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your Bible or the
duty of prayer; avoid all bad company; keep your heart pure; and God
will be with you, to bless and protect you."
As if endued with strength to utter a last solemn admonition, she told
him of the evil nature and power of sin, how it separated man from his
Maker; of the temptations to be met with in the world, from the
deceitfulness and weakness of the human heart, and the example of the
ungodly, with whom she begged him to have no communion. She
spoke of the necessity there was for constant watchfulness and prayer;
told him to avoid all exhibition of self-will or disobedience; but above
all to shun falsehood, that most ruinous of all vices, since it is the first
step on the way which leads to eternal death. She bade him remember
how the Scriptures teach, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life;" and that it is ever open to the scrutiny of the
All-Seeing Eye.
William listened attentively to her teaching, and it took deep root in his
soul. Was he to endure the trial of temptation? or would it perish, like
the seed sown by the wayside?
There were no near relatives of the family, to whose care Margaret
could think of consigning her child. A distant cousin or uncle by
marriage, who kept a shoe store in New York, and who had visited
them sometimes, was said to be rich, and she thought that if he would
undertake the guardianship of the boy, and keep him in his family for
some years, he might at last be promoted to the rank of clerk. She
therefore wrote to him, and as a satisfactory answer was soon returned,

the arrangement was settled, the good baker promising either to take
the boy to New York himself or send him with an acquaintance.
And now she felt more at ease. She had made this plan, as she judged,
for the best; the rest she left to the never-failing Wisdom to order, as
was right.
A few days after her walk to the church-yard she was confined to her
bed, from which she never arose. The pastor visited her daily, and as
William never left her for a moment, he was always present at their
spiritual conversations. Oh, how powerful was the impression he
received; how it operated, not only on his present, but future life; and
how often afterward did he thank his heavenly Father that he had been
thus early and spiritually taught!
William was very young; but we know that children at a very early
period are able to comprehend the most important truths of God's word;
and the sanctifying blessing accompanying, they are, like Timothy,
made wise unto salvation. It was not until after his mother's funeral that
William knew he was to go to New York, to be a shoemaker's
apprentice, and he was greatly troubled at the prospect. He would have
preferred remaining in the village. There was, however, no employment
for him there, and he was hardly strong enough for steady farm work.
His friend the baker had taken him home on the day of the funeral, and
he was happy with that kind family, for George Herman was his friend,
and they loved each other so well that they could not hear the thought
of parting. The good baker would not hear of his going for a month or
two, or at least until the first violence of his sorrow was past; and
thinking it better he should he with companions of his own age, he sent
him to school with his friend George.
The rudiments of a kind of drawing were taught there, and although
nothing but circles, squares, triangles, and ovals were practised, the
teacher saw, by the borders of William's slate, which way his talent led;
and pitying the boy who would be obliged to make shoes for a living,
while gifted so far above the ordinary standard, he would gladly have
taught him for nothing had his friend the baker permitted. But Mr.
Herman knew the opinion of his parents on that subject, and he felt that

it would be wrong for him to encourage that which they did not.
William, however, although he took no lessons, learned a great deal of
the, to him, forbidden art, and went on contentedly, knowing nothing of
the teacher's proposal or his protector's objection.
CHAPTER IV.
WILLIAM AT HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE.
As the time appointed for his departure drew near, William's heart
became very sad. The prospect of being separated from his friend
George gave him no little pain. He shrunk, too, from the idea of living
with perfect strangers.
Time, however, waits for no one. The day