certainly very unhappy.  He wanted to sell me very much indeed; but some how or other, no one would give the price he asked.  Perhaps they remembered the saying, “The buyer is as bad as the thief.”  He offered me to one man in Pearl street, who seemed a little disposed to buy.  “Wait a minute,” said he; and he went into a back room to speak to somebody.  But John Smith thought it would be safer for him not to wait.  I guess he had his mind on the subject of police officers at that time.

He never went to church with me but once; and then, strange enough, the minister preached from this text:  “The way of transgressors is hard.”  I could feel the poor man’s heart throb, as the clergyman slowly read the words.  When he went home, he was in great distress—­for the sermon was a very solemn one—­and he took down from a shelf a small Bible, all covered with dust, and looked at some words which were written on the first leaf.  I don’t wonder he wept, as he read them—­“A mother’s gift.”  He remembered where the text was, and he turned to it, and read it again and again.  “Yes,” said he, “it is true—­too true.  But what shall I do?  I have been to the theatre so much now, that I can’t be happy unless I go; and where am I to get the money?  I wish I had never begun to steal.  Oh! that was a sad day for me, when I listened to wicked boys, and robbed that old man’s pear tree.”  I saw then how he first became a thief; and I thought I should like to have every body know that when boys are stealing apples, and pears, and peaches, they are serving an apprenticeship to the business of stealing on a larger scale.  I myself have heard of many a highway robber, who began his career in the orchard of his neighbor.

Mr Smith did not reform.  About three months ago, he stole a horse from a stable in the upper part of the city, and immediately left for some place in New Jersey.  It was a beautiful horse, but he could not sell him.  People were suspicious.  At last he was arrested, and had to go to Sing Sing prison.  I hope he will make up his mind to be an honest man now; for he has certainly learned, by pretty dear experience, that “honesty is the best policy.”  I can’t think he would steal any more if they should let him out.  Still, I am not sure.  The habit was very strong.