Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-06-26
UNDRESSING MTTLSWED,
swhlshy snl's" Teuch,ss rsnps.k-ss Ser.
mon.
Detroit Ere. Press.

"Where is whisky Bill who
used 10 drive the old white horse in
front Of Q twenty five cent express
wagon 7" repeated the man, in tones
of surprise.
eyes"
"Weli, now, its . curious case, /" he
slowly continued. aWe all thought
he'd gone to the dogs, for sure, for
he was drinking pint of whisky
day; bat few months ego he
braced up, stopped drinking, and
now hear he's in good business
and saving money. 1t beats ell, for
the last time L saw him he seemed
half underground
When you 60, homo at night and
find that all is we'll with your own
flesh and blood, do you 60 to sleep
reasoning that the rest of the world
must take care of itself ? Do you
ever shut your eyes and call up the
hundreds of faces you have met dur
ing the day, and wonder If the pale
ness of death will cover any Of them
before the morrow? Whom You
have once been attracted to q face
even If it be strangers. do you let
it drop from memory With your
dreams, or do you cali it up again
and again as night comes down, and
hope it may lose none of its bright
ness in the whirling mists of timer
So "Whisky Bill' was hunted
down. An inquiry here and there
finally treced him to little brown
cottage on . by street. He sat on
the step in the twilight, burly,
broad shouldered man of 30, and in
the house three or four children
gathered around the lamp TO look
over picture book.
ayes, they used to call me .Whis-
ky Bill down town." he replied, as
he moved along and made room,
"but it is weeks since heard the
name. No wonder they think mo
dead, for I've not set eyes on the
old crowd for months, and ] don't
want to for months TO come"
"They tell me you have quit
drinking. One could see that by
your face"
81 hope so. l haven't touched q
drop since February. Before that 1
was half drunk day in and day out.
and more ola brute than a man.
done mind saying that my wife's
death set me to thinking, but
didn't stop my liquor. God forgive
me. but l was drunk when she died,
half drunk at the open grave, and
meant to 60 on q regular spree that
night 1t was low down, but l was
no better than brute those days"
"And so you left your motherless
children at homo and went out and
got drunk 2"
"No. l said l meant to, but l
didn't, The poor things were cry.
ing all day, and after coming homo
from the burial / thought to get 'em
tucked away in bed before l went
out. Drunk or sober, never struck
one Of them blow, and they never
ran from me when l staggeS ed
home. There's four of'em in there,
and the youngest isn't quite four
years yet. / got the older ones in
bed all right, and then came little
Ned, He had cried himself to sleep,
and he called for mother as soon as
l woke him. Until that night I
never had that boy on my knee, to
say nothing of putting him to bed;
and you can guess these big fingers
made slow work with the hooks
and buttons. Every minute he kept
saying mother didn't do this way,
and the big children were hiding
their heads under the qnilts to
drown their sobs. When had his
clothes off ans his night gown on, 1
was ashamed and put him down, and
when the oldest scw tears in my
eyes and jumped ont of bed to put
her arms around my nec,,,I dropped
the name Of whisky Bill" right
then and forever"
Sand little Ned ?"
mouUO uuFo W6dkeueu Dut
for him." replied the man, as he
wiped his eyes. "After l got the
child's night gown on, what did he
do but kneel right down beside me
and wait for me to say the Lords
Prayer to him 2 Why sir, yen might
have knocked me down with feath-
er ! There was, mother and father
to bim, and l couldn't say four
words of that prayer to save my
lifel He waited and waited for me
to begin, as his mother always had,
and the big children were waiting,
and when took him in my arms
and kissed him, | called heaven to
witness that my life would change
from that hour. And 80 it did, sir,
and I've been trying hard to lead q
sober, honest life. God helping me,
no one shall call me Whisky Bill
again."
The four children, little Ned in
his night gown, came ont for q good
night kiss, and the boy cuddled in
bis fathers arms for q moment, and
said
"Good night, pa--good night
everybody in the world-good
night, ma, up in heaven---and don't
put ont the light till we get to