But let me solemnly warn you against
any further steps in the way you have taken. Crime can have no valid
excuse. It is evil in the sight of God and man, and leads only to
suffering. When you come forth again after your imprisonment, may it be
with the resolution to die rather than commit crime!"
A year afterward, when James Lewis came from prison, his mother was
dead. From the day her pale face faded from his vision as he passed from
the court-room, he never saw her again.
Ten years thereafter a man was reading a newspaper in a far Western
town. He had a calm, serious face, and looked like one who had known
suffering and trial.
"Brought to justice at last!" he said to himself, with deep emotion.
"Convicted on the charge of open insolvency, and sent to state prison.
So much for the man who gave me in tender years the first lessons in
wrong-doing. But thank God! another lesson,--the words of the judge,
spoken to me so many years ago,--have been remembered. 'When you come
forth again, may it be with the resolution to die rather than commit
crime!' and I have kept these words in my heart when there seemed no way
of escaping except through crime. And God helping me, I will remember
them as long as I live."
[Illustration: "_Is your boy sick? He was not in school to-day.
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