ly. From the moment I took the young bird in my
hand, all my scruples were gone, and after that it was one of my
greatest pleasures to rob birds' nests, and to kill the older birds with
stones. My dog Rover, who is no doubt as well remembered as myself, was
given me by Mr. Acres, and I was, moreover, encouraged by that
individual to make Rover fight, and to fight myself, whenever it came in
the way. Had he discouraged this in me; had he told me that fighting was
wrong, his precept for good would have been as powerful as his precept
for evil. He was kind to me, and had gained my entire confidence, and
could have made almost any thing of me. My cruel, tyrannizing temper,
thus encouraged, grew rapidly, until at last I took no delight in any
good. Finally expelled from the Sabbath-school, and persecuted for my
ill-behaviour and annoyance of almost every one, I became reckless, and
finally left this neighbourhood. Five or six years of evil brought me at
last into a strait. I could not gain even a common livelihood. I must
starve or beg. In this state I thought of my corrupter--of the man who
had been the cause of my wretchedness, and I resolved that he should, at
least, pay some small penalty for what he had done. In a word, I
resolved to rob him--and did so. And now I stand here to await the
sentence of the law for this crime."

The prisoner then suffered his head to fall upon his bosom, and sank
slowly into the seat from which he had arisen. A profound and oppressive
silence reigned through the court-room, broken at last by the judge, who
said--

"Richard Lawson, _alias_ Frederick Hildich, stand up, and receive the
sentence of the law."

The prisoner arose, and looked the judge steadily in the face, while a
sentence of imprisonment in the penitentiary for three years was
pronounced upon him in a voice of assumed sternness.

When the unfortunate man was removed by an officer, the crowd slowly
withdrew, conversing in low, subdued voices, and Mr. Acres turned his
step homeward, the unhappiest man of all who had stood that day in the
presence of offended justice.

And here we must leave the parties most concerned in the events of our
brief story--Richard Lawson to fill up the term of his imprisonment in
the penitentiary; and Mr. Acres to muse, in painful abstraction, over
the ruin his thoughtlessness had wrought--the ruin of an immortal
soul--the corruption of a fellow creature, born to become an angel of
heaven, but cha