“If I had not been in earnest, sir, I could never have spoken as I did.”

“You never could.  Truth, James, is the foundation of all eloquence; he who knowingly speaks what is not true, may dazzle and perplex; but he will never touch with that power and pathos which spring from truth.  Fiction is successful only by borrowing her habiliments.  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.

Jemmy, who still lived at the “House of Entertainment,” on hearing what they intended to do, begged Mr. O’Brien, to allow him, provided the master should be removed from the school, to decline prosecuting him.  “He has been cruel to me, no doubt,” he added; “still I cannot forget that his cruelty has been the means of changing my condition in life so much for the better.  If he is put out of the parish it will be punishment enough; and, to say the truth, sir, I can now forgive everybody.  Maybe, had I been still neglected I might punish him; but, in the meantime, to show him and the world that I didn’t deserve his severity, I forgive him.”

Mr. O’Brien was not disposed to check a sentiment that did the boy’s heart so much honor; he waited on the Colonel the next morning, acquainted him with Jemmy’s wishes, and the indictment was quashed immediately after the schoolmaster’s removal from his situation.