HEEDLESS HARRY’S DAY OF DISASTERS.

8vo, [25 x 17cm]; hand coloured wood-engraved plates and test illustrations; original white paper covers printed in red and dark blue with a pictorial design including a child with plumed hat riding a donkey and the title 'Fun for Little Folks' signed by [Edward] Calvert.

Heedless Harry, the story is at pains to to state, 'was a kind, good-natured boy, and always ready to share his cake or an apple with his playfellows.' Unfortunately although he was good and kind in every way, and had never ever told a lie he had a fault: 'Well, what do you think this fault was which Harry had? I will tell you: he was very wild and thoughtless.'

Harry is given a letter by his father to invite some of Harry's cousins over to spend the day. Harry is nicely dressed and instead of taking the clean country lane he is distracted by some boys and pushing through a hedge is up to his knees in a muddy swamp, various other calamities befall Harry, he looses his knife, almost breaks his neck falling out of a tree, chases a butterfly and eventually arrives near sunset at his uncle's house both hungry and tired and looking something of a mess. He stays the night and returns home and a similar number of distractions and accidents befall poor Harry and when ay last he arrives home he is in a rather pitiful state.

The moral of the tale is to 'recollect that a steady course is the only one which can bring them to a safe and comfortable end, and the dangers beset the good as well as the bad.' A few more salutary examples are given to drive the point home. These include a boy leaving the canary out of the cage to return to the room to find a cat and a few feathers; a young man 'in the adjoining street' who pointed a gun at his sister and accidentally killed her; a girl whose dress catches fire and is killed; and a child thoughtlessly drinking from the spout of a kettle and so is scalded to death. The tailpiece encapsulates the idea of being 'wild and thoughtless' by showing a lad falling from a window below which are some pointy railings. Darton H703.