"Who is it?" asked Mrs. Lewis.
"A gentleman who wishes to see Mr. James," replied the girl.
James rose instantly and went out into the hall, shutting the dining-room door as he did so. Mrs. Lewis sat waiting her son"s return.
She heard him coming back in a few moments; but he did not enter the dining-room. Then he returned along the hall to the street door, and she heard it shut. All was silent. Starting up, she ran into the pa.s.sage, but James was not there. He had gone away with the person who called.
Ah, that was a sad home leaving. Mr. Carman had spent half the night in examining the accounts that had been kept by James. He discovered frauds of over six thousand dollars. Blindly indignant, he had sent an officer to arrest him early in the morning. It was with this officer that he went away from his mother, _never to return_.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Arrest of James_]
"The young villain shall lie in the bed he has made for himself!"
exclaimed Mr. Carman, in his bitter indignation. And he made a complete exposure. At the trial he showed an eager desire to have him convicted, and presented such an array of evidence that the jury could not give any other verdict than guilty.
The poor mother was in court, and sobbed as she heard the evidences of the guilt of her son. The presiding judge addressed the culprit, and asked if he had anything to say why sentence should not be p.r.o.nounced against him. The prisoner arose, and said:
[Ill.u.s.tration: "_I went into that man"s store an innocent boy_."]
"Will it please your honor to ask my prosecutor to come a little nearer, so that I can look at him and your honor at the same time?"
Mr. Carman was directed to come forward. James looked at him a few moments, and turned to the judge.
"What I have to say to your honor is this" (he spoke calmly and distinctly), "and it may, in a degree, excuse, though it cannot justify, my crime. I went into that man"s store an innocent boy. If he had been an honest man, I would not stand before you to-day as a criminal!"
Mr. Carman appealed to the court for protection against that which he called an outrageous attack upon his character; but he was ordered to be silent. James went on in a firm voice:--
"Only a few weeks after I began work in this man"s store, I examined a bill, by his direction, and discovered an error of twenty dollars."
The face of Mr. Carman was crimson.
"You remember it, I see," said James, "and I shall have cause to remember it as long as I live. I asked if I should correct the figures, and you answered:--
""No; let them correct their own mistakes. We don"t examine bills for other people"s benefit."
"It was my first lesson in dishonesty. I saw the bill settled, and Mr.
Carman took twenty dollars that was not his own. I felt shocked at first. It seemed such a wrong thing. But soon after this, he called me a simpleton for handing back a fifty-dollar bill to the teller of a bank, which he had overpaid me on a check, and then"--
"May I ask the protection of the court?" said Mr. Carman.
"Is the story of the lad true?" asked the judge.
Mr. Carman looked confused. All felt certain that he was guilty of leading the unhappy young man astray.
"Not long afterward," resumed the young man, "in receiving my wages, I found that Mr. Carman had paid me fifty cents too much. I was about to give it back to him, when I remembered his remark about letting people correct their own mistakes, and I said to myself, "let him discover and correct his own errors." Then I dishonestly kept the money.
"Again the same thing happened, and again I kept the money that did not belong to me. This was the beginning of evil, and here I am. If he had shown any mercy to me, I might have kept silent and made no defense."
The young man covered his face with his hands, and sat down overpowered with his feelings. His mother who was near him, sobbed aloud, and bending over, laid her hands on his head. "My poor boy! my poor boy!"
she murmured.
There were few undimmed eyes in the court-room. In the silence that followed, Mr. Carman exclaimed:--
"Is my character to be thus blasted on the word of a criminal, your honor? Is this right?"
"Your solemn oath that this charge is untrue," said the judge, "will clear your reputation in the eyes of the people."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "_Let him take his oath if he dare!_"]
At these words, James Lewis stood up again instantly. It was the unhappy boy"s only opportunity, and the court felt bound in humanity to hear him. Turning his eyes upon Mr. Carman, he exclaimed:--
"Let him take his oath if he dare!"
Mr. Carman consulted with his counsel, and withdrew.
The judge then arose to pa.s.s sentence.
"In consideration of your youth, and the temptation to which in tender years you were subjected, the court gives you the lightest sentence,--one year"s imprisonment. But let me solemnly warn you against any further steps in the way you have taken. Crime can have no valid excuse. It is evil in the sight of G.o.d and man, and leads only to suffering. When you come forth again after your imprisonment, may it be with the resolution to die rather than commit crime!"
A year afterward, when James Lewis came from prison, his mother was dead. From the day her pale face faded from his vision as he pa.s.sed from the court-room, he never saw her again.
Ten years thereafter a man was reading a newspaper in a far Western town. He had a calm, serious face, and looked like one who had known suffering and trial.
"Brought to justice at last!" he said to himself, with deep emotion.
"Convicted on the charge of open insolvency, and sent to state prison.
So much for the man who gave me in tender years the first lessons in wrong-doing. But thank G.o.d! another lesson,--the words of the judge, spoken to me so many years ago,--have been remembered. "When you come forth again, may it be with the resolution to die rather than commit crime!" and I have kept these words in my heart when there seemed no way of escaping except through crime. And G.o.d helping me, I will remember them as long as I live."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "_Is your boy sick? He was not in school to-day."_]
"A PICTURE OF G.o.d."
It is fairly pathetic what a stranger G.o.d is in His own world. He comes to His own, and they who are His own kinsfolk keep Him standing outside the door while they peer suspiciously at Him through the crack at the hinges.
To know G.o.d really, truly, is the beginning of a normal life. One of the best pictures of G.o.d that I ever saw came to me in a simple story. It was of a man, a minister, who lived in a New England town, who had a son, about fourteen years of age, going to school. One afternoon the boy"s teacher called at the home, and asked for the father, and said:--
"Is your boy sick?"
"No. Why?"
"He was not at school to-day."
"Is that so?"
"Nor yesterday."
"You don"t mean it!"