Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1883-09-27
"TEN TAousAND DoLLRs.r
Read this Story. Boys.

RcaU this story. BOyS.
Gentlemen" said repentant drink
ing man, at Il temperance meeting held
in -, during the Murphy excite
ment, gentlemen, it has cost me ten
thousand dollars to bring my nose to its
present state OF perfection" Ten thou
sand dollars And what did he have
besides his red nose? An aching and
remorseful heart, a pain-racked and
diseased body; a home where a misera-
bic woman probably dragged her weary
life along in wretched, hopeless apathy,
crushed and bowed to the earth by the
shame of being drunkard's wife. "Ten
thousand dollarsW wrote the recording
angel and turned in stern sorrow from
the page. "Ten thousand dollarsv'
chuckled the rum-seller;" l am that
much richer; am not lucky MANI"
"Ten thousand dollars" said the devil;
what u fool! I'll have him surely, if he
doesn't look out" "Ten thousand dol
lars" whispered little boy away back
in the corner, whose father was killed
in drunken brawl, ten thousand dol
lars would make my mother happy, and
l wouldn't have to sell newspapers for
a living, and stay out of school when
my heart is hungry for books "Ten
thousand dollarsw soliloquized the
young man who drank little. "I
can't afford that" And he signed the
pledge, though he did not mean to.
The confession was like spark that
sprang into the flame, and ran with
vivid tongues of fire through the vast
audience. The little boy went forward
with the throng with all the manliness
OF twenty-five. He wrote his name as
well as he could, and proudly took his
pledge card. When he thought himself
unnoticed, he wrote slyly on its back:
"Ten thousand dollars savd for mothur
bi not drinllin'." That was exactly the
way he wrote it, so you need not laugh.
May be his own father had wasted as
much over his cups, and now his child
had no time to learn to spell. He was
busy all day at anything to earn an hon
est penny, and nights, poor fellow, he
was too tired and sleepy to even look
at book.
How do know what he wrote? In
passing out his precious card was
brushed from his hand. He could not
go back, for the throng pressed on. 1t
was picked up by the janitor, given to
one Of the officers in charge, and was
next day posted on an immense black
board, and served as text for one of
the most magnificent lectures of the
course. What lot of wet handker-
chiefs there were when the speaker was
through! How red the ladies' eyes
wers- almost as red as the dr,lnkard's
nose! And Jimmy-there,I I didn't mean
to tell one bit Of his name-who had
stolen back to get his treasured card,
and see if he could sell a few books
trembled like leaf with excitement,
to think that he was the hero of all
thot grand talk, and the color went in
and out of his cheeks with just that
quiver you have seen in the sky when
the northern lights wave and tremble.
BY and by the gentleman called his
name, and somebody put him on the
platform, and then there was such Il
stamping and clapping as you never
heard of before in your life. And how
did it all end? Why, good people In
terested themselves in the child and its
mother, and Jimmy goes to school now
J and his mother is matron III a ''Temper-
ance House," and some day, if you
don't study hard, boys, Jimmy will be
at the top of the ladder while you are
Just beginning to climb. Iwant you tc
remember the man--for he was rea
living man--who said: 1T cost me ter
Thousand dollars to bring my nose to it:
present state of perfection;" and thinl
of the boy, drunkard's orphan, wht
resolved to save ten thousand dollar:
for his mother "by not drinking" ant
if you are tempted to drink, see if yol
: cannot make and keep as good resolu
tion.--Mrs. g. w. White, IN Cimeter.