Accordingly, in the afternoon of the same day, I sent for
him. On his being seated, and my requesting him to state freely what
he wished to say, he remarked, 'that he wished to let me know how
peculiarly appropriate to his case were the observations I had made,
the previous day, on the influence of little things; and if I would
permit him, he would give me a brief sketch of his history; and,
particularly, of the transaction, which, almost in childhood, had
given a disastrous coloring to the whole period of his youth, and, in
the result, had brought him to be an occupant of his present dreary
abode.'
"It appears, from the sketch which he gave, that he was about ten
years of age, when his father moved from a distant part of the state
to a town in the vicinity of Boston. In this town was a respectable
boarding-school, not a great distance from the residence of his
father; and to this school he was sent. Having always lived in the
country, he had seen very few of those novelties, and parades, and
shows, which are so common in and near the city; and it is not
wonderful, that, when they occurred, he should, like most children,
feel a strong desire to witness them.
"Before he had been long at school, he heard there was to be a
"Cattle Show" at Brighton. He had never seen a Cattle Show. He
presumed it must be a very interesting spectacle, and felt a very
strong desire to attend.
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