“First.  I am the Lord thy God—­”

“Oh, Pat, you are saying the ten commandments of God.  Your little brother Eugene can say them.  I examined you in these before.”

“Oh, I forgot. 1st.  To hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. 2d.  To fast and abstain on the days commanded. 3d.  To confess our sins at least once a year. 4th.  To receive communion at Easter. 5th.  To contribute to the support of our pastors. 6th.  Not to solemnize marriage within forbidden degrees, nor clandestinely.”

“The first precept, Patrick, we cannot keep here, as we are not near the church.  But the second, ‘to abstain on the days commanded,’ we can keep.  Do you ever eat meat on Friday, Pat?”

“Never but once, through mistake,” said Pat.  “I thought it was Thursday.  Mr. Prying is always wanting me to eat it every day, and so was a gentleman whom he called the priest,—­sure he is not a right priest, is he, Paul?”

“Not at all, Pat; he is only a Protestant minister.”

“A minister!” said Pat, in astonishment.  “Why did they call him a priest?  He wanted me and Eugene to eat meat on Friday; but I said I could not, it would make me sick.  Then Mrs. Prying told him to let me be; that she could not allow any interference with our religion; and since that, the minister never returned to our house, or nobody said a word about it.  I think she is very good.  She often cries when she hears me and Eugene speaking of father and mother, God rest their souls!  Paul,” said Pat, introducing a new subject, “ain’t there a hell to punish the wicked, as well as a heaven to reward the good?”

“Certainly, Pat; does not the Catechism say so?”

“Yes, but yesterday, Cassius Prying tried to persuade me that there was no hell.  He said all would go to heaven, in the end.  I told him it was no such thing.  He said the minister said so.”

“Oh, Patrick, my boy, beware of Cassius; you must not listen to his talk, for it is wicked.  God tells us there is a hell, and we must believe all he teaches us by his church and his word, or we will be condemned to hell forever.”

“Oh, the Lord save us!  I won’t hear to Cassius no more.”

“That’s a good boy, Patsy; mind to watch Eugene, and make him do as you do.  We will all soon be going home to uncle’s, please God.”

“How soon, Paul?  I am tired of being in ’Merica.”

“Very soon, please God.  Good-by, and be good:  learn this, the eighth chapter of the Catechism, next.”

“I will, Paul, with God’s help.”

This is the way Paul, our hero, took care of the responsibility God had thrown on his tender shoulders at the age of fifteen.  Never did missionary or priest labor, by prayer, and prudence, and anxiety, to save souls to Christ, as Paul did to save his brothers.  He was to them the true Joseph, who not only kept their bodies from starving, but preserved their souls from a worse than Egyptian captivity.  And not only did his exertions produce the desired effect on the immediate objects of his solicitude, but God added as the reward of his zeal other souls, “not of this fold.”