As before intimated, by the time Emily gained her sixteenth year,
she had developed so far toward womanhood, that Andrew, who still
remained a slender boy in appearance, felt his heart tremble as he
looked upon her, and thought of the distance this earlier
development had placed between them. And even a greater distance was
beginning to exist--the distance that lies between a pure mind and
one that is corrupt. As Andrew grew older, he grew worse, and the
sphere of his spiritual quality began to be felt, oppressively, at
times, by Emily, during the periods of their brief intercourse.
Moreover, she was ever hearing some evil thing laid to his charge.
At length their intimate intercourse came to an end, and, with the
termination of this, was removed the last restraint that held the
lad in bounds of external propriety. The cause of this termination
we will relate: As Andrew grew older, he grew more and more
self-willed, and strayed farther and farther from the right way.
Social in his feelings, he sought the companionship of boys of his
own age, and by the time he was seventeen, had formed associations
of a very dangerous character. Though positively forbidden by his
father to be out after night, he disregarded the injunction, and
went from home almost every evening. At home there was nothing to
attract him; nothing to give him pleasure. A shadow was ever on the
brow of his father, and this threw a gloom over the entire
household. But, abroad, among his companions, he found a hundred
things to interest him. All license tends toward further extremes.
It was not long before Andrew found ten o'clock at night too early
for him. The theatre was a place positively interdicted by his
parents; and, restrained by some lingering respect for his mother's
feelings, Andrew had, up to the age of seventeen, resisted the
strong desire he felt to see a play. At last, however, he yielded to