Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1875-05-06


by the servant who had returned with
her was sufficiently tempting and those
rich cakes and basket of choice fruit, and
that silver pitcher of lemonade ought to
have satisfied any reasonable man but
the husband looked blank at the absence
OF wine, and something was said in a low
tone to the wife, who answered
81 prepared this expressly for you !;
wiil you not taks, it for my sake9 Surely,
this warm evening, it is more refreshing
than wine"
While the lady was speaking to her
guest, the host sent the servant OH some
GRAND to the dining-room, and when she
returned with the answer, "There is
none,' flush mounted to his brow, and
he muttered, "None there stupid
thing y but no sooner had the door
closed upon their visitor, than he assured
himself by personal observation that she
told the truth.
"Where on earth are the decanters
and why was not my friend allowed to
refresh himself with wine in my house 2"
he exclaimed hastily. "Have we sud
denly become bankrupt that we must use
such stinted hospitality"
"There is no stinting here" replied
the lady, "and / am sure none of your
friends need complain when they have
such wholesome lemonade offered them
instead of the dangerous wine-cup."
Wholesome dangerous! What
emperance stuff is this3 Another such
freak as this, and / shall get the name
which is new to us, that of being too
stingy to provide wine. None of our
family were ever known to be sparing of
it before"
"Far better if they had, said the wife
unconsciously, wringing her hands. go
James this omission sprang from no
momentary freak, no woman's caprice /;
but from earnest resolution to
"What z"
"Try and save my husband" she
added meekly but fervently.
"To save me You are vastly kind.
From whatl"
"From poor Fred's fate" she said
family, blinded by the tears that could
not be held back.
60 thank you for the compliment. So
you think me in danger of becoming
such a miserable sot /; but hope 1 have
too much pride if nothing else, to keep
me from degrading myself thus"
AT your age, he did not think the
same! A few years ago, did he not look
as fair as you, did he not think himself
as strong And what is he nowhere
is his manliness and beauty of which he
was so proud. His face haunted me all
night, and / dreamed of his broken
hearted wife and his poor children,
blighted in their youth by their own
parent. o James the Bible says truly,
wine is mocker,' and so long as we
tamper with the poison, We have no
right to say, we are safe Those only
are secure who obey the exhortation to
touch not, taste not, handle not ; and ]
have resolved, after earnest and prayer
full elaboration, never to be guilty OF
Offering that insidious foe to my friends,
much less to the dearest of all friends,
him in whom all my life is bound up"
6" You don't mean to say that You wish
to exclude wine from our dinner-table
and from our social parties 2"
" Believing it to be dangerous, 1 do. "
"Then you would force your husband
to visit the drinking-saloon or the tavern
for the refreshment which you deny him
at home"
"Does my husband mean to insinuate
that he is already such a slave to the ex-
element of liquors that he can not do
without them Z"
Angr.ly he started to and fro, mutter-
ing " fanatic" and some other words we
viii not repeat.
The wife retired to her chamber weep
ing, but not disheartened. She felt that
she was right and while she realized
her own weakness, she trusted in HIM
who said, "My Grace is sufficient for
thee"
The month she had spent in the home
of her husband had opened her eyes
fearfully to the danger of sleeping ON the
exhilarating wine-cup. She had often
heard in her girlhood of the evils of In
temperance, but she fancied they existed
only among the lower classes, the dregs
of society. Until she became an inmate
of that family, she dreamed not that the
highly educated, the refined, degraded
themselves to the level of the brute by
first slipping rosy wine from shining
iquor-cups or sparkling crystal goblets.
Free, generous ivers they were called,
exercising whole-souled hospitality to