LITTLE GOODY TWO SHOES by John Newbery (adapted version)

Page I
All the world must know that Two Shoes was not her real name. No; her father's name was Meanwell, and he was for many years a well-to-do farmer.
While Margery (for that was her real name) was yet a little girl her father became very poor. He was so poor that at last he and Margery's mother and Margery and her little brother were all turned out of doors. They did not have a roof to cover their heads.
Margery's father felt so unhappy that at last he died, and only a few days later Margery's mother died too. Poor little Margery and her brother were left alone in the wide world.
Their sorrow would have made you pity them, but it would have done your heart good to see how fond they were of each other. They always went about hand in hand, and when you saw one you were sure to see the other.
Look at them in the picture.

They were both very ragged, and though Tommy had two shoes, Margery had but one.
They had nothing, poor little things, to live upon but what kind people gave to them. Each night they lay on the hay in just such a bar as you see here.

Page II
Mr. Smith was a very good man who lived in the town where little Margery and Tommy were born. Although he was a very poor man, he took the children home to live with him.
"They shall not want for food nor for a bed to sleep in while I live," he said.
Mr. Smith had a friend who was a very wealthy man. When he heard the story about Margery and Tommy, this man gave Mr. Smith some money to buy little Margery a new pair of shoes and Tommy a new suit of clothes. Can you see Tommy in the picture wearing his new clothes?

The gentleman who had given the money for Margery's new shoes and Tommy's new clothes wished to take Tommy with him to London to make a sailor of him.
When the time came for Tommy to go, both children began to cry. They kissed each other a hundred times. At last Tommy wiped away Margery's tears and said:
"Don't cry, little sister, for I will come home to you again and bring you beautiful clothes and much money."
That night Margery went to bed weeping for her dear little brother. It was the first time they had ever been parted.
The next morning the shoemaker came in with Margery's new shoes. She put them on in great glee and ran out to Mrs. Smith crying. "Two shoes, two shoes. See goody two shoes!" This she did to all the people she met, so that soon she was known far and wide as Goody Two Shoes.

	Would you like to continue reading?	http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15659/15659-h/15659-h.htm
		http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/457Goody.htm