The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-09-24

II it's hurting them. ii you'll Join the
movement. we'li reform the last man
ot them.
| Still Bob refused. II there were men
behind. him, he had nothing to do
/ with their being there; they put them
selves there, etc.
But the greater the opposition he
offered, tha more determined were the
temperance people to conquer his will.
They ordered to the front their logi-
clans, their eloquent men, their persuar
sivs women, till Bob's refusal, from
being goodAatured, grew to be coldly
polite, then severely dienifed. At
length, one day, he replied angrily.-
Look herel I'm tired of thisl You
peddlers, get out OF my shop, and let
me alone. Don't you come botherin'
me with this talk any more. I've
had enough of this naggin'. You're
an impudent set Of fellers to come ad-
vising me about my duty to my wife
and children. Which cares for 'em,
you or me? You'd bettergo and look
after your own wives and children.
Mine have more clothes and
better clothes than any of yours,
and tho clothes are all paid for, and
that's more than some ofyou can say.
Look out tor your your own homes,
and let mine alone. My wife amt GO
in to thank you for meddlin' about
her happiness. She's the happiest
woman in town now. Tend to your
own wives, ] tell you again; say
mines the happiest woman in town"
He said the same thing, my wife's
the happiest woman in town." to the
old gray-haired minister, sent to him
by the persevering temperance people.
The minister had married Bob to
the happiest woman in town; had re-
ceived the ehappiestwomaninto church;
had instructed all Bob's children; had
been the family-adviser and sympa-
slsizer.
When Bob said to him, "My wife's
the best cared-ior-womani in town, the
happiest woman in town." the minis
ter replied,
"But she might be the happiest
woman in any town, the happiest
woman in the world, if you'd stop
drinking"
"You don't mean to say that it
would make her any happier" said
Bob.
"Yes, do. OF course it would
make her happier"
"Did she say it would?" Bob de-
manded, sharply.
"Not that know of, but there is
no right-feeling woman who is not
grieved and shamed by her husbands
drinking.
II don't believe my wife's grieved
and shamed at anything I do, or that
she has ever been. My drinking doesn't
worry her. / never get drunk"
Suppose you ask her, I" the minister
suggested.
y will; I'll ask her tonight" Bob
said, promptly.
"And what then?" said the minister.
"If she says that it will make her
any happier to have me give up drink
ing, I'll do it. I'll go to your temper
ance meeting tonight. I'll leave it all
with Susan"
"Good!" said the minister, laying
his hand on the others arm, and
feeling sure OF his man.
That evening, after tea was over,
Bob said to his wife that he would
like to have alittle talk with her. So
they went away to the spare room to-
gether, and then he told her all about
it, how the men and the minister had
been talking to him, of the arguments
they had used, etc., ETC., of how he
had boasted that she was the happi-
est woman in town, OF the minister's
reply.
'ThenI told him, Susan, that Tll
L 1oo o1yoi III 10, T
to you. Arn't you happy, Susan?
II you think, Susan, that you would
be made any happier by my becoming
an abstainer, I'll do SO. I'll sign to-
night
What do you say, Susan?"
What did she say?
She said nothing, not a word.
She fell on her knees, and cried and
cried as though shenever could stop
cried till the tears gathered in Bob's
eyes.
Therel there!" he said. 'Don't
take on any more. I'll join tonight.
1 never knew you cared. You never
scolded or fretted like the other wom-
en-
II only wanted that promise" she
said, ito make me the happiest wom-
an in the town.
She told him that for fourteen
years, there had been an aching spot
IN her heart,-a spot haunted by a
cruel dread, "a fear that he might 20
down to drunkard IS grave.
That night at the temperance meet
ing, when the pledge was read, and
signers called for Bob Marshallg got to
his feet in quiet, resolute way, and
then the men who had reasoned
with him, and the women who had
pied with him, and the wife who had
wept and was weeping, saw him go for
ward to the desk.
"Bob Marshall!'
"It's Bob Marshall!"
"Its Bob"
He's going to join
These words went from mouth to
mouth. People stretched forward to
Esee}s -Eese to their feet, climbing on
chairs and benches in wild excite
ment, and as Bob took the pen and
bent over to write his name, the Joy
of the awakened people broke all
bounds.
Cheer followed cheer; the men tossed
up their hats, the women waved their
handkerchiefs. Then all seemed to be
pressing forward to the stand. Some
shook Bob's hand, others hugged him,
while dozens and scores eagerly put
their names to the temperance pledge.
For over hall hour, the joining went
on, till, it is claimed, every person
present was enrolled.
When Bob and his wife got home
from the meeting that night, and she
had turned up the low-burning lamp
on the sittipg-room table, she looked
into his face with shining eyes, and