Oscar had a small piece of the weed in his mouth, which he tucked behind his upper lip with his tongue, and then opened his mouth.  The teacher of course saw nothing but what belonged there.  He smelt something, however, that left him no longer in doubt that Oscar had told a falsehood.

“I can’t see your cud, but I can smell it plain enough,” said the master; “and I ’ll examine your pockets, if you please.”

Oscar was far from pleased with this proposition, and tried to prevent its being carried into effect.  The master, however, easily overcame the difficulties he put in the way, and running his hand into the pocket which he seemed most anxious to defend, brought forth a piece of tobacco large enough to kill a horse!

“What is that?” he inquired, holding the contraband article before Oscar.

Oscar neither looked at it nor made any reply.

“And you are the boy who said a moment ago that you had no tobacco about you,” continued the master “I declare I don’t know what to do with you.  I have said and done all that I can to make a better boy of you, and now I shall report this matter to your father, and let him settle it with you.  But I want you to remember one thing.  When you tell me a lie, you break God’s law, and not mine; and you can’t settle the matter in full with me, or any other human being.”

The teacher then threw the piece of tobacco out of the open window, and taking Oscar’s writing-book, told him he would set a new copy for him.  He soon returned, with the following line written upon the top of a clean page: 

“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.”

As Oscar wrote this fearful sentence over and over again, he could not fully escape the force of its meaning.  It reminded him of his feelings during his recent illness, when at times the terrible thought that his sickness might possibly be unto death intruded upon his mind.  But thoughts of God, and death, and a future world, were alike unpleasant to him, and he banished them as speedily as possible.

During the afternoon, the principal of the school wrote a letter to Mr. Preston, informing him of Oscar’s indolence and bad conduct, and referring particularly to the incident that had just occurred.  By way of offset to the complaint, he spoke in very high terms of Ralph, who attended the same school, but was in another department and another room.  He sent the letter by Ralph, but told him not to let Oscar know anything about it.  Ralph had some suspicions of the nature of the letter, but he did his errand faithfully, going directly from school to his father’s store.

Mr. Preston was at first very much irritated by the teacher’s complaints of Oscar’s misconduct; and could he have taken the culprit in hand at the time, he would probably have handled him rather roughly.  But several days elapsed before he found it convenient to talk with Oscar about the matter, and by this time his passion had subsided into anxiety and sorrow.  He showed Oscar the letter, in which he, the eldest son, was severely censured, and his little brother was so highly commended.  With tears in his eyes, he warned him of the dangers before him, and entreated him to change his course.