Stories for the Young; Or, Cheap Repository Tracts Entertaining, Moral, and Religious. Vol. VI.

"Stories for the Young; Or, Cheap Repository Tracts" by Hannah More is a collection of moral and religious tales written in the late 18th to early 19th century. This work aims to impart ethical lessons to children and young readers, utilizing engaging narratives filled with characters that often grapple with moral dilemmas. Through these stories, More not only entertains but also seeks to instill values such as honesty, responsibility, and spirituality. The opening portion initiates with a story about Black Giles the Poacher and his family, who live in a derelict cottage on the moors of Somersetshire. The text portrays Giles as a cunning character, teaching his children vagrant habits while resorting to theft and deceit instead of honest labor. Despite the father’s intent to lead a life of trickery, the narrative introduces the kind-hearted minister Mr. Wilson, who attempts to guide and uplift the children, particularly focusing on Dick, the least corrupted of Giles' offspring. The tale serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of moral neglect and the importance of virtuous living, setting the tone for the tracts that follow in the collection. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Hannah More was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet, and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at a school her father founded there and began writing plays. She became involved in the London literary elite and a leading Bluestocking member. Her later plays and poetry became more evangelical. She joined a group opposing the slave trade. In the 1790s she wrote Cheap Repository Tracts on moral, religious and political topics, to distribute to the literate poor. Meanwhile, she broadened her links with schools she and her sister Martha had founded in rural Somerset. These curbed their teaching of the poor, allowing limited reading but no writing. More was noted for her political conservatism, being described as an anti-feminist, a "counter-revolutionary", or a conservative feminist.