0-r.:E-A.ismsra-s insr see cxTLTTJi^E e^siti^A-": m 



He that is faithful in tliat which is least, is faithful also in much.— Llke 16.10. 



PUBMSm 



Vol. XI. 



SEPT., 1883. 



No. 9. 



MYSELF AND ITI¥ NEIGHBORS. 



WHO IS MY XEIiJHEOR!— LUKE 10: 29. 



MY little friends, within just half a mile 

 from our factory is the county jail. I 

 do not know how it comes, but in 



some way or other the unfortunate friends 

 who gret iuto that jail have seemed to be es- 

 pecially my neighbors for the past few years, 

 and I confess I have felt very happy in being 

 allowed to go in there and talk with them 

 and get acquainted. After they have been 

 there a wJiile they get very lonely, and al- 

 most hunger for human companionship, or 

 somebody to talk with, and so of course they 

 are always glad to see me. Almost all I 

 meet there are grown-up people ; but now 

 and then I find boys and young men, and 

 just now a bright young fellow only sixteen 

 years of age is the occupant of the room with 

 its stone tloors and grated windows. He 

 was put in for horse-stealing— at least, so 

 the papers said. Does it not seem a little 

 strange that a boy of sixteen should think of 

 stealing horses V When I first went in and 

 took him by the hand I was surprised, and 

 told him so. Said I, " Why, my young friend, 

 is it possible you are the horse-thief we have 

 been reading about V " 



" Yes, Mr. Root," said he, " I am the 

 horse-thief." 



He smiled as he said it, but it was a rather 

 sad smile. I sat down beside him and had a 



long talk with him, and he told me freely all 

 about it. Just one year ago Ellsworth Sin- 

 clair (for that is his name) was a pretty good, 

 honest, iiard-workiiig boy. and bad never 

 tasted any thing that would intoxicate. His 

 father died many years ago from intemper- 

 ance, and his mother married a man whom 

 he did not get along: with pleasantly. So he 

 decided to go away from home and find a job 

 elsewhere. He got woik on a faim near 

 Easton, Wayne Co., Ohio. Of couise, he 

 soon became acquainted with the boys of 

 the neighborliood. and through them found 

 out that the principal place for amusement 

 was at the saloon in Easton, where they had 

 a pool-table. At this saloon he lear))ed to 

 drink and smoke and play ; and on the day 

 before the Fourth of July a number of the 

 boys were at the saloon iis usual. Perhaps 

 they felt a little patriotic, as boys of sixteen 

 usually do the day before the Fourth, and so 

 they treated and drank and played a little 

 more than usual. Some time in the night 

 our young friend lost all his money, and, 

 crazed with drink, he declared to his com- 

 rades that he would have more money, and 

 have it by the next morning. He had a 

 horse and buggy of his own that he worked 

 and paid for. He started out with this in 

 the darkness of the night, and, when far 

 enough away, took a farmer's horse out of 

 the lot and drove until daylight, and then 

 tried to sell it. No one would buy it, and, 

 getting alarmed, he left it to be sold, saying 



