"'Mother!' said I, at last, 'Is that you?' It was the first time that I had ever called her 'mother.' She did not start, but quietly laid down her book and came to my side."
"'You feel better, do you not, my dear boy?' said she, laying her hand on my forehead.
"Yes, mother, but very weak and faint.'"
"She gave me a little wine and then some nice broth, which seemed to refresh me, but she would not allow me to talk."
"'Is my father here?' I asked, after lying still a little longer."
"'He is here. He has been watching by you for two or three nights, and I persuaded him to lie down.'"
"I still felt very low and weak and it tired me to talk; so I lay still, and looked at my mother with a kind of peaceful enjoyment of her presence, till I fell asleep once more. The next morning I saw my father, but I was not allowed to speak to him, for my strength was so reduced that my recovery was considered a very doubtful matter. I well remember the pain it gave me to see how old he had grown, and how careworn and sad he looked. He assured me of his entire forgiveness, and bade me give all my thoughts to getting well, that I might go home once more."
"It was only by the best of nursing that I finally regained so much strength as to allow of my being removed from the asylum whither I had been carried by those who had rescued me from my tyrant, and it was more than two months before I was considered well enough to set out for home. During all this time my step-mother was unwearied in her kindness and attention to me, and I began to wonder how I could ever have disliked her. I do not think I should ever have done so, had not my mind been prejudiced against her beforehand by some of those unlucky people who are afflicted with an utter inability to mind their own business. I found out, too, that it is possible for a woman to understand Latin and Greek and yet be a good nurse, an excellent housekeeper, and the kindest of mothers."
"I learned after a while how my parents had finally found me. When Captain Stokes and Mr. Bangs came to read the advertisement at the tavern, they were convinced that I was the child described, and they were confirmed in their belief by my running away as I did. Captain Stokes immediately wrote to my father, saying that a boy answering in all respects to his description had joined the company at P—, and had been with them some months, but had suddenly disappeared, without leaving any trace of his whereabouts. He believed, however, that I might have taken to the canal. Advertisements were sent to all the towns upon the canal, and persons employed to look out for me among the drivers; but no news was obtained till my father received a letter from the man who had accosted me on the night I have mentioned, saying that I was on the canal-boat Diamond, and, the writer believed, very badly off. My incoherent talk had made the people who took charge of me think that I must be the child who had been so extensively advertised, and they wrote to my father immediately, but with little hope of his arriving in time to see me alive."
"Railroads, there were none in those days, and I made my journey homeward in a packet-boat on the canal. I seemed to recognize every stone and stump on the way, and I showed my mother the very spot where the steersman of the other boat jumped off and spoke to me. Many were the resolutions I made during that long journey, one of which was that if I was once spared to get well, I would devote my life to preaching that Gospel of repentance and salvation which had been so effectually preached to me by the kind Christian boatman. I kept my word; and the very first sermon that I ever preached was upon the Parable of the Prodigal Son. However, I am anticipating my story."