The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-01-29

III
| BY THU AUTHOR s'ANDREW DOUGLAS = 4.
The spring trade had been brisk that
! year; merchants from the far West had
arrived in large numbers, ard the prin-
cipal business streets Of the city OF s.
had been crowded with purchasers, with
boxes, end with drays,making promenad
Ing rather q difficult thing. el
/ " Harry Stedman was more actively en-
] gagged than he had ever been before, for
when he had entered Mr.. Crofton's store
late in the preceding autumn it was after
the press Of work for the fall was over,
u Harry had promised his mother before
I leaving his village home for the city that
| he would put his whole heart and mind
/ siato learning the business, that he would
Inot resort to the use Of stimulants under
anv temptation. He little knew the
secret habits of young men who were
outwardly active, industrious, and re-
spectacle members Of society.
One day the work in the store WIS, as
the boys said tremendous" Box after
box was packed, nailed.up, marked, and
turned out on the sidewalk, and still
country merchants were calling at the
door: my goods shipped YETI Must
be ready by three O'clock p and other
1 words Of like import. There was hurry
| everywhere. but ii might have been OBJ
|served that there was at all times a def
cheney in the force Of clerks Of one or
two at a time. Harry at length noticed
/ these absences, but just as he was about
| to ask his companion who was packing
! the same box what it meant, when every
| available man was needed, the lad td-
dressed him. s
I stHarry," said he, II cant stand this
| any longer without a drink. 81 don L
often indulge, but I'm getting tired out
with this day and night work. Just as
| quick as this box is marked and turned
/ out You slip round the corner with me-
'Where toy said Harry.
! .1M ny, to Jerry's, up the alley. Don't
| you know the place?o
! "Indeed do not" said Harry.
! aYou are green, Harry. stedman,'' said
Joe. 81 guess you are the oniy fellow
| here, Their, that doesn't know It,"
lit is a soda-water place." said Harry.
81 should like drink OF soaa-water." (.
! "Fiddlestioks, Harry" laughed Joe
contemptuously tits where you get beer
/ or anything stronger; and glass OF Ia
ser sets you up like a good dinner
! Harry was enlightened, hut he refused
to go this time; he thought Of his mother
1 and OF his promise to her.
4 Joe's patronizing ways and his laugh
1 after this refusal rankled I'M Harry's mind
and. made him feel as If he haG appeared
4 very foolish indeed IN tie sight of his
companion; how he appeared in the sight
/ Of God, alas! he failed to consider.
The busy season was not ret over when
1 Harry at last yelled t. Joe's ten ptations
and consented to 20 to Jerry's Just THIS
oBce.
| He made his first entrance into ''sa
loon,' gave his conscience its first dead
enlng slew, and he took has first drink
Years. passed, for at this time Harry
Stedmap was youth OF eighteen, tail,
straight and remarkably handsome and
sweet tempered.
1 TWAS only five years that passed, when
a young man was brought by two OF his
friends to an asylum for the cule Of
inebriates. y
No one who had known Harry Sted-
man at eighteen would have recognized
him noW-stooping in the shoulders, un-
steady III his gait flushed and bloated- =
and yet the impress was On his altered
face OF having once possessed great man
! ly beauty. 1t was his own wish that he
was brought to the asylum the one re-
! deening point OF light in his dark and
sad career. He had made efforts to strike
off his chains; but the habit had gradG-
ally and surely become fixed, and ap-
parently could not be broken; and now
without just so many drinks in a day he
could not endure the mental anguish and
nervous prostratioa that overcame him
Not feeling by any means certain that
| he could go through the terrible ordeal
| Of having all stimulus suddenly taken
from him, Harry had ingeniously con
! trived to secrete about his person fat
bottle containing whisky. u
rue physician received him kindly,
/ praising him for his resolution to reform.
told him of the requirements Of the place,
/ encouraged him TO submit himself to
! them, and then Harry was left by his
friends, as they believed, soon to be re-
stored to them and his mother a sound
and thoroughly reformed man.
! One night and one day were agoniaed
through. The second night physical and
mental strength began to sive way, ana
! resolution rapidly wavered. Midnight
came the light burned dim, sense OF
i horror seized him, strange images were
before him.
! It would not be long now before the
4 attendant would be in his room to see
how ne was progressing Obi that he
might escape FIST.
Suddenly remembering the bottle he
had secrcted, Harry sprang from his bed,
/ found il, and with the frenzy brought on
| by abstinence drained ii to the last drop.
He regained his bed, but this was his
last drink; before morning he was raying
| in delirium, and never re{g,ained his con
seriousness, until death ended his safer
iHgs on the third day atterward.
/ The hoped-for cure had been attempted
4 too tate.
And his widowed notherg Through
the few remaining years of her life the
Isight Of her grief stricken cotlntenance,
her despairing eyes, WAS one that will
never fade from my memory
'I have a theory about tho dead lam
i SyI1 - faF skJTbof