John Williams

by Dorothea Lynde Dix

When John heard that he was to go to school, he did not appear much pleased; he had been willing to work about the house, but the idea of books and a school, had the appearance of toil to him. At last his gratitude towards me prevailed; he was conscious that I had already done much for his good, and would not send him to a master, if it were not for his advantage.

He still wished to go to sea; and I had promised him that if he learnt well and was a good boy, he should go in two or three years.

I was pleased to see that his early habits of theft and wickedness were gradually yielding to the influence of steady kindness and discipline. It was at this period that I thought direct religious instruction could be given with success. That a child of his age should suddenly reform, could not be expected in the course of things; but the great mercy of God could now impress him, and he began to pray himself, in language which I had taught him. First shame and then gratitude operated to subdue his sinful habits; and this state of mind, I felt, would be followed by better and higher motives.

Mr. Brown sent me word when John had been with him three months, that he was learning very fast, and that he had never caught him in an untruth; he also said that his honesty was genuine and sincere, as the following anecdote will prove.—Mr. Brown lost, as he thought, somewhere in, or about the school-room, a dollar bill. The boys looked for it a long time without finding it, and the search was given up as fruitless. After many days John, who knew well the value of the money, had the good fortune to find it, as he was sweeping the room in his turn, among some waste papers, which had been thrown from his master’s desk. No one was with him; and he looked at the bill with a wish, as he afterwards owned, to keep it, and tell no one that it was found. He might have done this with security, for the bill had been totally given up as lost, and would never again have been inquired for. As he stood with it in his hand, he all at once remembered the commandment which he that very week had learnt, and said to me, “Thou shalt not steal;” and his conscience told him it would be in one sort stealing, if he kept what he had found, when he knew to whom it had belonged.

His master too, had read that very morning from the scriptures, a lesson which now came in aid of his better feelings—“If we sin wilfully after that we have knowledge, then is there no more pardon for sins,”—“but a fearful looking for of punishment.” He remembered that he had been told that God loved all who tried to subdue their bad propensities, and become good and honest. He knew that God was angry with the wicked, and that they would not go to him, and be happy when they died, if they did not repent. He knew too, that God was pleased when any sinful thoughts of the heart were driven out.

Just then one of his school fellows came back after a book. Moses Wild was not a good boy, and when he saw the money, and heard John say he should carry it to Mr. Brown as soon as he had done his work, he told him he was a fool for his pains; that if the bill was in his hands, he should keep it, and buy nuts, and oranges, and cake with it. But John’s mind was now fixed; he positively said the money should go to his master; and Moses, finding that his evil counsel was unheeded, walked off sneering at what he called John’s religious scruples, and disappointed that he had not been able to get the victory and share the spoil.

Now it happened that Mr. Brown had heard all that passed from an adjoining room, where he was writing; John very soon finished his task, and then went to seek his master. He returned the bill, and a gleam of joy thrilled through his heart, when he was commended for his good deeds and the practice he had already made upon the lessons of piety which were given him at school, and those which he also received at home. And happier yet was he when he was told his mistress should be informed of his trustworthy and good behaviour.

That night John attended prayers with more earnestness, and repeated his own lesson with more seriousness, than had been remarked for a long time. He went on day by day making himself more useful and active about the house, and at school doing his best to get forward in his learning.