Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, PM Childrens Library, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. CHARLES DURAN: OR, THE CAREER OF A BAD BOY. BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE WALDOS." [Illustration: CHARLES ON HIS DEATH BED.--SEE PAGE 52.] New-York: PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by LANE & SCOTT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I THE HOMESTEAD. The house--Court-yards--Garden--The well--"Oaken bucket"--The fields--Flocks--River--Fish--Forest--Church CHAPTER II. THE BIRTH OF CHARLES. Effects on the parents--The Joneses--Parental expectations--An instance of disappointment--Ann's prophecy CHAPTER III. HIS EARLY TRAINING. Opinions--The Durans indulgent--The sulks--They produce blindness--"I will"--"I won't"--Faults of parents CHAPTER IV. CHARLES DURAN AT SCHOOL. Good children at home are good in school--Conduct--Inattention to studies--Unkind to his school-mates--Samuel Howard--Helen Fay--John and Louisa--Severe whipping--Mr. Spicer--Charles expelled from school CHAPTER V. CHARLES'S HABITS. Good habits--Proverbs of the Rabbins--Charles not improved--Idleness--Fishing and hunting--No idle boy can be good--Shooting--Roughness of manners--One vice is followed by another--Lying--Sabbath-breaking--Intemperance--A standard of wickedness CHAPTER VI. THE FATAL NIGHT. Village balls--Description--Culpability of parents--Demand for money--Fit--House stoned--Windows broken in--Mr. Duran with the bag--Charles's wrath appeased--The ball--Charles intoxicated--Falls to the floor--Brought home speechless--Laid upon his death-bed CHAPTER VII SICKNESS AND DEATH. Sufferings from the debauch--Crisis--Favorable change--Hopes of recovery cut off--Consumption--Contrivance to change his position--State of mind--The minister visits him--No evidence of penitence--The dying scene CHAPTER VIII. THE CONCLUSION. The way of transgressors hard--Disobedience to parents a fearful sin--Parental restraint--Pleasures of parental approbation--Disobedience in scholars--Reflections--Sporting habits in children not to be encouraged--Importance of early religious training--History of young Duran a warning to Sabbath-breakers, &c.--Beware of the first sin--The End CHARLES DURAN. CHAPTER I. THE DURAN HOMESTEAD. Before giving the history of Charles Duran's birth, life, and early death, I will partially describe his father's residence. It was situated in the town of ----, in the State of Connecticut, and about six miles from the west bank of the beautiful Connecticut river. The house stood on a level road, running north and south, and was about one mile from the centre of the town.