Let Bygones Be Bygones

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A convict has just been released, after serving a long term for stealing. He receives his pay and, wandering along aimlessly, the thought presents itself that perhaps a drink would cheer him. Entering a saloon the merry crowd soon causes him to forget. He seats himself at a table where two gamblers invite him to a game and quickly clean him out. Dragging himself along in a dazed condition he pauses in front of a church. The pastor, on his way home, takes him to his study to administer food and consolation. How ill he repays the pastor can be imagined when the old thievish instinct asserts itself and he quietly emerges from the place with the golden chalice. This he tries to dispose of to a couple of rustics, who, recognizing the piece, overpower him and take him back to the pastor, who promptly forgives him. Right then and there the ex-convict resolves forever after to lead an upright life. Five years have passed. He is happily married and the father of a child which he adores. He has become a skilled mechanic, working faithfully at his trade. One of the farmers who knew of his former guilt never ceases to inform his employers of his past. He is dismissed and goes from one job to another, only to be denounced by the hardened accuser. His old benefactor, the pastor, becomes again his champion and, knowing his change of heart, speaks in his behalf to his employer. They investigate his present life, learn of his earnestness, of his honesty, of his home life and uprightness, and decide that he deserves a better fate, so the employer offers him a position for life.