At length, after many a sleepless night spent in
weeping and praying, he was determined to cast all his care upon God, as
the more he reflected, the more his duty became apparent.

3. He discontinued his Sabbath work, went constantly and early to the
public services of religion, and soon enjoyed that satisfaction of mind
which is one of the rewards of doing our duty, and that peace which the
world can neither give nor take away. The consequences he foresaw actually
followed. His genteel customers left him, and he was nicknamed "Puritan"
or "Methodist." He was obliged to give up his fashionable shop, and, in
the course of years, became so reduced as to take a cellar under the old
market house and shave the poorer people.

4. One Saturday evening, between light and dark, a stranger from one of
the coaches, asking for a barber, was directed by the hostler to the
cellar opposite. Coming in hastily, he requested to be shaved quickly,
while they changed horses, as he did not like to violate the Sabbath. This
was touching the barber on a tender chord. He burst into tears; asked the
stranger to lend him a half-penny to buy a candle, as it was not light
enough to shave him with safety. He did so, revolving in his mind the
extreme poverty to which the poor man must be reduced.

5. When shaved, he said, "There must be something extraordinary in your
history, which I have not now time to hear. Here is half a crown for you.
When I return, I will call and investigate your case. What is your name?"
"William Reed," said the astonished barber. "William Reed?" echoed the
stranger: "William Reed? by your dialect you are from the West." "Yes,
sir, from Kingston, near Taunton." "William Reed from Kingston, near
Taunton? What was your father's name?" "Thomas." "Had he any brother?"
"Yes, sir, one, after whom I was named; but he went to the Indies, and, as
we never heard from him, we supposed him to be dead."

6. "Come along, follow me," said the stranger, "I am going to see a person
who says his name is William Reed, of Kingston, near Taunton. Come and
confront him. If you prove to be indeed he who you say you are, I have
glorious news for you. Your uncle is dead, and has left an immense
fortune, which I will put you in possession of when all legal doubts are
removed."

7. They went by the coach; saw the pretended William Reed, and proved him
to be an impostor. The stranger, who was a pious attorney, was soon
legally satisfied of the ba