The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1868-11-20
A Temperance Story.

| once heard DR.. Day relate the occur
ence which produced in his mind the con-
viction that drunkards could be rescued
rom the domination of their morbid
appetite. One evening, when he came
home from his work, he heard that a
certain Jack Watts, the sot of the neigh
borhood, was starving with his wife and
three children. After tea he went to see
him. In treating his first patient, Albert
Day hit upon the very method he has
ever since pursued, and so beg the
reader will note the manner in which he
proceeded. On entering his cottage he
was as polite to him, as considerate Of his
dignity as head of the household, as he
could have been to the first man of the
village. Mr.. Watts" said he after the
usual salutations, 81 hear you are in
straitened circumstances The man,
who was then quite sober, replied: 81
am: my two youngest children went to
bed crying for food, and l had none to
give them. / spent my last three weeks
over there" pointing to grog shop OPP
post, " and the bar-keeper said to me as
he took the money, says he, Jack Watts,
you're fool, and so l am" Here was a
chance for fine moral lecture. Albert
Day INDUCED in nothing of the kind
He said, Mr.. Watts, excuse me for
few minutes )" and he went out, return
ing soon with basket containing some
flour, pork, and other materials for sup
per. "Now, Mrs Watts, cock some
thing and wake your children up, and
give them something to eat III call
again early in the morning Good night"
Perfect civility-no reproaclies-no
lecture-practical help of the kind need
ed and at the time needed. Observe, too,
that the man WAS in the condition of
mind in which patients usually are when
they make the confession implied in en-
tering an asylum. He was at the end of
his tether. He was-to use the language
OF the bar-room = dead beat"
When Mr. Day called the next morn
ing the family had their breakfast, and
Jack Watts smiled benediction on the
man whom he had been accu stoned to
regard as his enemy, because he was the
declared enemy of Jack Watts enemy.
Now the time had come for little talk
Jack Watts explained his circumstances
W. i'' oCNh oub vi WI N iOl lO1O llIuG,
and he had consumed all his substance
in drink Mr. Day listened with respect
tul attention, spoke to him of various
plans for the future, and said for that day
he could give him dollars worth Of
wood chopping to do Then they got
upon the liquor question. In the soften
ed receptive mind of Jack Watts, Albert
Day, deposited the substance of rational
temperance lecture. He sJoke to him
kindly, respectfully, hopefully, strongly;
Jack Watts mind was convicted he
said he had done with drink forever
He meant it, too, and thus he was
brought to the second stage on the road
to delverance.
In this particular case, resting from
labor was out of the question and unnec.
essary, for the man had been resting too
long already, and musts needs to 90 to
work. The wood was chopped. The
dollar to be paid for the work at the close
of the day was fearful ordeal for poor
Jack, vingfifteen yards from bar-room.
Mr., Day called round in the evening,
paid him the dollar without remark, fell
into ordinary conversation with the
family, and took leave. John stood the
test; not cent of the money found its
way into the till of the bar Keeper
Next morning Mr. Day was there again
and, seeing that the patient was going on
well, spoke to him about the future, and
gliding again into the main topic, dwell
ing much upon the absolute necessity of
total and enternal abstinence. lie cot
the man place, visited him, held him up, |
fortified his mind, and so helped him to |
complete and lasting recovery. Jack
Watts never drank again He died a
year or two ago in Maine at good age,
having brought up his family respectfully !
in atlantic MOnthy.