They went on rambling till they had got more than a mile into the wood.  The stream here was wide and deep.  On one side of it there grew an old willow, and in one of the branches of this, they saw a wren’s nest.  As Tom was the stronger boy of the two, it was agreed that he should help John up to the branch, so that he might reach the nest.  John got upon the branch, and he had put out his hand to take hold of the nest, when the branch broke off, and down he fell into the water.  Tom laughed at this, for he knew that the stream was not deep enough to drown him:  but Carlo rushed in and dragged his master by the clothes towards the bank.  John scrambled out, but he was covered with mud.  Tom helped him to take off his clothes, and clean off the mud and dry them; but with all they could do, John was still in a sad mess, and as it was now late in the day, he turned to go home with a heavy heart.

When he reached the cottage, he found his father and mother in great alarm, as they could not think what had become of him.  When they found out what had taken place, their alarm was changed into grief, on account of the son whom they loved so much, having done wrong.  John himself cried a great deal, and said that he was more vexed because he had caused them grief, than he should have been, if they had scolded and whipped him.  His mother told him that she left it to his own heart to scold him, and that he should go to his bed-room and pray to God on his knees to forgive him, as she had taught him to pray.

John did as she bade him, and he prayed to God with all his heart.  He then went to sleep with a quiet mind; and when he awoke the next morning, he prayed again that God would give him strength to do his duty, and to stand firm when he should be tempted again as he had been by Tom Jones.  He then read a chapter in the Bible to his mother, and went to school.  His master kept him in, and gave him only a piece of bread and a cup of water for dinner.  But he did not suffer nearly so much from this as he had done from having grieved his dear parents; for he had before this been brought to repent, and he felt that God, and his father and mother, had forgiven him.

John Cooper never again grieved his father and mother by doing wrong, and never forgot the lesson he had learned, when Tom Jones led him astray, as long as he lived.

[Illustration:  Sunday morning]

When John Cooper became a man, there were bad times, and he could not get a living at the trade to which he had been brought up:  so he went for a horse-soldier.  And before he went, his father and mother gave him their blessing, and he prayed with all his heart that God would bless the old people, and preserve them; and said he would let them have as much of his pay as ever he could.

It was a sad day for him and his parents when he went away.  They had never been parted for so long a time before, and he was now going to India, from whence he could not return for some years.  But they could not help it; so they all said that it was God’s will that they should part, and it was their duty to bear it as well as they could.