Page:Black Jacob, a monument of grace.djvu/51

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jacob hodges.
43

was clothed in apparel suited to the new circumstances in which he was now to appear. He received the entire approbation of the superintendent, with his advice and good wishes for his safety and success in subsequent life. The chaplain then gave him such counsel as his condition and prospects demanded, and kneeling with him, prayed that God would be his friend, his keeper and guide. The large iron door then opened before him. The keeper and the chaplain took him affectionately by the hand for the last time as an inmate of the prison, and Jacob went out, overwhelmed with emotion, as he bid adieu to these friends, and turned his eyes from the impressive memorials of his crimes and of the mercy of God to his soul.

Jacob was now to try the strength of his new principles. As he looked, the first time for years, upon the heavens and the earth, a free man, he actually felt more lonely than when buried at night in his narrow cell. His keeper had long been his friend. He had now left him,