Now, James, for
a little more advice. Don't let the idea of having been a poor scholar
deprive you of self-respect; neither let your unexpected turn of fortune
cause you to forget what you have suffered. Hold a middle course; be
firm and independent; without servility on the one hand, or vanity on
the other. You have also too much good sense, and, I hope, too much
religion, to ascribe what this day has brought forth in your behalf, to
any other cause than God. It has pleased him to raise you from misery to
ease and comfort; to him, therefore, be it referred, and to him be your
thanks and prayers directed. You owe him much, for you now can perceive
the value of what he has done for you! May his name be blessed!"
Jemmy was deeply affected by the kindness of his friend, for such, in
friendship's truest sense, was he to him. He expressed, the obligations
which he owed him, and promised to follow the excellent advice he had
just received.
The schoolmaster's conduct to the poor scholar had, before the close
of the day on which it occurred, been known through the parish. Thady
O'Rorke, who had but just recovered from the epidemic, felt so bitterly
exasperated at the outrage, that he brought his father to the parish
priest, to whom he give a detailed account of all that our hero and the
poorer children of the school had suffered. In addition to this, he
went among the more substantial farmers of the neighborhood, whose
cooperation he succeeded in obtaining, for the laudable purpose of
driving the tyrant out of the parish.
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