_--"But, Mary, it was not your knife left upon the
table, which tempted her to take two keys secretly out of the
cupboard, and which made them the instruments of this theft. For
Papa," continued he, "it _is_ a theft, and a shameful one too!
These stolen keys are no small matter!"
_The Father_.--(Calmly.)--"I know it my children, and it
grieves my heart, that one of my servants, who daily hears the word
of God read and explained, should so far have forgotten the fear of
the Lord! This is what saddens me, and wounds me deeply."
_Lucy_.--"Elizabeth has not long been our cook, and probably
she never heard the word of God before she came here. Poor girl I she
is perhaps very unhappy now,--and I am sure, she will repent and turn
to God."
_The Father_.-"That is right, my dear child, I rejoice to hear
you plead the cause of the unhappy, and even of the guilty, for as I
said before, 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment.'"
"I was therefore wrong," said John, "and I confess it ... for
certainly I scarcely pitied her.... I did wrong I and now I think as
Lucy does."
"And I also," said William, "'Clemency governs courage,' says a
Grecian historian, and .
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