"Poor boy! don't tell it, if it distresses you so badly," I said; but
he continued.

"The time came when I was old enough to go to school. These same kids
went to the same one I did, and do you think I could shake 'em? No,
mam; they stuck to me like leeches. They were now harder than ever to
get rid of. In fact, I couldn't, but managed never to let my folks see
me with them if I could help it, and they knew they dare not come near
our house. It didn't take me very long to learn to swear like them,
when in their company. I thought it sounded big and smart, although
deep down in my heart I knew it was wrong. One day one of them got hold
of a deck of soiled playing cards, and the oldest kid undertook to
teach the rest of us how to play casino. It didn't take long to learn.
I used to often get home late from school now, and when asked what kept
me, always told a lie. I hated to do that at first, but it soon got to
be easy. The folks so loved me, had such confidence in their 'smart
little Joe,' that they never suspected, because I learned my lessons
quickly; besides, always had a pretty good report from school.

"We used to play sometimes in a vacant lot. There was a saloon near by,
and sometimes the man would treat to soda-water, sometimes we paid for
it, and by the time I was thirteen I had learned to love beer and
whiskey, also to smoke cigarettes, which we would make from the tobacco
we kids stole from our fathers' and other people's pockets when their
backs were turned, though sometimes we'd buy it.

"It began to be hard work to get up in time for breakfast and school of
a morning, and I'll tell you why. When the folks thought, after I'd
said 'Good night' that I'd gone to bed, I'd lock my door, then pretty