not need to be urged, but, after pausing a moment to collect her
thoughts, began as follows:--

"Jacob Wise was the son of a near neighbor when I was a happy wife in my
Western home. His father was a plain, practical man, respected for his
uprightness, good sense, and piety; and he brought up his son in his own
sound principles, at the same time giving him all the education that was
within his reach.

"When Jacob was about fourteen years of age, he was sent to Louisville
for the benefit of a year's instruction in a large school there.

"There were, also, other sons and daughters around his father's hearth.
It therefore appeared expedient that Jacob should be allowed to develop
his taste for commercial pursuits.

"The first circumstances of any note, that I remember, which
particularly marked his character, occurred at the time of his first
practical acquaintance with business.

"While in Louisville, he received much attention from the family of a
wealthy man who kept a large store in the city; and when, at the close
of his school term, he was offered a place behind the counter of his
friend, he found no difficulty in obtaining his father's permission to
accept of it.

"The merchant, Mr. Rankin, was a smooth, bland, good-tempered man, and
in his intercourse with the world maintained outwardly a fair and honest
character.

"But Jacob had not been many weeks in intimate connection with him
before he discovered that his dealings were not all conducted with
scrupulous adherence to divine law; neither was a conscientious regard
to his neighbor's interests a very deep-seated principle. This caused
the lad much uneasiness; and a feeling of nervous disquiet took
possession of the hitherto happy boy.

"He hesitated as to which was the more honorable course: to obey his
employer without question, or to sacrifice his own ideas of strict
integrity.

"But he was not long left in doubt. One day a carriage drove to the
door, and a richly dressed lady entered the store, and asked to be shown
some children's necklaces. Jacob, who attended in that department, was
proceeding to wait on her, when Mr. Rankin came forward smiling, and
with the ease and courtesy for which he was noted, took the lad's place,
and spread before the lady an assortment of glittering trinkets which,
judging from her gay appearance, he knew would please her eye.

[Illustration: "_To all this Jacob listened with grief and
astonishment_."]

"An animated