Ironically, while Sheppard devotes himself to helping the boys in the local reform school, he cannot sympathize with Norton's grief and resulting foibles.
Sheppard desperately wants to enlighten Johnson, to turn his life around by teaching him about science and buying him a telescope to expand his horizons.
Though Sheppard buys him an orthopedic shoe, Johnson refuses it, quoting the words of Jesus that "the lame shall enter first" into the kingdom of heaven.
Against Sheppard's wishes, Johnson tells Norton that his mother is in heaven above the earth, and he will only see her again if he dies as a child before he is corrupted.
Sheppard feels a wave of remorse over his treatment of his own son, and runs up to the attic to find that Norton has hanged himself on a rafter above the telescope.