possession thereof; but to lessen his valued treasure by taking
anything therefrom for others in the present time, was a thing the
very suggestion of which startled into life a host of opposing
reasons. He did not respond immediately, although his heart moved
him to utterance. The force of his friend's argument was, however,
conclusive. He saw the whole subject in a new light. After a brief
but hard struggle with himself, he answered:

"And I shall follow in your footsteps, my friend. I never thought of
the lost time you mention, of the thirty children unblessed by the
good act I purposed doing. Can I leave them to vice, to suffering,
to crime, and yet be innocent? Will not their souls be required at
my hands, now that God shows me their condition? I feel the pressure
of a responsibility scarcely thought of an hour ago. You have turned
the current of my thoughts in a new direction."

"And what is better still," answered Mr. Erwin, your purposes also."

"My purposes also," was the reply.

A week afterwards the friends met again.

"Ah," said Mr. Erwin, as he took the hand of Mr. Steel, "I see a new
light in your face. Something has taken off from your heart that
dead, dull weight of which you complained when I was last here. I
don't know when I have seen so cheerful an expression on your
countenance."

"Perhaps your eyes were dull before." Mr. Steel's smile was so
all-pervading that it lit up every old wrinkle and care-line in his