The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-02-26

81 tell YOU what. business has been
ut its best today remarked Squire
II. c. Reece as he rolled back with
yawn in his easy chair. A quill was
perched behind his ear and his hand
was all bedaubed with ink, showing
the reckless manner in which he had
been handling the pen.
"Afiidavits are the whole business
now" continued the Squire. Il guess
have made out no less than ten to-
day. You see the first of the year is
the popular time for various reforms.
1t has got to be the fashion, you might
say, and every fellow who has any fault
or vice of any description swears that
he will begin new leaf with the new
year.
You would be greatly surprised at
the number of people l have put upon
oath of reform in the past few days. |
have been very busy this morning, and
it will increase with each day as the
new year advances"
who are the people who swear Oft ?"
The majority of those who come be-
fore me on such errands are men ad-
dicted to drink who want to quit.
have had such rush of this kind that
for their accommodation | have had
several thousand 0aths printed. Some
times. YOU see, there are three or four
men in the office at the same time, and
if | had to write out each oath it would
consume too much time. The printed
oaths answers just as well. The blank
space. stating time for which the affiant
wished to abstain, is all that has to be
filled out. The date is affixed, together
with his and my name. He is then
sworn to the affidavit, and the whole
thing is over in less time than it takes
to tell it. This can be done so quietly
that the room might be full of people
and not one of them would know what
had transpired. The majority of these
fellows are regular customers. When
they come in they call for one OF those
| red tickets and all is understood, While
an outsider is none the wiser.
but this is not the only kind of re,
form that brings trade. Men come here
to put themselves upon oath of absti
nence from ALI kinds of vices. | have
made out aflidavits for all kinds o.
queer VOWS. Nor is the business con
| fined to the trifling classes. Some name!
are signed to these little red tickets tina
would create a fiutter in society if the,
were known. | have sworn some o
our best and worthiest citizens upol
lust such cases A very prominent bus
mess man of this city had me to max
him out an affidavit stating that h
would never engage in a game OF card
or chance OF any kind while he re
manned in Kentucky. He had lost
very large sum of money at a game Q
poker, and this is what brought him t
me. He told me that he wanted t
limit his oath only to Kentucky, as b
could not confine his conduct in sue
narrow bounds when he left the State.
Not long ago a very promlnen
drummer from Chicago had me admin
lister him an oath that he would neye
be seen again in this State. He ha
gotten drunk and was robbed. Their
is always some reason for these unret
sonable cases. ] never will forget tn
nice young man that came here on
dav and swore that he would neve
visit or speak with certain youn
lady, who. by the way, is prominent i
social circles The young lady b
some means had been notified of tn
piece of conduct, and she entered an
made a similar oath, only adding tbs
she would, on no condition, ever b
seen within speaking distance OF hin
They were both earnest in what the
swore to, bat it was done in the heat
a quarrel, and two days had bard
l passed before they were again as thle
as ever,