“O Mamma Vi,” he sobbed, “I thought I was that before, when papa showed me what an awful sin swearing was, and I didn’t think I could ever do it again; but I got dreadfully angry with Ralph because he cheated me out of everything—­all my money and my watch that I’ve always thought so much of, you know—­and the wicked words slipped out before I knew it; they just seemed to speak themselves.”

“Ah, dear Max, that is one of the dreadful consequences of allowing ourselves to fall into such wicked ways; it is the power of habit which grows upon us till we are bound by it as with an iron chain.

“The Bible says, ’His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.’  So the longer any one lives in sin, the harder it is for him to break away from it—­to repent and be converted and saved.  Therefore, I beseech you to come to Jesus now; God’s time is always now.”

“Mamma Vi, I think I have,” he said low and humbly; “I tried to do it with my heart, when Grandma Elsie was praying for me.”

“O Max, dear Max, I am very glad!” she returned with tears of joy in her eyes.  “And your father will rejoice almost as the angels do in heaven when a sinner repents and is saved.”

“It’s a dreadful task to have to write down all about this afternoon for him to read,” sighed the boy.

“But you will do it, Max? will you tell him the whole truth like a brave boy?” queried Violet anxiously.

“Yes, ma’am, I will.  Oh, I wish he were here! so I could just tell him, and have it all over in a few minutes.  But now it will be so long that I’ll have to wait to hear what he has to say about it.”

Violet expressed her sympathy, joining very heartily in his wish for his father’s presence, then left him to his task.

“Seems to me it’s a little like marching up to the cannon’s mouth,” Max said to himself, as he took out his writing materials and dipped his pen in the ink, “but it’s got to be done, and I’ll have it over.”

He cogitated a moment, then began.  “Dear papa, I’ve been doing very wrong for ’most a week—­letting a fellow teach me to play cards and gamble; we didn’t play for money or anything but fun at first, but afterward we did; and I lost all the money I had, and, worse still, the nice watch you sent me.

“But the very worst is to come.  You would never believe I could be so terribly wicked after all you said to me, and I wouldn’t have believed it myself, and oh, I don’t like to tell you, for I’m afraid it will almost break your heart, papa, to know you have such a wicked boy for your only son!

“But I have to tell you, because you know you said I must tell you everything bad I did.

“Well, I was sure the fellow had cheated, and I got very mad, and called him a cheat and a thief.  Then he got mad and swore horrible oaths at me, and called me a liar, and that made me madder than ever, and—­O papa, how can I write it for you to see?  I swore at him.”