The same evening, when it was dark and cold, another little boy left his home. It was no nice cheerful home, like Robert’s, with warm fires, and bright lights. It was one small room, and in the grate only a few cinders. On a bed of straw in a corner his mother lay very ill. As he went out, he said, “Mother, try to sleep; I will not be late coming back.” He worked in a factory not far off, and it being Saturday night, he knew he would not be kept late. As he was coming home, weary and cold, thinking of his poor mother, and how he would like to take something that would do her good, his eye rested on some beautiful fruit at a shop-door outside the shop. He saw that no one was near; he could touch them in passing. The temptation was too great--the little fellow quickly put three lovely apples into his pocket, and ran down the street. When he got to the lamp-post at the corner, he took out the apples and looked at them. “They will make my mother well, perhaps; but then, are they mine to give her? I could easily make her think a lady gave them to me; but God would know.” Then, looking at them again, he said aloud, “_Thou God seest me!_ That is my Sabbath-school ticket for to-morrow. No, mother must not have them. I cannot sin against God.”
He then ran back, and had just returned the apples into the basket, when the shopman seeing him, thought he was stealing, seized him by the arm, and dragged him in. The poor child, with tears, told the whole story, and asked pardon for what he had done. The man had a feeling heart, and children of his own; he was just at a loss to know whether to believe him or not, when a kind old gentleman, who had seen all that passed, had followed the boy, and heard what he said at the lamp-post, came in, and told him that the story was true. He then bought the apples, and many other nice things, and gave them to Harry, to take home to his mother, saying as he did so, “Never forget what has happened this evening; and let your ticket for to-morrow be your motto through life--‘_Thou God seest me!_’ and you are sure to prosper.”
These two boys both lived to become men. Harry Brown grew up a decided and consistent Christian. He was trusted and respected by all who knew him; he got into good employment, married a pious wife, and saw his poor mother end her days in his happy home. Robert Wright became a prosperous man. He had a fine house, a carriage, and servants, and all that money could buy. And yet often he did not look happy after all. And at last, one morning, the town rang with the news of a dreadful event: Mr. Wright, the rich merchant, had been found dead in his bed, with a bottle of poison beside him. On looking at his papers, it was discovered that his business was going wrong--that he had forged bills to a great amount; and now, seeing he must be found out, the _fear of punishment_ was more than he could stand, and, by his own hands, he rushed into an eternal world.