JACK SHORT. 
333 
for improvement he had so wantonly thrown 
away, his reflections were bitter indeed. 
“ It is no use trying to do any thing or be 
anybody,” he said to himself: “every thing 
is against me.” And then he began to con¬ 
sider whether any thing had been against 
him except his own petulance and impa¬ 
tience. He could not, now that he was cool, 
see that Richard had been in any way to 
blame. It was true he had positively pro¬ 
mised never to swear again, both when he 
was sick and at the commencement of the 
lessons, when Richard had made it a condi¬ 
tion in their agreement; and it was onty kind 
in his friend to remind him of his promise 
when he saw him in danger of breaking it. 
He thought how he had said his prayers 
lately, and how he had talked to Sarah about 
saying her’s; and what a hypocrite he 
seemed to himself! “And yet I did mean 
to be a good boy,” said poor Jack; “ I am 
sure I did.” 
Although the thought of his prayers 
seemed to give new fire to his self-reproach, 
it seemed, too, to bring a sort of comfort 
with it. Jack sat for some time longer, 
buried in thought; and then, hastily and 
