ld at prayer. The little suppliant was kneeling by
his mother. The palms of his hands were reverently pressed together,
and his mild blue eyes were upturned with the expression of devotion
and peace. The portrait was much prized by the painter, who hung it up
on his wall, and called it "Innocence." Years passed away, and the
artist became an old man. Still the picture hung there. He had often
thought of painting a counterpart,--the picture of guilt,--but had not
found the opportunity. At last he effected his purpose by paying a
visit to a neighboring jail. On the damp floor of his cell lay a
wretched culprit heavily ironed. Wasted was his body, and hollow his
eyes; vice was visible in his face. The painter succeeded admirably;
and the portraits were hung side by side for "Innocence" and "Guilt."
The two originals of the pictures were discovered to be one and the
same person,--first, in the innocence of childhood! second, in the
degradation of guilt and sin and evil habits.

Will-power can be so educated that it will focus the thought upon the
bright side of things, upon objects which lift and elevate. Habits of
contentment and goodness may be formed the same as any others.

Walking upon the quarter-deck of a vessel, though at first intolerably
confining, becomes by custom so agreeable to a sailor that on shore he
often hems himself within the same bounds. Lord Kames tells of a man
who, having relinquished the sea for a country life, reared an
artificial mount, with a level summit, resembling a quarter-deck not
only in shape, but in size, where he generally walked. When Franklin
was superintending the erection of some forts on the frontier, as a
defense against the Indians, he slept at night in a blanket on a hard
floor; and, on his first return to civilized life, he could hardly
sleep in a bed. Captain Ross and his crew, having been accustomed,
during their polar wanderings, to lie on the frozen snow or a bare
rock, afterwards found the accommodations of a whaler too luxurious for
them, and the captain exchanged his hammock for a chair.

Two sailors, who had been drinking, took a boat off to their ship.
They rowed but made no progress; and presently each began to accuse the
other of not working hard enough. Lustily they plied the oars, but
after another hour's work still found themselves no farther advanced.
By this time they had become tolerably sober; and one of them, looking
over the side, said to th