rough independence in regard to the opinion of
others.

This man, who had first thrown temptation into the lad's way, and
encouraged him to persevere in a conduct which nearly all condemned, was
not a wilfully bad man. By most people he was called a good-hearted,
benevolent person. The truth was, he was not a wise man. When young, he
had indulged in such amusements as catching young birds, fighting dogs
and cocks, and attending horse-races, and all the exciting scenes to
which he could get access. But none of these things corrupted him so far
as to make him a decidedly bad man in the community. As he grew up, he
gradually laid aside his boyish follies; saved up his money; bought
himself a small farm, and, in time, became quite a substantial man, so
far as worldly goods were concerned.

Contrasted with himself were several lads whose parents had been
exceedingly strict with them, and who had, as they grew up, shaken off
the trammels of childhood and youth, run into wild extravagances of
conduct, and some into wicked and vicious habits, from which they were
never reclaimed. Comparing his own case with theirs, his short-sighted
conclusion was that boys ought to be allowed as much freedom as
possible, and this was why he encouraged Dick, who was an exceedingly
bright lad, in the course he had been so willing to pursue. He knew
nothing at all of the different hereditary tendencies to evil that exist
in the mind. His observation had never led him to see how two persons,
raised in precisely the same manner, would turn out very
differently--the one proving a good, and the other a bad citizen. His
knowledge of human nature, therefore, never for a moment caused him to
suspect, that in encouraging a feeling of cruelty in Dick Lawson, he
might be only putting blood upon the tongue of a young lion--that there
might be in his mind hereditary tendencies to evil, which encouragement
to rob a bird's nest, or to set two dogs to fighting, by one occupying
his position and influence, might cause to become so active as to
ultimately make him a curse to society.

And such, in a year or two, Dick seemed becoming. He had in that time,
although but fourteen years of age, got almost beyond his mother's
control. His dog and himself were the terror of nearly all the dogs and
boys in the neighbourhood, for both were surly, quarrelsome, and
tyrannical. Even Mr. Acres had found it necessary to forbid him to
appear on his premises. Rover having tem