“Think!” cried Jonas bluffly, “it’s not thinking, but doing!” and, stumping up to the fireplace with an air of resolution, he again took his pipe from its place and deliberately snapped it in two! but could not refrain from a sigh as he looked on the broken pieces.
“You need not have broken it,” observed Johnny; “’twould have done no mischief where it was.”
“’Twould have been a temptation,” replied Jonas, rubbing his chin; “’twould ha’ been always putting me in mind of a want. If I hadn’t broke my pipe, maybe I’d ha’ broke my resolution.”
“You will miss it sadly, I fear,” said Mrs. Morris.
How much the poor old sailor missed his accustomed indulgence can only be guessed by those who have, like him, formed a habit of smoking till the pipe seems as necessary as daily food. It is a habit which I hope that none of my young readers will adopt; the expense of it being one of its least disadvantages. But Jonas had been accustomed to smoke from his youth; he looked to his pipe as to his comfort and companion, and, in giving it up, he sacrificed really more than a lady would in putting down her carriage, or a sportsman in selling off his hounds. Therefore his pence were a nobler offering than their hundreds of guineas would have been.
Madge was now the happy inmate of a home, whose simple comforts appeared luxuries to her. Its inmates vied with each other in showing her kindness. Except in school-time, or when she was at meals, Alie’s little hands were busy from morning till night; and even Johnny tried his skill in cobbling a very old pair of his sister’s shoes for Madge, and succeeded, more to his own admiration, it must be owned, than to that of any one else. Madge was now made neat and clean, her hair cut and brushed, her rags mended; and the change in her appearance was so great that Jonas said, looking at her with quiet satisfaction, that “he should not ha’ known the lass.” There was a bright, happy expression now in Madge’s blue eyes, and she did not start when suddenly addressed, as if she were afraid of being struck.
And if the outward change was so great, there was every probability that the inward would be yet more striking. Madge was docile and willing to be taught, and she could not be long under the roof of Mrs. Morris without receiving knowledge of the best and highest kind. The distinctions between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, honesty and theft, were becoming daily more and more clear to the child; and she was gradually learning that which would give her the strongest motive for refusing the evil and choosing the good.