Nor was this practice the mere result of an unreasoning instinct; it was, in my case, the result of a clear apprehension of the claims of morality.

I weighed and considered the matter closely, before I ventured to satisfy my hunger by such means.

Considering that my labor and person were the property of Master Thomas, and that I was by him deprived of the necessaries of life necessaries obtained by my own labor--it was easy to deduce the right to supply myself with what was my own.

It was simply appropriating what was my own to the use of my master, since the health and strength derived from such food were exerted in _his_ service.

To be sure, this was stealing, according to the law and gospel I heard from St.Michael's pulpit; but I had already begun to attach less importance to what dropped from that quarter, on that point, while, as yet, I retained my reverence for religion.