Pg. 293

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 293] THE SPOILED CHILD. 5

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 ingathering of souls: and there were now some cheering evidences of another outpouring of the Spirit.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 2 While they were thus engaged, the son of Mr. C—l, a lad about seventeen years of age, approached to mock: he groaned, and made singular grimaces, or laughed aloud, as he walked immediately behind his father: and at the end of the ridge next to the house, having caught up a young animal, he contrived, by tormenting it, to make it utter one continued yell: this he aid in defiance of the solemn rebukes of the Pastor, and the entreaties and threats of his too indulgent parent. An end had been thus put to all regular conversation; and at this last outrage the aged father wept in silence, and sought to conceal his tears as he hurriedly sowed his field.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 3 This ebullition of youthful fury had been caused, it was afterward discovered, by the father’s peremptory refusal of the usual supply of money. Like too many parents, foolishly indulgent, he had yielded to the dominion which his only son possessed on his heart, and had given liberally and often: this only created an appetite for more: he soon found himself compelled to give liberally, simply to get rid of his importunate duns. And having made the discovery which, as a wise man, he ought to have anticipated as naturally as any common effect from a common cause, that this free indulgence with money had led him into habits of dissipation, and that the present solicitation was made to enable him to take the lead at a “frolic” in the tavern of the adjacent village, he had positively refused him. The young man now left his father’s presence with a threat that “he would have money, and just that sum which he needed; if not one way, at least by another, which he (his father) might conjecture.”

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 This was too much for a tender parent’s heart to endure. He took hold of the Pastor’s arm and led him to the shade of an aged apple-tree; and placing him beside his wife, who had joined him by this time, he sat down and wept.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 “My poor ruined boy!” was all he could now utter in his grief. His wife and the Pastor also burst into tears.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 “I now see my error,” said the afflicted parent, after a short pause, as if awakened from the sleep of long delu-

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 2*                                                            N 2