"My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye receive chastenings, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
The book dropped from the reader's trembling grasp. It was then that the Angel of Mercy said, "It is enough," and touched the young man's heart. The long pent-up spring burst forth, and Rupert sobbed like a child. By a huge gray rock sheltered by the pines, he uttered his first prayer to God. For a full hour he prayed and wept, until a peaceful spirit overpowered him, and he slept.
Rupert awoke with a changed heart, though he was weak and faint. Evening was coming on and he saw the smoke curling from the chimney of a farmhouse half a mile below. Painfully, he made his way down to it.
A young man was feeding the cows for the night, and Rupert went up to him, and said:
"Good evening, sir; have you any objection to my sleeping in your barn tonight?"
The man eyed him closely. Tramps did not often come to his out-of-the-way place.
"Do you smoke?"
"No, sir."
"Then I have no objection, though I don't like tramps around the place."
"Thank you, sir."