“’No; let them correct their own mistakes.  We don’t examine bills for other people’s benefit.’

“It was my first lesson in dishonesty.  I saw the bill settled, and Mr. Carman took twenty dollars that was not his own.  I felt shocked at first.  It seemed such a wrong thing.  But soon after this, he called me a simpleton for handing back a fifty-dollar bill to the teller of a bank, which he had overpaid me on a check, and then”—­

“May I ask the protection of the court?” said Mr. Carman.

“Is the story of the lad true?” asked the judge.

Mr. Carman looked confused.  All felt certain that he was guilty of leading the unhappy young man astray.

“Not long afterward,” resumed the young man, “in receiving my wages, I found that Mr. Carman had paid me fifty cents too much.  I was about to give it back to him, when I remembered his remark about letting people correct their own mistakes, and I said to myself, ’let him discover and correct his own errors.’  Then I dishonestly kept the money.

“Again the same thing happened, and again I kept the money that did not belong to me.  This was the beginning of evil, and here I am.  If he had shown any mercy to me, I might have kept silent and made no defense.”

The young man covered his face with his hands, and sat down overpowered with his feelings.  His mother who was near him, sobbed aloud, and bending over, laid her hands on his head.  “My poor boy! my poor boy!” she murmured.

There were few undimmed eyes in the court-room.  In the silence that followed, Mr. Carman exclaimed:—­

“Is my character to be thus blasted on the word of a criminal, your honor?  Is this right?”

“Your solemn oath that this charge is untrue,” said the judge, “will clear your reputation in the eyes of the people.”

[Illustration:  “Let him take his oath if he dare!”]

At these words, James Lewis stood up again instantly.  It was the unhappy boy’s only opportunity, and the court felt bound in humanity to hear him.  Turning his eyes upon Mr. Carman, he exclaimed:—­

“Let him take his oath if he dare!”

Mr. Carman consulted with his counsel, and withdrew.

The judge then arose to pass sentence.

“In consideration of your youth, and the temptation to which in tender years you were subjected, the court gives you the lightest sentence,—­one year’s imprisonment.  But let me solemnly warn you against any further steps in the way you have taken.  Crime can have no valid excuse.  It is evil in the sight of God and man, and leads only to suffering.  When you come forth again after your imprisonment, may it be with the resolution to die rather than commit crime!”

A year afterward, when James Lewis came from prison, his mother was dead.  From the day her pale face faded from his vision as he passed from the court-room, he never saw her again.

Ten years thereafter a man was reading a newspaper in a far Western town.  He had a calm, serious face, and looked like one who had known suffering and trial.