"What a dreary thing, my dear children, must be despair--afflicted by an
accusing conscience, and bereft of hope! What would this wicked man have
given, after he had parted with his ill-gotten wealth, to have found the
child alive! but that felicity was denied him living; he was to die in
affliction.
"The wicked Hugo was taken to prison to await his punishments.--But let
us turn to a more agreeable subject--the honest wood cutter, who could
refuse all the allurements of wealth, because it was ill-gotten; even
his wife Gertrude, who loved riches, disdained to enjoy them on such
terms. What a lesson does this afford to us to be noble in mind, and to
resist temptation! The good do not feel any of the violent passions;
they are moderate and temperate in all they do; they are undisturbed,
and through all the changes of life may depend on that Providence, the
recollection of which occasioned the great and good Jonas Hanway; who
founded the Marine Society, to use the motto--'_Never Despair_.'
"Never, then, my dear children, suffer your young minds to long after
riches, when they cannot be purchased by fair and honest means; for you
may rest assured that it is much better to prefer,
"_The wise man's choice, by which you'll find,
No wealth is like a quiet mind_."
_FINIS._
Printed by Lane, Darling, & Co. Leadenhall Street, London.