Proud and Lazy: A Story for Little Folks

AUTHOR OF THE BOAT CLUB, ALL ABOARD, NOW OR NEVER, TRY AGAIN, POOR AND PROUD, THE WOODVILLE STORIES, ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Tommy Woggs was a funny little boy. He was very proud and very lazy. He seemed to think he was a great man, and that other people lived only to serve and obey him.
None of the boys and girls liked him, because he used to order them round, and because he thought himself so much better than they were.
Tommy's father was a doctor, and a rich man. He could afford to have servants to wait upon his son, but he was not quite rich enough to spoil the child by letting him do as he pleased.
There are some things that wealth cannot purchase. It will not buy wisdom, for all the money in the world would not teach a person even to perform a simple question in arithmetic.
It will not buy the love and respect of others. Many rich men are hated and despised by nearly all who know them.
So Tommy's father could not buy an education for his son, nor would wealth win for him the esteem of his companions. He must study like the children of poor people if he wanted to be wise; and he must treat them well, in order to obtain their good will.
Tommy did not like to study, and he did like to command others. He wished every body to think that he was better than they, because he had been to New York, and because his father was rich.
Children are just like men and women. They always find out the really good boys and girls, and love and respect them. And they never think much of those who think too much of themselves.
When Tommy was eight years old, his father sent him to the village school. It was a public school, and it was the best in the town. He had learned his letters at home, and was able to read a very little.