esolved not to submit to it for any great length of time. A few days
after this, he left home, under pretence of going to school, and ran
away. He travelled on, until he reached the town from which his father
had removed, and had been absent for several weeks before his parents
ascertained what had become of him. He was, however, discovered, and
brought back to his home.

"Some time after this, he was sent to another school, in a
neighboring town; but, not being altogether pleased, he resolved, as
he had run away once, he would try the experiment again; and this he
did. He had been absent six months before his parents ascertained
what had become of him. He had changed his name; but, getting into
some difficulty, in consequence of which he must go to jail, unless
he could find friends, he was constrained to tell his name, and who
were his parents; and in this way his good father, whom he had so
much abused, learning his son's condition, stepped in to his aid, and
saved him from confinement in a prison.

"But I should make this story much too long, were I to detail all
the particulars of his subsequent life until he became a tenant of
the state prison. Suffice it to say, that he went on from one
misstep to another, until he entered upon that career of crime which
terminated as before stated.

"And now, beloved reader, to what do you think this unhappy young man
ascribes his wanderings from home, and virtue, and happiness, and the
forlorn condition in which he now finds himself? Why, simply, to the
trivial circumstance of his leaving school one day, without his
father's consent, for the purpose of going to a cattle show! And what
do you think he says of it now? 'I feel,' said he, 'that all I have
suffered, and still suffer, is the righteous chastisement of heaven. I
deserve it all, for my wicked disobedience both to my earthly and my
heavenly Father; and I wish,' said he, further, 'that you would make
such use of my case as you shall think best calculated to instruct and
benefit the young.'

"And now, beloved reader, I have drawn up this sketch--and I can
assure you it is no fictitious one--for your perusal. You here see
what has been the result of a single act of disobedience to a parent;
what it has already cost this unhappy man to gratify, in an unlawful
way, his youthful curiosity even in a single instance.

"May He, who giveth wisdom to all who ask it, lead and guide you
safely through the journey of life, and