Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-12-14

topic, and agreed that fine should be paid
! by any member Of the household who
| broke the law.
'The laughs caused by this arrangement
were decided Improvement. lngersoll says
/ on the tears and the moodiness that such
conversations had been wont to cause in
Mrs lngersol and in himself respectively
" Matters had stood thus in Sumner for
nearly two years, said he, when one
night my wife met me at the door with the
fine Ia five-cent piece) in her outstretched
PALM while in the other hand she held a
New York evening paper | laughed and
asked who had been talking liquor shops
1T is | who propose to talk it now, In
crease, said she, with an eager flush. but
no smile on her face and she could hardly
wait till got into my slippers and my arm
chair before she began TO read to me an ac-
count Of the means taken by a'committee
of citizens in a certain Swedish town to
abate drunkenness '"
ooh, | remember the story" interrupt
ed Washburn "The plan was to license
certain men to sell spirits, but to require
them to sell at such price that their prof
it was very small, while they were allowed
to make as much profit as they could on
the food and the wholesome drinks which
they were also required to furnish Hence
it was for their interest to encourage the
| purchase of these latter articles and to
/ discourage tipping. At the same time
/ there was no chance for unlicensed liquor
sellers, as they couldn't undersel the 9th
! ers.
Just about what Ingersoll told me,
said Washhurn
But that couldn't he done in this coun-
/ try | continued 1T would be secuted as
/ government monopoly and Interference,
and what not, in spite of its evident wis
/ dom and shrewdness "
/ Just about what Ingersoll reported him
self as replying to his enthusiastic little
| wife, answered Washburn. so the mat
ter, to her great disappointment, dropped
/ for the moment But it had put an idea
into our friends head which worked and
worked till it took shape suited not only
TO one New England village, but to univer-
sal human nature Old Increase hadn't
/ Travelled all over creation for nothing He's
a cosmopolite to some purpose. About
week later he too proffered the regulation
half dime to buy the right to open the ia
boed subject, and thus he spake to his at
tentive wife
" Molly, you know old Finnegan is a
| thorough going temperance man, perfectly
/ honest and trustworthy, and great authority
among the Irish into the bargain What
/ do you say to my furnishing him the money
to buy out ORourke, up on the Hillside
and to set up grocery store and coffee
/ house and eating room right there where
| first rate hot tea and coffee baked beans
and potatoes, soup, bread and butter and
cheese can be had at low prices in quiet,
| tidy place, and where man can smoke his
pipe and have a chance to read newspa-
per, or have one read to him Z "Oh.
wouldn't that be just lovely, Increase :"
'lou see, Molly, we might get Finnegan
and two Of his neighbors made special con
stables in case of trouble from ill-disposed
fellows. The priest would certainly favor
the enterprise | think it can be done. and
believe it would prove a mighty influence
for good-a lively piece of leaven in that
lump. They could still get their horrid
whiskey at the old places" fatered the
wife. 'Of course, said Ingersoll, that
can't he helped But there would he raj
lying point for the opponents of liquor,
and besides that, instead of the drinking
places being the only resorts there would
be room far more attractive than any of
them, where hunger, and thirst, and social
instincts could all he satisfied at price un
known before for cheapness. But, Molly
dear, if we do that we must stay at home
next summer instead of going to Mt. Des-
ert and | cant have my new barn. nor
you your new greenhouses, eh 2 pooh ~
quoth the little wife, who wants to 90 to
Mt. Desert, and who can't get along with
out greenhouse = And if there were
tears in her eyes they were happy tears.
That's Ingersol's remark, not mine, vou
know added Washburn.
You've seen him. then = said l.
Yes didn't | tell you was up at his
place last week and he took me to old Fin
negan's eating room, and we got a right
good cup of coffee for five cents and sau-
sage and a piping hot potato for another
five. And we pretended to read our news
papers (which we had brought with u.s.
while over the top of them we watched the
happy, sober faces in the room. Always
some one, sometimes a dozen, eating and
drinking at the small. clean tables that fill
ed the room. A good deal of loud talking,
but no uproar all good natured, all decent.
lngersoll said that in the warm weather
many families went there for their dinners,
to save the heat and expense of fire in
their small houses, aud that it was quite
the custom for men at work in the neigh
boring factory to 20 there for their meals
instead of bringing them from home. We
looked into another room, built within a
year, where were books, newspapers and
games, and where they have penny read
ings, and singing meetings, and lectures in
the evenings, and sewing school for girls
and women in the afternoon. | assure YOU
it was quite exciting to hear and see. In
gersOll knew half the people that came in,
and was evidently well known and very
popular
''How is all this paid for = l asked
"Five-cent dinners can't go very far toward
it, and though Ingersoll may be able to af-
ford the luxury of supporting such a place,
it's of no value as an example if it's not
somewhere near self supporting People
can't stay at home always, and do without
greenhouses and barns as a permanent
thing-at least, they don't want to-"
Since the first year this concern has not
only paid its own expenses, but it has given
Finnegan a good living, and enabled him to
make the addition | spoke of. and to keep
the place repaired, and refreshed and at
tractive You must get the figures from
lngersoll.' -
Well l said, "all this sounds very
charming and delightful; but what has
been the effect of it or the drinking That :
the main point after all, Washburn."
Il asked Iugersull that, and he referred
me to one of the selectmen for my answer
That official assured me that intemperanct
had been gradually diminishing till there i,
not today one-quarter of what there wa'
before that room and shop were taken by
/, Finnegan and he said that fact of still
greater Importance is that there has growr
up in that ueghborhood a strong publ,
opinion in favor of temperance, and that
false swearing on the witness stand during
liquor trials, and refusals to testify to sales
have become the exception instead of beinl
} the rule, as they were five years ago"
We rose from the table at which, during
? this conversation, we had been engaged il
reducing order to chaos, and as | got int,
my coat and took up my hat, "Washburn,
said /, lit seems to me that mgersoll ha
turned up trumps"
e A nice question now before the bugolo
4 gists is WAS the first ant an Adamant /!
e -NeiU York sun
l. NAV lto for lacly Of a littla an,