The Accidents of Youth: a 1819 Book About the Gory Consequences of Not Heeding Your Mom's Advice

Posted by Alex in Baby & Kids, Book & Lit on March 25, 2008 at 8:39 pm


The Accidents of Youth is a 1819 book of short stories to warn children of the dangerous temptations they should avoid and the gory consequences for not following their mother’s advice. Along with the text, there are several wonderful engravings to illustrate the situation.

This particular one is about the hazard of teasing a cat:

My mother used to say, ‘Simon, you will be bitten, or scratched, or get kicked;’ but I listened to nothing that she said, and continued to do as I pleased. I was soon punished, as you will hear.

"One of our neighbours had a Tom-Cat, whose whiskers were as long as my finger. I amused myself by pulling the hairs. &c.; for, as I have already told you, I was then as naughty as you are. My mother never ceased repeating to me, – ‘Simon, the cat will scratch you, if you do not let him alone.’ I took no notice of what she said, but went on my own way. One day, when the Tom-cat was in a worse humour than usual, and determined to defend his whiskers, he threw out his paw so nimbly, that he scratched me in the left eye, and burst it. Thus, for not having paid attention to the commands of my mother, God punished me with the loss of an eye.

Link [PDF] – via Internet Archive | More selection of fantastic children’s book from the Internet Archive at STWALLSKULL Blog


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13 comments to "The Accidents of Youth: a 1819 Book About the Gory Consequences of Not Heeding Your Mom's Advice"

  1. seekshelter
    March 25th, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    this made me think of the Struwwelpeter children's book:

    http://www.fln.vcu.edu/struwwel/struwwel.html

  2. bean
    March 25th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    Hehe... hairy palms.

  3. ted
    March 25th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    Wow, what a depressing book.

  4. oakling
    March 25th, 2008 at 9:46 pm

    AND BURST IT?!
    jesus. I don't even know where to start with this!

  5. Reechard
    March 25th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Awesome, I wish there were more illustrations in that book. Reminds me of Edward Gorey.

  6. roger
    March 26th, 2008 at 3:14 am

    Maybe we insulate our kids too much by pretending such things dont occur. Even very young children are naturally curious about the physical consequences of accidents, especially young boys, and do not shy away from the gory details. This book was written before medevac helicopters and safety-tested childrens toys, when minor cuts could lead to life-stopping infections. I can see the psychological risks of such frank descriptions, but I can't laugh the book off. There is some wisdom in it.

  7. CheeseDuck
    March 26th, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Ew.

  8. rhea_sun
    March 26th, 2008 at 10:21 am

    The cat in the illustration is creepy too.

  9. L
    March 26th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    I would have thought the cat would've gotten his right eye from that angle.

  10. reznicek111
    March 26th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    It's remarkably like Edward Gorey's "Gashlycrumb Tinies," without the humor!

  11. Stacy
    March 26th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    More like Gorey's illustrations for Hilaire Belloc's earlier "Cautionary Tales for Children".
    I've also seen a book like this published by the Children's Sunday School Association in the 1830s - one story, summed up, says "I fought with my brother. The next day he fell down a well, and my leg fell off."

  12. Ali S.
    March 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pm

    Hahaha! That cat sucker punched him. ;)

  13. Lesley
    March 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    And that's why you don't teach lessons to your son.


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