o young and inexperienced to be a judge
of character. Being corrupted by their influence, he forged a check on a
bank in Albany. He was detected, and sentenced to the State Prison for
two years. When he was released, at twenty-two years of age, he did the
best he could to efface the blot on his reputation. But after having
obtained respectable employment, he was discharged because his employer
was told he had been in prison. He procured another situation, and the
same thing again occurred. He began to think there was no use in trying
to redeem his lost character. In this discouraged state of mind, he
applied to the Prison Association for assistance. Inquiries were made of
the two gentlemen in whose employ he had been more than a year. They
said they had found him capable, industrious, and faithful; and their
distrust of him was founded solely on the fact of his being a
discharged convict. For some time, he obtained only temporary
employment, now and then; and the Association lent him small sums of
money whenever his necessities required. At one time, he was charged
with being an accomplice in a larceny; but upon investigation, it was
ascertained that he had become mixed up with an affair, which made him
appear to disadvantage, though he had no dishonest intentions in
relation to it. Finally, through the influence of the Association he
obtained a situation, in a drug store. His employer was fully informed
concerning his previous history, but was willing to take him on trial.
He remained there five years, and conducted in the most exemplary
manner. Having married meanwhile, he was desirous to avail himself of an
opportunity to obtain a higher salary; and the druggist very willingly
testified that his conduct had been entirely satisfactory during the
time he had been with him. But in about eight months, his new employer
discovered that he had been in prison, and he immediately told him he
had better procure some other situation; though he acknowledged that he
had no fault to find with him. Friend Hopper sought an interview with
this gentleman and represented the youthfulness of H.O. at the time he
committed the misdemeanor, which had so much injured the prospects of
his life. He urged his subsequent good conduct, and the apparent
sincerity of his efforts to build up a reputation for honesty. He
finally put the case home to him, by asking how he would like to have
others conduct toward a son of his own, under similar circumst