56 CONVERSATIONS ON 



any man. Tom was talking to me about that 

 man, and I remember he said then that when 

 a man began to drink, he could never say 

 where it would end, nor what he would do : 

 'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the first 

 drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a 

 Christian and a man about it, did not act like 

 one : for it was not long before he began to fol- 

 low his bad habit, and he soon killed his poor 

 mother ; for she died of grief and sorrow, I think. 

 His excellent wife speedily followed her to the 

 grave ; and Tom Smith left the village, a 

 perfect vagabond, whom no one cared for. 

 Where he went, or what he did for a long 

 time, no person here knows. I went to other 

 countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom 

 Smith until my return home, when I found 

 him wandering about here, a gray-headed 

 swearer and drunkard. He did not know me, 

 and I never should have known him, had not 

 some one told me who he was. And last night 

 I received a letter from one of my nephews 

 in the city, which informed me that Tom 

 Smith had been tried in the court, and found 

 guilty of stealing, and was sent to the state 

 prison for ten years to hard work. There I 

 suppose he will die for he is now old ; and it 



