



Produced by David Widger from page images generously
provided by the Internet Archive







GOODY TWO SHOES.

By Anonymous


[Illustration: 0001]

[Illustration: 0001]


[Illustration: 9003]

T will be readily understood by our young readers, that the real name of
the little girl who is the heroine of this story was not Goody Two
Shoes, but Margery Meanwell. Her father, Mr. Meanwell, was for many
years a very respectable farmer in the parish of Mouldwell, where
Margery was born; but misfortunes, and the cruel persecutions of Sir
Timothy Gripe, his landlord, and the rich Farmer Graspall, ruined this
worthy man, and was the source of all poor Margery's troubles.

[Illustration: 8003]

Farmer Meanwell died soon after of a broken heart, and his poor wife,
unable to struggle with misfortunes, only survived him a few days,
leaving their unfortunate offspring, Margery and Tommy, friendless
orphans in an unpitying world.

The loss of their parents seemed to endear these orphans more to each
other, and they were continually seen strolling hand in hand about the
village, as if they were afraid of being separated.

They had relations--but as they were rich, they took no notice of
these poor children; being ashamed to own such a little ragged girl as
Margery, and such a dirty curly-headed boy as Tommy.

Mr Smith, the clergyman of the parish where Margery and Tommy were born,
was a very worthy man, and being at this time visited by a rich and
charitable friend, he told him the story of the poor orphans. The
stranger gave Mr. Smith money to buy some clothes for Margery, and said
that he would make Tommy a little sailor. Tommy was happy to hear this,
and next day the gentleman bought him a jacket and trowsers, of which he
was very proud. Margery could never give over admiring Tommy in his new
dress; but her happiness met with a severe check, for the gentleman was
to return to London in a few days, and to take Tommy along with him.

The parting of these children was very affecting; poor Margery's eyes
were red with crying, and her cheeks pale with grief, while little
Tommy, by way of consolation, said he would never forget his dear
sister, and kissed her a hundred times over. As Tommy left his sister,
he wiped her eyes with the corner of his jacket, and promised to return,
and bring her fine things from abroad.

When Margery found that Tommy did not come back, she cried all day
until she went to bed, and next morning she went round every one in
the village, weeping and lamenting that her brother Tommy was gone.
Fortunately, while she was in this distress, the shoemaker came with
a pair of new shoes, which the gentleman had ordered for her, and it
being so long since little Margery wore a pair of shoes, her attention
was so engaged as to give a new turn to her thoughts. Nothing but
the pleasure of examining her two shoes could have put a stop to the
violence of her grief. She immediately put on the shoes, and then went
to let Mrs. Smith see them. It was with delight that little Margery
exhibited them to her benefactress, saying, "Two shoes, ma'am! see, two
shoes!" She then went through the whole village to show her new shoes,
addressing them in the same way, until she got the name of "Little Two
Shoes," but, being a very good child, they usually called her "Little
Goody Two Shoes," and she never entirely lost that name.

Poor Margery was destitute of friends; but, although very young,
she contrived to meet the children as they returned from school, and
prevailed on one of them to learn her the alphabet. She used to borrow
their books, and sit down and read till they came from dinner. It was by
these means that she soon acquired more learning than her playmates at
school, and in a short time she formed a little plan for instructing
children who had not yet learned to read.

She found that there were twenty-six letters in the alphabet, and every
word spelled with them; but as these letters might be either large or
small, she cut, out of little pieces of wood, ten sets of the alphabet
in small letters, and ten of the large, or capitals. With the assistance
of an old spelling-book, she made her companions arrange the words they
wanted to spell out of her wooden alphabets, and then showed them how
to make sentences. When they wished to play at this game, she placed
the children around her, and gave them a word to spell. If the word was
plum-pudding, the first brought the letter _p_, the second _i_, the
third _u_, the fourth _m_, and so on, till the whole was completed.

By this method, in a short time Margery