94 THE FIRST GLASS OF WINE;

 

J will put a stop to it to-morrow,” he
muttered to himself, as he applied himself
in earnest to his books. « They cannot do _
Clare any great harm just in one afternoon, |
and then he will not pr a with them
after school is out.”

A. great mistake on Hal’s part. Tee
hardly possible for a boy to be on terms of
intimacy with evil companions even one
hour without receiving some harm from it.
‘Their very talk is harm, because it gen~
erally fills the mind with wicked on S
which it is hard to drive away.

Boys cannot be too careful in the choice
of their associates. It has even been said
that you can tell a person’s character by the
company he keeps, and though there are, of
course, some exceptions to this rule, it is

generally true. We choose the society of