The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-06-13
Man and his Master.
BY JOHN B. COUGH.

90 and see him; he viii say ''who sent
you to me; who told you I was drunk
ard? You mind your business and I
will mind mine; Y on wait till you are sent
for; and when I want you, | viii send for
you" ~ have no right" | said, ''to go
to hiln." "Well he is a hard case; he beat
DAUGHTER Of his fourteen years of age,
with shoemakers strap, SO that she will
carry the mark to the grave" Said I he
is brute" ellis wife is very i'll now with
the foyer, and the doctor says he thinks she
cannot get over it; the man has not been
drinking for several days, and if you can
get at him now | think you might do him
good" / thought I would 90.
/ knocked at the door; he came to open
it. He lad been to one or two Of our meet
ings. The moment he saw me he knew
me. Said he, "Mr. Cough, believe"
''Yes, that is my name; would you be
good enough to give me glass of water,
if you please?" Certainly" said he;
''eome in So I got in. | sat on one
side of the table, and he sat on the other.
There were two children in the room,
playing together, and door halfway
open, that led into the room where the
wife YVES i'll. [ sat and talked with him
about everything [ thought of but the sub
ject; talked of trade, and crops, railroads
and money matters; and then | got on to
the public houses, and then drinking, and
he headed me off again. [ looked, and
| thought saw q malicious twinkle of
his eye, as much as to say, young man,
you are not up to your business yet" /
was about to give it up; but ] think pro-
videntially, saw the children. said to
him, "You'ye got two bright-looking
children here, sir" ooh! yes, yes, bright
little things!" said he. ''Y on love your chill
dren, don't you ?"-"Bless the children,
to be sure I love them," said he.
"Wouldn't you do anything to benefit
your children? He looked at me as if he
thought something else was coming after
that. "Well, to be sure, sir" said he, "a
man ought to do everything to benefit his
children" Then [ stood up, so that [
might get out of the door as speedily as
possible, and said, "Don't be angry with
me; am going to ask you plain and
simple question; you know who I am,
therefore you won't be angry. Suppose
you never use any more intoxicating iq-
uor, don't you think your children would
be better off" sWel, WELL" said he,
you have got me this time" Said I,
You have got good wife, haven't youg'
'sYes, sir, as good woman as any
man ever had for a wife," "And you
love your wife," ''To be sure I do; it
is natural that man should love his
wife," '.And you would do anything
you could to please your wife" "Well,
| ought to-" "Suppose you were to sign
8 temperance pledge, would that please
herr" "By thunder, [ rather think it
would; I could not do q thing that would
please my wife Like that. If | was to put
my name down there. why. the old wo-
man would up and about her business IN
two weeks, sick as she is" Said I, ''Then
viii you do it?" ayes, I guess / will do
it." And he at once opened closet,
took out pen and ink, and [ spread out
the pledge and he wrote his name.
The children had been listening with
eyes, ears, and mouths wide open, while
we were talking about temperance. They
knew what drunken father was; they
knew what the principle of abstinence
would do for him; and when he had
signed, one said to the other, "Father has
signed the pledgep Oh! myw said the
other; "now I'll go and tell my MOTHER"
and away she ran into the other ROOM
But the mother had heard of it; and
listened to her calling. duke! Luke |!
come here moment" Said he, "Come
in here along with me; come in and see
my WIFE"
I went in and stood by her bedside
The face was ghastly pale, the eye large,
and sunk deep in its socket: and with her
long, bony fingers, she grasped my hand,
and with the other took the hand of her
husband, and began to tell me what a
good husband she had. ssLuke," said she
lis a kind husband and good father;
he takes care of the children, and is very
kind to them; but the drink, Oh! the
drink makes terrible difficulty God only,
and the crushed wife of the Incorporate
man know anything about it. The man
shook like a leaf; he snatched the hand
from the grasp Of his wife, tore down her
night dress from the shoulders, and said,
sLbok at thatw and on the white thin
neck, close to the shoulder, was blue
mark.-Said he, "Look at that" and
when | saw the mark of bruise felt
my flesh creep. "Look at that, sirn
Il did it three days before she was taken
down upon the bed and she has told you
that she has a good husband. Am I p
Am I q good husband = haro God AL
mighty forgive mep' and he bowed over
that woman, and wept like child, grip
ped the bed clothes in his hands, and hid
his face in them. And she laid her thin
hand upon his head, and said, ''Don't cry,
Luke; don't, please don't; you wouldn't
have struck me if it hadn't been for the
drink. Mr.. Cough, don't believe him;
he is as good man as ever lived. Don't
cry, Luke"
A THRIFTY PARsoN- A donation
party was given the other day to cler-
gyman in one of our New England villa