Transcriber's Note: This document is the text of Sowing and Reaping. Any bracketed notations such as [Text missing], [?], and those inserting letters or other comments are from the original text. SOWING AND REAPING A Temperance Story A Rediscovered Novel by Frances E. W. Harper Edited by Frances Smith Foster Chapter I "I hear that John Andrews has given up his saloon; and a foolish thingit was. He was doing a splendid business. What could have induced him?" "They say that his wife was bitterly opposed to the business. I don'tknow, but I think it quite likely. She has never seemed happy since Johnhas kept saloon. " "Well, I would never let any woman lead me by the nose. I would let herknow that as the living comes by me, the way of getting it is my affair, not hers, as long as she is well provided for. " "All men are not alike, and I confess that I value the peace andhappiness of my home more than anything else; and I would not like toengage in any business which I knew was a source of constant pain to mywife. " "But, what right has a woman to complain, if she has every thing shewants. I would let her know pretty soon who holds the reins, if I hadsuch an unreasonable creature to deal with. I think as much of my wifeas any man, but I want her to know her place, and I know mine. " "What do you call her place?" "I call her place staying at home and attending to her own affairs. WereI a laboring man I would never want my wife to take in work. When awoman has too much on hand, something has to be neglected. Now I alwaysfurnish my wife with sufficient help and supply every want but how I getthe living, and where I go, and what company I keep, is my own business, and I would not allow the best woman in the world to interfere. I haveoften heard women say that they did not care what their husbands did, sothat they provided for them; and I think such conclusions are verysensible. " "Well, John, I do not think so. I think a woman must be very selfish, ifall she cares for her husband is, to have a good provider. I think herhusband's honor and welfare should be as dear to her as her own; and notrue woman and wife can be indifferent to the moral welfare of herhusband. Neither man nor woman can live by bread alone in the highestand best sense of the term. " "Now Paul, don't go to preaching. You have always got some moon strucktheories, some wild, visionary and impracticable ideas, which would workfirst rate, if men were angels and earth a paradise. Now don't be soserious, old fellow; but you know on this religion business, you and Ialways part company. You are always up in the clouds, while I am tryingto invest in a few acres, or town lots of solid _terra firma_. " "And would your hold on earthly possessions, be less firm because youlooked beyond the seen to the unseen?" "I think it would, if I let conscience interfere constantly, with everybusiness transaction I undertook. Now last week you lost $500 fair andsquare, because you would not foreclose that mortgage on Smith'sproperty. I told you that 'business is business, ' and that while Ipitied the poor man, I would not have risked my money that way, but yousaid that conscience would not let you; that while other creditors weregathering like hungry vultures around the poor man, you would not joinwith them, and that you did not believe in striking a man when he isdown. Now Paul, as a business man, if you want to succeed, you have gotto look at business in a practical, common sense way. Smith is dead, andwhere is your money now?" "Apparently lost; but the time may come when I shall feel that it wasone of the best investments I ever made. Stranger things than that havehappened. I confess that I felt the loss and it has somewhat cramped mybusiness. Yet if it was to do over again, I don't think that I would actdifferently, and when I believe that Smith's death was hurried on byanxiety and business troubles, while I regret the loss of my money, I amthankful that I did not press my claim. " "Sour grapes, but you are right to put the best face on matters. " "No, if it were to do over again, I never would push a struggling man tothe wall when he was making a desperate fight for his wife and littleones. " "Well! Paul, we are both young men just commencing life, and my motto isto look out for Number 1, and you--" "Oh! I believe in lending a helping hand. " "So do I, when I can make every corner out to my advantage. I believe inevery man looking out for himself. " You will see by the dialogue, that the characters I here introduce arethe antipodes of each other. They had both been pupils in the sameschool, and in after life, being engaged as grocers, they frequently metand renewed their acquaintance. They were both established in business, having passed the threshold of that important event, "Setting out inlife. " As far as their outward life was concerned, they wereacquaintances; but to each other's inner life they were strangers. JohnAnderson has a fine robust constitution, good intellectual abilities, and superior business faculties. He is eager, keen and alert, and ifthere is one article of faith that moulds and colors all his life morethan anything else, it is a firm and unfaltering belief in the "mainchance. " He has made up his mind to be rich, and his highest ideal ofexistence may be expressed in four words--_getting on in life_. To thisobject, he is ready to sacrifice time, talent, energy and every faculty, which he possesses. Nay, he will go farther; he will spend honor, conscience and manhood, in an eager search for gold. He will change hisheart into a ledger on which he will write _tare_ and _tret_, loss andgain, exchange and barter, and he will succeed, as worldly men countsuccess. He will add house to house; he will encompass the means ofluxury; his purse will be plethoric but, oh, how poverty stricken hissoul will be. Costly viands will please his taste, but unappeased hungerwill gnaw at his soul. Amid the blasts of winter he will have the warmthof Calcutta in his home; and the health of the ocean and the breezes ofthe mountains shall fan his brow, amid the heats of summer, but therewill be a coolness in his soul that no breath of summer can ever dispel;a fever in his spirit that no frozen confection can ever allay; he shallbe rich in lands and houses, but fear of loss and a sense of povertywill poison the fountains of his life; and unless he repent, he shall goout into the eternities a pauper and a bankrupt. Paul Clifford, whom we have also introduced to you, was the only son ofa widow, whose young life had been overshadowed by the curse ofintemperance. Her husband, a man of splendid abilities and magnificentculture, had fallen a victim to the wine cup. With true womanly devotionshe had clung to him in the darkest hours, until death had broken hishold in life, and he was laid away the wreck of his former self in adrunkard's grave. Gathering up the remains of what had been an amplefortune, she installed herself in an humble and unpretending home in thesuburbs of the city of B. , and there with loving solicitude she hadwatched over and superintended the education of her only son. He was apromising boy, full [of?] life and vivacity, having inherited much ofthe careless joyousness of his father's temperament; and although hewas the light and joy of his home, yet his mother sometimes felt as ifher heart was contracting with a spasm of agony, when she rememberedthat it was through that same geniality of disposition and wonderfulfascination of manner, the tempter had woven his meshes for her husband, and that the qualities that made him so desirable at home, made himequally so to his jovial, careless, inexperienced companions. Fearfulthat the appetite for strong drink might have been transmitted to herchild as a fatal legacy of sin, she sedulously endeavored to developwithin him self control, feeling that the lack of it is a prolific causeof misery and crime, and she spared no pains to create within his mind ahorror of intemperance, and when he was old enough to understand thenature of a vow, she knelt with him in earnest prayer, and pledging himto eternal enmity against everything that would intoxicate, whetherfermented or distilled. In the morning she sowed the seed which shehoped would blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity. Chapter II The Decision[1] "I hear Belle, " said Jeanette Roland[2] addressing her cousin BelleGordon, "that you have refused an excellent offer of marriage. " "Who said so?" "Aunt Emma. " "I am very sorry that Ma told you, I think such things should be keptsacred from comment, and I think the woman is wanting in refinement anddelicacy of feeling who makes the rejection of a lover a theme forconversation. " "Now you dear little prude I had no idea that you would take it soseriously but Aunt Emma was so disappointed and spoke of the rejectedsuitor in such glowing terms, and said that you had sacrificed asplendid opportunity because of some squeamish notions on the subject oftemperance, and so of course, my dear cousin, it was just like me to letmy curiosity overstep the bounds of prudence, and inquire why yourejected Mr. Romaine. "[3] "Because I could not trust him. " "Couldn't trust him? Why Belle you are a greater enigma than ever. Whynot?" "Because I feel that the hands of a moderate drinker are not steadyenough to hold my future happiness. " "Was that all? Why I breathe again, we girls would have to refuse almostevery young man in our set, were we to take that stand. " "And suppose you were, would that be any greater misfortune than to bethe wives of drunkards. " "I don't see the least danger. Ma has wine at her entertainments, and Ihave often handed it to young gentlemen, and I don't see the least harmin it. On last New Year's day we had more than fifty callers. Ma and Ihanded wine, to every one of them. " "Oh I do wish people would abandonthat pernicious custom of handing around wine on New Year's day. I dothink it is a dangerous and reprehensible thing. " "Wherein lies the danger? Of course I do not approve of young mendrinking in bar rooms and saloons, but I cannot see any harm in handinground wine at social gatherings. Not to do so would seem so odd. " "It is said Jeanette[, ?] 'He is a slave who does not be, in the rightwith two or three. ' It is better, wiser far to stand alone in ourintegrity than to join with the multitude in doing wrong. You say whileyou do not approve of young men drinking in bar rooms and saloons, thatyou have no objection to their drinking beneath the shadow of theirhomes, why do you object to their drinking in saloons, and bar rooms?" "Because it is vulgar. Oh! I think these bar rooms are horrid places. Iwould walk squares out of my way to keep from passing them. " "And Iobject to intemperance not simply because I think it is vulgar butbecause I know it is wicked; and Jeanette I have a young brother forwhose welfare I am constantly trembling; but I am not afraid that hewill take his first glass of wine in a fashionable saloon, or flashy ginpalace, but I do dread his entrance into what you call 'our set. ' I fearthat my brother has received as an inheritance a temperament which willbe easily excited by stimulants, that an appetite for liquor once aawakened will be hard to subdue, and I am so fearful, that at somesocial gathering, a thoughtless girl will hand him a glass of wine, andthat the first glass will be like adding fuel to a smouldering fire. " "Oh Belle do stop, what a train of horrors you can conjure out of aninnocent glass of wine. " "Anything can be innocent that sparkles to betray, that charms at first, but later will bite like an adder and sting like a serpent. " "Really! Belle, if you keep on at this rate you will be a monomaniac onthe temperance question. However I do not think Mr. Romaine will feelhighly complimented to know that you refused him because you dreaded hemight become a drunkard. You surely did not tell him so. " "Yes I did, and I do not think that I would have been a true friend tohim, had I not done so. " "Oh! Belle, I never could have had the courage to have told him so. " "Why not?" "I would have dreaded hurting his feelings. Were you not afraid ofoffending him?" "I certainly shrank from the pain which I knew I must inflict, butbecause I valued his welfare more than my own feelings, I wasconstrained to be faithful to him. I told him that he was drifting wherehe ought steer, that instead of holding the helm and rudder of hisyoung life, he was floating down the stream, and unless he stood firmlyon the side of temperance, that I never would clasp hands will him forlife. " "But Belle, perhaps you have done him more harm than good; may be youcould have effected his reformation by consenting to marrying him. " "Jeanette, were I the wife of a drunken man I do not think there is anydepth of degradation that I would not fathom with my love and pity intrying to save him. I believe I would cling to him, if even his ownmother shrank from him. But I never would consent to [marry any man?], whom I knew to be un[?]steady in his principles and a moderate drinker. If his love for me and respect for himself were not strong enough toreform him before marriage, I should despair of effecting it afterwards, and with me in such a case discretion would be the better part ofvalor. " "And so you have given Mr. Romaine a release?" "Yes, he is free. " "And I think you have thrown away a splendid opportunity. " "I don't think so, the risk was too perilous. Oh Jeanette, I know bymournful and bitter experience what it means to dwell beneath the shadowof a home cursed by intemperance. I know what it is to see that shadowdeepen into the darkness of a drunkard's grave, and I dare not run thefearful risk. " "And yet Belle this has cost you a great deal, I can see it in thewanness of your face, in your eyes which in spite of yourself, arefilled with sudden tears, I know from the intonations of your voice thatyou are suffering intensely. " "Yes Jeanette, I confess, it was like tearing up the roots of my life tolook at this question fairly and squarely in the face, and to say, no;but I must learn to suffer and be strong, I am deeply pained, it istrue, but I do not regret the steps I have taken. The man who claims mylove and allegiance, must be a victor and not a slave. The reelingbrain of a drunkard is not a safe foundation on which to build up a newhome. " "Well Belle, you may be right, but I think I would have risked it. Idon't think because Mr. Romaine drinks occasionally that I would havegiven him up. Oh young men will sow their wild oats. " "And as we sow, so must we reap, and as to saying about young men sowingtheir wild oats, I think it is full of pernicious license. A young manhas no more right to sow his wild oats than a young woman. God nevermade one code of ethics for a man and another for a woman. And it is theduty of all true women to demand of men the same standard of moralitythat they do of woman. " "Ah Belle that is very fine in theory, but you would find it ratherdifficult, if you tried to reduce your theory to practice. " "All that may be true, but the difficulty of a duty is not a validexcuse for its non performance. " "My dear cousin it is not my role to be a reformer. I take things as Ifind them and drift along the tide of circumstances. " "And is that your highest ideal of life? Why Jeanette such a life is notworth living. " "Whether it is or not, I am living it and I rather enjoy it. Your vexingproblems of life never disturb me. I do not think I am called to turnthis great world 'right side up with care, ' and so I float along singingas I go, "I'd be a butterfly born in a bower Kissing every rose that is pleasant and sweet, I'd never languish for wealth or for power I'd never sigh to have slaves at my feet. " "Such a life would never suit me, life must mean to me more than ease, luxury and indulgence, it must mean aspiration and consecration, endeavor and achievement. " "Well, Belle, should we live twenty years longer, I would like to meetyou and see by comparing notes which of us shall have gathered the mostsunshine or shadow from life. " "Yes Jeanette we will meet in less than twenty years, but before thenyour glad light eyes will be dim with tears, and the easy path you havestriven to walk will be thickly strewn with thorn; and whether youdeserve it or not, life will have for you a mournful earnestness, butnotwithstanding all your frivolity and flippancy there is fine gold inyour character, which the fire of affliction only will reveal. " Chapter III [Text missing. ] Chapter IV "How is business?" "Very dull, I am losing terribly. " "Any prospect of times brightening?" "I don't see my way out clear; but I hope there will be a change for thebetter. Confidence has been greatly shaken, men of[?] business havegrown exceedingly timid about investing and there is a generaldepression in every department of trade and business. " "Now Paul will you listen to reason and common sense? I have aproposition to make. I am about to embark in a profitable business, andI know that it will pay better than anything else I could undertake inthese times. Men will buy liquor if they have not got money for otherthings. I am going to open a first class saloon, and club-house, on M. Street, and if you will join with me we can make a splendid thing of it. Why just see how well off Joe Harden is since he set up in the business;and what airs he does put on! I know when he was not worth fiftydollars, and kept a little low groggery on the corner of L. And S. Streets, but he is out of that now--keeps a first class _Cafe_, and ownsa block of houses. Now Paul, here is a splendid chance for you; businessis dull, and now accept this opening. Of course I mean to keep a firstclass saloon. I don't intend to tolerate loafing, or disorderly conduct, or to sell to drunken men. In fact, I shall put up my scale of prices sothat you need fear no annoyance from rough, low, boisterous men whodon't know how to behave themselves. What say you, Paul?" "I say, no! I wouldn't engage in such a business, not if it paid me ahundred thousand dollars a year. I think these first class saloons arejust as great a curse to the community as the low groggeries, and I lookupon them as the fountain heads of the low groggeries. The man whobegins to drink in the well lighted and splendidly furnished saloon isin danger of finishing in the lowest dens of vice and shame. " "As you please, " said John Anderson stiffly, "I thought that as businessis dull that I would show you a chance, that would yield you a handsomeprofit; but if you refuse, there is no harm done. I know young men whowould jump at the chance. " You may think it strange that knowing Paul Clifford as John Andersondid, that he should propose to him an interest in a drinking saloon;but John Anderson was a man who was almost destitute of faith in humangoodness. His motto was that "every man has his price, " and as businesswas fairly dull, and Paul was somewhat cramped for want of capital, he thought a good business investment would be the price for PaulClifford's conscientious scruples. "Anderson, " said Paul looking him calmly in the face, "you may call mevisionary and impracticable; but I am determined however poor I may be, never to engage in any business on which I cannot ask God's blessing. And John I am sorry from the bottom of my heart, that you have concludedto give up your grocery and keep a saloon. You cannot keep that saloonwithout sending a flood of demoralizing influence over the community. Your profit will be the loss of others. Young men will form in thatsaloon habits which will curse and overshadow all their lives. Husbandsand fathers will waste their time and money, and confirm themselves inhabits which will bring misery, crime, and degradation; and the fearfuloutcome of your business will be broken hearted wives, neglectedchildren, outcast men, blighted characters and worse than wasted lives. No not for the wealth of the Indies, would I engage in such a ruinousbusiness, and I am thankful today that I had a dear sainted mother whotaught me that it was better to have my hands clear than to have themfull. How often would she lay her dear hands upon my head, and clasp myhands in hers and say, 'Paul, I want you to live so that you can alwaysfeel that there is no eye before whose glance you will shrink, no voicefrom whose tones your heart will quail, because your hands are notclean, or your record not pure, ' and I feel glad to-day that theprecepts and example of that dear mother have given tone and coloring tomy life; and though she has been in her grave for many years, her memoryand her words are still to me an ever present inspiration. " "Yes Paul; I remember your mother. I wish! Oh well there is no usewishing. But if all Christians were like her, I would have more faith intheir religion. " "But John the failure of others is no excuse for our own derelictions. " "Well, I suppose not. It is said, the way Jerusalem was kept clean, every man swept before his own door. And so you will not engage in thebusiness?" "No John, no money I would earn would be the least inducement. " "How foolish, " said John Anderson to himself as they parted. "There is ayoung man who might succeed splendidly if he would only give up some ofhis old fashioned notions, and launch out into life as if he had somecommon sense. If business remains as it is, I think he will find outbefore long that he has got to shut his eyes and swallow down a greatmany things he don't like. " After the refusal of Paul Clifford, John soon found a young man offacile conscience who was willing to join with him in a conspiracy ofsin against the peace, happiness and welfare of the community. And hespared neither pains nor expense to make his saloon attractive to whathe called, "the young bloods of the city, " and by these he meant youngmen whose parents were wealthy, and whose sons had more leisure andspending money than was good for them. He succeeded in fitting up amagnificent palace of sin. Night after night till morning flashed theorient, eager and anxious men sat over the gaming table watching theturn of a card, or the throw of a dice. Sparkling champaign, orruby-tinted wine were served in beautiful and costly glasses. Richdivans and easy chairs invited weary men to seek repose from unnaturalexcitement. Occasionally women entered that saloon, but they were womennot as God had made them, but as sin had debased them. Women whosecostly jewels and magnificent robes were the livery of sin, the outsidegarnishing of moral death; the flush upon whose cheek, was not the flushof happiness, and the light in their eyes was not the sparkle ofinnocent joy, --women whose laughter was sadder than their tears, and whowere dead while they lived. In that house were wine, and mirth, andrevelry, "but the dead were there, " men dead to virtue, true honor andrectitude, who walked the streets as other men, laughed, chatted, bought, sold, exchanged and bartered, but whose souls were encased inliving tombs, bodies that were dead to righteousness but alive to sin. Like a spider weaving its meshes around the unwary fly, John Andersonwove his network of sin around the young men that entered his saloon. Before they entered there, it was pleasant to see the supple vigor andradiant health that were manifested in the poise of their bodies, thelightness of their eyes, the freshness of their lips and the bloom upontheir cheeks. But Oh! it was so sad to see how soon the manly gait wouldchange to the drunkard's stagger. To see eyes once bright withintelligence growing vacant and confused and giving place to thedrunkard's leer. In many cases lassitude supplanted vigor, and sicknessovermastered health. But the saddest thing was the fearful power thatappetite had gained over its victims, and though nature lifted hersignals of distress, and sent her warnings through weakened nerves anddisturbed functions, and although they were wasting money, time, talents, and health, ruining their characters, and alienating theirfriends, and bringing untold agony to hearts that loved them and yearnedover their defections, yet the fascination grew stronger and ever andanon the grave opened at their feet; and disguise it as loving friendsmight, the seeds of death had been nourished by the fiery waters ofalcohol. Chapter V [Text missing. ] Chapter VI For a few days the most engrossing topic in A. P. Was what shall I wear, and what will you wear. There was an amount of shopping to be done, anddressmakers to be consulted and employed before the great event of theseason came off. At length the important evening arrived and in the homeof Mr. Glossop, a wealthy and retired whiskey dealer, there was abrilliant array of wealth and fashion. Could all the misery his liquorhad caused been turned into blood, there would have been enough to haveoozed in great drops from every marble ornament or beautiful piece offrescoe that adorned his home, for that home with its beautifulsurroundings and costly furniture was the price of blood, but the glamorof his wealth was in the eyes of his guests; and they came to be amusedand entertained and not to moralize on his ill-gotten wealth. The wine flowed out in unstinted measures and some of the women soforgot themselves as to attempt to rival the men in drinking. Thebarrier being thrown down Charles drank freely, till his tones began tothicken, and his eye to grow muddled, and he sat down near Jeanette andtried to converse; but he was too much under the influence of liquor tohold a sensible and coherent conversation. "Oh! Charley you naughty boy, that wine has got into your head and youdon't know what you are talking about. " "Well, Miss Jenny, I b'lieve you're 'bout half-right, my head does feelfunny. " "I shouldn't wonder; mine feels rather dizzy, and Miss Thomas has gonehome with a sick headache, and I know what her headaches mean, " saidJeanette significantly. "My head, " said Mary Gladstone, "really feels as big as a bucket. " "And I feel real dizzy, " said another. "And so do I, " said another, "I feel as if I could hardly stand, I feelawful weak. " "Why girls, you! are all, all, tipsy, now just own right up, and be donewith it, " said Charles Romaine. "Why Charlie you are as good as a wizard, I believe we have all got toomuch wine aboard: but we are not as bad as the girls of B. S. , for theysucceeded in out drinking the men. I heard the men drank eight bottlesof wine, and that they drank sixteen. " Alas for these young people they were sporting upon the verge of aprecipice, but its slippery edge was concealed by flowers. They wereplaying with the firebrands of death and thought they were Roman-candlesand harmless rockets. "Good morning Belle, " said Jeanette Roland to her cousin Belle as sheentered her cousin's sitting-room the morning after the party and foundJeanette lounging languidly upon the sofa. "Good morning. It is a lovely day, why are you not out enjoying thefresh air? Can't you put on your things and go shopping with me? I thinkyou have excellent taste and I often want to consult it. " "Well after all then I am of some account in your eyes. " "Of course you are; who said you were not[?]" "Oh! nobody only I had an idea that you thought that I was as useless asa canary bird. " "I don't think that a canary bird is at all a useless thing. It charmsour ears with its song, and pleases our eye with its beauty, and I am afirm believer in the utility of beauty--but can you, or rather will younot go with me?" "Oh Belle I would, but I am as sleepy as a cat. " "What's the matter?" "I was up so late last night at Mrs. Glossop's party; but really it wasa splendid affair, everything was in the richest profusion, and theirhouse is magnificently furnished. Oh Belle I wish you could have beenthere. " "I don't; there are two classes of people with whom I never wish toassociate, or number as my especial friends, and they are rum sellersand slave holders. " "Oh! well, Mr. Glossop is not in the business now and what is the use oftalking about the past; don't be always remembering a man's sins againsthim. " "Would you say the same of a successful pirate who could faresumptuously from the effects of his piracy?" "No I would not; but Belle the cases is not at all parallel. " "Not entirely. One commits his crime against society within the pale ofthe law, the other commits his outside. They are both criminals againstthe welfare of humanity. One murders the body, and the other stabs thesoul. If I knew that Mr. Glossop was sorry for having been a liquordealer and was bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, I would beamong the first to hail his reformation with heartfelt satisfaction; butwhen I hear that while he no longer sells liquor, that he constantlyoffers it to his guests, I feel that he should rather sit down insackcloth and ashes than fireside at sumptuous feasts, obtained byliquor selling. When crime is sanctioned by law, and upheld by customand fashion, it assumes its most dangerous phase; and there is often afearful fascination in the sin that is environed by success. " "Oh! Belle do stop. I really think that you will go crazy on the subjectof temperance. I think you must have written these lines that I havepicked up somewhere; let me see what they are, ---- "Tell me not that I hate the bowl, Hate is a feeble word. " "No Jeanette, I did not write them, but I have felt all the writer hasso nervously expressed. In my own sorrow-darkened home, and over my poorfather's grave, I learned to hate liquor in any form with all theintensity of my nature. " "Well, it was a good thing you were not at Mrs. Glossop's last night, for some of our heads were rather dizzy, and I know that Mr. Romaine wasout of gear. Now Belle! don't look so shocked and pained; I am sorry Itold you. " "Yes, I am very sorry. I had great hopes that Mr. Romaine had entirelygiven up drinking, and I was greatly pained when I saw him take a glassof wine at your solicitation. Jeanette I think Mr. Romaine feels a newlyawakened interest in you, and I know that you possess great influenceover him. I saw it that night when he hesitated, when you first askedhim to drink, and I was so sorry to see that influence. Oh Jeanetteinstead of being his temptress, try and be the angel that keeps hissteps. If Mr. Romaine ever becomes a drunkard and goes down to adrunkard's grave, I cannot help feeling that a large measure of theguilt will cling to your shirts. " "Oh Belle, do stop, or you will give me the horrors. Pa takes wine everyday at his dinner and I don't see that he is any worse off for it. IfCharles Romaine can't govern himself, I can't see how I am to blame forit. " "I think you are to blame for this Jeanette: (and pardon me if I speakplainly). When Charles Romaine was trying to abstain, you tempted him tobreak his resolution, and he drank to please you. I wouldn't have doneso for my right hand. " "They say old coals are easily kindled, and I shall be somewhat charyabout receiving attention from him, if you feel so deeply upon thesubject. " "Jeanette you entirely misapprehend me. Because I have ceased to regardMr. Romaine as a lover, does not hinder me from feeling for him as afriend. And because I am his friend and yours also, I take the libertyto remonstrate against your offering him wine at your entertainments. " "Well Belle, I can't see the harm in it, I don't believe there wasanother soul who refused except you and Mr. Freeman, and you are sostraightlaced, and he is rather green, just fresh from the country, itwon't take him long to get citified. " "Citified or countrified, I couldn't help admiring his strength ofprinciple which stood firm in the midst of temptation and would notyield to the blandishments of the hour. And so you will not go out withme this morning?" "Oh! No Belle, I am too tired. Won't you excuse me?" "Certainly, but I must go. Good morning. " "What a strange creature my cousin Belle is, " said Jeanette, to herselfas Miss Gordon left the room. "She will never be like any one else. Idon't think she will ever get over my offering Mr. Romaine that glassof wine, I wish she hadn't seen it, but I'll try and forget her and goto sleep. " But Jeanette was not destined to have the whole morning for an unbrokensleep. Soon after Bell's departure the bell rang and Charles Romaine wasannounced, and weary as Jeanette was, she was too much interested in hissociety to refuse him; and arraying herself in a very tasteful andbecoming manner, she went down to receive him in the parlor. Chapter VII Very pleasant was the reception Jeanette Roland gave Mr. Romaine. Therewas no reproof upon her lips nor implied censure in her manner. True hehad been disguised by liquor or to use a softer phrase, had taken toomuch wine. But others had done the same and treated it as a merryescapade, and why should she be so particular? Belle Gordon would haveacted very differently but then she was not Belle, and in this instanceshe did not wish to imitate her. Belle was so odd, and had become veryunpopular, and besides she wished to be very very pleasant to Mr. Romaine. He was handsome, agreeable and wealthy, and she found it morecongenial to her taste to clasp hands with him and float down streamtogether, than help him breast the current of his wrong tendencies, andstand firmly on the rock of principle. "You are looking very sweet, but rather pensive this morning, " said Mr. Romaine, noticing a shadow on the bright and beautiful face of Jeanette, whose color had deepened by the plain remarks of her cousin Belle. "Whatis the matter?" "Oh nothing much, only my cousin Belle has been here this morning, andshe has been putting me on the stool of repentance. " "Why! what have you been doing that was naughty?" "Oh! she was perfectly horror-stricken when I told her about the wine wedrank and Mrs. Glossop's party. I wish I had not said a word to herabout it. " "What did she say?" "Oh she thought it was awful, the way we were going on. She made me feelthat I died [_sic_] something dreadful when I offered you a glass ofwine at Ma's silver wedding. I don't believe Belle ever sees a glass ofwine, without thinking of murder, suicide and a drunkard's grave. " "But we are not afraid of those dreadful things, are we Jeanette?" "Of course not, but somehow Belle always makes me feel uncomfortable, when she begins to talk on temperance. She says she is terribly inearnest, and I think she is. " "Miss Gordon and I were great friends once, " said Charles Romaine, as ashadow flitted over his face, and a slight sigh escaped his lips. "Were you? Why didn't you remain so?" "Because she was too good for me. " "That is a very sorry reason. " "But it is true. I think Miss Gordon is an excellent young lady, but sheand I wouldn't agree on the temperance question. The man who marries herhas got to toe the mark. She ought to be a minister's wife. " "I expect she will be an old maid. " "I don't know, but if I were to marry her, I should prepare myself to goto Church every Sunday morning and to stay home in the afternoon andrepeat my catechism. " "I would like to see you under her discipline. " "It would come hard on a fellow, but I might go farther and fare worse. " "And so you and Belle were great friends, once?" "Yes, but as we could not agree on the total abstinence question, weparted company. " "How so? Did you part as lovers part?" She with a wronged and broken heart? And you, rejoicing you were free, Glad to regain you liberty? "Not at all. She gave me the mitten and I had to take it. " "Were you very sorry?" "Yes, till I met you. " "Oh! Mr. Romaine, " said Jeanette blushing and dropping her eyes. "Why not? I think I have found in your society an ample compensation forthe loss of Miss Gordon. " "But I think Belle is better than I am. I sometimes wish I was half sogood. " "You are good enough for me; Belle is very good, but somehow hergoodness makes a fellow uncomfortable. She is what I call distressinglygood; one doesn't want to be treated like a wild beast in a menagerie, and to be every now and then stirred up with a long stick. " "What a comparison!" "Well it is a fact; when a fellow's been busy all day pouring over Cokeand Blackstone, or casting up wearisome rows of figures, and seeks ayoung lady's society in the evening, he wants to enjoy himself, to bathein the sunshine of her smiles, and not to be lectured about hisshortcomings. I tell you, Jeanette, it comes hard on a fellow. " "You want some one to smooth the wrinkles out of the brow of care, andnot to add fresh ones. " "Yes, and I hope it will be my fortune to have a fair soft hand likehis, " said Mr. Romaine, slightly pressing Jeanette's hand to perform thewelcome and agreeable task. "Belle's hand would be firmer than mine for the talk. " "It is not the strong hand, but the tender hand I want in a woman. " "But Belle is very kind; she did it all for your own good. " "Of course she did; my father used to say so when I was a boy, and hecorrected me; but it didn't make me enjoy the correction. " "It is said our best friends are those who show us our faults, and teachus how to correct them. " "My best friend is a dear, sweet girl who sits by my side, who alwayswelcomes me with a smile, and beguiles me so with her conversation, thatI take no note of the hours until the striking of the clock warns me itis time to leave; and I should ask no higher happiness than to bepermitted to pass all the remaining hours of my life at her side. Can Idare to hope for such a happy fortune?" A bright flush overspread the cheek of Jeanette Roland; there was asparkle of joy in her eyes as she seemed intently examining the flowerson her mother's carpet, and she gently referred him to Papa for ananswer. In due time Mr. Roland was interviewed, his consent obtained, and Jeanette Roland and Charles Romaine were affianced lovers. * * * * * "Girls, have you heard the news?" said Miss Tabitha Jones, a pleasantand wealthy spinster, to a number of young girls who were seated at hertea table. "No! what is it?" "I hear Mr. Romaine is to be married next spring. " "To whom?" "Jeanette Roland. " "Well! I do declare; I thought he was engaged to Belle Gordon. " "I thought so too, but it is said that she refused him, but I don'tbelieve it; I don't believe that she had a chance. " "Well I do. " "Why did she refuse him?" "Because he would occasionally take too much wine. " "But he is not a drunkard. " "But she dreads that he will be. " "Well! I think it is perfectly ridiculous. I gave Belle credit for morecommon sense. I think he was one of the most eligible gentlemen in ourset. Wealthy, handsome and agreeable. What could have possessed Belle? Ithink he is perfectly splendid. " "Yes said another girl, I think Belle stood very much in her own light. She is not rich, and if she would marry him she could have everythingheart could wish. What a silly girl! You wouldn't catch me throwing awaysuch a chance. " "I think, " said Miss Tabitha, "that instead of Miss Gordon's being asilly girl, that she has acted both sensibly and honorably in refusingto marry a man she could not love. No woman should give her hand whereshe cannot yield her heart. " "But Miss Tabitha, the strangest thing to me is, that I really believethat Belle Gordon cares more for Mr. Romaine than she does for any oneelse; her face was a perfect study that night at Mrs. Roland's party. " "How so?" "They say that after Miss Gordon requested Mr. Romaine, that for a whilehe scrupulously abstained from taking even a glass of wine. At severalentertainments, he adhered to this purpose but on the evening of Mrs. Roland's silver wedding Jeanette succeeded in persuading him to take aglass, in honor of the occasion. I watched Belle's face and it was aperfect study, every nerve seemed quivering with intense anxiety. Once Ithink she reached out her hand unconsciously as if to snatch away theglass, and when at last he yielded I saw the light fade from her eyes, adeadly pallor overspread her cheek, and I thought at one time she wasabout to faint, but she did not, and only laid her head upon her side asif to allay a sudden spasm of agony. " Chapter VIII Paul Clifford sat at his ledger with a perplexed and anxious look. Itwas near two o'clock and his note was in bank. If he could not raisefive hundred dollars by three o'clock, that note would be protested. Money was exceedingly hard to raise, and he was about despairing. Oncehe thought of applying to John Anderson, but he said to himself, "No, Iwill not touch his money, for it is the price of blood, " for he did notwish to owe gratitude where he did not feel respect. It was now fiveminutes past two o'clock and in less than an hour his note would beprotested unless relief came from some unexpected quarter. "Is Mr. Clifford in?" said a full manly voice. Paul, suddenly rousedfrom his painful reflections, answered, "Yes, come in. Good morning sir, what can I do for you this morning?" "I have come to see you on business. " "I am at your service, " said Paul. "Do you remember, " said the young man, "of having aided an unfortunatefriend more than a dozen years since by lending him five hundreddollars?" "Yes, I remember he was an old friend of mine, a school-mate of myfather's, Charles Smith. " "Well I am his son, and I have come to liquidate my father's debt. Hereis the money with interest for twelve years. " Paul's heart gave a sudden bound of joy. Strong man as he was a mistgathered in his eyes as he reached out his hand to receive the thricewelcome sum. He looked at the clock, it was just fifteen minutes tothree. "Will you walk with me to the bank or wait till I return?" "I will wait, " said James Smith, taking up the morning paper. * * * * * "You are just in time, Mr. Clifford, " said the banker smiling andbowing as Paul entered, "I was afraid your note would be protested; butit is all right. " "Yes, " said Paul, "the money market is very tight, but I think I shallweather the storm. " "I hope so, you may have to struggle hard for awhile to keep your headabove the water; but you must take it for your motto that there is nosuch word as 'fail. '" "Thank you, good morning. " "Well Mr. Smith, " said Paul when he returned, "your father and mine wereboys together. He was several years younger than my father, and a greatfavorite in our family among the young folks. About twelve years sincewhen I had just commenced business, I lent him five hundred dollars, andwhen his business troubles became complicated I refused to foreclose amortgage which I had on his home. An acquaintance of mine sneered at mylack of business keenness, and predicted that my money would be totallylost, when I told him perhaps it was the best investment I ever made. "He smiled incredulously and said, "I would rather see it than hear ofit: but I will say that in all my business career I never received anymoney that came so opportune as this. It reminds me of the stories thatI have read in fairy books. People so often fail in paying their owndebts, it seems almost a mystery to me that you should pay a debtcontracted by your father when you were but a boy. " "The clue to this mystery has been the blessed influence of my saintedmother;" and a flush of satisfaction mantled his cheek as he referred toher. "After my father's death my mother was very poor. When she looked intothe drawer there were only sixty cents in money. Of course, he had somepersonal property, but it was not immediately available like money, butthrough the help of kind friends she was enabled to give him arespectable funeral. Like many other women in her condition of life, she had been brought up in entire ignorance of managing any otherbusiness, than that which belonged to her household. For years she hadbeen shielded in the warm clasp of loving arms, but now she had to bareher breast to the storm and be father and mother both to her littleones. My father as you know died in debt, and he was hardly in his gravewhen his creditors were upon her track. I have often heard her speak inthe most grateful manner of your forbearance and kindness to her in herhour of trouble. My mother went to see my father's principal creditorand asked him only to give her a little time to straighten out thetangled threads of her business, but he was inexorable, and said that hehad waited and lost by it. Very soon he had an administrator appointedby the court, who in about two months took the business in his hands;and my mother was left to struggle along with her little ones, and facean uncertain future. These were dark days but we managed to live throughthem. I have often heard her say that she lived by faith and not sight, that poverty had its compensations, that there was something very sweetin a life of simple trust, to her, God was not some far off andunapproachable force in the universe, the unconscious Creator of allconsciousness, the unperceiving author of all perception, but a Friendand a Father coming near to her in sorrows, taking cognizance of hergrief, and gently smoothing her path in life. But it was not only byprecept that she taught us; her life was a living epistle. One morningas the winter was advancing I heard her say she hoped she would be ableto get a nice woolen shawl, as hers was getting worse for wear. Shortlyafter I went out into the street and found a roll of money lying at myfeet. Oh I remember it as well as if it had just occurred. How my heartbounded with joy. 'Here, ' I said to myself, 'is money enough to buymother a shawl and bonnet. Oh I am so glad, ' and hurrying home I laid itin her lap and said with boyish glee, 'Hurrah for your new shawl; lookwhat I found in the street. '" "What is it my son?" she said. "Why here is money enough to buy you a new shawl and bonnet too. " Itseems as if I see her now, as she looked, when she laid it aside, andsaid---- "But James, it is not ours?" "Not ours, mother, why I found it in the street!" "Still it is not ours. " "Why mother ain`t you going to keep it?" "No my son, I shall go down to the _Clarion_ office and advertise it. " "But mother why not wait till it is advertised?" "And what then?" "If there is no owner for it, then we can keep it. " "James" she said calmly and sadly, "I am very sorry to see you so readyto use what is not your own. I should not feel that I was dealingjustly, if I kept this money without endeavoring to find the owner. " "I confess that I was rather chopfallen at her decision, but in a fewdays after advertising we found the rightful owner. She was a very poorwoman who had saved by dint of hard labor the sum of twenty dollars, andwas on her way to pay the doctor who had attended her during a spell ofrheumatic fever, when she lost the money and had not one dollar left topay for advertising and being disheartened, she had given up all hope offinding it, when she happened to see it advertised in the paper. She wasvery grateful to my mother for restoring the money and offered her somecompensation, but she refused to take it, saying she had only done herduty, and would have been ashamed of herself had she not done so. Herconduct on this occasion made an impression on my mind that has neverbeen erased. When I grew older she explained to me about my father'saffairs, and uncancelled debts, and I resolved that I would liquidateevery just claim against him, and take from his memory even the shadowof a reproach. To this end I have labored late and early; to-day I havepaid the last claim against him, and I am a free man. " "But how came you to find me and pay me to-day?" "I was purchasing inJones & Brother's store, when you came in to borrow money, and I heardJones tell his younger brother that he was so sorry that he could nothelp you, and feared that you would be ruined. " "Who is he?" said I, "for out West I had lost track of you. " "He is Paul Clifford, a friend of your father's. Can you help him? He isperfectly reliable. We would trust him with ten thousand dollars if wehad it. Can you do anything for him? we will go his security, he is afine fellow and we hate to see him go under. " "Yes" said I, "he was one of my father's creditors and I have oftenheard my mother speak of his generosity to her little ones, and I amglad that I have the privilege of helping him. I immediately went to thebank had a note cashed and I am very glad if I have been of any specialservice to you. " "You certainly have been, and I feel that a heavy load had been liftedfrom my heart. " Years ago Paul Clifford sowed the seeds of kindness and they wereyielding him a harvest of satisfaction. Chapter IX Belle Gordon Belle Gordon was a Christian; she had learned or tried to realize whatis meant by the apostle Paul when he said, "Ye are bought with a price. "To her those words meant the obligation she was under to her heavenlyFather, for the goodness and mercy that had surrounded her life, for thepatience that had borne with her errors and sins, and above all for thegift of his dear Son, the ever blessed Christ. Faith to her was not arich traditional inheritance, a set of formulated opinions, receivedwithout investigation, and adopted without reflection. She could notbelieve because others did, and however plausible or popular a thingmight be she was too conscientious to say she believed it if she didnot, and when she became serious on the subject of religion it was likeentering into a wilderness of doubt and distress. She had been taught tolook upon God, more as the great and dreadful God, than as the tenderloving Father of his human children, and so strong was the power ofassociation, that she found it hard to believe that God is good, and yetuntil she could believe this there seemed to be no resting place for hersoul; but in course of time the shadows were lifted from her life. Faithtook the place of doubting, and in the precious promises of the Bibleshe felt that her soul had found a safe and sure anchorage. If othersbelieved because they had never doubted, she believed because she haddoubted and her doubts had been dispelled by the rays of heaven, andbelieving, she had entered into rest. Feeling that she was bought with aprice, she realized that she was not her own, but the captive of DivineLove, and that her talents were not given her to hide beneath a bushelor to use for merely selfish enjoyments. That her time was not her ownto be frittered away by the demands of fashion or to be spent inunavailing regrets. Every reform which had for its object the lesseningof human misery, or the increase of human happiness, found in her anearnest ally. On the subject of temperance she was terribly in earnest. Every fiber of her heart responded to its onward movement. There was nohut or den where human beings congregated that she felt was too vile ortoo repulsive to enter, if by so doing she could help lift some fallensoul out of the depths of sin and degradation. While some doubted thesoundness of her religious opinions, none doubted the orthodoxy of herlife. Little children in darkened homes smiled as the sunlight of herpresence came over their paths; reformed men looked upon her as a lovingcounsellor and faithful friend and sister; women wretched and sorrowful, dragged down from love and light, by the intemperance of their husbands, brought to her their heavy burdens, and by her sympathy and tenderconsideration she helped them bear them. She was not rich in thisworld's goods, but she was affluent in tenderness, sympathy, and love, and out of the fullness of her heart, she was a real minister of mercyamong the poor and degraded. Believing that the inner life developed theouter, she considered the poor, and strove to awaken within themself-reliance, and self-control, feeling that one of the surest ways torender people helpless or dangerous is to crush out their self-respectand self-reliance. She thought it one of the greatest privileges of herlife to be permitted to scatter flowers by the wayside of life. Otherwomen might write beautiful poems; she did more. She made her life athing of brightness and beauty. * * * * * "Do you think she will die?" said Belle Gordon, bending tenderly over apale and fainting woman, whose face in spite of its attenuation showedtraces of great beauty. "Not if she is properly cared for; she has fainted from exhaustionbrought on by overwork and want of proper food. " Tears gathered in theeyes of Belle Gordon as she lifted the beautiful head upon her lap andchafed the pale hands to bring back warmth and circulation. "Let her be removed to her home as soon as possible, " said the doctor. "The air is too heavy and damp for her. " "I wonder where she lives, " said Belle thoughtfully, scanning her face, as the features began to show[4] returning animation. "Round the corner, " said an urchin, "she's Joe Cough's wife. I seed hergoing down the street with a great big bundle, and Mam said, she lookedlike she was going to topple over. " "Where is her husband?" "I don't know, I 'spec he's down to Jim Green's saloon. " "What does he do?" "He don't do nothing, but Mam says she works awful hard. Come this way, "said he with a quickness gathered by his constant contact with streetlife. Up two flights of rickety stairs they carried the wasted form of MaryGough, and laid her tenderly upon a clean but very poor bed. In spite ofher extreme poverty there was an air of neatness in the desolate room. Belle looked around and found an old tea pot in which there were a fewleaves. There were some dry crusts in the cupboard, while two littlechildren crouched by the embers in the grate, and cried for the mother. Belle soon found a few coals in an old basin with which she replenishedthe fire, and covering up the sick woman as carefully as she could, stepped into the nearest grocery and replenished her basket with some ofgood the things of life. "Is it not too heavy for you[r] might?" said Paul Clifford from whosegrocery Belle had bought her supplies. "Can I not send them home for you?" "No I don't want them sent home. They are for a poor woman and hersuffering children, who live about a square from here in Lear's Court. "Paul stood thoughtfully a moment before handing her the basket, andsaid--"That court has a very bad reputation; had I not better accompanyyou? I hope you will not consider my offer as an intrusion, but I do notthink it is safe for you to venture there alone. " "If you think it is not safe I will accept of your company; but I neverthought of danger for myself in the presence of that fainting woman andher hungry children. Do you know her? Her name is Mrs. Gough. " "I thinkI do. If it is the person I mean, I remember her when she was aslighthearted and happy a girl as I ever saw, but she married against herparents' consent, a worthless fellow named Joe Gough, and in a shorttime she disappeared from the village and I suppose she has come home, broken in health and broken in spirit. " "And I am afraid she has come home to die. Are her parents still alive?" "Yes, but her father never forgave her. Her mother I believe would takeher to her heart as readily as she ever did, but her husband has an ironwill and she has got to submit to him. " "Where do they live?" "At No 200 Rouen St. But here we are at the door. " Paul carried thebasket up stairs, and sat down quietly, while Belle prepared somerefreshing tea and toast for the feeble mother; and some bread and milkfor the hungry children. "What shall I do?" said Belle looking tenderly upon the wan face, "Ihate to leave her alone and yet I confess I do not prefer spending thenight here. " "Of course not, " said Paul looking thoughtfully into the flickering fireof the grate. "Oh! I have it now; I know a very respectable woman who occasionallycleans out my store. Just wait a few moments, and I think I can findher, " said Paul Clifford turning to the door. In a short time hereturned bringing with him a pleasant looking woman whose face in spiteof the poverty of her dress had a look of genuine refinement which comesnot so much from mingling with people of culture as from the culture ofher own moral and spiritual nature. She had learned to "look up and notto look down. " To lend a helping hand wherever she felt it was needed. Her life was spent in humble usefulness. She was poor in this world'sgoods, but rich in faith and good works. No poor person who asked herfor bread ever went away empty. Sometimes people would say, "I wouldn'tgive him a mouthful; he is not worthy, " and then she would say in thetenderest and sweetest manner: "Suppose our heavenly Father only gave to us because we are worthy; whatwould any of us have?" I know she once said of a miserable sot with whomshe shared her scanty food, that he is a wretched creature, but I wantedto get at his heart, and the best way to it was through his stomach. Inever like to preach religion to hungry people. There is something verybeautiful about the charity of the poor, they give not as the rich oftheir abundance, but of their limited earnings, gifts which when givenin a right spirit bring a blessing with them. Chapter X Mary Gough "I think, " said Paul Clifford to Miss Gordon, "that I have found justthe person that will suit you, and if you accept I will be pleased tosee you safe home. " Belle thanked the young grocer, and gratefullyaccepted his company. Belle returned the next day to see her protege and found her gettingalong comfortably although she could not help seeing it was sorrow morethan disease that was sapping her life, and drying up the feeble streamsof existence. "How do you feel this morning?" said Belle laying her hand tenderly uponher forehead. "Better, much better, " she replied with an attempt at cheerfulness inher voice. "I am so glad, that Mother Graham is here. It is like lettingthe sunshine into these gloomy rooms to have her around. It all seemslike a dream to me, I remember carrying a large bundle of work to thestore, that my employer spoke harshly to me and talked of cutting downmy wages. I also remember turning into the street, my eyes almostblinded with tears, and that I felt a dizziness in my head. The next Iremember was seeing a lady feeding my children, and a gentleman comingin with Aunty Graham. " "Yes, " said Belle, "fortunately after I had seen you, I met with Mr. Clifford who rendered me every necessary assistance. His presence wasvery opportune, " just then Belle turned her eyes toward the door and sawMr. Clifford standing on the threshold. "Ah, " said he smiling and advancing "this time the old adage hasfailed, which says that listeners never hear any good of themselves; forwithout intending to act the part of an eavesdropper, I heard myselfpleasantly complimented. " "No more than you deserve, " said Belle smiling and blushing, as she gavehim her hand in a very frank and pleasant manner. "Mrs. Gough is muchbetter this morning and is very grateful to you for your kindness. " "Mine, " said Mr. Clifford "if you, will call it so, was only the resultof an accident. Still I am very glad if I have been of any service, andyou are perfectly welcome to make demands upon me that will add to Mrs. Cough's comfort. " "Thank you, I am very glad she has found a friend in you. It is such ablessed privilege to be able to help others less fortunate thanourselves. " "It certainly is. " "Just a moment, " said Belle, as the voice of Mrs. Gough fell faintly onher ear. "What is it, dear?" said Belle bending down to catch her words. "Who isthat gentleman? His face and voice seem familiar. " "It is Mr. Clifford. " "Paul Clifford?" "Yes. Do you know him?" "Yes, I knew him years ago when I was young and happy; but it seems anage since. Oh, isn't it a dreadful thing, to be a drunkard's wife?" "Yes it is, but would you like to speak to Mr. Clifford?" "Yes! Mam, I would. " "Mr. Clifford, " said Belle, "Mrs. Gough would like to speak with you. " "Do you not know me?" said Mary, looking anxiously into his face. "I recognized you as soon as you moved into the neighborhood. " "I am very glad. I feared that I was so changed that my own dear motherwould hardly recognize me. Don't you think she would pity and forgiveme, if she saw what a mournful wretch I am?" "Yes, I think she has long forgiven you and longs to take you to herheart as warmly as she ever did. " "And my father?" "I believe he would receive you, but I don't think he would be willingto recognize your husband. You know he is very set in his ways. " "Mr. Clifford, I feel that my days are numbered and that my span of lifewill soon be done; but while I live I feel it my duty to cling to mydemented husband, and to do all I can to turn him from the error of hisways. But I do so wish that my poor children could have my mother'scare, when I am gone. If I were satisfied on that score, I would diecontent. " "Do not talk of dying, " said Belle taking the pale thin hand in hers. "You must try and live for your children's sake. When you get strong Ithink I can find you some work among my friends. There is Mrs. Roberts, she often gives out work and I think I will apply to her. " "Mrs. James Roberts on St. James St. Near 16th?" "Yes! do you know her?" "Yes, " said Mrs. Gough closing her eyes wearily, "I know her and haveworked for her. " "I think she is an excellent woman, I remember one morning we weretalking together on religious experience, and about women speaking inclass and conference meetings. I said I did not think I should like toconstantly relate my experience in public, there was often such a lackof assurance of faith about me that I shrank from holding up my innerlife to inspection; and she replied that she would always say that sheloved Jesus, and I thought Oh, how I would like to have her experience. What rest and peace I would have if I could feel that I was always inharmony with Him. " "Miss Belle I hope you will not be offended with me, for I am veryignorant about these matters; but there was something about Mrs. Robertsdealings with us poor working people, that did seem to me not to be justwhat I think religion calls for. I found her a very hard person to dealwith; she wanted so much work for so little money. " "But, Mrs. Gough, the times are very hard; and the rich feel it as wellas the poor. " "But not so much. It curtails them in their luxuries, and us in ournecessities; perhaps I shouldn't mention, but after my husband hadbecome a confirmed drunkard, and all hope had died out of my heart, Ihadn't time to sit down and brood helplessly over my misery. I had tostruggle for my children and if possible keep the wolf from the door;and besides food and clothing, I wanted to keep my children in arespectable neighborhood, and my whole soul rose up in revolt againstthe idea of bringing them up where their eyes and ears would beconstantly smitten by improper sights and sounds. While I was worryingover my situation and feeling that my health was failing under theterrible pressure of care and overwork, Mrs. Roberts brought me work;'What will you do this for, ' she said, displaying one of the articlesshe wanted made. I replied, 'One dollar and twenty-five cents, ' and Iknew the work well worth it. 'I can get it done for one dollar, ' shereplied, 'and I am not willing to give any more. ' What could I do? I wasout of work, my health was poor, and my children clutching at my heartstrings for bread; and so I took it at her price. It was veryunprofitable, but it was better than nothing. " "Why that is very strange. I know she pays her dressmaker handsomely. " "That is because her dressmaker is in a situation to dictate her ownterms; but while she would pay her a large sum for dressmaking, shewould screw and pinch a five-cent piece from one who hadn't power toresist her demands. I have seen people save twenty-five or fifty centsin dealing with poor people, who would squander ten times as much onsome luxury of the table or wardrobe. I[?] often find that meanness andextravagance go hand in hand. " "Yes, that is true, still Mrs. Gough, I think people often act like Mrs. Roberts more from want of thought than want of heart. It was an oldcharge brought against the Israelite, 'My people doth not consider. '" * * * * * "What is the matter, my dear?" said Belle a few mornings after thisconversation as she approached the bedside of Mary Gough, "I thought youwere getting along so nicely, and that with proper care you would be onyour feet in a few days, but this morning you look so feeble, and seemso nervous and depressed. Do tell me what has happened and what hasbecome of your beautiful hair; oh you had such a wealth of tresses, Ireally loved to toy with them. Was your head so painful that the doctorordered them to be cut?" "Oh, no, " she said burying her face in the pillow and breaking into aparoxysm of tears. "Oh, Miss Belle, how can I tell you, " she repliedrecovering from her sudden outburst of sorrow. "Why, what is it darling? I am at a loss to know what has become of yourbeautiful hair. " With gentle womanly tact Belle saw that the loss of her hair was asubject replete with bitter anguish, and turning to the children shetook them in her lap and interested and amused them by telling beautifulfairy stories. In a short time Mary's composure returned, and she said, "Miss Belle, I can now tell you how I lost my hair. Last night myhusband, or the wreck of what was once my husband, came home. His eyeswere wild and bloodshot; his face was pale and haggard, his gait uneven, and his hand trembling. I have seen him suffering from _Manipaotu_ anddreaded lest he should have a returning of it. Mrs. Graham had juststepped out, and there was no one here but myself and children. He heldin his hand a pair of shears, and approached my bedside. I was ready tofaint with terror, when he exclaimed, 'Mary I must have liquor or Ishall go wild, ' he caught my hair in his hand; I was too feeble toresist, and in a few minutes he had cut every lock from my head, andleft it just as you see it. " "Oh, what a pity, and what a shame. " "Oh, Miss Gordon do you think the men who make our laws ever stop toconsider the misery, crime and destruction that flow out of the liquortraffic? I have done all I could to induce him to abstain, and he hasabstained several months at a time and then suddenly like a flash oflightning the temptation returns and all his resolutions are scatteredlike chaff before the wind. I have been blamed for living with him, butMiss Belle were you to see him in his moments of remorse, and hear hisbitter self reproach, and his earnest resolutions to reform, you wouldas soon leave a drowning man to struggle alone in the water as toforsake him in his weakness when every one else has turned against him, and if I can be the means of saving him, the joy for his redemption willcounterbalance all that I have suffered as a drunkard's wife. " Chapter XI [Text missing. ] Chapter XII [Text missing. ] Chapter XIII John Anderson's Saloon _"The end of these things is death. "_ "Why do you mix that liquor with such care and give it to that child?You know he is not going to pay you for it?" "I am making an investment. " "How so?" "Why you see that boy's parents are very rich, and in course of time hewill be one of my customers. " "Well! John Anderson as old a sinner as I am, I wouldn't do such a thingfor my right hand. " "What's the harm? You are one of my best customers, did liquor ever harmyou?" "Yes it does harm me, and when I see young men beginning to drink, Ifeel like crying out, 'Young man you are in danger, don't put your feetin the terrible flood, for ten to one you will be swamped. '" "Well! this is the best joke of the season: Tom Cary preachingtemperance. When do you expect to join the Crusade? But, Oh! talk ischeap. " "Cheap or dear, John Anderson, when I saw you giving liquor to thatinnocent boy, I couldn't help thinking of my poor Charley. He was justsuch a bright child as that, with beautiful brown eyes, and a fineforehead. Ah that boy had a mind; he was always ahead in his studies. But once when he was about twelve years old, I let him go on atravelling tour with his uncle. He was so agreeable and wide awake, hisuncle liked to have him for company; but it was a dear trip to my poorCharley. During this journey they stopped at a hotel, and my brothergave him a glass of wine. Better for my dear boy had he given him aglass of strychnine. That one glass awakened within him a dreadfulcraving. It raged like a hungry fire. I talked to him, his mother pledwith him, but it was no use, liquor was his master, and when he couldn'tget liquor I've known him to break into his pantry to get our burningfluid to assuage his thirst. Sometimes he would be sober for severalweeks at a time, and then our hopes would brighten that Charley would behimself again, and then in an hour all our hopes would be dashed to theground. It seemed as if a spell was upon him. He married a dear goodgirl, who was as true as steel, but all her entreaties for him to giveup drinking were like beating the air. He drank, and drank, until hedrank himself into the grave. " By this time two or three loungers had gathered around John Anderson andThomas Gary, and one of them said, "Mr. Gary you have had sadexperience, why don't you give up drinking yourself?" "Give it up! because I can't. To-day I would give one half of my farm ifI could pass by this saloon and not feel that I wanted to come in. No, Ifeel that I am a slave. There was a time when I could have broken mychain, but it is too late now, and I say young men take warning by meand don't make slaves and fools of yourselves. " "Now, Tom Cary, " said John Anderson, "it is time for you to dry up, wehave had enough of this foolishness, if you can't govern yourself, themore's the pity for you. " Just then the newsboy came along crying: _"Evening Mail. All about thedreadful murder! John Coots and James Loraine. Last edition. Buy apaper, Sir! Here's your last edition, all 'bout the dreadful murder". _ "John Coots, " said several voices all at once, "Why he's been here ahalf dozen times today. " "I've drank with him, " said one, "at that bar twice since noon. He had astrange look out of his eyes; and I heard him mutter something tohimself. " "Yes, " said another, "I heard him say he was going to kill somebody, 'one or the other's got to die, ' what does the paper say?" "LOVE, JEALOUSY, AND MURDER. " "The old story, " said Anderson, looking somewhat relieved, "A woman's atthe bottom of it. " "And liquor, " said Tom Cary, "is at the top of it. " "I wish you would keep a civil tongue in your head, " said Anderson, scowling at Cary. "Oh! never mind; Tom, will have his say. He's got a knack of speakingout in meeting. " "And a very disagreeable knack it is. " "Oh never mind about Tom, read about the murder, and tend to Tom someother time. " Eagerly and excitedly they read the dreadful news. A woman, frail andvicious, was at the bottom; a woman that neither of those men would havemarried as a gracious gift, was the guilty cause of one murder, and whenthe law would take its course, two deaths would lie at her door. Oh, thefolly of some men, who, instead of striving to make home a thing ofbeauty, strength and grace, wander into forbidden pastures, and reap forthemselves harvests of misery and disgrace. And all for what? Because ofthe allurements of some idle, vain and sinful woman who has armedherself against the peace, the purity and the progress of the fireside. Such women are the dry rot in the social fabric; they dig in the darkbeneath the foundation stones of the home. Young men enter their houses, and over the mirror of their lives, comes the shadow of pollution. Companionship with them unprepares them for the pure, simple joys of ahappy and virtuous home; a place which should be the best school for theaffections; one of the fairest spots on earth and one of the brightesttypes of heaven. Such a home as this, may exist without wealth, luxuryor display; but it cannot exist without the essential elements ofpurity, love and truth. The story was read, and then came the various comments. "Oh, it was dreadful, " said one. "Mr. Loraine belongs to one of thefirst families in the town; and what a cut it will be to them, notsimply that he has been murdered, but murdered where he was--in thehouse of Lizzie Wilson. I knew her before she left husband and took toevil courses. " "Oh, what a pity, I expect it will almost kill his wife, poor thing, Ipity her from the bottom of my heart. " "Why what's the matter Harry Richards? You look as white as a sheet, andyou are all of a tremor. " "I've just come from the coroner's inquest, had to be one of thewitnesses. I am afraid it will go hard with Coots. " "Why? What was the verdict of the jury?" "They brought in a verdict of death by killing at the hands of JohnCoots. " "Were you present at the murder?" "Yes. " "How did it happen?" "Why you see John had been spending his money very freely on LizzieWilson, and he took it into his head because Loraine had made her somecostly presents, that she had treated him rather coolly and wanted toship him, and so he got dreadfully put out with Loraine and made somebitter threats against him. But I don't believe he would have done thedeed if he had been sober, but he's been on a spree for several days andhe was half crazy when he did it. Oh it was heartrending to seeLoraine's wife when they brought him home a corpse. She gave an awfulshriek and fell to the floor, stiff as a poker; and his poor littlechildren, it made my heart bleed to look at them; and his poor oldmother. I am afraid it will be the death of her. " In a large city with its varied interests, one event rapidly chases theother. Life-boats are stranded on the shores of time, pitiful wrecks ofhumanity are dashed amid the rocks and reefs of existence. Old facesdisappear and new ones take their places and the stream of life everhurries on to empty where death's waters meet. * * * * * At the next sitting of the Court John Coots was arraigned, tried, andconvicted of murder in the first degree. His lawyer tried to bring in aplea of emotional insanity but failed. If insane he was insane throughthe influence of strong drink. It was proven that he had made fiercethreats against the life of Loraine, and the liquor in which he had sofreely indulged had served to fire his brain and nerve his hand to carryout his wicked intent; and so the jury brought in its verdict, and hewas sentenced to be executed, which sentence was duly performed and thatclosed another act of the sad drama. Intemperance and Sensuality hadclasped hands together, and beneath their cruel fostering the gallowshad borne its dreadful fruit of death. The light of one home had beenquenched in gloom and guilt. A husband had broken over the barriers thatGod placed around the path of marital love, and his sun had gone down atmid-day. The sun which should have gilded the horizon of life and lentit additional charms, had gone down in darkness, yes, set behind theshadow of a thousand clouds. Innocent and unoffending childhood wasrobbed of a father's care, and a once happy wife, and joyful mother satdown in her widow's weeds with the mantle of a gloomier sorrow aroundher heart. And all for what? Oh who will justify the ways of God to man?Who will impress upon the mind of youth with its impulsiveness that itis a privilege as well as a duty to present the body to God, as a livingsacrifice holy and acceptable in his sight. That God gives man no lawthat is not for his best advantage, and that the interests of humanity, and the laws of purity and self-denial all lie in the same direction, and the man who does not take care of his body must fail to take thebest care of his soul; for the body should be temple for God's holyspirit and the instrument to do his work, and we have no right to defilethe one or blunt the other and thus render ourselves unfit for theMaster's service. Chapter XIV Belle Gordon's indignation was thoroughly aroused by hearing MaryGough's story about the loss of her hair, and she made up her mind thatwhen she saw Joe Gough she would give him a very plain talking. "I would like to see your husband; I would just like to tell him what Ithink about his conduct. " "Oh, " said Mary, her pale cheek growing whiter with apprehension;"That's his footsteps now, Miss Belle don't say anything to him, Joe'sas good and kind a man as I ever saw when he is sober, but sometimes heis really ugly when he has been drinking. " Just then the door was opened, and Joe Gough entered, or rather all thatremained of the once witty, talented and handsome Josiah Gough. His facewas pale and haggard, and growing premature by age, his wealth of ravenhair was unkempt and hung in tangled locks over his forehead, his handwas unsteady and trembling from extreme nervousness, but he was soberenough to comprehend the situation, and to feel a deep sense of remorseand shame, when he gazed upon the weary head from whence he had bereftits magnificent covering. "Here Mary, " said he approaching the bed, "I've brought you a present; Ionly had four cents, and I thought this would please you, I know youwomen are so fond of jew-gaws, " and he handed [her] a pair of sleevebuttons. "Thank you, " said she, as a faint smile illuminated her pallid cheek. "This, " she said turning to Miss Gordon, "is my husband, Josiah Gough. " "Good morning, Mr. Gough, " said Belle bowing politely and extending herhand. Joe returned the salutation very courteously and very quietly, sitting down by the bedside, made some remarks about the dampness of theweather. Mary lay very quiet, looking pitifully upon the mour[n]fulwretch at her side, who seemed to regard her and her friend with intenseinterest. It seemed from his countenance that remorse and shame wererousing up his better nature. Once he rose as if to go--stoodirresolutely for a moment, and then sitting down by the bedside, claspedher thin pale hand in his with a caressing motion, and said, "Maryyou've had a hard time, but I hope there are better days in store forus, don't get out of heart, " and there was a moisture in his eyes inwhich for a moment beamed a tender, loving light. Belle immediately felther indignation changing to pity. Surely she thought within herself, this man is worth saving--There is still love and tenderness within him, notwithstanding all his self-ruin, he reminds me of an expression I havepicked up somewhere about "Old Oak, " holding the young fibres at itsheart, I will appeal to that better nature, I will use it as a lever tolift him from the depths into which he has fallen. While she wasthinking of the best way to approach him, and how to reach that heartinto whose hidden depths she had so unexpectedly glanced, he arose andbending over his wife imprinted upon her lips a kiss in which remorseand shame seemed struggling for expression, and left the room. "Mother Graham, " said Belle, "a happy thought has just struck me, Couldn't we induce Mr. Gough to attend the meeting of the Reform Club?Mr. R. N. Speaks tonight and he has been meeting with glorious success asa Temperance Reformer, hundreds of men, many of them confirmeddrunkards, have joined, and he is doing a remarkable work, he does notwait for the drunkards to come to him, he goes to them, and wins them byhis personal sympathy, and it is wonderful the good he has done, I dowish he would go. " "I wish so too, " said Martha Graham. "If he should not return while I am here will you invite him to attend?Perhaps Mrs. Gough can spare you an hour or two this evening toaccompany him. " "That I would gladly do, I think it would do me more good than all themedicines you could give me, to see my poor husband himself once more. Before he took to drinking, I was so happy, but it seems as if sincethen I have suffered sorrow by the spoonful. Oh the misery that thisdrink causes. I do hope these reform clubs will be the means of shuttingup every saloon in the place, for just as long as one of them is open heis in danger. " "Yes, " said Belle, "what we need is not simply to stop the men fromdrinking, but to keep the temptation out of their way. " "Joe, " said Mary, "belongs to a good family, he has a first-rateeducation, is a fine penman, and a good bookkeeper, but this dreadfuldrink has thrown him out of some of the best situations in the townwhere we were living. " "Oh what a pity, I heard Mr. Clifford say that his business wasincreasing so that he wanted a good clerk and salesman to help him, thathe was overworked and crippled for want of sufficient help. Maybe ifyour husband would sign the pledge, Mr. Clifford would give him a trial, but it is growing late and I must go. I would liked to have seen yourhusband before I left, and have given him a personal invitation, but youand Mother Graham can invite him for me, so good bye, keep up a goodheart, you know where to cast your burden. " Just as Miss Gordon reached the landing, she saw Joe Gough standing atthe outer door and laying her hand gently upon his shoulder, exclaimed, "Oh Mr. Gough, I am so glad to see you again, I wanted to invite you toattend a temperance meeting tonight at Amory Hall. Will you go?" "Well I don't like to promise, " he replied, looking down upon his seedycoat and dilapidated shoes. "Never mind your wardrobe, " said Miss Gordon divining his thoughts. "The soul is more than raiment, 'the world has room for another man andI want you to fill the place. '" "Well, " said he, "I'll come. " "Very well, I expect to be there and will look for you. Come early andbring Mother Graham. " "Mrs. Gough can spare her an hour or two this evening, I think your wifeis suffering more from exhaustion and debility than anything else. " "Yes poor Mary has had a hard time, but it shan't be always so. As soonas I get work I mean to take her out of this, " said he lookingdisdainfully at the wretched tenement house, with its broken shuttersand look of general decay. * * * * * "Why Mother Graham is [the] meeting over? You must have had a fine time, you just look delighted. Did Joe go in with you, and where is he now?" "Yes, he went with me, listened to the speeches, and joined the club, Isaw him do it with my own eyes, Oh, we had a glorious time!" "Oh I am so glad, " said Mary, her eyes filling with sudden tears. "I dohope he will keep his pledge!" "I hope so too, and I hope he will get something to do. Mr. Clifford wasthere when he signed, and Miss Belle was saying today that he wanted aclerk that would be a first r[at]e place for Joe, if he will only keephis pledge. Mr. Clifford is an active temperance man, and I believewould help to keep Joe straight. " "I hope he'll get the place, but Mother Graham, tell me all about themeeting, you don't know how happy I am. " "Don't I deary? Have I been through it all, but it seems as if I hadpassed through suffering into peace, but never mind Mother Graham's pasttroubles, let me tell you about the meeting. " "At these meetings quite a number of people speak, just as we went inone of the speakers was telling his experience, and what a terriblestruggle he had to overcome the power of appetite. Now when he felt thefearful craving coming over him he would walk the carpet till he hadactually worn it threadbare; but that he had been converted and foundgrace to help him in time of need, and how he had gone out and tried toreform others and had seen the work prosper in his hand. I watched Joe'sface, it seemed lit up with earnestness and hope, as if that man hadbrought him a message of deliverance; then after the meeting came thesigning of the pledge and joining the reform club, and it would havedone you good to see the men that joined. " "Do you remember Thomas Allison?" "Yes, poor fellow, and I think if any man ever inherited drunkenness, hedid, for his father and his mother were drunkards before him. " "Well, he joined and they have made him president of the club. " "Well did I ever! But tell me all about Joe. " "When the speaking was over, Joe sat still and thoughtful as if makingup his mind, when Miss Gordon came to him and asked him to join, hestopped a minute to button his coat and went right straight up and hadhis name put down, but oh how the people did clap and shout. Well as Joewas one of the last to sign, the red ribbons they use for badges was allgone and Joe looked so sorry, he said he wanted to take a piece ofribbon home to let his wife know that he belonged to the Reform Club, Miss Gordon heard him, and she had a piece of black lace and red ribbontwisted together around her throat and she separated the lace from theribbon and tied it in his button-hole, so his Mary would see it. Oh MissBelle did look so sweet and Mr. Clifford never took his eyes off her. Ithink he admires her very much. " "I don't see how he can help it, she is one of the dearest--sweetest, ladies I ever saw, she never seemed to say by her actions, 'I am doingso much for you poor people' and you can't be too thankful. " "Not she, and between you and I, and the gate-post, I think that will bea match. " "I think it would make a splendid one, but hush, I hear some personscoming. " The door opened and Paul Clifford, Joe Gough, and Belle Gordon entered. "Here Mrs. Gough, " said Paul Clifford, "as we children used to say. Here's your husband safe and sound, and I will add, a member of ourreformed club and we have come to congratulate you upon the event. " "My dear friends, I am very thankful to you for your great kindness, Idon't think I shall ever be able to repay you. " "Don't be uneasy darling, " said Belle, "we are getting our pay as we goalong, we don't think the cause of humanity owes us anything. " "Yes, "said Joe seating himself by the bed side with an air of intensegratification. "Here is my badge, I did not want to leave the meetingwithout having this to show you. " "This evening, " said Mrs. Gough smiling through her tears, "reminds meof a little temperance song I learned when a child, I think it commencedwith these words: "And are you sure the news is true? Are you sure my John has joined? I can't believe the happy news, And leave my fears behind, If John has joined and drinks no more, The happiest wife am I That ever swept a cabin floor, Or sung a lullaby. "That's just the way I feel to-night, I haven't been so happy before foryears. " "And I hope, " said Mr. Clifford, "that you will have many happy daysand nights in the future. " "And I hope so too, " said Joe, shaking hands with Paul and Belle as theyrose to go. Mr. Clifford accompanied Belle to her door, and as they parted she said, "This is a glorious work in which it is our privilege to clasp hands. " "It is and I hope, " but as the words rose to his lips, he looked intothe face of Belle, and it was so radiant with intelligent tenderness andjoy, that she seemed to him almost like a glorified saint, a being tooprecious high and good for common household uses, and so the remainderof the sentence died upon his lips and he held his peace. Chapter XV "I have resolved to dissolve partnership with Charles, " said AugustineRomaine to his wife, the next morning after his son's return from theChampaign supper at John Anderson's. "Oh! no you are not in earnest, are you? You seem suddenly to have lostall patience with Charlie. " "Yes I have, and I have made up my mind that I am not going to let himhang like a millstone on our business. No, if he will go down, I amdetermined he shall not drag me down with him. See what a hurt it wouldbe to us, to have it said, 'Don't trust your case with the Romaine's forthe Junior member of that firm is a confirmed drunkard. '" "Well, Augustine you ought to know best, but it seems like casting himoff, to dissolve partnership with him. " "I can't help it, if he persists in his downward course he must take theconsequences. Charles has had every advantage; when other young lawyershave had to battle year after year with obscurity and poverty, heentered into a business that was already established and flourishing. What other men were struggling for, he found ready made to his hand, andif he chooses to throw away every advantage and make a complete wreck ofhimself, I can't help it. " "Oh! it does seem so dreadful, I wonder what will become of my poorboy?" "Now, mother I want you to look at this thing in the light of reason andcommon sense. I am not turning Charles out of the house. He is not poor, though the way he is going on he will be. You know his grandfather hasleft him a large estate out West, which is constantly increasing invalue. Now what I mean to do is to give Charles a chance to set up forhimself as attorney, wherever he pleases. Throwing him on his ownresources, with a sense of responsibility, may be the best thing forhim; but in the present state of things I do not think it advisable tocontinue our business relations together. For more than twenty-fiveyears our firm has stood foremost at the bar. Ever since my brother andI commenced business together our reputation has been unspotted and Imean to keep it so, if I have to cut off my right hand. " Mrs. Romaine gazed upon the stern sad face of her husband, and felt bythe determination of his manner that it was useless to entreat or reasonwith him to change his purpose; and so with a heavy heart, and eyesdrooping with unshed tears, she left the room. "John, " said Mr. Romaine to the waiter, "tell Charles I wish to see himbefore I go down to the office. " Just then Charles entered the room andbade good morning to his father. "Good morning, " replied his father, rather coldly, and for a momentthere was an awkward silence. "Charles, " said Mr. Romaine, "after having witnessed the scene of lastnight, I have come to the conclusion to dissolve the partnership betweenus. " "Just as you please, " said Charles in a tone of cold indifference thatirritated his father; but he maintained his self-control. "I am sorry that you will persist in your downward course; but if youare determined to throw yourself away I have made up my mind to cutloose from you. I noticed last week when you were getting out the briefsin that Sumpter case, you were not yourself, and several times latelyyou have made me hang my head in the court room. I am sorry, verysorry, " and a touch of deep emotion gave a tone of tenderness to theclosing sentence. There was a slight huskiness in Charles' voice, as hereplied, "Whenever the articles of dissolution are made out I am readyto sign. " "They shall be ready by to-morrow. " "All right, I will sign them. " "And what then?" "Set up for myself, the world is wide enough for us both. " After Mr. Romaine had left the room, Charles sat, burying his head inhis hands and indulging bitter thoughts toward his father. "To-day, " hesaid to himself, "he resolved to cut loose from me apparently forgettingthat it was from his hands, and at his table I received my first glassof wine. He prides himself on his power of self-control, and after allwhat does it amount to? It simply means this, that he has an ironconstitution, and can drink five times as much as I can without showingits effects, and to-day if Mr. R. N. Would ask him to sign thetotal-abstinence pledge, he wouldn't hear to it. Yes I am ready to signany articles he will bring, even if it is to sign never to enter thishouse, or see his face; but my mother--poor mother, I am sorry for hersake. " Just then his mother entered the room. "My son. " "Mother. " "Just what I feared has come to pass. I have dreaded more than anythingelse this collision with your father. " "Now mother don't be so serious about this matter. Father's law officedoes not take in the whole world. I shall either set up for myself inA. P. , or go West. " "Oh! don't talk of going away, I think I should die of anxiety if youwere away. " "Well, as I passed down the street yesterday I saw there was an officeto let in Frazier's new block, and I think I will engage it and put outmy sign. How will that suit you?" "Anything, or anywhere, Charlie, so you are near me. And Charlie don'tbe too stout with your father, he was very much out of temper when youcame home last night, but be calm; it will blow over in a few days, don't add fuel to the fire. And you know that you and Miss Roland are tobe married in two weeks, and I do wish that things might remain as theyare, at least till after the wedding. Separation just now might giverise to some very unpleasant talk, and I would rather if you and yourfather can put off this dissolution, that you will consent to let thingsremain as they are for a few weeks longer. When your father comes home Iwill put the case to him, and have the thing delayed. Just now Charles Idread the consequences of a separation. " "Well, Mother, just as you please; perhaps the publication of thearticles of dissolution in the paper might complicate matters. " When Mr. Romaine returned home, his wrath was somewhat mollified, andMrs. Romaine having taken care to prepare his favorite dishes fordinner, took the opportunity when he had dined to entreat him to delaythe intended separation till after the wedding, to which he verygraciously consented. * * * * * Again there was a merry gathering at the home of Jeanette Roland. It washer wedding night, and she was about to clasp hands for life withCharles Romaine. True to her idea of taking things as she found them, she had consented to be his wife without demanding of him anyreformation from the habit which was growing so fearfully upon him. Hiswealth and position in society like charity covered a multitude ofsins. At times Jeanette felt misgivings about the step she was about totake, but she put back the thoughts like unwelcome intruders, and likethe Ostrich, hiding her head in the sand, instead of avoiding thedanger, she shut her eyes to its fearful reality. That night the wineflowed out like a purple flood; but the men and women who drank werepeople of culture, wealth and position, and did not seem to think it wasjust as disgraceful or more so to drink in excess in magnificentlyfurnished parlors, as it was in low Barrooms or miserable dens wherevice and poverty are huddled together. And if the weary children ofhunger and hard toil instead of seeking sleep as nature's sweetrestorer, sought to stimulate their flagging energies in the enticingcup, they with the advantages of wealth, culture and refinement couldnot plead the excuses of extreme wretchedness, or hard and unremittingdrudgery. "How beautiful, very beautiful, " fell like a pleasant ripple upon theear of Jeanette Roland, as she approached the altar, beneath her wreathof orange blossoms, while her bridal veil floated like a cloud of lovelymist from her fair young head. The vows were spoken, the bridal ringplaced upon her finger, and amid a train of congratulating friends, shereturned home where a sumptuous feast awaited them. "Don't talk so loud, but I think Belle Gordon acted wisely when sherefused Mr. Romaine, " said Mrs. Gladstone, one of the guests. "Do you, indeed? Why Charles Romaine, is the only son of Mr. Romaine, and besides being the heir he has lately received a large legacy fromhis grandfather's estate. I think Jeanette has made a splendid match. Ihope my girls will do as well. " "I hope on the other hand that my girls will never marry unless they dobetter. " "Why how you talk! What's the matter with Mr. Romaine?" "Look at him now, " said Mrs. Fallard joining in the conversation. "Thisis his wedding night and yet you can plainly see he is under theinfluence of wine. Look at those eyes, don't you know how beautiful andclear they are when he is sober, and how very interesting he is inconversation. Now look at him, see how muddled his eye is--but he isapproaching--listen to his utterance, don't you notice how thick it is?Now if on his wedding night, he can not abstain, I have very grave fearsfor Jeanette's future. " "Perhaps you are both right, but I never looked at things in that lightbefore, and I know that a magnificent fortune can melt like snow in thehands of a drunken man. " "I wish you much joy, " rang out a dozen voices, as Jeanette approachedthem. "Oh Jeanette, you just look splendid! and Mr. Romaine, oh he is sohandsome. " "Oh Jeanette what's to hinder you from being so happy?" "Butwhere is Mr. Romaine? we have missed him for some time. " "I don't know, let me seek my husband. " "Isn't that a mouthful?" said Jeanettelaughingly disengaging herself from the merry group, as an undefinedsense of apprehension swept over her. Was it a presentiment of comingdanger? An unspoken prophecy to be verified by bitter tears, and lonelyfear that seemed for a moment to turn life's sweetness into bitternessand gall. In the midst of a noisy group, in the dining room, she foundCharles drinking the wine as it gave its color aright in the cup. Shesaw the deep flush upon his cheek, and the cloudiness of his eye, andfor the first time upon that bridal night she felt a shiver of fear asthe veil was suddenly lifted before her unwilling eye; and halfreluctantly she said to herself, "Suppose after all my cousin Belle wasright. " Chapter XVI "Good morning! Mr. Clifford, " said Joe Gough, entering the store of PaulClifford, the next day after he joined the Reform Club. "I have heardthat you wanted some one to help you, and I am ready to do anything tomake an honest living. " "I am very sorry, " said Paul, "but I have just engaged a young manbelonging to our Club to come this morning. " Joe looked sad, but not discouraged, and said, "Mr. Clifford, I want toturn over a new leaf in my life, but everyone does not know that. Do youknow of any situation I can get? I have been a book-keeper and asalesman in the town of C. , where I once lived, but I am willing tobegin almost anywhere on the ladder of life, and make it astepping-stone to something better. " There was a tone of earnestness in his voice, and an air ofdetermination, in his manner that favorably impressed Paul Clifford andhe replied, ---- "I was thinking of a friend of mine who wants a helping hand; but it maynot be, after all, the kind of work you prefer. He wants a porter, butas you say you want to make your position a stepping-stone to somethingbetter, if you make up your mind to do your level best, the way may openbefore you in some more congenial and unexpected quarter. Wait a fewminutes, and I will give you a line to him. No! I can do better thanthat; he is a member of our Club, and I will see him myself; but beforeyou do, had we better not go to the barber's?" "I would like to, " said Joe, "but I haven't--" "Haven't the money?" "Yes, Mr. Clifford, that's the fact, I am not able to pay even for ashave. Oh! what a fool I have been. " "Oh! well never mind, let the dead past, bury its dead. The future isbefore you, try and redeem that. If you accept it, I will lend you a fewdollars. I believe in lending a helping hand. So come with me to thebarber's and I'll make it all right, you can pay me when you are able, but here we are at the door, let us go in. " They entered, and in a few moments Joe's face was under the manipulatingcare of the barber. "Fix this so, " said Joe to the barber, giving him directions how to cuthis mustache. Paul was somewhat amused, and yet in that simple act, he saw a return ofself-respect, and was glad to see its slightest manifestations, and itwas pleasant to witness the satisfaction with which Joe beheld himselfin the glass, as he exclaimed, "Why Mary would hardly know me!" "Suppose now, we go to the tailor's and get some new rigging?" "Mr. Clifford, " said Joe hesitatingly, "you are very kind, but I don'tknow when I shall be able to pay you, and--" "Oh! never mind, when you are able I will send my bill. It will help youin looking for a place to go decently dressed. So let us go into thestore and get a new suit. " They entered a clothing store and in a few moments Joe was dressed in anew suit which made him look almost like another person. "Now, we are ready, " said Paul, "appearances are not so much againstyou. " "Good morning Mr. Tennant, " said Paul to the proprietor of a largestore. "I heard last night that you wanted help in your store and I havebrought you Mr. Gough, who is willing to take any situation you willgive him, and I will add, he is a member of our Reform Club. " Mr. Tennant looked thoughtfully a moment, and replied, "I have only onevacancy, and I do not think it would suit your friend. My porter diedyesterday and that is the only situation which I can offer him atpresent. " "I will accept it, " said Joe, "if you will give it to me, I am willingto do anything to make an honest living for my family. " "Well you can come to-morrow, or stop now and begin. " "All right, " said Joe with a promptness that pleased his employer, andJoe was installed in the first day's regular work he had had for months. "What! sitting up sewing?" said Belle Gordon entering the neat roomwhere Mrs. Gough was rejuvenating a dress for her older daughter. "Whyyou look like another woman, your cheeks are getting plump, your eyesare brightening, and you look so happy. " "I feel just like I look, Miss Gordon. Joe has grown so steady, he getsconstant work, and he is providing so well for us all, and he won't hearto me taking again that slop-shop work. He says all he wants me to do, is to get well, and take care of the home and children. But you lookrather pale, have you been sick?" "Yes, I have been rather unwell for several weeks, and the doctor hasordered among other things that I should have a plentiful supply offresh air, so to-morrow as there is to be a free excursion, and I am onthe Committee, I think if nothing prevents, I shall go. Perhaps youwould like to go?" "Yes, if Joe will consent, but--" "But, what?" "Well Joe has pretty high notions, and I think he may object, because itis receiving charity. I can't blame him for it, but Joe has a rightsmart of pride that way. " "No! I don't blame him, I rather admire his spirit of self-reliance, andI wouldn't lay the weight of my smallest finger upon his self-respect torepress it; still I would like to see your Mamy, and Hatty, have achance to get out into the woods, and have what I call a good time. Ithink I can have it so arranged that you can go with me, and serve asone of the Committee on refreshments, and your services would be anample compensation for your entertainment. " "Well if you put it in that light, I think Joe would be willing for meto go. " "I will leave the matter there, and when your husband comes home you canconsult him and send me word. And so you are getting along nicely?" "Oh! yes indeed, splendidly. Just look here, this is Joe's present, "and Mary held up with both hands a beautifully embossed and illustratedBible. "This was my birth-day present. Oh! Miss Belle, Joe seems to melike another man. Last night we went to a conference and prayer-meeting, and Joe spoke. Did you know he had joined the church?" "No! when did that happen?" "Last week. " "Has he become religious?" "Well I think Joe's trying to do the best he can. He said last night inmeeting that he felt like a new man, and if they didn't believe he hadreligion to ask his wife. " "And suppose they had asked you, what would you have said?" "I would have said I believe Joe's a changed man, and I hope he willhold out faithful. And Miss Belle I want to be a Christian, but thereare some things about religion I can't understand. People often used totalk to me about getting religion, and getting ready to die. Religionsomehow got associated in my mind with sorrow and death, but it seems tome since I have known you and Mr. Clifford the thing looks different. Igot it associated with something else besides the pall, the hearse, andweeping mourners. You have made me feel that it is as beautiful andvaluable for life as it is necessary for death. And yet there are somethings I can't understand. Miss Belle will you be shocked if I tell yousomething which has often puzzled me?" "I don't know, I hope you have nothing very shocking to tell me. " "Well perhaps it is, and maybe I had better not say it. " "But you have raised my curiosity, and woman like I want to hear it. " "Now don't be shocked, but let me ask you, if you really believe thatGod is good?" "Yes I do, and to doubt it would be to unmoor my soul from love, frompeace, and rest. It seems to me to believe that must be the firstresting place for my soul, and I feel that with me "To doubt would be disloyalty To falter would be sin. "But my dear I have been puzzled just as you have, and can say, ---- "I have wandered in mazes dark and distressing I've had not a cheering ray my spirit to bless, Cheerless unbelief held my laboring soul in grief. " "And what then?" "I then turned to the Gospel that taught me to pray And trust in the living word from folly away. "And it was here my spirit found a resting place, and I feel that inbelieving I have entered into rest. " "Ah!" said Mary to herself when Belle was gone, "there is something sorestful and yet inspiring in her words. I wish I had her faith. " Chapter XVII "I am sorry, very sorry, " said Belle Gordon, as a shadow of deepdistress flitted over her pale sad face. She was usually cheerful andserene in her manner; but now it seemed as if the very depths of hersoul had been stirred by some mournful and bitter memory. "Your questionwas so unexpected and--" "And what!" said Paul in a tone of sad expectancy, "so unwelcome?" "It was so sudden, I was not prepared for it. " "I do not, " said Paul, "ask an immediate reply. Give yourself ample timefor consideration. " "Mr. Clifford, " said Belle, her voice gathering firmness as sheproceeded, "while all the relations of life demand that there should beentire truthfulness between us and our fellow creatures, I think weshould be especially sincere and candid in our dealings with each otheron this question of marriage, a question not only as affecting our ownwelfare but that of[5] others, a relation which may throw its sunshineor shadow over the track of unborn ages. Permit me now to say to you, that there is no gentleman of my acquaintance whom I esteem more highlythan yourself; but when you ask me for my heart and hand, I almost feelas if I had no heart to give; and you know it would be wrong to give myhand where I could not place my heart. " "But would it be impossible for you to return my affection?" "I don'tknow, but I am only living out my [vow] of truthfulness when I say toyou, I feel as if I had been undone for love. You tell that in offeringyour hand that you bring me a heart unhackneyed in the arts of love, that my heart is the first and only shrine on which you have ever laidthe wealth of your affections. I cannot say the same in reply. I havehad my bright and beautiful day dream, but it has faded, and I havelearned what is the hardest of all lessons for a woman to learn. I havelearned to live without love. " "Oh no, " said Paul, "not to live without love. In darkened homes howmany grateful hearts rejoice to hear your footsteps on the threshold. Ihave seen the eyes of young Arabs of the street grow brighter as youapproached and say, 'That's my lady, she comes to see my mam when she'ssick. ' And I have seen little girls in the street quicken their face tocatch a loving smile from their dear Sunday school teacher. Oh MissBelle instead of living without love, I think you are surrounded with acordon of loving hearts. " "Yes, and I appreciate them--but this is not the love to which I refer. I mean a love which is mine, as anything else on earth is mine, a loveprecious, enduring and strong, which brings hope and joy and sunshineover one's path in life. A love which commands my allegiance and demandsmy respect. This is the love I have learned to do without, and perhapsthe poor and needy had learned to love me less, had this love surroundedme more. " "Miss Belle, perhaps I was presumptuous, to have asked a return of theearnest affection I have for you; but I had hoped that you would givethe question some consideration; and may I not hope that you will thinkkindly of my proposal? Oh Miss Gordon, ever since the death of mysainted mother, I have had in my mind's eye the ideal of a woman noblyplanned, beautiful, intellectual, true and affectionate, and you havefilled out that ideal in all its loveliest proportions, and I hope thatmy desire will not be like reaching out to some bright particular starand wishing to win it. It seems to me, " he said with increasingearnestness, "whatever obstacle may be in the way, I would go throughfire and water to remove it. " "I am sorry, " said Belle as if speaking to herself, and her face had anabsent look about it, as if instead of being interested in the livingpresent she was grouping amid the ashes of the dead past. At length shesaid, "Mr. Clifford, permit me to say in the first place, let there betruth between us. If my heart seems callous and indifferent to yourlove, believe me it is warm to esteem and value you as a friend, I mightalmost say as a brother, for in sympathy of feeling and congeniality ofdisposition you are nearer to me than my own brother; but I do not thinkwere I so inclined that it would be advisable for me to accept your handwithout letting you know something of my past history. I told you a fewmoments since that I had my day dream. Permit me to tell you, for Ithink you are entitled to my confidence. The object of that day dreamwas Charles Romaine. " "Charles Romaine!" and there was a tone of wonder in the voice, and apuzzled look on the face of Paul Clifford. "Yes! Charles Romaine, not as you know him now, with the marks ofdissipation on his once handsome face, but Charles Romaine, as I knewhim when he stood upon the threshold of early manhood, the veryincarnation of beauty, strength and grace. Not Charles Romaine with theblurred and bloated countenance, the staggering gait, the confused andvacant eye; but Charles Romaine as a young, handsome and talentedlawyer, the pride of our village, the hope of his father and the joy ofhis mother; before whom the future was opening full of rich and rarepromises. Need I tell you that when he sought my hand in preference toall the other girls in our village, that I gave him what I never cangive to another, the first, deep love of my girlish heart. For nearly awhole year I wore his betrothal ring upon my finger, when I saw to myutter anguish and dismay that he was fast becoming a drunkard. Oh! Mr. Clifford if I could have saved him I would have taken blood from everyvein and strength from every nerve. We met frequently at entertainments. I noticed time after time, the effects of the wine he had imbibed, uponhis manner and conversation. At first I shrank from remonstrating withhim, until the burden lay so heavy on my heart that I felt I must speakout, let the consequences be what they might. And so one evening I toldhim plainly and seriously my fears about his future. He laughed lightlyand said my fears were unfounded; that I was nervous and giving away toidle fancies; that his father always had wine at the table, and that hehad never seen him under the influence of liquor. Silenced, but notconvinced, I watched his course with painful solicitude. Allremonstrances on my part seemed thrown away; he always had the precedentof his father to plead in reply to my earnest entreaties. At last whenremonstrances and entreaties seemed to be all in vain, I resolved tobreak the engagement. It may have been a harsh and hard alternative, butI would not give my hand where my respect could not follow. It may bethat I thought too much of my own happiness, but I felt that marriagemust be for me positive misery or positive happiness, and I feared thatif I married a man so lacking in self-control as to become a commondrunkard, that when I ceased to love and respect him, I should beconstantly tempted to hate and despise him. I think one of the saddestfates that can befall a woman is to be tied for life to a miserablebloated wreck of humanity. There may be some women with broad generoushearts, and great charity, strong enough to lift such men out of thedepths, but I had no such faith in my strength and so I gave him backhis ring. He accepted it, but we parted as friends. For awhile after ourengagement was broken, we occasionally met at the houses of our mutualfriends in social gatherings and I noticed with intense satisfactionthat whenever wine was offered he scrupulously abstained from evertasting a drop, though I think at times his self-control was severelytested. Oh! what hope revived in my heart. Here I said to myself iscompensation for all I have suffered, if by it he shall be restored tomanhood usefulness and society, and learn to make his life not a thingof careless ease and sensuous indulgence, but of noble struggle and highand holy endeavor. But while I was picturing out for him a magnificentfuture, imagining the lofty triumphs of his intellect--an intellectgrand in its achievements and glorious in its possibilities, mybeautiful daydream was rudely broken up, and vanished away like the raysof sunset mingling with the shadows of night. My Aunt Mrs. Roland, celebrated her silver-wedding and my cousin's birth-day by giving alarge entertainment; and among other things she had a plentiful supplyof wine. Mr. Romaine had lately made the acquaintance of my cousinJeanette Roland. She was both beautiful in person and fascinating in hermanners, and thoughtlessly she held a glass of wine in her hand andasked Mr. Romaine if he would not honor the occasion, by drinking hermother's health. For a moment he hesitated, his cheek paled and flushedalternately, he looked irresolute. While I watched him in silent anguishit seemed as if the agony of years was compressed in a few moments. Itried to catch his eye but failed, and with a slight tremor in his handhe lifted the glass to his lips and drank. I do not think I would havefelt greater anguish had I seen him suddenly drowned in sight of land. Oh! Mr. Clifford that night comes before me so vividly, it seems as if Iam living it all over again. I do not think Mr. Romaine has everrecovered from the reawakening of his appetite. He has since marriedJeanette. I meet her occasionally. She has a beautiful home, dressesmagnificently, and has a retinue of servants; and yet I fancy she is nothappy. That somewhere hidden out of sight there is a worm eating at thecore of her life. She has a way of dropping her eyes and an absent lookabout her that I do not fully understand, but it seems to me that I missthe old elasticity of her spirits, the merry ring of her voice, thepleasant thrills of girlish laughter, and though she never confesses itto me I doubt that Jeanette is happy. And with this sad experience inthe past can you blame me if I am slow, very slow to let the brokentendrils of my heart entwine again?" "Miss Belle, " said Paul Clifford catching eagerly at the smallest strawof hope, "if you can not give me the first love of a fresh young life, Iam content with the rich [aftermath?] of your maturer years, and askfrom life no higher prize; may I not hope for that?" "I will think on it but for the present let us change the subject. " * * * * * "Do you think Jeanette is happy? She seems so different from what sheused to be, " said Miss Tabitha Jones to several friends who werespending the evening with her. "Happy!" replied Mary Gladstone, "don't see what's to hinder her frombeing happy. She has everything that heart can wish. I was down to herhouse yesterday, and she has just moved in her new home. It has all themodern improvements, and everything is in excellent taste. Her furnitureis of the latest style, and I think it is really superb. " "Yes, " said her sister, "and she dresses magnificently. Last week sheshowed me a most beautiful set of jewelry, and a camel's hair shawl, andI believe it is real camel's hair. I think you could almost run itthrough a ring. If I had all she has, I think I should be as happy asthe days are long. I don't believe I would let a wave of trouble rollacross my peaceful breast. " "Oh! Annette, " said Mrs. Gladstone, "don't speak so extravagantly, and Idon't like to hear you quote those lines for such an occasion. " "Why not mother? Where's the harm?" "That hymn has been associated in my mind with my earliest religiousimpressions and experience, and I don't like to see you lift it out ofits sacred associations, for such a trifling occasion. " "Oh mother you are so strict. I shall never be able to keep time withyou, but I do think, if I was off as Jeanette, that I would be as blitheand happy as a lark, and instead of that she seems to be constantlydrooping and fading. " "Annette, " said Mrs. Gladstone, "I knew a woman who possesses more thanJeanette does, and yet she died of starvation. " "Died of starvation! Why, when, and where did that happen? and whatbecame of her husband?" "He is in society, caressed and [ ed?] on by the young girls of his setand I have seen a number of managing mammas to whom I have imagined hewould not be an objectionable son-in-law. " "Do I know him mother?" "No! and I hope you never will. " "Well mother I would like to know how he starved his wife to death andyet escaped the law. " "The law helped him. " "Oh mother!" said both girls opening their eyes in genuine astonishment. "I thought, " said Mary Gladstone, "it was the province of the law toprotect women, I was just telling Miss Basanquet yesterday, when shewas talking about woman's suffrage that I had as many rights as I wantedand that I was willing to let my father and brothers do all the votingfor me. " "Forgetting my dear, that there are millions of women who haven't suchfathers and brothers as you have. No my dear, when you examine thematter, a little more closely, you will find there are some painfulinequalities in the law for women. " "But mother, I do think it would be a dreadful thing for women to voteOh! just think of women being hustled and crowded at the polls by rudemen, their breaths reeking with whiskey and tobacco, the very air heavywith their oaths. And then they have the polls at public houses. Ohmother, I never want to see the day when women vote. " "Well I do, because we have one of the kindest and best fathers andhusbands and good brothers, who would not permit the winds of heaven tovisit us too roughly, there is no reason we should throw ourselvesbetween the sunshine and our less fortunate sisters who shiver in theblast. " "But mother, I don't see how voting would help us, I am sure we haveinfluence I have often heard papa say that you were the first to awakenhim to a sense of the enormity of slavery. Now mother if we women woulduse our influence with our fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, couldwe not have everything we want. " "No, my dear we could not, with all our influence we never could havethe same sense of responsibility which flows from the possession ofpower. I want women to possess power as well as influence, I want everyChristian woman as she passes by a grogshop or liquor saloon, to feelthat she has on her heart a burden of responsibility for its existence, I hold my dear that a nation as well as an individual should have aconscience, and on this liquor question there is room for woman'sconscience not merely as a persuasive influence but as an enlightenedand aggressive power. " "Well Ma I think you would make a first class stump speaker. I expectwhen women vote we shall be constantly having calls, for the gifted, andtalented Mrs. Gladstone to speak on the duties and perils of the hour. " "And I would do it, I would go among my sister women and try to persuadethem to use their vote as a moral lever, not to make home less happy, but society more holy. I would have good and sensible women, grave inmanner, and cultured in intellect, attend the primary meetings and bringtheir moral influence and political power to frown down corruption, chicanery, and low cunning. " "But mother just think if women went to the polls how many vicious oneswould go?" "I hope and believe for the honor of our sex that the vicious women ofthe community are never in the majority, that for one woman whose feetturn aside from the paths of rectitude that there are thousands of feetthat never stray into forbidden paths, and today I believe there isvirtue enough in society to confront its vice, and intelligence enoughto grapple with its ignorance. "[6] Chapter XVIII "Why Mrs. Gladstone, " said Miss Tabitha, "you are as zealous as a newconvert to the cause of woman suffrage. We single women who areconstantly taxed without being represented, know what it is to seeignorance and corruption striking hands together and voting away ourmoney for whatever purposes they choose. I pay as large a tax as many ofthe men in A. P. , and yet cannot say who shall assess my property for asingle year. " "And there is another thing, " said Mrs. Gladstone, "ought to be broughtto the consideration of the men, and it is this. They refuse to let usvote and yet fail to protect our homes from the ravages of rum. Myyoung friend, whom I said died of starvation; foolishly married adissipated man who happened to be rich and handsome. She was gentle, loving, sensitive to a fault. He was querulous, fault-finding andirritable, because his nervous system was constantly unstrung by liquor. She lacked tenderness, sympathy and heart support, and at last faded anddied, not starvation of the body, but a trophy of the soul, and when Isay the law helped, I mean it licensed the places that kept thetemptation ever in his way. And I fear, that is the secret of Jeanette'sfaded looks, and unhappy bearing. " No Jeanette was not happy. Night after night would she pace the floor ofher splendidly furnished chamber waiting and watching for her husband'sfootsteps. She and his friends had hoped that her influence would bestrong enough to win him away from his boon companions, that his homeand beautiful bride would present superior attractions to Anderson'ssaloon, his gambling pool, and champaign suppers, and for a while theydid, but soon the novelty wore off, and Jeanette found out to her greatgrief that her power to bind him to the simple attractions of home wereas futile as a role of cobwebs to moor a ship to the shore, when it hasdrifted out and is dashing among the breakers. He had learned to live anelement of excitement, and to depend upon artificial stimulation, untilit seemed as if the very blood in his veins grew sluggish fictitiousexcitement was removed. His father, hopeless of his future, haddissolved partnership with him, and for months there had been nocommunication between them; and Jeanette saw with agony and dismay thathis life was being wrecked upon the broad sea of sin and shame. * * * * * "Where is his father? The child can't live. It is one of the worst casesof croup I have had this year, why didn't you send for me sooner? Whereis his father? It is now just twelve o'clock, time for all respectablemen to be in the house, " said the bluff but kind hearted family doctorlooking tenderly upon Jeanette's little boy who lay gasping for breathin the last stages of croup. "Oh! I don't know, " said Jeanette her face crimsoning beneath thedoctor's searching glance. "I suppose he is down to Anderson's. " "Anderson's!" said the doctor in a tone of hearty indignation, "whatbusiness has he there, and his child dying here?" "But doctor, he didn't know, the child had fever when he went out, butneither of us thought much of it till I was awakened by his strange andunnatural breathing. I sent for you as soon as I could rouse theservants. " "Well rouse them again, and tell them to go down toAnderson's and tell your husband that his child is dying. " "Oh! no not dying doctor, you surely don't mean it. " "Yes Jeanette, "said the old family doctor, tenderly and sadly, "I can do nothing forhim, let me take him in my arms and rest you. Dear little darling, hewill be saved from the evils to come. " Just as his life was trembling on its frailest chords, and its delicatemachinery almost wound up, Charles Romaine returned, sober enough totake in the situation. He strode up to the dying child, took the clammyhands in his, and said in a tone of bitter anguish, "Charlie, don't youknow papa? Wouldn't you speak one little word to papa?" But it was toolate, the shadows that never deceive flitted over the pale beauty of themarble brow, the waxen lid closed over the once bright and laughing eye, and the cold grave for its rest had won the child. Chapter XIX [Text missing. ] Chapter XX If riches could bring happiness, John Anderson should be a happy man;and yet he is far from being happy. He has succeeded in making money, but failed in every thing else. But let us enter his home. As you openthe parlor door your feet sink in the rich and beautiful carpet. Exquisite statuary, and superbly framed pictures greet your eye and youare ready to exclaim, "Oh! how lovely. " Here are the beautifulconceptions of painters' art and sculptors' skill. It is a home ofwealth, luxury and display, but not of love, refinement and culture. Years since, before John Anderson came to live in the city of A. P. Hehad formed an attachment for an excellent young lady who taught schoolin his native village, and they were engaged to be married; but aftercoming to the city and forming new associations, visions of wealthdazzled his brain, and unsettled his mind, till the idea of love in acottage grew distasteful to him. He had seen men with no more abilitythan himself who had come to the city almost pennyless, and who hadgrown rich in a few years, and he made up his mind that if possible hewould do two things, acquire wealth and live an easy life, and hethought the easiest way to accomplish both ends was to open up agorgeous palace of sin and entice into his meshes the unwary, theinexperienced, and the misguided slaves of appetite. For awhile after heleft his native village, he wrote almost constantly to his betrothed;but as new objects and interests engaged his attention, his lettersbecame colder and less frequent, until they finally ceased and theengagement was broken. At first the blow fell heavily upon the heart ofhis affianced, but she was too sensible to fade away and die the victimof unrequited love, and in after years when she had thrown her wholesoul into the temperance cause, and consecrated her life to the work ofuplifting fallen humanity, she learned to be thankful that it was nother lot to be united to a man who stood as a barrier across the path ofhuman progress and would have been a weight to her instead of wings. Released from his engagement, he entered into an alliance (for that isthe better name for a marriage) which was not a union of hearts, orintercommunion of kindred souls; but only an affair of convenience; in aword he married for money a woman, who was no longer young in years, norbeautiful in person, nor amiable in temper. But she was rich, and hermoney like charity covered a multitude of faults, and as soon as he sawthe golden bait he caught at it, and they were married, for he waswilling to do almost any thing for money, except work hard for it. Itwas a marriage however that brought no happiness to either party. Mrs. Anderson was an illy educated, self willed, narrow minded [woman], fullof airs and pretensions, the only daughter of a man who had laid thefoundation of his wealth by keeping a low groggery, and dying had lefther his only heir. John Anderson was selfish and grasping. He lovedmoney, and she loved display, and their home was often the scene of themost pitiful contentions about money matters. Harsh words and bitterrecriminations were almost common household usages. The children broughtup in this unhealthy atmosphere naturally took sides with their motherand their home was literally a house divided against itself. The foolishconduct of the mother inspired the children with disrespect for theirfather, who failed to support the authority of his wife as the motherand mistress of the home. As her sons grew older they often soughtattractions in questionable places, away from the sombre influences oftheir fireside, and the daughters as soon as they stood upon the vergeof early womanhood learned to look upon marriage as an escape valve fromdomestic discomforts; and in that beautiful home with all its costlysurroundings, and sumptuous furniture, there was always somethingwanting, there was always a lack of tenderness, sympathy and mutualesteem. "I can't afford it, " said John Anderson, to his wife who had been askingfor money for a trip to a fashionable watering place. "You will have tospend the summer elsewhere. " "Can't afford it! What nonsense; is not it as much to your interest asmine to carry the girls around and give them a chance?" "A chance for what?" "Why to see something of the world. You don't know what may happen. ThatEnglish Earl was very attentive last night to Sophronia at Mrs. Jessap'sball. " "An English Count? who is he? and where did he spring from?" "Why he's from England, and is said to be the only son and heir of avery rich nobleman. " "I don't believe it, I don't believe he is an Earl any more than I am. " "That's just like you, always throw cold water on every thing I say" "It is no such thing, but I don't believe in picking up strangers andputting them into my bosom; it is not all gold that glitters. " "I know that, but how soon can you let me have some money? I want to goout this afternoon and do some shopping and engage the semptress. " "I tell you, Annette, I have not the money to spare; the money market isvery tight, and I have very heavy bills to meet this month. " "The money market tight! why it has been tight ever since I have beenmarried. " "Well you may believe it or not, just as you choose, but I tell you thiscrusading has made quite a hole in my business. " "Now John Anderson, tell that to somebody that don't know. I don'tbelieve this crusading has laid a finger's weight upon your business. " "Yes it has, and if you read the papers you would find that it has evenaffected the revenue of the state and you will have to retrenchsomewhere. " "Well, I'll retrench somewhere. I think we are paying our servants toohigh wages any how. Mrs. Shenflint gets twice as much work done for thesame money. I'll retrench, John Anderson, but I want you to rememberthat I did not marry you empty handed. " "I don't think I shall be apt to forget it in a hurry while I have sucha gentle reminder at hand, " he replied sarcastically. "And I suppose you would not have married me if I had had no money. " "No, I would not, " said John Anderson thoroughly exasperated, "and Iwould have been a fool if I had. " These bitter words spoken in a heat of passion were calculated to workdisastrously in that sin darkened home. For some time she had been suspecting that her money had been the chiefinducement which led him to seek her hand, and now her worse suspicionswere confirmed, and the last thread of confidence was severed. "I should not have said it, " said Anderson to himself, "but the woman isso provoking and unreasonable. I suppose she will have a fit of sulksfor a month and never be done brooding over those foolish words"; andAnderson sighed as if he were an ill used man. He had married for money, and he had got what he bargained for; love, confidence, and mutualesteem were not sought in the contract and these do not necessarily comeof themselves. "Well, the best I can do is to give her what money she wants and be donewith it. " * * * * * "Is not in her room?" "No sir and her bed has not been rumpled. " "Where in the world can she be?" "I don't know, but here is a note she left. " "What does she say? read it Annette. " "She says she feels that you were unjust to the Earl and that she hopesyou will forgive her the steps she has taken, but by the time the letterreaches you she expects to be the Countess of Clarendon. " "Poor foolish girl, you see what comes of taking a stranger to yourbosom and making so much of him. " "That's just like you, John Anderson, every thing that goes wrong isblamed on me. I almost wish I was dead. " "I wish so too, " thought Anderson but he concluded it was prudent tokeep the wish to himself. John Anderson had no faith whatever in the pretensions of his newson-in-law, but his vain and foolish wife on the other hand was elatedat the dazzling prospects of her daughter, and often in her imaginationvisited the palatial residence of "My Son, the Earl, " and was graciouslyreceived in society as the mother of the Countess of Clarendon. She wasalso highly gratified at the supposed effect of Sophronia's marriageupon a certain clique who had been too exclusive to admit her in theirset. Should not those Gladstone girls be ready to snag themselves? andthere was that Mary Talbot, did every thing she could to attract hisattention but it was no go. My little Sophronia came along and took therag off the bush. I guess they will almost die with envy. If he hadwaited for her father's consent we might have waited till the end of thechapter; but I took the responsibility on my shoulders and the thing isdone. My daughter, the Countess of Clarendon. I like the ring of thewords; but dear me here's the morning mail, and a letter from theCountess, but what does it mean?" "Come to me, I am in great trouble. " In quick response to the appeal Mrs. Anderson took the first train toNew York and found her daughter in great distress. The "Earl" had beenarrested for forgery and stealing, and darker suspicions were hintedagainst him. He had been a body servant to a nobleman who had beentravelling for his health and who had died by a lonely farmhouse wherehe had gone for fresh air and quiet, and his servant had seized upon hiseffects and letters of introduction, and passed himself off as theoriginal Earl, and imitating his handwriting had obtained largeremittances, for which he was arrested, tried and sent to prison, andthus ended the enchanting dream of "My daughter the Countess ofClarendon. " Chapter XXI "I cannot ensure your life a single hour, unless you quit business. Youare liable to be stricken with paralysis at any moment, if [once?]subject to the [least] excitement. [7] Can't you trust your business inthe hands of your sons?" "Doctor, " said John Anderson, "I have only two boys. My oldest went Westseveral years ago, and never writes to us unless he wants something, andas to Frank, if I would put the concern into his hands, he would drinkhimself into the grave in less than a month. The whole fact is this, mychildren are the curse of my life, " and there was bitterness in the toneof John Anderson[8] as he uttered these words of fearful sorrow. "Well, " said the doctor, "you must have rest and quiet or I will notanswer for the consequences. " "Rest and quiet!" said John Anderson to himself, "I don't see how I amto get it, with such a wife as I have always worrying and bothering meabout something. " "Mr. Anderson, " said one of the servants, "Mrs. Anderson says please come, as quick as possible into Mr. Frank's room. " "What's the matter now!" "I don't know, but Mr. Frank's acting mightily queer; he thinks thereare snakes and lizards crawling over him. " "He's got the horrors, just what I expected. Tell me about rest andquiet! I'll be there in a minute. Oh what's the matter? I feel strange, "said Anderson falling back on the bed suddenly stricken with paralysis. While in another room lay his younger son a victim to delirium tremens, and dying in fearful agony. The curse that John Anderson had sent toother homes had come back darkened with the shadow of death to broodover his own habitation. His son is dying, but he has no word of hope tocheer the parting spirit as it passed out into the eternity, for him thedarkness of the tomb, is not gilded with the glory of the resurrection. The best medical skill has been summoned to the aid of John Anderson, but neither art, nor skill can bind anew the broken threads of life. Thechamber in which he is confined is a marvel of decoration, light streamsinto his home through panes of beautifully stained glass. Pillows of thesoftest down are placed beneath his head, beautiful cushions lie at hisfeet that will never take another step on the errands of sin, but noappliances of wealth can give peace to his guilty conscience. He looksback upon the past and the retrospect is a worse than wasted life; andwhen the future looms up before him he shrinks back from thecontemplation, for the sins of the past throw their shadow over thefuture. He has houses, money and land, but he is a pauper in his soul, and a bankrupt in his character. In his eager selfish grasp for gold, hehas shriveled his intellect and hardened and dried up his heart, and inso doing he has cut himself off from the richest sources of humanenjoyment. He has wasted life's best opportunities, and there never wasan angel, however bright, terrible and strong, that ever had power toroll away the stone from the grave of a dead opportunity, and what JohnAnderson has lost in time, he can never make up in eternity. He hasformed no taste for reading, and thus has cut himself off from theglorious companionship of the good, the great, and the wise of all ages. He has been selfish, mean and grasping, and the blessing of the poor andneedy never fall as benedictions on his weary head; and in thatbeautiful home with disease and death clutching at his heartstrings, hehas wealth that he cannot enjoy, luxuries that pall upon his taste, andmagnificence that can never satisfy the restless craving of his soul. His life has been a wretched failure. He neglected his children to amassthe ways of iniquity, and their coldness and indifference pierce himlike poisoned arrows. Marriage has brought him money, but not thesweet, tender ministrations of loving wifely care, and so he lives onstarving in the midst of plenty; dying of thirst, with life's sweetestfountains eluding his grasp. Charles Romaine is sleeping in a drunkard's grave. After the death ofhis boy there was a decided change in him. Night after night he torehimself away from John Anderson's saloon, and struggled with the monsterthat had enslaved him, and for awhile victory seemed to be perching onthe banner of his resolution. Another child took the place of the firstborn, and the dead, and hope and joy began to blossom around Jeanette'spath. His mother who had never ceased to visit the house marked thechange with great satisfaction and prevailed upon his father to inviteCharles and Jeanette to a New Year's dinner (only a family gathering). Jeanette being unwell excused herself from going, and Charles wentalone. Jeanette felt a fearful foreboding when she saw him leaving thedoor, and said to herself, "I hope his father will not offer him wine. Iam so afraid that something will happen to him, and yet I hated topersuade him not to go. His mother might think I was averse to hisreconciliation with his father. " "It looks very natural to have Charles with us again, " said Mrs. Ro[maine] looking fondly on her son. "Yes, it seems like old times, when I always had my seat next to yours. " "And I hope, " said his father, "it will never be vacant so long again. " The dinner hour passed on enlivened by social chat and pleasantreminiscences, and there was nothing to mar the harmony of the occasion. Mrs. Romaine had been careful to keep everything from the table thatwould be apt to awaken the old appetite for liquor, but after dinner Mr. Romaine invited Charles into the library to smoke. "Here, " said he, handing him a cigar, "is one of the finest brands I have smoked lately, and by the way here is some rare old wine, more than 25 years old, which was sent to me yesterday by an old friend and college class mateof mine. [9] Let me pour you out a glass. " Charles suddenly becameagitated, but as his father's back was turned to him, pouring out thewine, he did not notice the sudden paling of his cheek, and thehesitation of his manner. And Charles checking back his scruples tookthe glass and drained it, to the bottom. There is a fable, that a certain king once permitted the devil to kisshis shoulder, and out of those shoulders sprang[10] two serpents that inthe fury of their hunger aimed at his head and tried to get at hisbrain. He tried to extricate himself from their terrible power. He toreat them with his fingers and found that it was his own flesh that he waslacerating. Dormant but not dead was the appetite for strong drink inCharles Romaine, and that one glass awakened the serpent coiled up inhis flesh. He went out from his father's house with a newly awakenedappetite clamoring and raging for strong drink. Every saloon he passedadding intensity to his craving. At last his appetite overmastered himand he almost rushed into a saloon, and waited impatiently till he wasserved. Every nerve seemed to be quivering with excitement, restlessness; and there was a look of wild despairing anguish on hisface, as he clutched the glass to allay the terrible craving of hissystem. He drank till his head was giddy, and his gait was staggering, and then started for home. He entered the gate and slipped on the ice, and being too intoxicated to rise or comprehend his situation, he layhelpless in the dark and cold, until there crept over him that sleepfrom which there is no awakening, and when morning had broken in all itsglory, Charles Romaine had drifted out of life, slain by the wine whichat [last] had "bitten like an adder and stung like a serpent. " Jeanettehad waited and watched through the small hours of the night, till natureo'erwearied had sought repose in sleep and rising very early in themorning, she had gone to the front door to look down the street for hiscoming when the first object that met her gaze was the lifeless form ofher husband. One wild and bitter shriek rent the air, and she fellfainting on the frozen corpse. Her friends gathered round her, all thatlove and tenderness could do was done for the wretched wife, but nothingcould erase from her mind one agonizing sorrow, it was the memory of herfatal triumph over his good resolution years ago at her mother's silverwedding. Carelessly she had sowed the seeds of transgression whosefearful yield was a harvest of bitter misery. Mrs. Clifford came to herin her hour of trial, and tried to comfort and sustain theheart-stricken woman; who had tried to take life easy, but found itterribly hard, and she has measurably succeeded. In the home of hercousin she is trying to bear the burden of her life as well as she can. Her eye never lights up with joy. The bloom and flush have left hercareworn face. Tears from her eyes long used to weeping have blenchedthe coloring of her life existence, and she is passing through life withthe shadow of the grave upon her desolate heart. Joe Gough has been true to his pledge, plenty and comfort have taken theplace of poverty and pain. He continued his membership with the churchof his choice and Mary is also striving to live a new life, and to bethe ministering angel that keeps his steps, and he feels that in answerto prayer, his appetite for strong drink has been taken away. Life with Mrs. Clifford has become a thing of brightness and beauty, andwhen children sprang up in her path making gladness and sunshine aroundher home, she was a wife and tender mother, fond but not foolish; firmin her household government, but not stern and unsympathising in hermanner. The faithful friend and companion of her daughters, she wontheir confidence by her loving care and tender caution. She taught themto come to her in their hours of perplexity and trial and to keep nosecrets from her sympathising heart. She taught her sons to be asupright in their lives and as pure in their conversation as she wouldhave her daughters, recognizing for each only one code of morals and onelaw of spiritual life, and in course of time she saw her daughtersripening into such a beautiful womanhood, and her sons entering thearena of life not with the simplicity which is ignorant of danger andevil, but with the sterling integrity which baffles the darts oftemptation with the panoply of principle and the armor of uprightness. Unconsciously she elevated the tone of society in which she moved by alife which was a beautiful and earnest expression of patient continuancein well doing. Paul Clifford's life has been a grand success, not in themere accumulation of wealth, but in the enrichment of his moral andspiritual nature. He is still ever ready to lend a helping hand. He hasnot lived merely for wealth and enjoyment, but happiness, lasting andtrue springs up in his soul as naturally as a flower leaps intoblossoms, and whether he is loved or hated, honored or forgotten, heconstantly endeavors to make the world better by his example andgladdened by his presence feeling that if every one would be faithful toduty that even here, Eden would spring up in our path, and Paradise bearound our way. Notes 1. This installment is numbered as a second Chapter I in the original. 2. The original reads "Jeanette Romaine. " 3. The original reads "Mr. Roland. " 4. The original reads "to showing. " 5. The phrase "that of" is repeated in the original. 6. A note from the _Christian Recorder_ follows this paragraph: "[Therest of this chapter was crowded out. It will appear next week. ]" 7. The original reads: "if once [or possibly "one"] subject to the lestexcitement. " 8. The original reads "and there was a tone of bitterness in the toneof John Anderson. " 9. The original reads "by an old friend and college and class mate ofmine. " 10. The original reads "out of those shoulders spring two serpents. "