is new situation. He found his relative a
man of the most honorable character. Accommodations were procured for
him in a first-class boarding-house, where none but persons of the best
standing were admitted. And, whether owing to his attractions of mind or
person, the sterling worth of his character, or the independent position
of his family, or perhaps all these combined, he soon found himself an
object of marked interest and attention to all with whom he came in
contact.

[Illustration: _The Steamboat Trip Down the Mississippi._]

"Naturally of a social disposition, and disposed to look at everything
in the most favorable light, Jacob saw none of those vicious traits and
habits which he had been cautioned to shun.

"He did not partake of the mirthful spirit by which the unwary are
enticed into scenes of folly, neither did he deny himself innocent
recreations.

"And now to the unsophisticated youth, life presented the fairest
aspect. His religious duties were carefully attended to, and in the
faithful discharge of his business engagements no one could be more
careful and punctual. His evenings were devoted to the society of those
who were congenial to him. But it was not long before the hidden thorns
of the flowers that strewed his path began to make themselves felt, nor
was it without pain that conscience awoke him from the repose in which
he had been lulling himself.

"Among the many charming sojourners at the establishment in which he had
taken up his abode, was the family of a wealthy planter, who had come to
the city for the winter. Mr. and Mrs. De Veaux were a lively and
fashionable couple, and their children partook of the gay and careless
temperament of their parents.

"Isabel, the eldest, was now in her sixteenth year, and the faultless
beauty of her face and figure was only equaled by the child-like
sweetness of her disposition. She had been brought up without much
restriction or control, and now that she was entering society for the
first time, being gay, spirited, and witty, she flung herself into the
enjoyments of fashionable pleasure with all the zest of her nature.

"The winter glided along with its witching gayeties, and, though the
young Christian was never tempted to join the giddy multitude in their
unlawful pastimes, yet his views were more lax than they had been.

"With the hope of his presence having a restraining effect upon the fair
being who had touched the tenderest chords of his natu