{"product_id":"2940014464833","title":"The Story of a Bad Boy","description":"Chapter One--In Which I Introduce Myself\u003cbr\u003eThis is the story of a bad boy. Well, not such a very bad, but a\u003cbr\u003epretty\u003cbr\u003ebad boy; and I ought to know, for I am, or rather I was, that boy\u003cbr\u003emyself.\u003cbr\u003eLest the title should mislead the reader, I hasten to assure him here\u003cbr\u003ethat I have no dark confessions to make. I call my story the story of\u003cbr\u003ea bad boy, partly to distinguish myself from those faultless young\u003cbr\u003egentlemen who generally figure in narratives of this kind, and partly\u003cbr\u003ebecause I really was not a cherub. I may truthfully say I was an\u003cbr\u003eamiable, impulsive lad, blessed with fine digestive powers, and no\u003cbr\u003ehypocrite. I didn't want to be an angel and with the angels stand; I\u003cbr\u003edidn't think the missionary tracts presented to me by the Rev. Wibird\u003cbr\u003eHawkins were half so nice as Robinson Crusoe; and I didn't send my\u003cbr\u003elittle pocket-money to the natives of the Feejee Islands, but spent\u003cbr\u003eit royally in peppermint-drops and taffy candy. In short, I was a real\u003cbr\u003ehuman boy, such as you may meet anywhere in New England, and no more\u003cbr\u003elike the impossible boy in a storybook than a sound orange is like one\u003cbr\u003ethat has been sucked dry. But let us begin at the beginning.\u003cbr\u003eWhenever a new scholar came to our school, I used to confront him at\u003cbr\u003erecess with the following words: \"My name's Tom Bailey; what's your\u003cbr\u003ename?\" If the name struck me favorably, I shook hands with the new\u003cbr\u003epupil cordially; but if it didn't, I would turn on my heel, for I was\u003cbr\u003eparticular on this point. Such names as Higgins, Wiggins, and\u003cbr\u003eSpriggins\u003cbr\u003ewere deadly affronts to my ear; while Langdon, Wallace, Blake, and the\u003cbr\u003elike, were passwords to my confidence and esteem.\u003cbr\u003eAh me! some of those dear fellows are rather elderly boys by this\u003cbr\u003etime--lawyers, merchants, sea-captains, soldiers, authors, what not?\u003cbr\u003ePhil\u003cbr\u003eAdams (a special good name that Adams) is consul at Shanghai, where I\u003cbr\u003epicture him to myself with his head closely shaved--he never had too\u003cbr\u003emuch\u003cbr\u003ehair--and a long pigtail banging down behind. He is married, I hear;\u003cbr\u003eand I hope he and she that was Miss Wang Wang are very happy together,\u003cbr\u003esitting cross-legged over their diminutive cups of tea in a skyblue\u003cbr\u003ePage 1\u003cbr\u003eThe Story of a Bad Boy\u003cbr\u003etower hung with bells. It is so I think of him; to me he is henceforth\u003cbr\u003ea jewelled mandarin, talking nothing but broken China. Whitcomb is a\u003cbr\u003ejudge, sedate and wise, with spectacles balanced on the bridge of that\u003cbr\u003eremarkable nose which, in former days, was so plentifully sprinkled\u003cbr\u003ewith\u003cbr\u003efreckles that the boys christened him Pepper Whitcomb. Just to think\u003cbr\u003eof little Pepper Whitcomb being a judge! What would he do to me now, I\u003cbr\u003ewonder, if I were to sing out \"Pepper!\" some day in court? Fred\u003cbr\u003eLangdon\u003cbr\u003eis in California, in the native-wine business--he used to make the\u003cbr\u003ebest\u003cbr\u003elicorice-water I ever tasted! Binny Wallace sleeps in the Old South\u003cbr\u003eBurying-Ground; and Jack Harris, too, is dead--Harris, who commanded\u003cbr\u003eus\u003cbr\u003eboys, of old, in the famous snow-ball battles of Slatter's Hill. Was\u003cbr\u003eit\u003cbr\u003eyesterday I saw him at the head of his regiment on its way to join the\u003cbr\u003eshattered Army of the Potomac? Not yesterday, but six years ago. It\u003cbr\u003ewas\u003cbr\u003eat the battle of the Seven Pines. Gallant Jack Harris, that never drew\u003cbr\u003erein until he had dashed into the Rebel battery! So they found\u003cbr\u003ehim--lying\u003cbr\u003eacross the enemy's guns.\u003cbr\u003eHow we have parted, and wandered, and married, and died! I wonder what\u003cbr\u003ehas become of all the boys who went to the Temple Grammar School at\u003cbr\u003eRivermouth when I was a youngster? \"All, all are gone, the old\u003cbr\u003efamiliar\u003cbr\u003efaces!\"\u003cbr\u003eIt is with no ungentle hand I summon them back, for a moment, from\u003cbr\u003ethat\u003cbr\u003ePast which has closed upon them and upon me. How pleasantly they live\u003cbr\u003eagain in my memory! Happy, magical Past, in whose fairy atmosphere\u003cbr\u003eeven\u003cbr\u003eConway, mine ancient foe, stands forth transfigured, with a sort of\u003cbr\u003edreamy glory encircling his bright red hair!\u003cbr\u003eWith the old school formula I commence these sketches of my boyhood.\u003cbr\u003eMy\u003cbr\u003ename is Tom Bailey; what is yours, gentle reader? I take for granted\u003cbr\u003eit is neither Wiggins nor Spriggins, and that we shall get on famously\u003cbr\u003etogether, and be capital friends forever.\u003cbr\u003eChapter Two--In Which I Entertain Peculiar Views\u003cbr\u003eI was born at Rivermouth, but, before I had a chance to become very\u003cbr\u003ewell\u003cbr\u003ePage 2\u003cbr\u003eThe Story of a Bad Boy\u003cbr\u003eacquainted with that pretty New England town, my parents removed to\u003cbr\u003eNew\u003cbr\u003eOrleans, where my father invested his money so securely in the banking\u003cbr\u003ebusiness that he was never able to get any of it out again. But of\u003cbr\u003ethis\u003cbr\u003ehereafter.\u003cbr\u003eI was only eighteen months old at the time of the removal, and it\u003cbr\u003edidn't\u003cbr\u003emake much difference to me where I was, because I was so small; but\u003cbr\u003eseveral years later, when my father proposed to take me North to be\u003cbr\u003eeducated, I ...","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47183310553328,"sku":"2940014464833","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014464833_p0.jpg?v=1763609070","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014464833","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}