The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-08-14
..Charles. YOU must promise me

/ ~ ASbr - wv 80 = AAN
this, and promise me solemnly and
| sacredly: Promise me that you will
never bring home for the purpose of
drinking for a beverage, at any time,
any more spirits than YOU can bring in
that old jug-the Jug your father has
used ever since / knew him, and which
you have used since he has done with
it,
stWell, I knew father used once in a
while. especially in haying time and in
winter when we were at work in the
woods, to get an old gallon Jug filed;
so thought that she meant that /
should never buy more than two
quarts at a time. / thought it over,
and after a little while told EerI would
agree TO it.
".Now, mind she said, you are
never, never to bring home any moro
spirits than you a bring in that
identical Jug And l gave her the
promise.
''And before I wentto bed that night
! took the last pull at that jug. AS I
was turning it out for a sort of night
cap, Mollie looked up and saws she:
Charlie, have you got a drop lefts?'
There was Just about q drop. We'd
have to get it on the morrow. Then
she said, if / had no objections, she
would drink that last drop with me. /
shall never forget how she said, that
last DROP However, 1 tipped the old
Jug bottom up and got about a great
| spoonful, and MollIe said that was
enough. She took the tumbler and
poured a few drops of hotwater intoit
and a bit of sugar, and then she tink.
led her glass against mine, Just as
she'd seen us boys do when we'd been
drinking to good luck. and a y she:
"'Here's to the old brown iugt'
.Sakes alive! l thought to myself
that poor Mollie had been drinking
more of the rum than was good for her,
and | tell you it kind Of Gu me to the
heart. l forgot all about how many
times she'd seen me when my tongue
was thicker than it ought to be, and
my legs not SO steady as good legs
should be; but / said nothing. 1 drank
the sent ment, 1.-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
kitcken-this very room where we now
sit-was:
well have the old brown jug filed
Tomorrow
And then went off to bed. And
have remembered ever since that I
went to bed that night, IS | had done
hundreds of times before, with a buzz
zing in my head that a healthy man
ought not to have. I didn't think OF
it then, nor had lever thought of it be-
fore. but I've thought Of it a good
many tines since, and have thought
of it with wonder and awe.
well, / got up the next morning
and did my work at the barn, and then
came in and ate my breakfast. but not
with such an appetite as q farmer
ought to have, and / could not think
then that my appetite had begun to
fail me. However, / ate breakfast,
and then went out and hitched up the
old mare; for to tell the plain truth,
| was feeling in need of a glass of spir-
its, and l hadn't a drop in the house.
[ was in q hurry to get to the village.
| hitched up and came in for the Jug.
l went for it in the old cupboard and
took it out, and
did you ever break through thin
ice. on q swapping cold day, and find
y oulSClA IN oil iusLduG CtGIuG6u III
freezing WATER: Because that is the
jug was there but the bottom was
gone. Noble had taken a sharp chisel
and a hammer, and, with q skill that
might have have done credit to a mas
ter workmen, she had clipped the bot
tom clean off the jug without even
cracking the edges of the sides.
| 1nolaH of tho iur op1 tba,, cJa 1,,,rek89
out. She spoke-oh, | had never hearI
anything like it! No, nor have I heard
anything like it since. She said: t4aRaas
".Charles, that's where the mort
gage on this farm came from! II was
brought home within that iug-two
quarts at q time! And that's whsrs
your white, clean skin and your clear
pretty eyes are going! And in that Jug,
my husband, your appetite is going.
also! Oh, let the bottom stay out for
ever! Let it be as it is dear heart! And
remember your promise to me-
"And then She threw her arms
around my reck and burst into tears.
She could speak no more.
'tAnd there was no need. MY ewes
Were opened as though by magic. In
a single minute the whole sceEe passed
before me-. ! saw all the mortgages
on all the farms in our neighborhood;
and l thought where the money had
gone. The very last mortgage father
had ever made was to pay q debt held
against him by the man who had filed
this Jug for years! Yes, I saw it as it
passed before me q fitting picture of
rum! rum! rum,-debt! debit debit
and in the end, death. And l returned
my Mollie's kiss. and said i:
".Mollie my own, I'll keep the
promise! I will, so help me heaven.
"And ! have kept it. 1t less than
FIVE years, as Mollie had sad, the
mortgage was cleared off; my appetite
came back to me; and now we We got,
a few thousand dollars at interest.
There hangs the old jng-just as we
hung it on that day; and from that day
there hasn't been a drop Of spirits
brought into the house for a beverage,
which that bottomless jug wouldnt
hold.
Dear old Jug! We mean to keep it
and hand it down to oM children for
the lesson it can give them-a lesson
OF life-of . life happy. peaceful, pros
porous and blessed,,'
And as he ceased speaking, his wife.
with her arm drawn tenderly around
the neck of her youngest boy, muir
INJURED fervant amen.
Coffee Making.
The Cook.
There is no duty more important than
that Of teaching Americans to make