Middletown transcript., 1877-02-17
Phys,cian,s story.

dent in his life as practicing physi-
clan 1t is story with an unmistaka.
Bile moral
A hard working. industrious. God
fearing man, teefotaler of some years
standing, suffering from an abscess in
the hand, which had reduced him very
much. applied to me for advice I told
him the ouly medicine be required was
rest; and to remedy the waste going on
in his system, and to repair the damage
done to bis hand, he was TO support
himself with bottle of stout daily He
replied
''T cannot take it. for have been a
teetotaler for some years
"Well, said. ''if you know better
than the doctor, it is of no use applying
to me- y
He looked auxiously in my face, evil
IDENTIFY weighing the matrsr over in his
mind. and sorrowfuly replied
doctor, was drunken man once,
and should not like to be one again "
He was, much against his will, pre-
vailed upon to take the stout, aud in
time he recovered from his sickness.
When be got we'll, |, of course, praised
up the virtues of stout as a means of
saving bis life. for which he ought ever
to be thankful / rather leetured him
on being such fanatic CHATS the word)
as to refuse taking a bottle Of stout
daily torsstore him to bis former health.
| lost sight of my patienI for some
months but | am sorry to say that on
one fine summers day. when driving
through one Of the public thorough
fares, | saw poor, miserable, ragged
looking man, leaning against the door
Of public house, drunk, and incapable
Of keeping an erect position. In his
poverty, drunkenness and misery, dis
covered it was my teetotal patient, whom
| had not 50 long ago persuaded to
break his pledge. could not be mis-
taken. had reason to know him we'll
for he had been a member of a Wesley
an Church, an indefatigable Sunday
school teacher, prayer leader, whose
earnest appeals for the salvation of 9th
ers | had often listened to with pleasure
and edi6cation | Immediately went to
the man, and was astonisbed to find the
change which drink, in SO short a time,
had made in his appearance With |
manifest surprise, and looking earnestly
at the Door wretch, said
80, is that you y
"Yes. it's me. Look at me again
don't you know me? p be answered,
with staggering reel and clipping bis
words.
"Yes. know you," | said, 'and
am grieved to see you in this drunken
condition. I thought you was teeto-
taller ?"
II was before l took your medicine. ="
he answered, with a peculiar grin upon
his countenance.
Il am sorry to see you disgracing
yourself BY such conduct. | am ashamed
Of you"
Rousing himself. as drunken people
will at times, to extraordinary effort, be
scofingly replied:
Didn't you send me here for my
medicine Z"
And with delirious kind Of a chuckle
he hiccoughed out words | shall never
forget:
Doctor, your medicine cured my
body, but it damned my soul y
Two or three Of his boozing compan-
i"ns, hearing our conversation took him
under their protection, and | left As
| drove away my heart was full of Bit
ter reflections. that | had been the cause
of running this mans prospects, not
only for this world. but for that which
is to come You may rest assured |
did not sleep much that night The
drunken aspect of that man haunted me, I
and | found myself weeping over the
injury | had done him. rope up early
the next morning and returned to his
cottage, with his little garden in front,
on the outskirts Of the town, where |
had often seen him with his wife and
happy children playing about, but found
to my sorrow that be had moved some
time before. At last, with some diff
Guilty, found him located in a low
not far distant from the ,
public house be had patronized the day !
before. Here. in such home az none !
but a drunkard could inhabit, | found
him laid upon a bed of straw, feverish
and PROSTATE from the effects of the
previous days debauch, abusing his
wife because she could not get him some !
more drink: she standing aloof, with !
,are and grief, her children dirty and
,lothed in rags-all frieudless and
'teeped in poverty What a wreck {
vas there Turned out of the church i;
# which he was once an ornament, his s
eligion sacrificed his usefulness marred.
lis hopes Of eternity blasted now poor !
lejected slave to his passion for drink, 7
without mercy and without hope a
talked to him kindly. reasoned with
lin, succored him until he was we'll. i
nd never lost sight of him or let him !
AVE any peace until he had signed the n