"Yes."
"He is your friend. If you are good and true, and will pray to God to help you, I am sure he will care for you."
"Come, sir," called the keeper. "Time's up."
The clergyman turned sorrowfully away. The prisoner called after him, and, catching his hand, held it in his own while he could. Tears were in the preacher's eyes.
Fourteen years passed. The convict was sent into the mines. The minister went down one day into a mine, and among the workmen saw a gigantic figure bent with hardship and age.
"Who is that?" he asked the keeper.
"A lifer, and a steady fellow—the best of the gang."
Just then the "lifer" looked up. His figure straightened, for he had recognized the clergyman. His eyes shone.
"Do you know me?" he said. "Will He come soon? I've tried to be good."
At a single word of sympathy the life had been transformed, the convict redeemed.—Selected.