Conscience | Page 5

help him as well as you can, and be particularly kind to him."
"And so reward him for making fools of us," said Prank, pettishly. "No, Mother, what you say may be very good, but I don't want to do such a thing as that."
"If you were to treat him in the way I propose, do you think he would ever treat you unkindly again? Would he not feel deeply ashamed of his conduct if you thus returned him good for evil?"
The boys were silent, but it was evident that they did not quite relish their mother's advice, nor feel at all disposed to help John Green say his lessons.
"I will tell you a story," said Mrs. Chilton, of a man who overcame evil with good. A gentleman was once travelling alone in a gig through a very unfrequented road. There was no house, no sign of human existence there. It was so still that the hills and rocks and deep woods gave back the echo of his horse's hoofs; the song of a bird or the chirping of a cricket seemed to fill a great space, and fell on the ear with a strange and almost startling effect. He was observing or rather feeling this extreme solitude and stillness, when suddenly at a turn in the road he came upon a man who placed himself directly before the horse's head. The man had a dark, bad expression in his face, and fixed his eye upon the traveller in such a way as to convince him that the man meant to stop and rob him.
The gentleman immediately drew up his reins, and said kindly, "Friend, if you are going my way, step into my gig, and let me take you on."
The man hesitated, and then got in. My friend, who was a clergyman, began immediately to talk earnestly about many interesting things, and kept up a lively conversation. At last, he mentioned the uncommon loneliness of the road, and observed that it would be a good place for a robbery. He then went on to speak of robbers, and then of criminals in general, and of what he thought was the right way to treat them. He said that society should try to instruct and reform them; that putting them to death was wicked; that, by patient love and kindness, we should win them back to virtue, that we should show them the way to peace and honor. He expressed his belief, that there was something good in the heart of the very worst man, and said that he believed God had placed a witness of Himself in every human heart. "I am a non-resistant"--concluded the clergyman, "and I would rather die than take the life of my bitterest enemy."
The man listened very attentively. When they came to the next road, he asked to be allowed to get out, as he said his home lay that way. After bidding farewell, he added, "I thank you for taking me in, and for all you have said to me. I shall never forget it. You have saved me from a crime. When I met you, I meant to rob you. I could easily have done so; but your kind words put better thoughts into my heart. I think I shall never have such an evil purpose again. I thank God I met you. You have made me a better man."
"Now," said Mrs. Chilton, "I will give you, boys, the money you ask for, and leave you to do as you think best about John Green."
"But, Mother," said Harry, "I am sure chalking a boy's back is a very different thing from robbing a man; and chalking back again is not like keeping a poor fellow in prison all his life, or hanging him."
"Very true, Harry, but the principle of overcoming evil with good is the same for both cases. The evil purpose in the robber's heart was overcome by the love and kindness of the man he meant to injure. Think the whole matter over, boys, and let me know to-morrow what you have done. I leave you free to do as you think best."
The next day after school, she asked them what they had done about John Green, and whether they had spent their money for chalk to write dunce on his back.
"I bought a piece of chalk," said Frank, "for I thought I might want very much to pay him back for his trick upon us, but the poor fellow looked so frightened that I did not want to touch him."
"I did not buy any chalk," said Harry, "for I felt almost sure that, if I had a piece in my pocket, I should leave some mark on his back."
"Did you then do nothing to revenge yourselves?" asked their mother.
"Frank had