“No boy or man, whose opinion is worth minding, will do it when they see you mean to mend; besides, you ought to be willing to suffer some mortification on account of the sorrow you have caused your parents and friends, and for all the mischief you have done, and meant to do.”
“That is true; and I am willing they may say or do what they like; I’ll face it.”
“That’s right; that’s bravely spoken,” said Captain Rhines, laying his great hand upon the pale forehead of the sick boy; “you’ll live it down, and be thought more of for it. You see, my son, building character is just like building a vessel. We build a vessel model, fasten, spar, and rig her the best we know how, and think she’ll prove serviceable; still we don’t know that. But when she’s made a winter passage across the western ocean, and the captain writes home that she is tight, and sails and works well in all weathers, then you see that vessel’s got a character; sailors like to go in her, and merchants like to put freight in her. That will be the way with you; people will say there’s good stuff at bottom in that boy; he’s been through the mill.”
“But,” said the poor boy, “who will believe that I’m going to be a good boy? and who will go with me at the first of it, while I’m proving myself?”
“John will go with you, and our girls.”
“I,” said Uncle Isaac, “will get Henry Griffin to go with you. Pete tried to get hold of him, but he didn’t make out. I’ll get him to come down and see you to-morrow.”
When the cool weather came on, Fred gained strength, went to school, and began to help his father in the mill.
It was remarkable how soon people began to notice the change in him, and to say, “What a smart boy Fred Williams is getting to be! and how much help he is to his father!” He could not have been placed in a better position to have his light shine, than in a mill, where everybody in the whole town came, and were convinced of the shrewd wisdom of Uncle Isaac’s declaration, that the place to look for a thing was where you lost it; the place to regain confidence, where you had forfeited it.
Our readers will recollect the longing for some kindred spirit near his own age, which John expressed to his mother. That desire was now to be gratified in a most wonderful manner, as will be seen in the next volume of “Elm Island Stories,” entitled Charlie Bell, the Waif of Elm Island; and we cannot help thinking it must have been as a reward for his remarkable conduct towards Fred.