Part 13 (1/2)

_Josephine_.--”Ah! then I know where it came from. The Pastor's son, and the two sons of the schoolmaster, have got up a Religious Tract Society, who distribute them in all directions.”

_Mark_.--(Reproachfully.)--”And pray why do they scatter them about in this way? Can't they leave people alone, without cramming every body's head with their own fancies. Let them keep their religion to themselves, and leave other people to do the same.”

_Josephine_.--”Do you think, Mark, that Andrew and Julia did wrong to listen to their father and grandmamma, and to follow the precepts of the Bible in preference to the ridicule of scoffers.”

_Mark_.--(Softened.)--”I did not say _that_.... I think Andrew and Julia were right; but ... come give me back the Tract; I want to look at something in it again.”

Mark then went away, carrying the Tract with him; and shortly after, Josephine saw him sitting in the garden, behind a hedge of sweet- briar, reading it attentively.

”Where's that good-for-nothing Mark?” demanded the vinedresser, when he returned home at night half tipsy. ”Did he dare to venture to the shooting-match? I was told that he was seen sneaking about the outskirts of the village! where is he now?”

”He went to bed more than an hour ago,” answered his mother, ”and was no more at the shooting-match than I was, for I saw him reading in the garden.”

”Mark, _reading_!” replied his father. ”What could he be reading? It would be a miracle to see him with a book in his hand. An idle fellow like him, who never did learn any thing, and never will!”

The vinedresser's wife was silent, and after putting poor little Peter to bed, who was quite tired and weary, she managed to get the father to bed also, and peace reigned for a season in this miserable abode.

Mark, however, who was not asleep when his father returned, had heard himself called a good-for-nothing idle fellow, and he trembled from head to foot, when he found he had been seen in the neighborhood of the village.

”What a good thing it was,” said he to himself, ”that I did not go on! It was certainly G.o.d who prevented me!” added he, half ashamed of the thought because it was so new to him; but he determined no longer to resist it.

On the morrow, to the great surprise of his father and mother, Mark got up in good humor; he answered his father without grumbling, and when he was desired to go and work in the field, Mark hastened to take his hoe and spade, and set off, singing merrily.

”What has happened to him?” asked the father. ”One would scarcely believe it was he! Wife, what did you say to him yesterday, to make him so good-humored this morning?”

”I never even spoke to him,” said his wife, dryly. ”You know how whimsical he is.”

”I wish he may remain in his present mind!” said the vinedresser; and thereupon he went off to the ale-house, to talk with his neighbors of the best shots of the preceding day.

Josephine related the history of the little tract to the good pastor's wife, who advised her to meet Mark on his return from the field, and to speak to him again of what he had read.

”Is it _you_, sister?” said Mark, in a happy tone of voice, as soon as he saw her. ”It is very good of you to meet me.”

Josephine, who never received such a welcome from him before, was quite delighted, and going up to him, she said, affectionately, ”I want very much to talk with you again about Andrew and Julia.”

_Mark_.--(Seriously.)--”And so do I. I should like very much to resemble them.”

_Josephine_.--(Quickly.)--”Do you mean what you say, Mark? Have you thought of it again since yesterday?”

_Mark_.--(Still serious.)--”I have thought so much about it, that I am determined to change my habits. Yes, Josephine, I think you are right, and that, after all, religion is better than ridicule.”

The conversation continued as it had commenced, and when Mark returned home, he went up and kissed his mother, who was just laying the table for dinner.

”What's the matter?” said she, with some surprise; ”you seem in very good spirits, today.”

”Nothing is the matter, good mother, but that I wish to alter my conduct,” replied Mark, seriously.

”To alter your conduct,” cried little Peter, as he looked up in his brother's face, and began to t.i.tter.

”And you, too, little Peter,” said Mark, ”you must become good, also.”