"Let me tell you, my dear child, boyhood with all its little griefs and troubles, is the most joyous time of life; its very spring time when everything is fresh and beautiful. I did not appreciate it when I was a boy, but now I sometimes sigh for it. If boys who are longing for the time to come when they may be men could only know what a man's life and work mean, they would pray to be kept at school all their lives.
"I wish I could gain the ear of all the boys in the world, I would say to them affectionately, in the language of the Holy Apostle St. Paul. Be strong; shun anything and everything that has a tendency to weaken your mental and moral life.
"For you, my beloved son, I now say: Be strong in the grace you will obtain by constantly and devoutly approaching the Sacraments. If the love of God is the motive power of your life, you will grow from a noble boy into a noble man."
Father, mother and son sat together late into the night; then kneeling in devout prayer they retired to rest.
At seven o'clock on Wednesday morning, Monsieur Le Curé sent his carriage to take his niece and her husband to the station. Madame Casgrainie and Mrs. Allen bade each other a tearful farewell.
When on the train, Bolax bravely suppressed his emotion, so that the parting should not be too painful for his parents; then Monsieur Le Curé invited him to spend the night at his house, hoping to comfort him. In the morning, our brave boy entered the College, where he found that several of his classmates had returned. Fulton, Adolph and Tardeef gave him a hearty greeting; soon they were exchanging droll stories and making each other laugh at their adventures during vacation. On the whole, Bolax's second year opened with pleasant prospects and under more promising auspices than that which had preceded it.
Here we must leave our hero, asking the readers who are interested in his story to pray that his future life may prove all that his parents are trying to make it, viz: Pure, honest and noble in every sense of the word.
END.