As  God  would  have  it,  Ben  happened  to  fall  in  with  t]\e
constable  and  crowd  who  were  taking  them  to  whip.  He
would  fain  have  run  off.  But  there  was  a  drawing  of  sym-
pathy  towards  them  which  he  could  not  resist:  so  on  he  went
with  the  rest.  He  said  afterwards  that  it  was  well  he  did:
for  when  he  beheld  these  poor  devils  tied  up  to  the  stake,
and  also  their  sweet  faces  distorted  with  terror  and  pain,  and
heard  their  piteous  screams  under  the  strokes  of  the  cow-
hide on  their  bleeding  backs,  he  could  not  help  melting  into
tears,  at  the  same  time  saving;  to  himself — now  had  I  but
yielded  to  the  allurements  of  these  poor  creatures,  and  made
myself  an  accessary  to  their  crimes  and  sufferings,  what
would  now  be  my  feelings  /"

From  the  happy  escape  which  he  had  thus  made  through
the  seasonable  advice  of  the  good  old  quaker  lady  he  learn-
ed that  acts  of  this  sort  hold  the  first  place  on  the  list  of
charities:  and  entered  it  as  a  resolution  on  his  journal  that
he  would  imitate  it  and  do  all  in  his  power  to  open  the  eyes
of  all,  but  especially  of  the  young,  to  a  timely  sense  of  the
follies  and  dangers  that  beset  them.  How  well  he  kept  his
promise,  will,  'tis  likely,  gentle  reader,  be  remembered  by
thousands  when  you  and  I  are  forgotten.
CHAPTER  XIX.
