The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-06-02

wife, softly, to herself, but she only SAID
aloud, "Your friend will stay and take
social supper with us?
"Not tonight, thank you"
"Do give us that pleasure"
81 should like to afford myself that
pleasure, but, unhappily, business ems
gagement prevents"
"You will at least take some refresh
ments. Ny dear, order in some cake and
wine."
0khing for me, indeed"
"Ah! you must taste of my cake in Or
der to judge fmy housewifery; only good
wife has a right to fulfill your prognosti>
cation of swaying it over her husband"
and, laughing merrily, she left the room.
Surely that salver borne by the servant
who had returned with her was sufficient
ly tempting; and those rich cakes and the
basket of choice fruit, and that silver pit
cher of lemonade ought to have satisfied
any reasonable man; but the husband
looked blank at the absence of wine, and
something was said in low tone to the
wife, who answered:
81 prepared this expressly for you; will
you not take it for my sake? Surely, this
warm evening, it is more refreshing than
wine"
While the lady was speaking to her
guest, the host sent the servant on some
errand TO the dining-room, and when she
returned with the answer, There is none,"
flush mounted TO his brow, and he NUT
tered, "None there! stupid thing" but no
sooner had the door closed upon their Wis.,
itor, 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?' he ex-
claimed hastily. "Have we suddenly be-
come bankrupt, that we must use such
stinted hospitality
There is DO 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."
"Wholesomel Dangerous What tenn
perance stuff this7 Another such a freak
as this, and l shall get the name, which
is new to us, of being too stingy to provide
wine. None OF our family were ever
known to be sparing Of it. before"
''Far better if they bad" said the wife,
unconsciously, wringing her hands. 90
James this omission sprang from no mo-
mentary freak, no woman's caprice; but
from an earnest resolution to"
"What?"
"Try and save my husband, " she added,
meekly but fervently.
"To save me! You are vastly kind
From what, prayY
From poor Fred's fate" she said, faint
ly, blinded by the tears that could not be
held back.
81 thank you for the compliment. So
you think me in danger of becoming such
a miserable sot; but I hope / have too
much pride, if nothing else, to keep me
from degrading myself thus"
"At your age, did he not think the same?
A few years ago, did he not look as fair as
you? did lac not think himself as strong?
And what is he nowhere is his manli-
ness and beauty, of which he was so proud?
His face haunted me all night, and
dreamed of his broken-hcarted wife and
his poor children, blighted in their youth
by their own parent. o james, the Bible
says truly, wine is a 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 prayerful
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"
"You don't mean to say that you wish
10 exclude wine from our dinner-table, and
from our social parties?'
Believing it to be dangerous, do"
"Then you would force your husband to
visit the drinking saloon or the tavern for
the refreshment which you deny him at
home?"
docs my husband mean to insinute
that he is already such slave to the ex-
citement of liquors that he cannot do with
out them?"
Angrily he started to and fro, muttering
fanatic" and some other words we will
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 fear
fully to the danger sleeping in the exhili-
rating wine cup. She had often heard in
her girlhood of the evils of intemperance,
but she fancied they existed only among
the lower classes, the dregs of society,"
Until she became an inmate of that fans
lily, she dreamed not that the highly edu,
Gated, the refined, degraded themselves to
the level Of the brute bv first sirripr rosy