th that doeth good and sinneth not.
It is good for a man he beareth the yoke in youth.'

"It is sympathy in this world that must reclaim the fallen. It is
sympathy in the return of the erring that must reunite families and heal
the mother's sorrow for him who has wandered from the fireside and, like
the prodigal, returns to be elevated to a life that might been have
wasted had not the father's love prevailed to welcome his return.

"If this world is to be bettered, if the children of men are to be
uplifted, it must be by a love that is as strong as that of the father
for the son, the mother for her children.

"Young man, if you have wandered from home, if you have felt you were
abused, return to your family, start life over, reconcile yourself to
what you may have imagined were wrongs. If they have wronged you, their
love, won by your obedience, will atone for all. If you have wronged
anyone, make amends.

"Fathers, mothers, friends, stretch out your right hands for the
salvation and preservation of our young men, for in their hands lies the
greatness of the future."

The river was low, the boats were not running. The next morning a train
bore Alfred to Layton Station on the Youghiogheny. A stage coach landed
him at the door of his father's home in the middle of the afternoon.
There never before was the happiness in Alfred's heart that filled it on
his home coming. The father was proud of his boy, the mother overwhelmed
with her emotions. The children clung to him as though they feared he
would fly away from them. Lin baked and cooked as she never had before.

When it became known that Alfred had laid one hundred dollars in his
mother's hand and that he "hed plenty more," as Lin informed all, the
boy could feel a difference in the atmosphere when he mingled with the
people of the town.

Cousin Charley and Alfred hired a horse and buggy and drove out to
Merrittstown, passing the Thornton home, the old mill, the dam and the
home of the Youngs. The blind musicians were paid the five dollars yet
due with five dollars added for interest.

There was only one incident that marred the happy home-coming. Alfred
licked Morgan, Eli's agent. Eli was a very ill man; his excesses had
brought him near death's door. Alfred forgot the past and no more
attentive friend had Eli in his last illness.

The fight with Morgan was regrettable but, as Lin expressed it: "Hit let
the kat outen the bag an' klarified matters in general an'