West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1885-12-23

Just then the mother of the
little girl came up, and the gentle
man soon heard the following
interesting Christmas story:
Late on Christmas eve, in 1879,
the father of the little girl came
home drunk, as he had come home
many a time before. Without
stopping to even pull off his boots,
he threw himself on the bed and
quickly dropped into a drunken
sleep. Early on Christmas morning
his wife came and shook him, and
as he opened his eyes he was
startled to hear her say Husband,
get up; Willie is dyingw Willie,
his little fve-year old boy, was the
idol of his heart, and when he
heard his wife's words he sprang
up and ran into the room where
the little fellow lay. AS soon as
the little boy saw him he said:
Papa, please 60 and see what
Santa Claus has brought me for
my Christmas" Then, for the
first time, he remembered it was
Christmas morning, and that he
had not purchased any gifts for
those who had right to his love
and care. He turned away and
went out of the room, and tried to
think of some excuse to make to
the dying boy. While he stood
thinking, his wife came out and
said to him: "Never mind, hus-
band, it is too late-Willie is dead !"
1t was sorrowful Christmas in that
home, as it is in every home where
liquor comes in and makes u man
forget those that he ought to care
for and love.
The Saturday night after the
funeral the man came home from
his work, and as he entered the
room his wife saw him puls big
black bottle out of his pocket and
put it on the shelf. A fresh pain
came into the woman's heart, and
a sadder look came into her face,
for she had hoped that the death
of their boy would bring the man
to his senses and cause him to
leave the drink alone. After they
had eaten their supper, and the
table was cleared off, the husband
took the bottle from the shelf and
put it on the table. Then drawing
up couple of chairs, ne said !:
"Wife, come sit down here" She
sat dewn beside him, when, point
ing to the bottle, he said: "Wife,
there's bottle" "Y es, husband"
she said, "and sorry l en- to see it."
But you haven't locked at it
closely. See here" And, holding
it up between her eyes and the
light, for the first time she saw
that the bottle was empty. Now,
wife, want you to help me make
a calculation how much drink has
cost me each week for the past
five years. I've made up my mind
to pat into that bottle each week
as much for the nextfive years as
I've taken out of it each week for
| the. past five years." The calculation
wasrquickly made, and they found
/ that he had been spending for
/ liquor at least five dollars a week.
Putting his hand down in his
\ pocket, he drew out "a fve-dollar
4 bill ,orelled it up, and, as he pushed
4 it down through the neck of the
I bottle, he said; tTheTe goes the
first deposit in the new bank"
The next Saturday night another
llive.dollar bill went into the bottle,
and SO one bill after another found
its wav into the same bank for the
next five years. So on that Christ
mas when the gentleman met the
little girl in the stoce theffve years
were va, and early that morning
the old, bottle was brought out, its
meek broken off, and the bills turn
ed cut OF the table. Now, any of
the boysend girls who have,studied
arithmetic can soon tell how much
money was on the table. Five
dollars a week for fifty-two weeks
would make two hundred and
sixty dollars for one year, and five
times ffty-two weeks made thir-
teen ha ndred dollars tor five years.
| C,.o o,1ucb xr han fLar oY,ooov< h o6