o reclaim them. But now about your own
prospects; I think you should go and see your family as soon as your
health permits you."

"I would give my right hand," replied Jemmy, "just to see them, if it
was only for five minutes: but I cannot go. I vowed that I would never
enter my native parish until I should become a Catholic clergyman. I
vowed that, sir, to God--and with his assistance I will keep my vow."

"Well," said the curate, "you are right. And now lot me give you a
little advice. In the first place, learn to speak as correctly as you
can; lay aside the vulgarisms of conversation peculiar to the common
people; and speak precisely as you would write. By the by, you acquitted
yourself to admiration with the Colonel. A little stumbling there was in
the beginning; but you got over it. You see, James, the force of truth
and simplicity. I could scarcely restrain my tears while you spoke."

"If I had not been in earnest, sir, I could never have spoken as I did."

"You never could. Truth, James, is the foundation of all eloquence; he
who knowingly speaks what is not true, may dazzle and perplex; but he
will never touch with that power and pathos which spring from truth.
Fiction is successful only by borrowing her habiliments. Now, James, for
a little more advice. Don't let the idea of having been a poor scholar
deprive you of self-respect; neither let your unexpected turn of fortune
cause you to forget what you have suffered. Hold a middle course; be
firm and independent; without servility on the one hand, or vanity on
the other. You have also too much good sense, and, I hope, too much
religion, to ascribe what this day has brought forth in your behalf, to
any other cause than God. It has pleased him to raise you from misery to
ease and comfort; to him, therefore, be it referred, and to him be your
thanks and prayers directed. You owe him much, for you now can perceive
the value of what he has done for you! May his name be blessed!"

Jemmy was deeply affected by the kindness of his friend, for such, in
friendship's truest sense, was he to him. He expressed, the obligations
which he owed him, and promised to follow the excellent advice he had
just received.

The schoolmaster's conduct to the poor scholar had, before the close
of the day on which it occurred, been known through the parish. Thady
O'Rorke, who had but just recovered from the epidemic, felt so bitterly
exasperated at the outrage, that he brought his fath