cise; as he says fun takes his mind
off his books, and makes him lose a great deal. He is intending to teach
a school when he goes away from here, but I don't believe he will, for
he looks sickly now. But he thinks it is very foolish to spend time in
jumping about, and all that, when there are things so much more
important to be done.'

'The body, which God has so wonderfully made, and which He watches over
with such tender care, is very far from being beneath our notice, Harry;
and while we should give the greater care to the immortal part, we
should not neglect the other. I have been visiting a scholar to-day, who
I doubt not was once of young Marvin's opinion in these things, and,
poor fellow! he does not even see his folly now.'

'Please tell us about him, father,' said Effie, with interest, 'did he
study so much to make him selfish and wicked?'

'I will tell you the story, and then you must be the judge,' returned
Mr Maurice. 'I believe, however, that in this case selfishness was more
out of the question than usual; he had too much zeal, "a zeal not
according to knowledge." Lewis Varden was the son of a poor widow, who
contrived to support a large family in comfort and to give them a good
education. He was the youngest son, and perhaps from the circumstance of
being too tenderly nurtured, and perhaps from some constitutional
defect, was never so strong and muscular as his brothers, and so his
mother determined that he should study a profession.

'Lewis was particularly pleased with the arrangement, as he had a
natural fondness for sedentary employments, and at sixteen had become so
extensive a reader, as to be a kind of family encyclopedia. The
question, however, remained to be decided whether he should study law or
medicine, the only professions which among us are at all lucrative.

'While he was yet wavering between the two, he lost his mother, and
suddenly the whole object of his life, even his own character, became
changed. Mrs Varden was what is usually called a good woman, that is,
with a sharp eye upon her worldly interests, she maintained her standing
in the church, and bore a fair reputation; but she was a worldly-minded
Christian, and as such had not sufficiently encouraged in her children
any peculiar love for holiness. She was, however, a devoted,
self-sacrificing mother, as far as their worldly interests were
concerned: and never was a lost parent more sincerely mourned.

'From that time forth, L