Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-04-20
Mr., and Mrs, Nudgkins,

John Nddg gkins, if you don't stop drink
| ing thersll soon be an end to everything
Don't fret Polly NudgEns, don't drinl
nore'n I alters did, ..s5....s 9 +. 70, z-.f.se
F. Goodness mercy And s'pose'n you dom
Haint you alters drinking enough to Kill
a hog J? IL lsis75s siais9ff astai leia si7h :.
9 Hogs is brutes, Polly, an they cam
stand what man can. an..-..r,.sz,.,,.,...-
= want to know if they be Ny gra
cious, if you don't come about as neal
being q brute as anythingI ever saw
then my eyes are deceptive. John Nudg
kins, you are. ,worse'n q brute. A5brute
would notdo- as you do.aH ,, ~ $
OF course they wouldn't, Mrs. Polly
lNudgkins, cause brutes don't know moth
in q e''l 80 ''s .''Li Z - - 1.
Polly. Nudgkins, as was her wont,
started to heap abuse upon her husband's 3
head and he, as he had, learned it was
safest for him to. do, was prepared, to
bear it meakly but somehow, just then
a different spirit possessed his wife She
had that morning seen her cupboard bare,
she had sent her children off to school
hungry and ragged, and gaiht poverty
stared her in the face upon every hand.
For the moment she felt sad and down
hearted, and thus weighed down, she
spoke in a tone and manner that was
strange to her lips.
p John what are you coming to? We
have nothing In the house to eat, our
childrelraint haifclothed and things are
GROWN worse instead of BETTER What
sort of an example are YOU a settin' to
your little boys How do you think they'll
grow up? My soul, John, if you don't
stop drinking, we shall all go to the poor
house together. baa D1J8If-}5
John Nddgkins scratched his head
This speech had completely taken him a.
back. He had braced himself for a. tor
rent of abuse, intending to hear it patient
ly through, and then go and get some
thing to drink, but he has no excuse yet
for flight, SO he sat still and mute And
the wife, seeing what strange effect her
words had produced, continued in the
same strain: -. ifsi
& John only think how much better off
we might all be if you would only stop
drinking Do you ever think of it p
John caught at the idea which had Of
ten foated through his mind, but which
he never had the courage to present to
his wife He caHght it, framed it for
speech, and then, with some shrinking,
as though he expected the pentup torrent
to- follow its delivery, thus presented it:
PollgsNudgkins, I'LL tell you what I'll
do. Just as long as you'll go without look
ing a cross look or speaking a cross word,
III go without drinking a drop of rum
There I'll stick to that-I swear I will!
John Nudgkins, you'er fool!
Ispesesl am. At any rate, I-won't de-
ny it. b fh1
And with this, John picked up his rim
less hat and started for the door.
John come back here!
John stopped and looked at his Wife :
There was anger upon herface, but doubt
and perpfexity were striving sto over
come it. With might offort Polly lift
ed herself above the angry tide.
% John Nudgkins, are you III earnest?
Polly Nudgkins, am @
And will you keep your word?
Twill, as true as preachin. =. -. 9
You won't drink another drop Of rum
till look cross look or speak cross
word ,,rfr
| wont SO help me Jerusalem
Give me your hand, John, There
now 60 out and leave me alone. The
garden wants wedding, and you might
be doin' that, while Pm fixing up in the
house x.z3D HCt 23EEsz
Three glasses of the best old Jamaica
could not have brought such a glow to
Johns face as did those few words his
wife had spoken. She had spoken to, him
of his neglected garden, and had done it
kindly. He could not remember when
such thing had happened before.
y ohm Nudgkins was fve-and-thirty
years of age, and was house carpenter
by trade. His father had been hard
drinking man and a .profane man, and
J ohm, had been broughtup without any
sort of,regard to moral or religious edu-
cation. Very fortunately for him, con
the influence that surrounded |
his childhood and youth, he was natural |
ly kind-hearted and honest, and he in 1
stinctively went clear of any vices that
beset his path, but his associations were
low, and he did not rise above them.
Polly Nudgkins, had once been Polly
Perkins. Her father died when she was
quite young@died from the effects of
strong drink-and Polly had been brought
up by a. hard-working, cross grained
mother, who treated her children as
though they were SO many animals lov-
ing themain her way, but never showing
that she regarded them as possessed of
tender hearts and important souls. If
Polly had good qualities of disposition
they had never been nourished by her
mother. but her muscles were trained
for she was brought up to
work. o.s ...,-..,.,-
The elder Nudgkins and Mr.. Perkins
had once been boon companions, and
thus John and Polly became intemate in
childhood. John grew up to be good
man.. and Polly grew to be
buxom lass, and it time John proposed
and was accepted.
Some women said that Polly was fortu-
nate. They said so because John was
free-hearted and handsome. They did
not know how very far short of making
a good husband these qualities might
come. o. -
The people said John, had gained a
prize in his wife, They judged her as
they would have Judged OF an OK or
horse-she was a worker
And John and Polly were married