"Very well. Then you alone are to blame for the present trouble, and
it rests with you to remove it. For my sake, go back to school,
promise to do right in future, and ask to be reinstated. Will not
this be better than going to sea, or leaving your (sic) fathers's
house, as you thoughtlessly threatened to do just now?"

The tender earnestness with which Mrs. Howland spoke, more than the
reasons she urged, subdued the stubborn spirit of the boy.

"You know how determined your father is," she continued. "In his
intention to send you to sea he is entirely in earnest, and nothing
will prevent his doing so but your going back to school. You
threaten to run away. That would avail nothing. You are but a boy,
and would be restored to us in a week. Think of the trouble you will
bring upon me. Andrew! Andrew! unless you do as I desire, you will
break my heart."

Giving way at this point to the pressure on her feelings, Mrs.
Howland wept bitterly; and, greatly subdued by his mother's grief,
Andrew drew his arm around her neck, and wept with her.

"Go, dear," said Mrs. Howland, as soon as she had recovered herself,
parting the hair upon the forehead of her boy, and pressing her lips
upon it--"go, and secure your own self-approbation and my happiness,
by doing as I desire. Go, now, while your heart beats rightly. Go,
and save your mother from untold wretchedness."

And again Mrs. Howland pressed her lips to his forehead. Happily,
she prevailed over him. Acting from the good impulses with which she
had inspired his better nature, he went to the teacher, who readily