The article focuses on three Lithuanian didactic stories of the 19th c. These are Jan Chodzka’s story “Jonas iš Svisločės” (1823) translated by Juozapas Rupeika, Petras Gomaliauskis’ (Gomalevskis) “Aplankymas Seniuko dėl brolių Žemaičių ir Lietuvių” (1853) and Juozapas Silvestras Dovydaitis’ “Šiaulėmiškis senelis”. The latter is the major work of didactic prose of the 19th century. The author of the article attempts to reveal how children are depicted in the above stories, the way their portraits are created, what similarities and differences in children depiction emerge in different stories. The most vivid children’s portraits in the Lithuanian didactic prose of the 19th century are found in Motiejus Valančius’ collections of stories. However, the analysed didactic stories also have colourful, valuable pages depicting children and childhood. The most vivid portraits are found in Petras Gomuliauskis’ story “Marikė” and Juozapas Silvestras Dovydaitis’ story called “Raudnosis”. These stories depict a rather thorough portrait of children, their families and the surrounding environment. In all the discussed stories, group portraying of children is important. It is here that picturesque descriptions having the aura of the authentic Lithuanian village of the 19th century could be found. In built-in stories or separate episodes the portraits of children are not explicated, they are episodic, more of a sketch type, serving to demonstrate or prove a didactic statement, demonstrate a moral, or prove something. The stories analysed in the article provided vivid descriptions on the early stages of the Lithuanian literature, what allows speaking about the 19th century didactic prose as the source of the Lithuanian children literature
