t may be so," said he; "I know not what they might do in Spain and
Italy; but I will not say they would be the better Christians for that
severity; for I am sure there is no heresy in too much charity."

Well, as Will Atkins and his wife were gone, our business there was
over; so we went back our own way; and when we came back we found them
waiting to be called in. Observing this, I asked my clergyman if we
should discover to him that we had seen him under the bush, or no; and
it was his opinion we should not; but that we should talk-to him first,
and hear what he would say to us: so we called him in alone, nobody
being in the place but ourselves; and I began with him thus:

"Will Atkins," said I, "pr'ythee what education had you? What was your
father?"

_W.A._ A better man than ever I shall be. Sir, my father was a
clergyman.

_R.C._ What education did he give you?

_W.A._ He would have taught me well, Sir; but I despised all education,
instruction, or correction, like a beast as I was.

_R.C._ It is true, Solomon says, "He that despiseth reproof is brutish."

_W.A._ Ay, Sir, I was brutish indeed; I murdered my father; for God's
sake, Sir, talk no more about that, Sir; I murdered my poor father.

_Priest_. Ha! a murderer?

[Here the priest started (for I interpreted every word as he
spoke it), and looked pale: it seems he believed that Will
had really killed his own father.]

_R.C._ No, no, Sir, I do not understand him so. Will Atkins, explain
yourself: you did not kill your father, did you, with your own hands?

_W.A._ No, Sir; I did not cut his throat; but I cut the thread of all
his comforts, and shortened his days; I broke his heart by the most
ungrateful, unnatural return for the most tender, affectionate treatment
that ever father gave, or child could receive.

_R.C._ Well, I did not ask you about your father to extort this
confession; I pray God give you repentance for it, and forgive you that
and all your other sins; but I asked you, because I see that, though you
have not much learning, yet you are not so ignorant as some are in
things that are good; that you have known more of religion a great deal
than you have practised.

_W.A._ Though you, Sir, did not extort the confession that I make about
my father, conscience does; and whenever we come to look back upon our
lives, the sins against our indulgent parents are certainly the first
that touch us; the wounds they make lie deepest