hings that he had seen in the muddy ditches? I replied, "Yes, all."
"Did God make fishes?" "Oh yes," I answered, "he made fishes and every
thing." Then, in a very lively manner, he made me understand, that if
God did not like to have him hurt the worms, neither would he like to
have him hurt the fish. "Poor fish!" he said, showing me how its mouth
would be torn by the hook; and then, to my surprise, he got a small
hatchet, and chopped up his fine fishing-rod into walking-sticks; and
from that day he could never bear to see anybody angling. He used to
tell him, if they wanted to fish to eat or sell, to catch them with a
net, and to kill them at once; and I believe that the sight of the deaf
and dumb boy, taking such pains to plead for the creatures which are not
only dumb, but have no way of pleading for themselves, was the means of
checking many persons in cruel practices. He knew very little compared
with what you, perhaps, know; but he knew one blessed truth--he knew
that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life;" and by always thinking on this great mercy of God to man, and the
exceeding love of our Lord Jesus Christ, in dying for poor sinners like
us, Jack came to hate whatever he knew to be displeasing to that
gracious Lord and heavenly Father; and the happiness that he felt in his
own soul made him delight in seeking the happiness of every creature
around him.

Jack died of a slow decline. He had much pain, but I never saw him look
impatient or unhappy. He felt what David so beautifully describes in the
twenty-third Psalm: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." He knew quite well
that he was going to die; but it never made him uneasy. He knew that God
was at peace with him, through the merits of the Redeemer; and he was at
peace with all the world. His dying pillow was not made a pillow of
thorns by the remembrance of having made any living thing suffer
torment; nor were his short sleeps disturbed by terrible dreams of what
he had forgotten until the time drew near to appear before God. I could
tell fearful stories of some who died as young as Jack, and whose
death-beds can never be forgotten by those who saw them. They had been
cruel to God's dumb creatures, and never gave a thought to what they had
done; but when death was near, when the poor weak body coul