The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-07-29

Then she said, if I had no objections.
she would drink that last drop with me.
/ shall never forget how she said it.
that last dropp However | tipped the
! old Jug bottom up, and got about q
great spoonful, and Mollie said that was
enough. She took the tumbler and
poured few drops of hot water into it
and bit of sugar, and then she tinkled
her glass against mine, just as she'd seen
us boys do, when we'd been drinking TO
good luck and says she: Here's to the
old brown jugl
that poor Nollie had been drinking more
of the rum than was good for her and
tell you it kind of cut me TO the heart.
| forgot all about how many times she'd
seen me when my tongue was thicker
than it ought to be, aud my legs not so
steady as good legs ought to be; but
said nothing / drank the sentiment
the old brown jug'-and let it go.
"Well, went out after that, and did
my chores, and then went to bed and
the last thing | said before leaving the
kitchen-this very room where we now
sit, was:
'.We'l have the old brown jug filed
tomorrow
"And then | went of to bed. And /
have remembered ever since that went
to bed that night, as / had done hun
dreds of times before, with a buzzing
in my head that healthy man ought
not to have. | didn't think of it then,
nor had | ever thought of it before, but
I've thought of it good many times
since, and have thought of it with won
der and awe.
"Well got up the next morning and
did my work at the barn, then came in
and eat my breakfast, but not with
such an appetite as a farmer ought to
have, and / could not think then that
my appetite had begun to fail. How
ever, / ate breakfast, and then went out
and hitched up the old mare: for, to
tell the plain truth, | was feeling in the
need of glass of spirits, and hadn't
drop In the house. | was In hurry to
get to the village. | hitehed up and
came in for the Jug | went for it in
the old cupboard and took it out, and
"Did you ever break through the thin
ice on swapping cold day, and find
yourself in an instant, over your head
in freezing water? Because that is the
way | felt at that moment. The Jug
was there but the bottom was gone.
Mollie had taken sharp ehisel and
hammer, and with skill that might
have done credit to a master workman,
she had clipped the bottom clean out of
the jug without cracking the edges of
the sides. Hooked at the Jug and then
she burst out. She spoke, o, l had
never heard anything like it, No, nor
have ! heard anything like it since.
She said:
Charles, that's where the mortgage
on this farm came FROM 1t was brought
home within that jug-two quarts at
time! And there's where your white,
clean skin, and your clear, pretty eyes
are going. And in that jug, my hus-
band, your appetite is going also. 0, let
it be as 1T is, dear heart And remem-
Der your promisep
Sand then she threw her arms around
my neck and burst into tears. She could
speak no more.
"And there was no need. My eyes
were opened as though by magic. In a
single minute the whole scene passed
before me. / saw all the mortgages on
all the farms in our neighborhood and
| thought where the money had gone.
The very last mortgage father had ever
made was to pay bill held against him
by the man who had filled this jug for
yearsl Yes, saw it as it passed before
me-a fiittering picture of rum! rum
rum debt! debt. debt and in the end,
DEATH And | returned my Mollie's
kiss, and said /;
"Mollie, my own, I'll keep the prom
Use! will, so help me heaven!
ssAnd l have kept it. IL less than
FIVE years, as Mollie had said, the mort
gage was cleared off; my appetite came
back to me; and now we've got few
thousand dollars at interest. There |
hangs the old jug-just as we hung it
on that day; and from that time there
hasn't been a drop of spirits brought
into the house for a beverage which
that bottomless jug wouldn't hold
'Dear old jugl We mean to keep it
and hand it down to our children for
the lesson it can give them-a lesson of
life-of life happy, peaceful, prosper
Gus and blessed"
And as he ceased speaking, his wife |
with her arm drawn tenderly around
the neck of her youngest boy, murmured
feryent amen.