this man Morgan?"

"I don't like him. I'm used to him."

"And you don't like the idea of his being arrested through your
means?"

Julius nodded.

"I know how you feel, but I don't see how it can be helped. If he
didn't rob us he would rob somebody else. Did he ever do any honest
work?"

"Not as I knows on."

"How does he live?"

"By stealin' and gamblin'."

"I hope he won't teach you to follow his example, Julius."

"I don't want to be like him."

"Why not?"

"I want to be respectable, like you."

"You know it's wrong to steal."

"Yes," said Julius, but without any great depth of conviction. The
fact is, stealing was too familiar to his observation to excite in him
detestation or horror. But he was a sharp boy. He knew that his
guardian for the last five years had spent more than half the time in
confinement. Even when free he lived from hand to mouth. Julius had
made up his mind that it did not pay. He saw that an honest mechanic
got a good deal more comfort and enjoyment out of life than Jack, and
he had a vague wish to become respectable. This was encouraging, as
far as it went. Higher considerations might come by and by.

"If you want to be respectable, Julius, I'll help you," said Paul.

"Will you?" said Julius.

"Yes; you are doing me a great favor. I shall be in your debt, and
that's the way I will pay you. You mustn't grow up like the man you
live with."

"I don't want to."

"We'll talk about that after Monday. We shall have more time then."

"Shall I come up to-night, then?"

"Yes, come."

Julius strolled away with his blacking-box, and Paul was left to his
reflections.

"He'll make a good boy if he's only encouraged," said Paul to himself.
"I don't know what would have become of me if I'd been brought up by
burglars like him. There's nothing like having a good mother. There
ain't any excuse for a boy going wrong if he's got a good mother."

Paul was right. Our destinies are decided more than we know by
circumstances. If the street boys, brought up to a familiarity with
poverty, and often with vice and crime, go astray, we should pity as
well as condemn, and if we have it in our power to make the conditions
of life more favorable for any, it is our duty, as the stewards of our
common Father, to do what we can.

It occurred to Paul that he had no old clothes to give Julius, all his
wardrobe, not very extensive at the best, having been burned up in the
fire which consumed his o