favorably before the exhibition, but this settled the matter in their
view. The very skill which the boys displayed in the performance served
to awaken still greater fears; for the greater the witchery of the play,
the more danger to the young.

"Thar," said old Mrs. Lane, who entertained us on a former occasion, "I
knowd that it would turn out so. It is jist what I telled ye, when I
heard Nat went to Boston nights arter great speakers. You'll have to
b'lieve me byme bye whether or no."

"Ah!" said the lady addressed, "it would all have been well enough if
Nat had confined his attention to that. Perhaps it will be well enough
now, though I fear that theatrical performances will have a bad
influence."

"Pesky bad," replied the old lady. "When boys are runnin arter such
things allers, there is no tellin whar they'll stop. And thar's the
danger of too much edication. If Nat had stuck to his bobbin, and never
knowd any thing else, I guess it would turn out better for him in the
eend. I don't b'lieve in so many new-fangled notions as they have in
these ere times."

"I have no fears for Nat," responded the lady; "for I think he
participates in these things for self-improvement; but others may do it
for the sake of the amusement. I am afraid that others may imbibe a
taste for the drama, and become theatre-goers in consequence."

"You seem to think that Nat can't be spiled; but I take it that his good
motives can't make the theatre good. It is a corruptious place, anyhow,
and if it don't spile him, it won't be because it ain't bad enough."

"Time will show us the result," continued the lady. "But they say Nat
exhibited marked talents for the drama at the exhibition. Several
persons have told me that they were surprised at his ability, but I am
not; for he always excels in whatever he undertakes. He enters into
every thing with all his heart, and does it with all his might."

"Lor, yes, we all know that," replied Mrs. Lane; "and so I reckon that
if the theatre should spile him, he would be wicked with all his might.
He'd make a rale prodergal son, only more so."

On the point of Nat's excellence in performing the drama, the following
conversation took place after this public entertainment.

"You ought to be an actor," said Charlie to him. "You are exactly cut
out for it, and every one who heard you the other night would tell you
so."

"So far as that is concerned," answered Nat, "the profession of an actor
is the las