The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-04-24
NOTHING LIKE BEER.


feeling really worried all day and wanted
to talk to somebody"
SIS it possible you have anything to worry
you?" Mrs. Preston said, casting her eyes
about the handsomely furnished room. and
then resting them upon the smooth, white
brow of the young wife. with such a
home and husband as yours, one would not
imagine there could be even a shadow of
a cloud in your sky"
THAT shows how mistaken people some
times are. | am very anxious indeed
about Wilbur's health. The doctor says
he has dyspepsia, and recommends going
abroad and entire rest from business for a
year. but Will says he does not see how he
can possibly leave the bank. Something
must be done though, for he is really mis-
cradle. He does not sleep well, has lost
his appetite almost entirely, and is quite
weak and nervous"
"Oh, these DOCTORS said Mrs. Preston,
with a wise air, .'they are so impractical.
AS if a person could drop everything and
pack off to Europe at a moments notice. :"
Yes, but of course health is before
everything. l should wish my husband to
do anything that would help him"
"Well, | can tell you of something that
will help him and will be much less expen-
sive than that. Your husband needs a
tonic, and something to aid digestion, +"
Mrs. Preston said in a positive tone, s.and
there is nothing like beer for that. DR..
Forbes is your physician, is he not? Ex-
cuse me, but | believe he is SO radical on
the subject of temperance that he would
scarcely prescribe it if he knew it would
save his life. But | know of SO many who
are taking a little beer every day with the
best results. There is my brother who
lives in Carleton. he was all run down.
growing thin as Il shad. and since he has
commenced taking beer he has gained
twenty pounds
SIS it possible9 But what harm could
DR.. Forbes suppose could come to one like
my husband from the use of beer?"
why, he might suppose, you know,
that he would learn to like it too well and
go staggering about town."
'"The perfect idea! Wilbur Trent, In
deed!' and the wife's lip curled with in
tense scorn as she said, IF | supposed DR..
Forbes could imagine such a possibility
he would lose our patronage at once
''Well you know these temperance peo-
pie are terribly fanatical when they get
wound up. But if l were you | should
pursuade my husband to begin on beer at
once
4 little more friendly talk and Mrs
Preston went on her way, having accom-
plished IN errand for Satan as e~ffectually
as if she had bargained with him to do it.
He knew she was just the one to perform
this little service for nina magnetic,
positive woman, whose words weighed
much in the estimation Of her friends. If
only there had been a wiser counsellor for
this young wife, who would have been
faithful friend enough to hint that tobacco,
strong coffee, sour bread and poor cooking
generally, was the root of her husbands
dyspepsia-then the end might have been
different.
When Mrs. Trent urged her husband to
try the remedy Mrs. Preston had recon-
mended, she did not meet with so much
opposition as she had expected. He had
often thought within himself that a stimu-
liant of some sort was the very thing he
had needed and craved, and had OCCASION
ally taken a surreptitious glass of beer.
He had been brought up with strict tenn
perance principles, however, so for consis-
tency's sake he made a faint protest or two
to his wife's proposal, but secretly he re-
ioiced at it. He should quite enjoy the
r~emedy-to bring a cask home, keep it in
the cellar and have it made perfectly legiti-
mate and respectable to take 4 portion
regularly, especially as his wife declared,
there can be no possible danger to you,
dear, iii taking beer for medicine, " and he
echoed, certainly not-for medicine"
Never was more agreeable medicine since
the world begun. Beginning with a glass
a day, it multiplied itself into a little on
rising, a little before, a little after meals,
a little before retiring, and on warm days
a little between meals to keep up the
strength. even though it necessitated a
walk in the hot sun to procure it. MANY
mickles make muekle,' and the remedy
began to have the desired effect. Mr..
Trent certainly seemed to be improving in
strength and flesh, SO that by the time a
few years had passed, not a bone protruded
itself to mar the rotundity of his frame,
his cheeks were pulled out, his hands were
cushiony, and his portly form grew portlier
every day. If his wife sometimes had a
faint twinge of regret, in that the slender,
graceful young man she married, was
changing into a clumsy person of enormous
dimensions; that the refined, intellectual
east of face was positively gone, that the
clear eyes had become bloodshot and the
nose was swollen and ruby-tinted-shc
Loyalty thrust such regrets aside and re-
Elected that health was much more to be
valued than an attractive appearance.
True, a misgiving occasionally crossed her
mind as to whether this was the highest
state of health, when she remembered that
her ''WiIl' had formerly possessed a fine
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