[Transcriber’s Note: The variable grammar and punctuation in
this file make it difficult to decide which errors are
archaic usage and which the printer’s fault. I have made
corrections only of what appeared obvious printer’s errors.
This eBook is taken from the 1883 1st edition.]
A CARD FROM THE AUTHOR.
Office of “Peck’s Sun,” Milwaukee, Feb., 1883.
Belford, Clarke & Co.:
Gents—If you have made up your minds that the world will
cease to move unless these “Bad Boy” articles are given to
the public in book form, why go ahead, and peace to your
ashes. The “Bad Boy” is not a “myth,” though there may be
some stretches of imagination in the articles. The
counterpart of this boy is located in every city, village
and country hamlet throughout the land. He is wide awake,
full of vinegar, and is ready to crawl under the canvas of a
circus or repeat a hundred verses of the New Testament in
Sunday School. He knows where every melon patch in the
neighborhood is located, and at what hours the dog is
chained up. He will tie an oyster can to a dog’s tail to
give the dog exercise, or will fight at the drop of the hat
to protect the smaller boy or a school girl. He gets in his
work everywhere there is a fair prospect of fun, and his
heart is easily touched by an appeal in the right way,
though his coat-tail is oftener touched with a boot than his
heart is by kindness. But he shuffles through life until the
time comes for him to make a mark in the world, and then he
buckles on the harness and goes to the front, and becomes
successful, and then those who said he would bring up in
State Prison, remember that he always was a mighty smart
lad, and they never tire of telling of some of his deviltry
when he was a boy, though they thought he was pretty tough
at the time. This book is respectfully dedicated to boys, to
the men who have been boys themselves, to the girls who like
the boys, and to the mothers, bless them, who like both the
boys and the girls,
Very respectfully,
GEO. W. PECK,
Contents
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