nd that just such thefts lead to the greater crimes that send men and
women to prison. Instead, she gave the advice in such a way that, though
they were impressed with a horror of stealing, the boys could only in
part comprehend her meaning. But because she had warned them, she felt
that she had done her duty and that they ought to know right from wrong
in regard to that matter without further explanation.

She did not realize that it was her duty to watch, encourage, and
advise, and also to find out when mischief was being planned. In fact,
this aunt and mother, busy with her own cares, knew nothing of the
possibilities for a child whose confidence and love had been won, and
who, through loving counsel, had gained a knowledge of evils and their
effects before he had formed ruinous habits or his mind had been
polluted with false ideas. Being thus left to themselves to discern as
best they could the difference between right and wrong, the boys nearly
always chose the wrong; and as a result, constantly went deeper and
deeper into sinful things.

CHAPTER III

What the Big Chest Contained

Great sins always have a beginning; the first attempts to do evil are
not hard to check if taken in time, but if allowed to be carried out, it
is impossible to tell what the results may be. How sad it was that John
and his cousins did not have someone to check them!

The boys now decided to keep close watch, and to avail themselves of
every opportunity to procure tobacco, even if they were forced to steal
it. The word "steal" had, of course, a certain horror to John because
of the picture his aunt had described of a prison and a thief; but he
soothed his conscience by saying, "There isn't anything else in the
world except tobacco that I would think of stealing." But the stealing
habit, like the tobacco habit, continues to grow stronger, unless it
is in some way broken. As tobacco contains a poison that affects the
physical being, so in a similar manner lying and stealing have a ruinous
effect upon the moral nature. The three--lying, stealing, and tobacco
using--too often go hand in hand.

The first effort of the boys to secure the much-coveted tobacco was made
one day when they, while roaming about over the prairie, discovered a
man hard at work in a field. The man seemed to be lifting something that
was very heavy, and Will suggested to the boys that they go and lend
their services provided the man would give them each a ch