed, at the turnpike-gate, and on the barn-door.
human
What I have said is not so much to reproach you with the ruin of one daughter, as from a desire to save the other. Let Miss Betsy go home with me. I do not undertake to be her jailor, but I will be her friend. She will find in my daughters kind companions, and in my wife a prudent guide. I know she will dislike us at first, but I do not despair in time of convincing her that a sober, humble, useful, pious life, is as necessary to make us happy on earth, as it is to fit us for heaven.