“It is possible that in some respects I might have improved in appearance during my residence at school; but evil tempers and evil habits will leave their traces on the countenance, and my excellent parent sighed as he looked upon the hardened face of his only son.  Louisa, also, found something unpleasant in the change, but said that no alteration would have pleased her which made me differ from the dear little brother with whom she had passed so many happy hours.  I could not say the same of her; for, though my baby sister had seemed perfect, the tall girl of fifteen, who stood at the garden gate to welcome me, was lovelier still.  The responsibility of presiding over her father’s household and her anxiety for me had infused a shade of thoughtfulness into her otherwise lively countenance, which might have made it seem too full of care for one so young, had not the sweeter Christian principle changed it to an expression of quiet peacefulness.

“When I told of my school follies at home, Louisa would sometimes sigh; and then I would be angry at what I named her ‘daring to dictate to me.’  But I never could frighten her into approving what was wrong.  I was not happy in her society, for much of my time of late years had been spent in a manner of which she could not fail to disapprove, and her whole life was at variance with mine.  I do believe, now, in spite of her unwearied affection, that it was a relief to her when the vacation was over, and she had no longer the annoying presence of her wicked, wayward brother.

“Sometimes Louisa would allude to the way in which we had been educated, entirely unconscious that I not only had given up all religious observances, but even dared to make them a matter of sport.  I was half ashamed, and quite as much provoked, when at parting she handed me a book of ‘Private Devotions,’ with a mark, worked in her own hair, at a prayer for absent friends.

“‘You had better keep this book for yourself, little Methodist,’ I exclaimed, trying to laugh off my vexation.  ’Students have no need of such text-books, I can tell you.’

“‘But students need the protection of an Almighty Creator,’ she replied, seriously, ’and their absent friends, also, are only safe under his keeping.  I always pray for you, my dear brother, as our mother taught me to do; and I had hoped that you had not given up the petition for your sister which you also used to say at her knee.’

“This remark brought before me the image of our departed mother, as she looked the last time I remembered to have seen her, seated in an easy chair which she rivalled in whiteness, so mild and calm, with the little curly head of my baby-sister in her lap, while she dictated to her the simple form of prayer,—­’God bless my dear brother!’

“As the stage-coach rolled away from my father’s door, I could not banish the vision called up by Louisa’s parting words, and I then resolved to try and become what my mother would have wished.  Vain resolution!  Six weeks saw me immersed in all the dissipation that the city afforded, and in three months I had an empty purse, enfeebled health, and a hardness of heart which would have taken some men years to acquire.