e body, then stimulate the ambition; and when you have
got the ambition right, seek a knowledge of the heart, and apply to it
those mild and judicious remedies which soften its action, and give life
to new thoughts and a higher state of existence. Once create the vine of
moral rectitude, and its branches will soon get where they can take care
of themselves. But to give the vine creation in poor soil, your watching
must exhibit forbearance, and your care a delicate hand. The
stubbornly-inclined nature, when coupled with ignorance, is that in
which vice takes deepest root, as it is, when educated, that against
which vice is least effectual. To think of changing the natural
inclination of such natures with punishment, or harsh correctives, is as
useless as would be an attempt to stop the ebbing and flowing of the
tide. You must nurture the feelings, he thought, create a
susceptibility, get the heart right, by holding out the value of a
better state of things, and make the head to feel that you are sincere
in your work of love; and, above all, you must not forget the stomach,
for if that go empty crime will surely creep into the head. You cannot
correct moral infirmity by confining the victim of it among criminals,
for no greater punishment can be inflicted on the feelings of man; and
punishment destroys rather than encourages the latent susceptibility of
our better nature. In nine cases out of ten, improper punishment makes
the hardened criminals with which your prisons are filled, destroying
forever that spark of ambition which might have been fostered into a
means to higher ends.

And as the young man thus muses, there recurs to his mind the picture of
old Absalom McArthur, a curious old man, but excessively kind, and
always ready to do "a bit of a good turn for one in need," as he would
say when a needy friend sought his assistance. McArthur is a dealer in
curiosities, is a venerable curiosity himself, and has always something
on hand to meet the wants of a community much given to antiquity and
broken reputations.

The young theologian will seek this good old man. He feels that time
will work a favorable revolution in the feelings of Tom's mother; and to
be prepared for that happy event he will plead a shelter for him under
McArthur's roof.

And now, generous reader, we will, with your permission, permit him to
go on his errand of mercy, while we go back and see how Tom prospers at
the old prison. You, we well know,