The Opelousas courier., 1885-08-29


and the last thing I1gaid before leav-
notwithstanding very room where
we no sitAw:
"'yYe'll have the old brown jug filled
Tomorrow
"And then I went off to bed. And
, I have remembered ever since that /
went to bed that night, as 1 had done
hundreds of times before, with a buzz
zing in my head that a healthy man
ought not to have. / didn't think of
it then, nor had l ever thought of it
before, but I've thought of it a good
many times since, and have thought of
it with wonder and awe.
"Well, l 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. However, | ate breakfast, and
then went out and hitched up the old
mare; for, to tell the plain truth, 1 was
feeling in the need of a glass of spirits,
and hadn't a drop in the house. /
was in a hurry to get to the village. 1
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 the
thin ice on a 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 a sharp
chisel and a hammer, and, with a skill
that might have done credit to a mas
ter workman, she had clipped the bot
tom clean out Of the jug without even
cracking the edges Of the sides. I
looked at the jug, and then she burst
out. She spoke, oh, I had never heard
anything like it! No, o have i
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 a time! And there's where
your white, clear skin. and your clear.
pretty eyes are going! And in that
jug, my husband, your appetite is go
ing, alsol Oh, let the bottom stay out
forever! Let it be as it is, dear hearth
And remember your promise to mel'
"And 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 pass
ed before me. / saw all the mortga-
ges on all the farms in our neighbor-
hood; and l thought where the money
had gone. The very last mortgage
father had ever made was to pay a bill
held against him by the man who had
filled his jug for years. Yes, I saw it
as it passed before me-a 1ittering
picture of ruml ruml rum!-debti debit
debtl-and in the end, DEATH And /
returned my Mollie's kiss, and said /:
"'Mollie, my own, I'll keep my
promised l will, SO help me Heavenr
"And I have kept it. In less than
FIVE years, as Mollie had said, the
mortgage was cleared off; my appetite
came back to me; and now we've got
few thousand dollars at interest.
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
md hand it down to cur children for
.he lesson it can give them-a lesson
life Of a life happy, peaceful, pros
porous and blessedp'
And as he ceased speaking, his wife,
with her arm drawn .tenderly around
neck of her youngest boy, murmur-
I'D a fervent amen.-Boston Traoeler.