A painter, desiring to paint a picture of Innocence, found a beautiful
boy playing at the side of a stream, who became his model. He painted
him kneeling, with his hands clasped in prayer. The picture was prized
as a very beautiful one. Years passed away, and the artist became an old
man. He had often thought of painting a counterpart, the picture of
guilt, as a companion to the other; and at last he executed it. He went
to a neighboring prison, and there selected the most degraded and
repulsive man he could find. His body and eye were wasted; vice was
visible in his very face. But what was the artist's surprise when, on
questioning the man as to his history, he found that it was he who, as a
lovely boy, had kneeled for him as the model of Innocence! Evil habits
had gradually changed him, not only in heart and mind, but in face and
form.
817
All habits gather by unseen degrees.
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
--_Dryden: Ovid._
818
Old habits are hard to break; new habits are hard to make.
819
Taste may change; our inclinations never change.
820
Habits are soon assumed--acquired--but when we strive to strip them
off,--if of long standing--'tis being flayed alive!
--_Cowper._
821
To stop the hand, is the way to stop the mouth.
(If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.)
--_Chinese._
822