Irish Americans -- Juvenile fiction; Mothers and sons -- Juvenile fiction; Poor -- Juvenile fiction; Widows -- Juvenile fiction
"Five dollars in the bank!" exclaimed the widow. She was surrounded by
her eldest four sons, for it was seven o'clock in the morning. "Two
years we've been in town, and them two years has put all four of you
where I'm proud of you. All four of you has sat in the father's chair
for good deeds done. What I'm thinkin' is, will Barney and Tommie and
Larry sit there, too, when their turn comes?"
"They will that!" declared Jim with authority.
"Of course they will, mother," encouraged Pat.
"They are father's boys, too," said Andy.
"And _your_ boys, mother. Where else would your boys sit?" asked
Mike.
And then the widow smiled. "I belave you'll ivery wan of you come to
good," she said. "There's small bad ahead of b'ys that has a bit of
heartsome blarney for their mother, and love in their eyes to back their
words. Some has farms and money. But if any one would be tellin' of my
riches, sure all they've got to say is, 'The Widow O'Callaghan's b'ys.'"
THE END.
_Good Reasons for the Popularity of_
THE
Widow O'Callaghan's Boys
It has succeeded by its own sterling merit and without the assistance of
exaggerated advertising, and a popularity of this kind is always
permanent. The charm of the book lies in the human interest of the
sympathetically told story; its value in the excellent lessons that are
suggested to the youthful mind in the most unobtrusive manner. Nothing
is so distasteful to a healthy youngster as an overdose of obvious moral
suasion in his fiction.
EXPERT TESTIMONY
_Principal Ferris, of the Ferris Institute, Michigan, expresses
somewhat the same idea in a letter to the publishers_: "I bought the
book and read it myself, then read it to my ten-year-old boy. He was
captivated. I then tried it on my school of 600 students--relatively
mature people. They were delighted. 'Widow O'Callaghan's Boys' is an
exceptional book. It is entirely free from the weaknesses of the
ordinary Sunday school book. The methods used by the Widow O'Callaghan
in training her boys are good methods for training boys in the school
room. The truth of the matter is the book contains first-class pedagogy.
There are comparatively few first-class juvenile books. 'Widow
O'Callaghan's Boys' is a jewel. It is worthy of being classed as
first-class literature."
A.C. McCLURG & CO. PUBLISHERS
_Newspaper Opinions of_
The Widow O'Callaghan's Boys
"It is a story of sturdy, level-headed effort to meet the world on its
own rather severe terms, and to win from it success and progress. No
strokes of miraculous good luck befall these young heroes of peace; but
they deserve what they gain, and the story is told so simply, and yet
with so much originality, that it is quite as interesting reading as are
the tales where success is won by more sensational methods. The good
sense, courage, and tact of the widow herself ought to afford
inspiration to many mothers apparently more fortunately situated. It is
a book to be heartily commended."--_Christian Register_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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