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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Runaway, by Unknown
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Runaway
+       The Adventures of Rodney Roverton
+
+Author: Unknown
+
+Release Date: May 25, 2007 [EBook #21611]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUNAWAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Suzan Flanagan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The University of Florida, The Internet
+Archive/Children's Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: pp. 29]
+
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                  THE RUNAWAY;
+
+                    OR, THE
+
+         ADVENTURES OF RODNEY ROVERTON.
+
+   "He cast his bundle on his back, and went,
+    He knew not whither, nor for what intent;
+    So stole our vagrant from his warm retreat,
+    To rove a prowler, and be deemed a cheat."
+
+                                       CRABBE.
+
+
+    APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION.
+
+
+                   BOSTON:
+       NEW ENGLAND SABBATH SCHOOL UNION.
+           W. HEATH, 79 CORNHILL.
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+
+  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
+
+                     WILLIAM HEATH,
+
+  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the
+              District of Massachusetts.
+
+                     Stereotyped by
+                    HOBART & ROBBINS,
+                        Boston.
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+A truthful narrative, not a tale of fiction, is presented in
+the following chapters to our readers. All that the imagination
+has contributed to it has been the names of the actors,--true
+names having been withheld, lest, perhaps, friends might be
+grieved,--the filling up of the dialogues, in which, while
+thoughts and sentiments have been remembered, the verbiage that
+clothed them has been forgotten, and, in a few instances, the
+grouping together of incidents that actually occurred at wider
+intervals than here represented, for the sake of the unity of
+the story.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                          PAGE
+
+         CHAPTER I.
+         RODNEY UNHAPPY IN A GOOD HOME       7
+
+         CHAPTER II.
+         REVOLVING AND RESOLVING            18
+
+         CHAPTER III.
+         RODNEY IN NEW YORK                 26
+
+         CHAPTER IV.
+         RODNEY FINDS A PATRON              33
+
+         CHAPTER V.
+         RODNEY IN PHILADELPHIA             44
+
+         CHAPTER VI.
+         THE PUNISHMENT BEGINS              53
+
+         CHAPTER VII.
+         THE WATCH-HOUSE                    60
+
+         CHAPTER VIII.
+         RODNEY IN JAIL                     73
+
+         CHAPTER IX.
+         THE DUNGEON                        88
+
+         CHAPTER X.
+         THE HOSPITAL                       99
+
+         CHAPTER XI.
+         THE TRIAL                         118
+
+         CHAPTER XII.
+         CONCLUSION                        128
+
+
+
+
+THE RUNAWAY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+RODNEY UNHAPPY IN A GOOD HOME.
+
+
+It was a lovely Sabbath morning in May, 1828, when two lads, the
+elder of whom was about sixteen years old, and the younger about
+fourteen, were wandering along the banks of a beautiful brook,
+called the Buttermilk Creek, in the immediate vicinity of the city
+of Albany, N. Y. Though there is no poetry in the name of this
+little stream, there is sweet music made by its rippling waters, as
+they rush rapidly along the shallow channel, fretting at the rocks
+that obstruct its course, and racing toward a precipice, down which
+it plunges, some thirty or forty feet, forming a light, feathery
+cascade; and then, as if exhausted by the leap, creeping sluggishly
+its little distance toward the broad Hudson. The white spray,
+churned out by the friction against the air, and flung perpetually
+upwards, suggested to our sires a name for this miniature Niagara;
+and, without any regard for romance or euphony, they called it
+Buttermilk Falls. It was a charming spot, notwithstanding its
+homely name, before the speculative spirit of progress--stern foe
+of Nature's beauties--had pushed the borders of the city close upon
+the tiny cataract, hewed down the pines upon its banks, and opened
+quarries among its rocks.
+
+It was before this change had passed over the original
+wilderness, that the lads whom we have mentioned were strolling,
+in holy time, upon the banks of the little stream, above the
+falls.
+
+"Rodney," said the elder of the boys, "suppose your mother finds
+out that you have run away from Sunday-school, this morning;
+what will she say to you?"
+
+"Why, she will be very likely to punish me," said Rodney; "but
+you know I am used to it; and, though decidedly unpleasant, it
+does not grate on my nerves as it did a year or two ago. Van
+Dyke, my teacher, says I am hardened. But I would rather have a
+stroll here, and a flogging after it, than be shut up in school
+and church all day to escape it. I wish, Will, that mother was
+like your grandfather, and would let me do as I please on
+Sunday."
+
+"Now that I am an apprentice," replied Will Manton, "and shut up
+in the shop all the week, it would be rather hard to prevent my
+having a little sport on Sunday. I think it is necessary to
+swallow a little fresh air on Sunday, to blow the sawdust out of
+my throat; and to have a game of ball occasionally, to keep my
+joints limber, for they get stiff leaning over the work-bench,
+shoving the jack-plane, and chiseling out mortices all the
+week."
+
+"Well, Will, I, too, get very sick of work," replied the
+younger boy. "I do not think I ever shall like it. When I am
+roused up early in the morning, and go into the shop, and look
+at the tools, and think that, all day long, I must stand and
+pull leather strands, while other boys can go free, and take
+their sport, and swim, or fish, or hunt, or play, just as they
+please, it makes me feel like running away. Now, here am I, a
+little more than fourteen years old; and must I spend seven
+years in a dirty shop, with the prospect of hard work all my
+life? It makes my heart sick to think of it."
+
+The boys threw themselves upon the ground, under the shade of a
+large pine, and, reclining against its trunk, remained some
+minutes without uttering a word. At length, William Manton,
+whose thoughts had evidently been running in the channel opened
+by the last remarks of Rodney, said,
+
+"I have often thought of it."
+
+"Thought of what, Will?"
+
+"Of running away."
+
+"Where could you go? What could you do? How could you live?"
+were the quick, eager inquiries of Rodney.
+
+"Three questions at once is worse than the catechism," was the
+laughing response; "but, though I never learned the answers out
+of a book, yet I have them by heart. I will tell you what I have
+thought about the matter. You know Captain Ryan?--he was in our
+shop last week, and was telling how he came to be a sailor. He
+said that his uncle, with whom he lived when he was a boy,
+promised him a beating, one day, for some mischief he had done;
+and, as he had often felt before that his lashes were not light,
+he ran off, went on board a ship as a cabin-boy, learned to
+handle sails and ropes, and, after five or six voyages, was made
+mate of a ship; and now he is a captain. I have been thinking
+about it ever since. Now, if I could get a place in a ship, I
+would go in a minute. I am sure travelling over the world must
+be pleasanter than spending a life in one place; and pulling a
+rope is easier work than pushing a plane."
+
+Rodney sprang up from his reclining posture, looked straight in
+his companion's face for a moment, and exclaimed, "That would be
+glorious! How I should like to go to London, to Canton, to
+Holland, where the old folks came from,--to travel all over the
+world! But,"--and he leaned back against the tree again as he
+spoke,--"but it is of no use to think about it; mother would not
+consent, and nobody would help me; no ship would take me. I
+suppose I must pull away at the leather all my life." He spoke
+bitterly, and leaned his face upon his hands; and, between his
+fingers, the tears were seen slowly trickling. In truth, he had
+no taste or inclination for the trade to which he was forced. If
+the bias of his own mind had been consulted, he might have been
+contented in some employment adapted to his nature.
+
+"Bah, Rodney, don't be a baby!" was the jeering expostulation
+of Will Manton, when he saw the tears; "crying never got a
+fellow out of a scrape. I believe it is easy enough done. If we
+could only get off to New York, they say that boys are so much
+wanted on ships, that the captains take them without asking many
+questions."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Don't you think it is worth a trial?"
+
+"But I should have to leave my mother, and grandmother, and
+sister, and all."
+
+"Of course; you would not want to take them with you, would
+you?"
+
+"But I could not tell them I was going. I should have to steal
+away without their knowledge."
+
+"You could write to them when you started."
+
+"I might never see them again."
+
+"You are as likely to live and come back as Captain Ryan was."
+
+"But they would feel so much hurt, if I should run away."
+
+Will Manton curled his lip into a sneer, and said, scornfully,
+"Why, Rodney, I didn't think you was so much of a baby. You are
+a more faint-hearted chicken than I thought you."
+
+"Well, Will, the thought of it frightens me. I have a good
+mother and a good grandmother; and, though they make me learn a
+trade I hate, yet I do not think I should dare to run away."
+
+"Well, you poor mouse-heart, stay at home, then, and tie
+yourself to your mamma's apron-strings!" was the reply. "Do as
+you please; but, I tell you,--and I trust the secret to you, and
+hope you won't _blow_ it,--I have made up my mind to go to sea."
+
+"Will you run away?"
+
+"Indeed I will."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Why should I tell you, if you will not go with me?"
+
+"Well, I want to be off with you, but how can I?"
+
+"Easy enough. But I will see you to-morrow night, and we will
+talk it over. It is time to go home."
+
+"I must see Dick Vanderpool, and find out where the text was,
+so that I can tell the old folks."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+REVOLVING AND RESOLVING.
+
+
+Conversations similar to those recorded in the last chapter,
+were frequently held between the two lads, during the next
+month. Will Manton's determination was fixed, and he was making
+secret preparations to start upon his wild journey. Rodney,
+though equally desirous to escape the restraints of home, could
+not yet make up his mind to risk the adventure. He regarded his
+comrade as a sort of young hero; and he wished he had the
+courage to be like him.
+
+One Monday morning, in June, as he was returning from his work,
+he saw Will Manton's old grandfather standing before the door,
+looking up and down the street; and he noticed that he seemed
+very uneasy, and much distressed. When he came opposite the
+house, on the other side of the street, the old gentleman called
+him over, and asked him, "Rodney, do you know where Will is?"
+
+The boy's heart beat wildly, and his cheek turned pale; for he
+at once surmised that his comrade had carried out his purpose.
+He stammered out, in reply,
+
+"I have not seen him since last Friday night."
+
+"It is very strange," said the old man. "He has not been at
+home since last Sunday, at dinner-time. What has become of him?"
+
+Will Manton was gone!
+
+To the anxious inquiries that were made, his friends discovered
+that he had left Albany in the evening boat, on Tuesday, for New
+York. Though a messenger was immediately sent after him, no
+trace of him could be discovered. A few months after, they
+received a letter from him, written from Liverpool, where he had
+gone in a merchant-ship, as a cabin-boy. His friends were very
+much grieved and distressed, but hoped that he would soon grow
+weary of a hard and roving life, and return to his home.
+
+There was a romantic interest in all this for young Rodney. In his
+imagination, Will Manton was a hero. He was scarcely ever out of
+his thoughts. He would follow him in fancy, bounding over the broad
+sea, with all the sails of the majestic ship swelling in the
+favoring breeze, now touching at some island, and looking at the
+strange dresses and customs of a barbarous people; now meeting a
+homeward-bound vessel, and exchanging joyful greetings; and now
+lying to in a calm, and spearing dolphins and harpooning whales.
+When the storm raged, he almost trembled lest he might be wrecked;
+but, when it was over, he fancied the noble ship, having weathered
+the storm, stemming safely the high waves, and careering gracefully
+on her course. Or, if he was wrecked, he imagined that he must be
+cast upon some shore where the hospitable inhabitants hurried down
+to the beach to the relief of the crew, bore them safely through
+the breakers, and pressed upon them the comforts of their homes.
+His wild imagination followed him to other lands, and roved with
+him along the streets of European cities, among the ruins of
+Grecian temples, over the gardens of Spain and the vineyards of
+Italy, through the pagodas of India, and the narrow streets of
+Calcutta and Canton.
+
+"O," thought he, "how delightful must be such a life! How
+pleasant to be roaming amid scenes that are always new! And how
+wretched to be tied to such a life as I lead, following the same
+weary round of miserable drudgery every day!"
+
+But it was Rodney's own fancy that painted this enjoyment of a
+sailor-boy's life. Will Manton did not find it so pleasant in
+reality. There was more menial drudgery to the poor cabin-boy on
+ship-board, than he had ever known in the carpenter's shop. He
+was sworn at, and thumped, and kicked, and driven from one thing
+to another, by the captain, and mates, and steward, and crew,
+all day long. And many a night, when, weary and sore, he crept
+to his hard, narrow bunk, he lay and cried himself to sleep,
+thinking of his kind and pleasant home.
+
+When Fancy pictures before the restless mind distant and
+unknown scenes, she divests them of all the rough realities
+which a nearer view and a tried experience find in them. The
+mountain-side looks smooth and pleasant from a distance, but we
+find it rugged and wearisome when we attempt to climb it.
+
+One idea had now gained almost sole possession of poor Rodney's
+mind. He must go to sea! He thought of it all day, and dreamed
+of it at night. He did not dare to speak about it to his mother,
+for he knew that she would refuse her consent. He must _run
+away_! He formed a hundred different plans, and was forced to
+abandon them. Now Will Manton was gone, there was no one with
+whom he could consult. He was afraid to speak of it, lest it
+should reach the ears of his mother. Alone he nursed his
+resolution, and formed his plans.
+
+He was very unhappy, because he knew that he was purposing
+wrong. He could not be contented with his employment, and he
+knew how it would grieve the hearts of those who loved him, if
+he should persist in his design. Yet, when he pictured to
+himself the freedom from restraint, the pleasure of roaming from
+place to place over the world, and the thousand exciting scenes
+and adventures which he should meet by becoming a sailor, he
+determined, at all hazards, to make the attempt.
+
+Unhappy boy! He was sowing, for his own reaping, the seeds of a
+bitter harvest of wretchedness and remorse.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+RODNEY IN NEW YORK.
+
+
+On a beautiful Sabbath morning in July, Rodney stood in the hall of
+the old Dutch house in which successive generations of the family
+had been born, and paused to look the last farewell, he dare not
+speak, upon those who loved him, and whom, notwithstanding his
+waywardness, he also loved.
+
+There sat his pious and venerable grandmother, with the little
+round stand before her, upon which lay the old family Bible,
+over which she was intently bending, reading and commenting to
+herself, as was her custom, in half-audible tones. He had often
+stood behind her, and listened, unobserved, as she read verse
+after verse, and paused after each, to testify of its truth, or
+piously apply it to herself and others. And now he thought that,
+in all probability, he would never see her again, and he half
+repented his determination. But his preparations were all made,
+and he could not now hesitate, lest his purpose should be
+discovered.
+
+He looked at his mother, as she was arranging the dress of a
+younger and only brother, for the Sabbath-school. As she leaned
+over him, and smoothed down the collar she had just fastened
+round his neck, Rodney, with heart and eye, bade farewell to
+both.
+
+He stood and gazed for a moment upon his only sister, who sat
+with her baby in her arms, answering the little laughing
+prattler in a language that sounded like its own, and which
+certainly none but the two could understand. Some might doubt
+whether they understood it themselves; but they both seemed
+highly interested and delighted by the conversation.
+
+That dear sister, amiable and loving, is long since dead. She
+greeted death with a cheerful welcome, for the messenger
+released her from a life of domestic unhappiness, and introduced
+her into that blessed heaven "where the wicked cease from
+troubling, and the weary are at rest."
+
+And that prattling infant has become, in his turn, a runaway
+sailor-boy, flying from an unhappy home to a more wretched
+destiny, of whose wanderings or existence nothing has been heard
+for many years.
+
+It was one hasty, intense glance which Rodney cast over these
+groups, and each beloved figure, as it then appeared, was fixed
+in his memory forever. He has never forgotten--_he never can
+forget_--that moment, or the emotions that thrilled his heart as
+he turned away from them.
+
+He had hidden a little trunk, containing his clothing, in the
+stable, and thither he hastened; and, throwing his trunk upon
+his shoulder, he stole out of the back gate, and took his course
+through bye streets to the dock, where he went on board a
+steamboat, and in half an hour was sailing down the Hudson
+towards New York.
+
+He had no money with which to pay his passage. He had left home
+without a single sixpence. When the captain came to collect the
+passengers' fare, he told him a wicked, premeditated lie. He said
+that, in taking his handkerchief from his pocket, he had
+accidentally drawn out his pocket-book with it, and that it had
+fallen overboard. Thus one sin prepares the way to the commission
+of another.
+
+He offered to leave his trunk in pledge for the payment of the
+passage; and the captain, after finding it full of clothing,
+ordered it to be locked up until the money was paid. Rodney
+expected to be able to get a situation in some ship immediately,
+and to receive a part of his wages in advance, with which he
+could redeem his clothing.
+
+He slept on board the steamboat, and on Monday morning started
+in search of a ship that would take him. He wandered along the
+wharves, and at first was afraid to speak to any one, lest he
+should be questioned and sent home. At last he made up his mind
+to ask a sailor, whom he saw sauntering on the dock, if he knew
+where he could get a place on board a ship.
+
+The sailor looked at him a moment, turned his huge tobacco quid
+over in his mouth, hitched up his trowsers, and said:
+
+"Why, you young runaway, do you want to go to sea? What can
+such a chap as you do on a ship? Go home, and stick by your
+mammy for five years more, and then you'll have no trouble in
+shipping."
+
+Rodney was a good deal frightened at such a reply, and walked on
+for some time, not venturing to ask again. Toward noon he went
+on board a large vessel, and seeing a man, whom he took for the
+captain of the ship, asked him if he could give him a place.
+
+"No, my boy," he replied; "we don't sail for three weeks, and we
+never ship a crew before the time."
+
+All day he wandered about the wharves, and to all his questions
+received repelling replies, mingled oftentimes with oaths,
+jeers, and insults. No one seemed to feel the least interest for
+him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+RODNEY FINDS A PATRON.
+
+
+Late in the afternoon Rodney strolled up the East River wharves.
+He was hungry, for he had eaten nothing all day. He was very
+sad, and sat down on a cotton bale, and cried. In what a
+position had a single day placed him! He had no place where he
+could lay his head for the night, no bread to eat, and he knew
+nobody whom he dared to ask for a meal; and so, with a sorrowful
+heart, he sat down and wept.
+
+He buried his face in his hands, and for a long time sat there
+motionless. He did not know that a man was standing before him,
+watching him, until he was startled by a voice:
+
+"Why, my boy, what is the matter with you?"
+
+He looked up, and saw a tall man in a sailor's dress standing
+near him.
+
+"I want to get a place on a ship, sir, to go to sea," replied
+Rodney; "I can't find any place, and I have no money and no
+friends here."
+
+The man sat down beside him, and asked him, "Where are your
+friends?"
+
+"In Albany, sir."
+
+"What did you leave them for?"
+
+"Because I wanted to go to sea."
+
+They talked some time together, and Rodney told him truly all about
+himself and his friends. The man seemed to pity him, and told him
+that he was a sailor, and had lately been discharged from a United
+States vessel, where he had served as a marine,--that he had spent
+almost all his money, and was looking for another ship. He told
+Rodney to go with him, and he would try what could be done for him.
+They went into a sailors' boarding-house, and got something to eat.
+
+Then the man,--who said his name was Bill Seegor, and that he
+must call him Bill, and not Mister, nor sir,--took him with
+himself into a ball-room. Here he saw a great many sailors and
+bad women, who danced together, and laughed, and shouted, and
+cursed, and drank, until long past midnight. Rodney had never
+witnessed _such_ a scene. He had never heard such filthy and
+blasphemous language, nor seen such indecent behavior.
+
+"Come, my lad," said a bluff sailor to him; "if you mean to be a
+man, you must learn to toss off your glass. Your white face
+don't look as if you ever tasted anything stronger than tea.
+Here is a glass of grog,--down with it!"
+
+And Rodney, who wanted to be a man, drank it with a swaggering
+air, though it scorched his throat; and then another, until he
+became very sick;--and the last he remembered was, that the
+sailors and the women all seemed to be swearing and fighting
+together.
+
+The next morning he was awaked by Bill Seegor, and found
+himself in a garret, on a miserable bed, with all his clothes
+on. How he had ever got there he could not tell. His head ached,
+and his limbs were stiff and pained him when he moved. His
+throat was parched and burning, and he felt so wretchedly, that,
+if he had dared, he would have begged permission to stay there
+on the bed. But Bill told him that it was time to start and look
+up a ship, for he had only money enough to last another day.
+After breakfast they started, and inquired at every place which
+Bill knew, but without success; no men or boys were wanted.
+
+In the afternoon, Rodney was terribly frightened at seeing his
+brother-in-law walking along the wharves. He knew in a moment
+that he had come to New York to search for him; and he darted
+round a corner into an alley, and hid himself behind some
+barrels, till he had passed by. He afterwards learned that his
+brother-in-law had been looking for him all day, and that he had
+found and taken his trunk, and had been several times at places
+which he had just left. O! if he had then abandoned his foolish
+and wicked course, and gone home with his brother, how much
+misery he would have escaped! But he contrived to keep out of
+his way.
+
+That evening Bill said to him, as they were eating their supper
+in a cellar--
+
+"Rodney, to-morrow morning we must start for Philadelphia."
+
+"But how shall we get there?"
+
+"We shall have to tramp it."
+
+"How far is it?"
+
+"About a hundred miles."
+
+"How long will it take?"
+
+"Four or five days."
+
+"But how shall we get anything to eat, or any place to sleep on
+the road?"
+
+"Tell a good story to the farmers, and sleep on the hay-mows."
+
+Rodney began to find out that "_the way of the transgressor is
+hard_."
+
+That night they went to the theatre. Bill had given Rodney a
+dirk, which he carried in his bosom. They went up into the third
+tier of boxes, which was filled with the most wicked and debased
+men and women. While the rest were laughing, and talking, and
+cursing, Rodney sat down on the front seat to see the play; but
+they made so much confusion behind him that he could not hear,
+so he turned round, and said, rather angrily: "I wish you
+wouldn't make so much noise."
+
+"Who are you talking to?" shouted a rough, bully-looking man
+behind him, with a terrible oath; "I'll pitch you into the pit,
+if you open your head again."
+
+He rushed towards him, but, quick as thought, Rodney snatched
+the dirk from his breast, drew his arm back over his head, and
+told the bully to keep off. The man stopped, and in an instant
+the whole theatre was in confusion. The play on the stage
+ceased; and there, in full view, leaning over the front of the
+box, stood the boy, with the weapon in his hand, gleaming in the
+eyes of the whole audience.
+
+Bill Seegor rushed to him, pulled him back toward the lobby, and
+took the dagger from his hand. The bully then aimed a tremendous
+blow at the boy's face, which fortunately was warded off by one
+of the women. Just then a police-officer came up, and, taking
+Rodney by the collar, led him down stairs. Half a dozen men, who
+were Bill's friends, followed; and when they got into the
+street, they dashed against the officer, and broke his hold,
+when Bill caught Rodney by the arm and told him to run. They
+turned quickly through several streets, and escaped pursuit.
+
+Do you think that Rodney was happy amid such scenes? Ah! no; he
+was alarmed at himself. He felt degraded and guilty; he felt
+that he was taking sudden and rapid strides in the path of
+debasement and vice. He thought of his home and its sweet
+influences. He knew how deep would be the grief of those who
+loved him, should they hear of his course. His conscience
+condemned him, and he thought of what he was becoming with
+horror. But he seemed to be drawn on by his wild desires, and
+felt scarcely a disposition to escape the meshes of the net that
+was winding around him.
+
+The sailors praised him, and patted him on the back; told him
+that he was a brave fellow,--that he was beginning right, and
+that there was good stuff in him. And Rodney laughed, tickled by
+such praises, and drank what they offered, and tried to stifle
+his conscience and harden himself in sin. Yet often, when he was
+alone, did he shrink from himself, and writhe under the lashings
+of conscience; and the remembrance of home, and thoughts of his
+conduct, rendered him very wretched.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+RODNEY IN PHILADELPHIA.
+
+
+Young Rodney was prepared for an early start on the following
+morning; and, in company with Bill Seegor, he crossed the ferry
+to Jersey City just as the sun rose, and together they commenced
+their journey to Philadelphia. They were soon beyond the
+pavements of the town, and in the open country. It was a lovely
+morning, and the bright summer developed its beauties, and
+dispensed its fragrance along their path. The birds sang
+sweetly, and darted on swift wing around them. The cattle roamed
+lazily over the fields, and the busy farmers were everywhere
+industriously toiling. All nature seemed joyously reflecting the
+serene smile of a benevolent God.
+
+Even the wicked hearts of the wanderers seemed lightened by the
+influence of the glorious morning, and cheerily, with many a
+jocund song and homely jest, they pressed on their way. Even
+guilt can sometimes forget its baseness, and enjoy the bounties
+of the kind Creator, for which it expresses no thankfulness and
+feels no gratitude.
+
+At noon they stopped at a farmer's house, and Bill told the
+honest old man that they belonged to a ship which had sailed
+round to Philadelphia; that it had left New York unexpectedly,
+without their knowledge, and taken their chests and clothes
+which had been placed on board; and that, being without money,
+they were compelled to walk across to Philadelphia to meet it.
+
+The farmer believed the falsehood, and charitably gave them a
+good dinner. They walked on till after sunset, and then crossed
+over a field, and climbed up into a rack filled with hay, where
+they slept all night.
+
+In the morning they started forward very hungry, for they had
+eaten nothing, since the noon before, except a few green apples.
+They stopped at the first farm-house on the road, and, by
+telling the same falsehood that had procured them a meal the day
+before, excited the pity of the farmer and obtained a good
+breakfast.
+
+Thus did they go on, lying and begging their way along.
+
+On the third day there were heavy showers, accompanied by fierce
+lightnings and crashing thunders. They were as thoroughly soaked
+as if they had been thrown into the river, and at night had to
+sleep on a haystack, in the open field, in their wet clothes.
+Rodney's feet, too, had become very sore, and he walked in great
+and constant pain.
+
+In the afternoon of the fourth day they stopped on the banks of
+the Delaware, five or six miles from Philadelphia, to wash their
+clothes, which had become filthy in travelling through the dust
+and mud. As they had no clothing but what they wore, there was
+nothing else to be done but to strip, wash out their soiled
+garments, and lay them out on the bank to dry, while they swam
+about the river, or waited on the shore, with what patience they
+could summon.
+
+A little after sunset they reached the suburbs of the great
+city; and now the sore feet and wearied limbs of the boy could
+scarcely sustain him over the hard pavements. Yet Bill urged him
+onward with many an impatient oath, on past the ship-yards of
+Kensington,--on, past the factories, and markets, and farmers'
+taverns, and shops of the Northern Liberties,--on, through the
+crowded thoroughfares, and by the brilliant stores of the
+city,--on, into the most degraded section of Southwark, in
+Plumb-street, where Bill said a friend of his lived. This friend
+was an abandoned woman, who lived in a miserable frame cabin,
+crowded with wicked and degraded wretches, who seemed the
+well-known and fitting companions of Rodney's patron. The woman
+for whom he inquired was at a dance in the neighborhood, and
+there Bill took the boy in search of her.
+
+They went up a dark alley, and were admitted into a large room
+filled with men and women, black and white, the dregs and
+outcasts of society.
+
+A few dripping candles, placed in tin sconces along the bare walls,
+threw a dim and sickly glare over the motley throng. A couple of
+negro men, sitting on barrels at the head of the room, were drawing
+discordant notes from a pair of cracked, patched, and greasy
+fiddles. And there were men, whose red and bloated faces gave
+faithful witness of their habitual intemperance; and men, whose
+threadbare and ragged garments betokened sloth and poverty; and
+men, whose vulgar and ostentatious display of showy clothing, and
+gaudy chains, and rings and breast-pins, which they did not know
+how to wear, indicated dishonest pursuits; and men, whose blue
+jackets and bluff, brown faces showed them to be sailors; and men,
+whose scowling brows and fiendlike countenances marked them as
+villains of the blackest and lowest type. And there were women,
+too, some old--at least, they looked so--and haggard; some young,
+but with wretched-looking faces, and dressed in tawdry garments,
+yet generally faded, some torn and some patched, and all seeming to
+be brought from the pawnbroker's dusty shop for the occasion.
+
+In a little filthy side-room was a bar covered with bottles and
+glasses, behind which stood a large, red-faced man, with a big
+nose, and little ferret, fiery eyes, now grinning like a satyr,
+now scowling like a demon, dealing out burning liquors to his
+miserable customers.
+
+A man fell beastly drunk from a bench upon the floor. "Take him up
+stairs," said the man at the bar. Rodney followed the two men who
+carried him up, and looked into the sleeping apartment. The floor
+was covered with dirty straw, where lodgers were accommodated for
+three cents a night. Here the poor wretches were huddled together
+every night, to get what sleep they could in the only home they had
+on earth.
+
+Thus does vice humble, and degrade, and scourge those who are
+taken in its toils. From the threshold of the house of guilty
+pleasure there may issue the song and laugh of boisterous mirth;
+but those who enter within shall find disgrace and infamy, woe
+and death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE PUNISHMENT BEGINS.
+
+
+Bill Seegor found the woman he sought, and soon they returned
+to her house. Here the bottle was brought out and passed round;
+and, after much blasphemous and ribaldrous conversation, a straw
+bed was made up on the floor, and Rodney laid down. Before he
+went to sleep, he heard Bill tell the woman that he was entirely
+out of money, and beg her to lend him five dollars for a few
+days. After some hesitation she consented, and drew out from
+under the bed an old trunk, which she unlocked, and from which
+she took five dollars in silver and gave it to him. Bill,
+looking over her shoulder, saw that she took it from a little
+pile of silver that lay in the corner of the trunk.
+
+For a long time Rodney could not sleep. The scenes of the last
+eventful week were vividly recalled to his mind, and, in spite
+of his fatigue, kept him awake. He tried to make himself believe
+that it was a glorious life he had begun to lead,--that now he
+was free from restraint, and entering upon the flowery paths of
+independence and enjoyment. Though he had met with some
+difficulties at the start, he thought that they were now nearly
+passed, and that soon he should be upon the blue water, and in
+foreign countries, a happy sailor boy.
+
+But conscience would interpose its reproaches and warnings, and
+remind him of the horrible company into which he had been
+cast,--of the scenes of sin which he had witnessed, and in which
+he had participated; and he could not but shudder when he
+thought of the probable termination of such a life.
+
+But he felt that, having forsaken his home,--and he was not
+even yet sorry that he had done so,--he was now in the current,
+and that there was no way of reaching the shore, even had he
+been disposed to try; and that he must continue to float along
+the stream, leaving his destination to be determined by
+circumstances.
+
+It is very easy to find the paths of sin. It is easy, and, for a
+season, may seem pleasant, to travel in them. The entrance is
+inviting, the way is broad, companions are numerous and gay. But
+when the disappointed and alarmed traveller, terrified at the
+thought of its termination, seeks to escape, and hunts for the
+narrow path of virtue, he finds obstacles and entanglements
+which he cannot climb over nor break. It requires an Omnipotent
+arm to help him then.
+
+Rodney fell asleep.
+
+How long he had slept he knew not; but he was awakened by a
+violent shaking and by terrible oaths. The side-door leading
+into the yard was open, and three or four wretched-looking women
+were scolding and swearing angrily about him. He was confused,
+bewildered, but soon perceived that something unusual had
+happened; and he became very much frightened as he at last
+learned the truth from the excited women.
+
+Bill Seegor was gone. He had got up quietly when all were
+asleep, and, drawing the woman's trunk from under her bed, had
+carried it out into the yard, pried open the lock, stolen the
+money, and escaped.
+
+The woman was in a terrible passion, and her raving curses were
+fearful to hear. Rodney pitied her, though she cursed him. He was
+indignant at his companion's rascality, and offered to go with her
+and try to find him. It was two o'clock in the morning. He looked
+round for his hat, collar, and handkerchief; but they were gone.
+The thief had taken them with him. Taking Bill's old hat, he went
+out with the woman, and looked into the oyster-cellars and
+grog-shops, some of which they found still open; but they could
+find no trace of Bill Seegor.
+
+The woman met a watchman, and made inquiries, and told him of
+the robbery.
+
+"And this boy came with the man last night, did he?" inquired
+the watchman.
+
+"He did," said the woman.
+
+"Do you know the boy?"
+
+"I never saw him before."
+
+"Well, I guess he knows where he is, or where he can be found
+to-morrow."
+
+Rodney protested that he knew nothing about him, that his own
+hat, collar, and handkerchief had been stolen, and that he had
+had nothing to do with the robbery. He even told him where he
+had met with Bill, and how he came to be in his company.
+
+"All very fine, my lad," said the watchman; "but you must go
+with me. This must be examined into to-morrow."
+
+And he took Rodney by the arm, and led him to the watch-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE WATCH-HOUSE.
+
+
+For poor Rodney there was no more sleep that night, even had
+they placed him on a bed of roses. But they locked him up in a
+little square room, with an iron-barred window, into which a dim
+light struggled from a lamp hung outside in the entry, showing a
+wooden bench, fastened against the wall. There were four men in
+the room.
+
+One, whose clothes looked fine and fashionable, but all covered
+with dirt, lay on the floor. A hat, that seemed new, but crushed
+out of all shape, was under his head for a pillow. His face was
+bruised and bloody. He was entirely stupefied, and Rodney saw at
+a glance that he was intoxicated.
+
+On the bench, stretched out at full length, was a short, stout
+negro, fast asleep. On another part of the bench lay a white
+man, who seemed about fifty years old, with a sneering,
+malicious face, and wrapped up in a shaggy black coat. The
+remaining occupant of the cell sat in one corner, with his head
+down on his knees, and his hat slouched over his face.
+
+Rodney stood for a few moments in the middle of the cell, and,
+in sickening dismay, looked round him. Here he was with felons
+and rioters, locked up in a dungeon! True, he had committed no
+crime against the law; but yet he felt that he deserved it all;
+and the hot tears rolled from his eyes as he thought of his
+mother and his home.
+
+Hearing his sobs, the man in the corner raised his head, looked
+at him for a moment, and said:
+
+"Why, you blubbering boy, what have you been about? Are you the
+pal of these cracksmen, or have you been on a lay on your own
+hook?"
+
+Rodney did not know what he meant, and he said so.
+
+"I mean," said the man, in the same low, thieves' jargon, "have
+you been helping these fellows crack a crib?"
+
+"Doing what?" said Rodney.
+
+"Breaking into a house, you dumb-head."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The boy shuddered at the thought of being taken for an accomplice
+of house-breakers; and told him he knew nothing about them. He had
+read that boys are sometimes employed by house-breakers to climb in
+through windows or broken pannels, to open the door on the inside;
+and now he was thought to be such a one himself.
+
+It was a dismal night for him.
+
+Early in the morning the prisoners were all taken before a
+magistrate.
+
+The drunkard, who claimed to be a gentleman, and who had been
+taken to the watch-house for assaulting the barkeeper of a
+tavern, was fined five dollars, and dismissed.
+
+The negro and the old white man had been caught in the attempt
+to break into a house, and were sent to prison, to await their
+trial for burglary; and the other white man was also sent to
+prison, until he could be tried, for stealing a pocket-book in
+an auction store.
+
+Rodney was then called forward. The watchman told how and why he
+had taken him; and the boy was asked to give an account of
+himself. He told his story truthfully and tearfully, while the
+magistrate looked coldly at him.
+
+"A very good story," said the magistrate; "it seems to be well
+studied. I suspect you are an artful fellow, notwithstanding
+your innocent face. I shall bind you over for trial, my lad. I
+think such boys as you should be stopped in time; and a few
+years in some penitentiary would do you good."
+
+What could Rodney say? What could he do? He was among strangers.
+He could send for no one to testify of his good character, or to
+become bail for him. And, if his friends had been near, he felt
+that he had rather die than that they should know of his
+disgrace.
+
+The magistrate gave an officer a paper--a commitment--and told
+him to take the boy to the Arch-street jail. The constable took
+him by the arm, and led him out.
+
+As they walked along the street, Rodney looked around him to
+see if there was no way of escape. If he could only get a chance
+to run! As they came to the corner of a little alley, he asked
+the constable to let him tie his shoe, the string of which was
+loose. The man nodded, and Rodney placed his foot upon a
+door-step, sheering round beyond the reach of the officer's
+hand, and towards the alley. Rodney, as he rose, made one
+spring, and in a moment was gone down the alley. The officer
+rushed after him, and shouted, "Stop thief! stop thief!"
+
+"O, that I should ever be chased for a thief!" groaned Rodney,
+clenching his teeth together, and running at his best speed.
+
+That terrible cry, "_Stop thief!_" rung after him, and soon
+seemed to be echoed by a hundred voices, as the boy dashed along
+Ninth street and down Market street; and, from behind him, and
+from doors and windows, and from the opposite side of the
+street, and at length from before him, the very welkin rung with
+the cries of "Stop thief! stop thief!" A hundred eyes were
+strained to catch a glimpse of the culprit; but Rodney dashed
+on, the crowd never thinking that _he_ was the hunted fox, but
+only one of the hounds in pursuit, eager to be "in at the
+death." At the corner of Fifth and Market-streets, a porter was
+standing by his wheelbarrow. He saw the chase coming down, and
+truly scented the victim; and, as Rodney neared the corner, he
+suddenly pushed out his barrow across the pavement. Rodney could
+not avoid it; he stumbled, fell across it, and was captured.
+
+"You young scoundrel! is this one of your tricks?" said the
+constable, as he came up; "I'll teach you one of mine;" and he
+struck him a blow on the side of the head, that knocked the poor
+boy senseless on the pavement.
+
+Those who stood by cried, "Shame! shame!" and the officer glared
+furiously around him; but, seeing that the numbers were against
+him, he raised the boy from the ground. Rodney soon recovered;
+and the constable, grasping him firmly by the wrist of his coat,
+and, drawing his arm tightly under his own, led him, followed by
+a crowd of hooting boys, up Fifth, and through Arch-street,
+toward the old jail.
+
+What a walk was that to poor Rodney! The officer, stern and
+angry, held him with so firm a grip as to convince him of the
+uselessness of a second attempt.
+
+Fatigued, and nearly fainting as he was from the race and the
+blow, he was compelled almost to run, to keep up with the long
+strides of the constable. A crowd of boys pressed around, to get
+a glimpse of his face.
+
+"What has he done?" one would ask of another.
+
+"Broke open a trunk, and stole money," would be the reply.
+
+Rodney pulled Bill Seegor's old hat over his face, and hung
+his head, in bitter anguish of soul, as he heard himself
+denounced as a thief at every step; and as he heard doors dashed
+open, and windows thrown up, similar questions and replies smote
+his heart. He knew that he was innocent of such a crime; his
+soul scorned it; he felt that he was incapable of theft; but he
+felt that he had been too guilty, too disobedient and too
+ungrateful, to dare to hold up his head, or utter a word in his
+own defence. It seemed as though that long and terrible walk
+with the constable would never end, and he felt relieved when he
+reached the heavy door of the jail, amid two files of staring
+boys, who had ran before him, and arranged themselves by the
+gate, to watch him as he entered. He was rudely thrust in, the
+bolt shot back upon the closed door, and he was delivered over
+to the keeping of the jailer, with the assurance of the
+policeman, that "he was a sharp miscreant, and needed to be
+watched."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+RODNEY IN JAIL.
+
+
+Such are the rewards which sin gives to its votaries; full of
+soft words and tempting promises in the beginning, they find, in
+the end, that "it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an
+adder." Thoughts like these passed through Rodney's mind, as the
+jailer led him to a room in which were confined three other
+lads, all older than himself. At that time, the system of
+solitary confinement had not been adopted in Pennsylvania, and
+prisoners were allowed to associate together; but it was deemed
+best to keep the boys from associating with older and more
+hardened culprits, whose conversation might still more corrupt
+them, and they were therefore confined together, apart from the
+mass of the criminals.
+
+At first Rodney suffered the most intense anguish. A sense of
+shame and degradation overwhelmed him. He staggered to a corner
+of the room, threw himself on the floor, and, for a long time,
+sobbed and wept as though his very heart would break. For a
+while the boys seemed to respect his grief, and left him in
+silence. At last one of them went to him, and said,
+
+"Come, there's no use in this; we are all here together, and we
+may as well make the best of it!"
+
+Rodney sat up, and looked at them, as they gathered around him.
+
+They were ragged in dress, and pale from their confinement, and
+Rodney involuntarily shrank from the idea of associating with them,
+regarding them as criminals in jail. But he soon remembered his own
+position,--that he was now one of them,--and he thought he would
+take their advice, and "make the best of it."
+
+"Well, what did they squeeze you into this jug for, my covey?"
+asked the eldest boy.
+
+Rodney told them his story, and protested that he was innocent
+of any crime.
+
+The boy put his thumb to the end of his nose, and twirled his
+fingers, saying, "You can't gammon us, my buck; come, out with
+it, for we never _peach_ on one another."
+
+Rodney was very angry at this mode of treating his story. But, in
+spite of himself, he gradually became familiar with the companions
+thus forced upon him, and, in a day or two, began to engage with
+them in their various sports, to while away the weary hours.
+Sometimes they sat and told stories, to amuse one another; and thus
+Rodney heard tales of wickedness and depredation and cunning, that
+almost led him to doubt whether there was any honesty among men.
+They talked of celebrated thieves and robbers, burglars and
+pirates, as if they were the models by which they meant to mould
+their own lives; and, instead of detesting their crimes, Rodney
+began to admire the skill and success with which they were
+perpetrated. The excitement and freedom, and wild, frenzied
+enjoyment of such a life, as depicted by the young knaves, began to
+fascinate and charm his mind. Something seemed to whisper in his
+ear, "As you are now disgraced, without any fault of your own, why
+not carry it out, and make the most of it? They have put you into
+jail, this time, for nothing; if they ever do it again, let them
+have some reason for it." Who knows what might have been the result
+of such temptations and influences, had these associations been
+long continued, and not counteracted by the interposition of God?
+
+But then the instructions of childhood, the lessons of home and
+of the Sabbath-school, were brought back to his memory, and he
+said to himself, "What, be a thief! Make myself despised and
+hated by all good people! Live a life of wickedness and
+dread,--perhaps die in the penitentiary, and then, in all
+probability, lose my soul, and be cast into hell! No, never! I
+shall never dare to steal, or to break into houses; and as for
+killing anybody for money, I shudder even at the thought!"
+
+So did the bad and the good struggle together in the heart of
+the poor boy. How many there are who, at the first, feel and
+think about crime as he did, but who, in the end, become
+familiar with vice, lose their sense of fear and shame and
+guilt, become bold and reckless in sin, having their consciences
+seared as with a hot iron, and violating all laws, human and
+divine, without compunction, and without a thought save that of
+impunity and success!
+
+All the elements of a life of crime were in the heart of this
+wayward boy; and had it not been for the instructions of his
+childhood, which counteracted these evil influences, and the
+providence and grace of God, which restrained him, he would have
+become a miserable outcast from society, leading a wretched life
+of shame and guilt.
+
+"I wish we had a pack of cards here," said one of the boys, one
+weary afternoon.
+
+"Can't we make a pack?" inquired another.
+
+And then the lads set their wits to work, and soon manufactured
+a substitute for a pack of cards. They had a couple of old
+newspapers, which they folded and cut into small, regular
+pieces, and marked each piece with the spots that are found on
+playing cards, making rude shapes of faces, and writing
+"_Jack_," "_King_," "_Knave_," &c., under them. With these, they
+used to spend hours shuffling and dealing and playing, until
+Rodney understood the pernicious game as well as the rest.
+
+"Joe," said Rodney, one day, to the oldest boy, "what did they
+put you in here for?"
+
+"Well," said he, "I'll tell you. Sam and I run with the
+Moyamensing Hose Company. Many a jolly time we have had of it,
+running to fires, and many a good drink of liquor we have had,
+too; for when the people about the fires treated the firemen, we
+boys used to come in for our share of the treat. There was a
+standing quarrel between us and the 'Franklin' boys, and we used
+to have a fight whenever we could get at them. I heard one of
+the men say, one day, that if there was only a fire down Twelfth
+or Thirteenth-street, and the 'Franklin' should come up in that
+direction, we could get them foul, and give them a good
+drubbing. Well, there _was_ a fire down Twelfth-street the next
+night! I don't mean to say who kindled it; but a watchman saw
+Sam and me about the stable, and then running away from it as
+fast as we could. The fellow marked us, and as we were going
+back to the fire with the machine, he nabbed us, and walked us
+off to the watch-house, and the next day we were stuck into this
+hole."
+
+"But _did_ you set fire to the stable?"
+
+"What would you give to know? I make no confessions; and if you
+ever tell out of doors what I have said here, I'll knock your
+teeth down your throat, if I ever catch you."
+
+These two boys had actually been guilty of the dreadful crime
+of setting fire to a stable. It was used by two or three poor
+men for their horses and carts, which was the only means they
+had of making an honest living; and yet these wicked boys had
+tried to burn it down, just for the fun of going to a fire, and
+getting up a fight! There are other boys, in large cities, who
+will commit similar acts; but such young villains are ripe for
+almost any crime, and must, in all human probability, come to
+some dreadful end.
+
+"Hank," said Rodney to another boy,--his real name was Henry,
+but Hank was his prison name,--"tell us now what you have done."
+
+"I'll tell you nothing about it."
+
+"What is your last name, Hank?" inquired Sam, after a few
+moments' pause.
+
+"Johnson," said Hank.
+
+"Ah! I know now what you did. I read it in the paper, just
+before I came in, and, somehow, I thought you was one of the
+larks as soon as I clapped eyes on you.
+
+"You see, Hank and some of his gang, watching about, saw a house
+in Arch-street, and noticed that it was empty. The family, I
+suppose, had all gone to the country, and it was shut up. So,
+one Sunday afternoon, four of them climbed over the back gate
+into the yard, pried open a window-shutter, got in, and helped
+themselves to whatever they could lay their hands on. After dark
+they sneaked out at the back gate with their plunder. One of
+them was caught, trying to sell some of the things, and he
+peached, and they jugged them all. Isn't that the fact, Hank?"
+
+"Well, it's no use lying; it was pretty much so."
+
+"What became of the other fellows, Hank?"
+
+"Why, their fathers or friends bailed them out, and I have no
+father, or anybody who cares for me. But"--and he swore a
+fearful oath--"if ever I catch that white-livered Jim Hulsey,
+who was the ringleader in the whole scheme, and got me into the
+scrape, and then blowed me, to save himself, I'll beat him to a
+mummy, I will."
+
+And _these_ were the companions with whom Rodney was compelled
+to associate! Sometimes he shrank from them with loathing; and
+sometimes he almost envied the hardihood with which they boasted
+of their crimes. Had he remained in their company much longer,
+who can tell to what an extent he would have been contaminated,
+and how rapidly prepared for utter moral degradation and eternal
+ruin?
+
+What afterwards became of them, Rodney never knew; but they are
+probably either dead,--God having said, "The wicked shall not
+live out half their days,"--or else preying upon society by the
+commission of more dreadful crimes, or perhaps spending long
+years of life in the penitentiary, confined to hard labor and
+prison fare.
+
+One day, after he had been about two weeks in jail, Rodney took
+the basin in which they had washed, and threw the water out of
+the window. The grated bars prevented his seeing whether there
+was any one below. He had often done so before. It had not been
+forbidden. He did not intend to do any wrong.
+
+But it happened that one of the keepers was walking under the
+window, and the water fell upon his head.
+
+He came to the door, in a great rage, and asked who had thrown
+that water out. Rodney at once said that he had done it, but
+that he did not know that he had done any harm.
+
+The man took him roughly by the arm, and, telling him he must
+come with him, led him through a long corridor to another part
+of the prison, and thrust him into a small, dark dungeon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DUNGEON.
+
+
+The room was very small,--a mere closet,--lighted only by a narrow
+window over the door, which admitted just light enough from the
+corridor to enable Rodney to see the walls. There was some
+scribbling on the walls, but there was not light enough, even after
+his eyes became accustomed to the place, to distinguish a letter.
+
+There was neither chair nor bench, not even a blanket, on which
+to lie. The bare walls and floor were unrelieved by a single
+article of comfort. Here, for four long days and nights, Rodney
+was confined. There was nothing by which he could relieve the
+dreadful wearisome time. He heard no voice save that of the
+surly jailer, once a day, bringing him a rough jug of water and
+half a loaf of black bread. He had no books with which to while
+away the long, tedious hours, nor was there light enough to
+read, had there been a whole library in the cell.
+
+The first emotions of the boy, when the door was locked upon
+him, were those of indignation and anger. "Why," said he to
+himself, "am I treated in this way? They are brutes! I have done
+nothing to deserve this barbarity. I am no felon or thief, that
+I should be used in this way. I have broken no rule that was
+made known to me, since I have been in this place. The heartless
+wretch of a jailer thrust me into this hole, to gratify his own
+spite. He knows that I couldn't have thrown water on him
+purposely, for I couldn't see down into the yard. He never told
+me what I was to do with the dirty water, and there was no other
+place to throw it. He deserves being shut up in this den
+himself! O, I wish I had him in my power for a week! I would
+give him a lesson that he would remember as long as he lived.
+
+"Was there ever such an unlucky boy as I am? Everything goes
+against me. There is no chance for me to do anything, or to
+enjoy anything, in this world. I wish I was dead!"
+
+A bitter flood of tears burst from him, which seemed, as it
+were, to quench his anger, and gradually his heart became open
+to more salutary reflections.
+
+"Do you not deserve all this?" whispered his conscience. "Have
+you not brought it upon yourself by your own wickedness and
+disobedience? You had a good home and kind friends; and if you
+had to work every day, it was no more than all have to do in one
+form or another. Blame yourself, then, for your own idle,
+reckless disposition, that would not be satisfied with your lot.
+You are only finding out the truth of the text you have often
+repeated,--'The way of the transgressor is hard.'"
+
+He thought of his home, as he lay upon that hard floor. The
+forms of his pious old grandmother, and of his mother and
+sister, all seemed to stand before him, and to look down upon
+him reproachfully. He remembered now their kindness and good
+counsel. He groaned in bitterness, "O! this _would_ break their
+hearts, if they knew it! I have disgraced myself, and I have
+disgraced them." He had leisure for reflection, and his mind
+recalled, most painfully, the scenes of the past. He thought of
+the Sabbath-school, of his kind teacher, and of the instructions
+that had been so affectionately imparted. How much better for
+him would it have been, had he regarded those instructions!
+
+And then he thought of God! He remembered that His _all-seeing
+eye_ had followed all his wanderings, and noted all his guilt.
+He had sinned against God, and some of the bitterness of
+punishment had already overtaken him. The idea that God was
+angry with him, and that _He_ was visiting his sins with the rod
+of chastisement, took possession of his soul. Now he ceased to
+blame others for his sufferings, and acknowledged to himself
+that all was deserved. Again he wept, but it was in terror at
+the thought of God's anger, and in grief that he had sinned so
+ungratefully against his Maker.
+
+He tried to pray; but the words of the prayers he had been
+taught in his childhood did not seem to be appropriate to his
+present condition. Those prayers were associated with days and
+scenes of comparative innocence and happiness. He now felt
+guilty and wretched, and felt deeply that other forms of
+petition were necessary for him. But he could not frame words
+into a prayer that would soothe and relieve his soul. "God will
+not hear me," was his bitter thought. "I do not deserve to be
+heard. O! if God would have mercy upon me, and deliver me from
+this trouble, I think I would try to serve and obey Him as long
+as I lived."
+
+He kneeled down upon the hard floor, and raised his clasped
+hands and streaming eyes toward heaven; but he could find no
+utterance for his emotions, save in sobs and tears. Prayer would
+not come in words. Again and again he tried to pray, but in
+vain; he felt that he could not pray; and, almost in despair, he
+paced the narrow cell, and was ready to believe that God's favor
+was forever withdrawn from his soul,--that there was no ear to
+listen, and no arm to save, and that nothing was left for him in
+the future but a life of misery, a death of shame, and an
+eternity of woe!
+
+On the third morning, he awoke from a troubled sleep, and, as
+he rose with aching bones from the bare planks, his limbs
+trembled and tottered beneath him. Finding that he could not
+stand, he sat down in the corner of the dungeon, and leaned
+against the wall. His head was hot, and his throat parched, and
+the blood beat in throbs through his veins. A sort of delirious
+excitement began to creep over him, and his mind was filled with
+strange reveries.
+
+He saw, or fancied he saw, great spiders crawling over the wall,
+and serpents, lizards, and indescribable reptiles, creeping
+about on the floor; and he shouted at them, and kicked at them,
+as they seemed to come near him. Soon they were viewed without
+dread or terror. He laughed at their motions, and thought he
+should have companions and pets in his loneliness; still he did
+not wish them to come too near.
+
+Then there seemed to be other shapes in his cell. His old
+grandmother sat in one corner, reading, through her familiar
+spectacles, the well-worn family Bible. His sister sat there,
+playing with her baby, and his mother was singing as she sewed.
+And he laughed and talked to them, but could get no answer.
+Occasionally he felt a half-consciousness that it was all a
+delusion,--a mere vision of the brain; and yet their fancied
+presence made him happy, and he laughed and talked incessantly,
+as if they heard him, and were wondering at his own strange
+emotions.
+
+And then the gruff voice of the jailer scared away his visions,
+and roused him for a moment from his reveries.
+
+"You are merry, my boy, and you make too much noise," said the
+keeper.
+
+The interruption made his head swim, and he attempted to rise;
+but he was very weak and faint, and fell back again. He turned
+to say, "I believe I am sick;" but before the words found
+utterance, the man had set down his pitcher and bread, and was
+gone.
+
+There was an interval of dreary, blank darkness, and then there
+were other visions, too wild and strange to describe, and soon
+the darkness of annihilation settled upon his soul. How long a
+time elapsed while in this state of insensibility, he could not
+say; but he was at length half-aroused by voices near him, and
+he was conscious that some hand was feeling for his pulse, and
+that men were carrying him out of the dungeon. He afterwards
+learned that it was the jailer and the physician.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE HOSPITAL.
+
+
+Upon a narrow cot, in the Hospital apartment of the jail, they
+laid Rodney, and immediately prepared the medicines suited to
+his case. The medicines were at length administered, and, with a
+pleasant consciousness of comfort and attention, he fell asleep.
+
+When he awoke, it was evening; he was perfectly conscious, and felt
+better; but it was a long time before he could recall his thoughts,
+and understand where he was, and how he had come thither. He looked
+around him, and saw a line of cots on each side of him. About a
+dozen of them were occupied by sick men. A large case of medicines,
+placed on a writing-desk, stood at one end of the room. Two or
+three men, who acted as nurses, were sitting near it, talking and
+laughing together. In another part of the room, by a grated window,
+looking out upon the pleasant sunset, were two of the convalescent
+prisoners, pale and thin, conversing softly and sadly. There was
+not a face he knew,--none that seemed to feel the slightest
+interest for him; and the wicked scenes of the past two months, and
+the unhappy circumstances of the present hour, flashed through his
+mind, and he hid his face in his pillow and wept.
+
+He heard steps softly approach his cot, and knew that some one
+was standing beside him. But he could not stifle his sobs, and
+he did not dare to look up.
+
+"I am glad to see that you are better, though I am sorry to see
+you so much troubled, my poor boy," said a soft, kind voice.
+
+It was long since he had been spoken to in a kind tone, and he
+only wept the more bitterly, and convulsively pressed his face
+closer to the pillow. Presently he felt an arm passed slowly
+under the pillow, which wound around his neck, and gently drew
+his head toward the stranger.
+
+"Come, come," said the same soft voice, "don't give way to such
+grief; look up, and talk to me. Let me be a friend to you."
+
+Rodney yielded to the encircling arm, and turned his tearful
+eyes to the man who spoke to him.
+
+He was a tall, slender man, pale from sickness, decently
+dressed, and with an intelligent, benevolent countenance. He was
+one of those whom Rodney had observed looking out of the window.
+
+"What is the matter?" said he; "what has brought you into this
+horrible place?"
+
+The confidence of the boy was easily won. He had felt an
+inexpressible desire to talk to some one, and now he was ready
+to lay open his whole heart at the first intimation of sympathy.
+
+"I ran away from home," was the frank and truthful reply.
+
+"But they do not put boys in jail for running away; you must
+have done something else."
+
+"I was charged with something else; but indeed, indeed, I am
+innocent!"
+
+"That is very possible," said he, with a sigh; "but what did
+they charge you with doing?"
+
+And Rodney moved closer to him, and leaned his head upon his
+breast, and told him all. There was such an evident sincerity,
+such consistency, such tones of truth in the simple narrative,
+that he saw he was believed, and the sympathizing words and
+looks of the listener inspired him with trust, as though he was
+talking to a well-known friend.
+
+For several days, they were constantly together; the stranger
+waited upon Rodney, and gave him his medicine, and helped him
+from his cot, talked with him, and manifested for him the
+kindness of a brother. From several conversations, Rodney
+gleaned from him the following history.
+
+Lewis Warren,--so will we call him--(indeed, Rodney never knew
+his true name),--was born and had lived most of his life in a
+New England village. He was the son of a farmer; a pious man,
+and deacon of a church, by whose help he received a liberal
+education. Soon after he had graduated at ---- College, he came
+on to Philadelphia, with the expectation of getting into some
+business. At the hotel where he stopped, he became acquainted
+with a man of very gentlemanly appearance and address, who said
+that he, too, was a stranger in the city, and proposed to
+accompany him to some places of amusement. Warren went with him
+to the theatre, and, on succeeding evenings, to various places
+of amusement. As they were one evening strolling up Chestnut-street,
+this friend, Mr. Sharpe, stopped at the well-lighted vestibule
+of a stately building, that had the air of a private house,
+although it was thrown open, and proposed that they should go
+in, and see what was going on there. Warren consented, and,
+after ascending to the second floor, and passing through a hall,
+they entered a large, brilliantly-lighted billiard saloon.
+Around several tables were gathered gentlemanly-looking men,
+knocking about little ivory balls, with long, slender wands or
+cues, and seeming, evidently, engrossed in their respective
+games. After looking around for a while, Sharpe proposed going
+up stairs into the third story. They ascended to the upper
+rooms. In the upper passage stood a stout, short negro-man, who
+glanced at Sharpe, stepped one side, and permitted them to pass
+unquestioned. They entered another smaller room,--for the third
+story was divided into several rooms,--and found other games
+than those exhibited below. After walking through some of the
+rooms, and observing the different games, most of which were new
+to Warren, his companion said to him:
+
+"Do you understand anything about cards?"
+
+"Not a great deal; I have occasionally played a game of whist or
+sledge."
+
+"Well, that is about the sum of my knowledge. Suppose we while
+away a half-an-hour at one of these vacant tables."
+
+Warren consented, and they sat down. After playing a game or
+two, Sharpe proposed having a bottle of wine, and, said he,
+laughingly, "Whoever loses the next game, shall pay for it."
+
+"Agreed," said Warren; and the wine was brought, and he won the
+game.
+
+"Well, that is your good luck; but I'll bet you the price of
+another bottle you can't do it again."
+
+Warren won again.
+
+They tried a third, and that Sharpe won; a fourth, and Warren
+rose the winner.
+
+The next evening found them, somehow, without much talk about
+it, at the same place. They played with varied success; but when
+they left, Warren had lost ten dollars.
+
+He wanted to win it back, and himself proposed the visit for the
+third night. He became excited by the game, and lost seventy
+dollars.
+
+Still his eyes were not open; he did not dream that he was in
+the hands of a professed gambler, and, hoping to get back what
+he had lost, and what he felt he really could not spare from his
+small amount of funds, he went again.
+
+"There!" said he, after they had been about an hour at the
+table, "there is my last fifty-dollar bill; change that, and
+I'll try once more."
+
+"Well," said Sharpe, "here is the change; but the luck seems
+against you. We had better stop for to-night."
+
+But Warren insisted upon continuing, and he won thirty dollars
+in addition to the fifty which Sharpe had changed for him. The
+gambler then rose, and told him that he would give him a chance
+to win all back another time, as fortune seemed to be again
+propitious to him.
+
+Warren never saw him after that night. The next morning he
+determined to seek a more private boarding house, and economize
+his remaining funds, and seek more assiduously some business
+situation. He stepped to the bar to pay his board, handing the
+clerk one of the notes he had received in change for his last
+fifty-dollar bill. The clerk examined it a moment, and passed it
+back, saying, "That is a counterfeit note, sir." He took it
+back, amazed, and offered another.
+
+"This is worse still," said the clerk. "I think we had better
+take care of you, sir. You will please go with me before a
+magistrate."
+
+"But I did not know----!"
+
+"You can tell that to the squire."
+
+"You have no right to take me," said Warren; "you have no
+warrant."
+
+"No; but I can keep you here till I send for one, which I shall
+certainly do, unless you consent to go willingly."
+
+And Warren, conscious of his own innocence in this respect, and
+never thinking of the difficulty of proving it, went to a
+magistrate's office with the clerk at once.
+
+The clerk entered his complaint, and, besides swearing to the
+offer of the notes, swore that he had seen him, for several days
+past, in the company of a notorious gambler.
+
+Warren was stunned, overwhelmed, by this declaration. No
+representation that he made was believed. His pockets were
+searched, and all the money he had, except some small change,
+was found to be counterfeit. A commitment was at once made out
+against him, and he was sent to jail, to await his trial on the
+charge of passing counterfeit money.
+
+This is one of the methods by which professional gamblers
+"pluck young pigeons." No young man is safe who allows himself
+to play with cards, or to handle dice.
+
+Rodney believed that Warren had told him the truth, and
+fellowship in misfortune drew the hearts of the duped man and
+the wronged boy towards each other; for though both had been
+very much to blame, yet duped and wronged they had been by
+knaves more cunning and wicked than themselves.
+
+They had many serious conversations together, for both had been
+piously instructed, and Warren, who seemed truly penitent for
+his wanderings, as he sat by the bed-side of the sick boy,
+encouraged him in his resolutions to lead a different life,--to
+seek the forgiveness and grace of God through a merciful
+Redeemer. Seldom has a poor prisoner received sweeter sympathy,
+or more salutary counsel, than was given to Rodney within the
+walls of that old Arch-street jail, by his fellow-prisoner.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Rodney," said Warren to him one day,--it was the first day
+that he had left his cot,--"I shall soon leave this place; I
+have written to my father, and he will be here at the trial with
+such evidences in my favor, from the whole course of my life, as
+cannot fail to secure me an acquittal. I feel no doubt that this
+stain upon my character will be wiped away. And I believe that I
+shall have reason to thank God, as long as I live, for having
+permitted this trouble. It is a very hard lesson, but I trust it
+will be a salutary one. Since I have been here, I have prayed
+earnestly to God for the pardon of my sins. I have resolved, in
+sincerity of soul, to consecrate my affections and my life to
+his service. I have had a severe struggle; but I believe, I
+_feel_, that God has heard my prayers, forgiven my iniquities,
+and the last few days in this jail have been the happiest of my
+life. I feel that I hate the sins of which my heart has been so
+full, and that I love God even for the severe providences that
+have checked my course of impenitence. I feel like a new man;
+and if I am not deceiving myself,--and I pray that I may not
+be,--I have experienced that regeneration of heart of which I
+have so often heard, but which I could never before comprehend.
+
+"I hope that you, too, will try and seek the Saviour, pray to
+him for forgiveness, and beg the guidance of His Holy Spirit for
+your future life. If we both do this sincerely, we shall have
+reason forever to bless God for the way in which he has led us."
+
+"Pray for me," said Rodney; while tears rolled down his pale
+cheeks. "I want to be a Christian, and I hope that God will have
+mercy upon me, and guide me, for the future, in the right path."
+
+A few days after, Warren was called into court to take his
+trial; and, to Rodney's great delight,--for he had learned to
+love him like a brother,--he heard from one of the nurses that
+he had been honorably acquitted.
+
+During the same week, the case of Rodney was called up, and he
+was conducted by an officer to the court-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE TRIAL.
+
+
+Justice was now to be administered, and Rodney was brought into
+the crowded court-room for trial. The officer led him to the
+prisoner's narrow dock, an enclosed bench, at each end of which
+sat a constable, with a long staff in his hand. There were five
+or six other prisoners sitting in the dock with him. Next to him
+was a woman, her garments ragged, her hair matted, and her face
+red and bloated. Next to her sat a squalid negro, who seemed
+totally indifferent to the scenes that were passing around him.
+On the other side of him was a young man, apparently about
+twenty years old, of thin, spare form, with a red flush at
+intervals coloring his cheek, and a hollow cough that sounded
+like an echo from the grave. He was evidently in a deep
+consumption, and had been already several months in prison. And
+he leaned his head upon the railing, as though he would hide
+himself from every eye. He had been tried a few days before, for
+having been associated with others in a burglary, and found
+guilty, and he was now present to hear his sentence.
+
+After the formal opening of the court, this young man was the
+first called upon, and, with trembling limbs, he rose to hear
+the sentence of the judge. After some remarks upon the enormity
+of his crime, and the clear evidence upon which he had been
+convicted, the judge sentenced him to five years' imprisonment
+in the penitentiary. When those words, _five years_, reached
+him, he dropped back upon the seat, as if struck with a bullet,
+and then raising his face to the judge, with an expression of
+profound anguish, said, "Half the time would be more than
+enough, your honor; I shall be in the grave before one year is
+past."
+
+The case of the negro-man was immediately called up, but Rodney
+heard nothing of it. He hid his face in his hands, and wept. A
+sense of his terrible position flashed upon him, and he could
+not keep back his tears, or stifle his sobs. He wept aloud, and
+_felt_, though he might not see, that all eyes were turned upon
+him. His whole frame shook with the anguish of his soul.
+
+Presently a hand was laid upon his, and a head was bent over the
+bar near him, and a voice addressed him kindly: "Be calm, my
+boy; there is no good in crying; who is your counsel?"
+
+Rodney looked up, and saw a young man, well dressed, and with an
+affable and winning countenance, standing before him. His face
+looked kind and benevolent, at least in Rodney's eyes, for he
+had spoken to him gently and encouragingly.
+
+He replied to his question, "I have no counsel, sir; I have no
+money."
+
+"Well, I will try what I can do for you," said the young
+lawyer. "Come out here, and sit by me, and tell me what you are
+here for."
+
+He led him out of the disgraceful dock, gave him a seat directly
+in front of the jury, sat down beside him, and asked him to tell
+him the truth about all the circumstances that led to his
+imprisonment and trial. Rodney told him truly all that happened
+from the time of his running away to his arrest. He told him,
+too, who he was, and who were his relatives in the neighborhood
+of Philadelphia. He had never spoken of these before.
+
+"Well," said the lawyer, "I don't see that they can bring
+anything out to hurt you, if that is the true statement of the
+case. And now, my boy, you may cry as much as you wish."
+
+Rodney looked up, surprised, wondering what on earth he wanted
+him to cry for. He thought afterwards that the advice was
+probably given that his weeping might affect the sympathies of
+the jury, before whose eyes he was sitting. But he could
+scarcely have shed a tear then if his liberty had depended upon
+it. He felt as though he had a friend, and his consciousness of
+innocence of any violation of human law, and his confidence that
+his new friend could show that he was guiltless, set his
+perturbed heart at rest, and he felt sure that he should be
+acquitted.
+
+When the court adjourned, the lawyer took out a card, and,
+giving it to Rodney, said, "If your case should be called up
+before I get here this afternoon, just tell them that I am your
+counsel, and they will put it off till I come. Here is my name."
+
+There was but one word on the card, and Rodney kept it long as a
+grateful memento of the disinterested kindness that had been
+shown him in the hour of his bitter trial. The name on the card
+was
+
+                   +-----------------------+
+                   |                       |
+                   |     WATMOUGH.[A]      |
+                   |                       |
+                   +-----------------------+
+
+[A] This is not a fictitious but the real name of the
+gentleman whose kindness it commemorates.
+
+That young lawyer never knew the gratitude with which his name
+was remembered for long, long years, and the thrill of emotion
+which its utterance always excited in the heart of that
+befriended boy. An act of kindness is never lost, and many a one
+which the benefactor may have forgotten, has won for him the
+prayers and blessings of a grateful heart.
+
+During the recess, Rodney was conducted across Independence-square
+to the old Walnut-street prison. He ate his scanty prison dinner
+that day with a light and hopeful heart; and though he trembled at
+the idea of the coming trial, yet he did not for a moment doubt
+that the result must be his acquittal. He believed that the law was
+framed to punish the guilty, and to do justice to the innocent; and
+he could scarcely conceive that the guiltless could be made to
+suffer by its administration.
+
+Immediately after the opening of the court, in the afternoon,
+the case was called up. The woman in whose house the robbery was
+committed, and one other, were witnesses; but not one word was
+said by either, in any way implicating Rodney in the robbery,
+beyond the fact that he had come to the house in company with
+the robber.
+
+His friend made a very brief speech, demanding his acquittal;
+the judge said a few words to the jury, who consulted together
+for a moment, when the foreman arose, and pronounced the happy
+words, "_Not Guilty_."
+
+And now the tears again rained down the cheeks of Rodney, as he
+came out of the infamous dock,--but they were tears of joy.
+
+A few kind questions were asked him by the judge; and a small
+sum of money, contributed by him and by several of the members
+of the bar, furnished Rodney the means of returning to his
+friends.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Hastening to the end of our narrative, we pass by several
+intervening months, and witness again another Sabbath morning in
+May.
+
+Some twenty miles from the city of Philadelphia, a sparkling
+little brook passes through the meadow of a beautiful farm,
+losing itself in a thick wood that divides the contiguous
+estates.
+
+On that lovely May morning,--that serene Sabbath,--there
+might have been seen,--there was seen by the Omniscient eye,--a
+lad, some fifteen years old, walking thoughtfully along the
+margin of that little stream, and penetrating into the thickest
+part of the wood. He carried a book in his hand, and sat down
+close by the stream, under the shade of an old beech tree. And
+as he read, the tears streamed from his eyes, and his sighs
+indicated a burdened spirit. Indeed, his heart was very sad. He
+was oppressed by the consciousness of the great sinfulness of
+his life and heart against the holy and benevolent God. He
+remembered the early instructions he had received at home and in
+the Sabbath-school. He recalled the precious privileges he had
+enjoyed, and he remembered, with anguish and shame, how wickedly
+he had disregarded all these instructions, abused all these
+privileges, and sinned against his own knowledge of right,
+against his conscience and his God. He had long been burdened
+with these distressing emotions; he had often prayed, but had
+found little relief of his anguish, even in prayer. And now,
+even on this calm and beautiful Sabbath morning, there seemed to
+his heart a gloom in the landscape. There was a smile, he knew,
+upon the face of nature, but he felt that it beamed not for him.
+The carol of wild birds rung out sweetly around him; but the
+music saddened his heart yet more, for there was no inward
+response of gratitude and joy. The bright green of the Spring
+foliage and of the waving grass seemed dark and gloomy, as he
+gazed upon it through tearful eyes. His mourning spirit gave its
+own sombre interpretation to all the lovely scenes of nature. He
+deeply felt that he was a wretched sinner against God, and he
+could not see how God could be merciful to one who had so
+grievously transgressed. He scarcely dared to hope for the
+pardon of his iniquities, and was in almost utter despair of
+ever obtaining mercy.
+
+The book he had taken with him in his morning walk, was
+"Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." He read,
+carefully, the twelfth chapter in that excellent work, entitled,
+"The invitation to Christ of the sinner overwhelmed with a sense of
+the greatness of his sins." He was convinced that Jesus Christ was
+_able_ to save even _him_; and the strong assurances of his
+_willingness_ to save, "even to the uttermost," furnished in the
+promises of the gospel, began to dawn upon his mind as he read what
+seemed like a new revelation to his soul. When he read these words
+of Jesus, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
+I will give you rest,"--"Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise
+cast out,"--though he had read, or heard them read, a thousand
+times before, it seemed now as though they had been written
+expressly for him. There seemed a freshness, a force, a glorious
+personal adaptation in them which he had never seen before.
+
+He turned over the leaves of the book, and the chapter on "Self
+Dedication" caught his eye. He read it; and when he came to the
+prayer with which that chapter closes, he kneeled down, with the
+book open before him, and solemnly, and with his whole heart,
+repeated that fervent prayer. It seemed to have been written on
+purpose to express his emotions and desires. When he had
+concluded, he closed the book, and remained still upon his
+knees, and tried, in his own language, to repeat the sentiments
+of that solemn act of Dedication. Never was a boy more sincere
+and earnest than he.
+
+How long he prayed he did not know; but when he rose and looked
+round him, the sun had long passed its meridian, and the shadows
+of the trees were cast towards the east.
+
+There was a delicious, joyful calm in his soul. All doubts of
+God's willingness to pardon and receive him had gone. A veil
+seemed to have been removed from the character of God. He
+thought of God as he had never thought before,--not as a stern
+and unrelenting Judge, but as a forgiving, loving Father. He
+saw, as he had never seen before, how sinners could be adopted
+as children of God, for the sake of the sufferings and sacrifice
+of Jesus.
+
+His spirit was very calm, but O, how happy! He had solemnly given
+himself to God, pleading the merits of Jesus as the reason for his
+acceptance, and he believed that God had received him, pardoned his
+transgressions, and accepted him as one of his own children. Again
+and again did he throw himself on the greensward, and pour out his
+soul in gratitude and in prayer. It was the happiest day his life
+had ever known.
+
+The whole aspect of nature seemed changed in his eyes. The
+gloomy shroud, that seemed to envelop it in the morning, had
+passed away. The smile of God seemed reflected from every
+sunbeam that played upon the green leaves and danced over the
+distant waving meadow. There was sweet melody now in the songs
+of the birds, in the rippling of the brook, in the hum of the
+bees, and in the sighing of the soft breeze. All seemed to sing
+of the goodness and grace of the adorable Creator. "_Old_ things
+had passed away, behold all things had become _new_."
+
+That lad was the RODNEY ROVERTON of this little volume. That
+change was wrought by the regenerating grace of God. It was the
+"peace of God, that passeth all understanding," diffused through
+all his soul. Where "sin had abounded, grace did much more
+abound."
+
+Rodney Roverton yet lives. He has been, for many years, a professed
+disciple of Jesus Christ, and an honored and successful minister of
+the Gospel.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Runaway, by Unknown
+
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