the old man
in a polite manner.

Little Richard, having finished several of the pears, began to find
himself at leisure to talk to his papa. "This is a very good old man,"
said he; "but would God have punished me, had I taken these pears
without his leave?" "He certainly would," replied Mr. Stevenson; "for he
never fails to reward good actions, and chastise those who commit evil.
The good old man fully explained to you this matter, in telling you of
the traps laid for thieves, into which you must have inevitably fallen,
had you entered his garden in a clandestine manner. God orders every
thing that passes upon earth, and directs events so as to reward good
people for virtuous actions, and to punish the wicked for their crimes.
In order to make this more clear to you, I will relate to you an affair
which happened when I was a boy, and which I shall never forget."
Richard seemed very attentive to his father; and having said he should
be very glad to hear his story, Mr. Stevenson thus proceeded:--

"When I lived with my father, and was much about your age, we had two
neighbours, between whose houses ours was situated, and their names were
Davis and Johnson. Mr. Davis had a son named William, and Mr. Johnson
one also of the name of Harry. Our gardens were at that time separated
only by quickset hedges, so that it was easy to see into each others
grounds.

"It was too often the practice with William, when he found himself alone
in his father's garden, to take pleasure in throwing stones over the
hedges, without paying the least regard to the mischief they might do.
Mr. Davis had frequently caught him at this dangerous sport, and never
failed severely to reprimand him for it, threatening him with severe
punishment, if he did not desist.

"This child, unhappily, either knew not, or would not take the trouble
to reflect, that we are not to do amiss, even when we are alone, for
reasons I have already mentioned to you. His father being one day gone
out, and therefore thinking that nobody could see him, or bring him to
punishment, he filled his pockets with stones, and then began to fling
them about at random.

"Mr. Johnson happened to be in his garden at the same time, and his son
Harry with him. This boy was of much the same disposition as William,
thinking there was no crime in committing any mischief, provided he were
not discovered. His father had a gun charged, which he brought into the
garden, in order to shoot the sp