The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-01-04
HIS REFORMATION.

oliver was a universal faYorIte. Ills
mother idolized him, and his father was
proud Of his talents and social standing.
When he left college he was accounted one
of the most brilliant young men That had
ever graduated from that school.
Everybody had a kind word for Oliver.
No one, lot even the grave old professor
of mathematics, forgot to bid him good
bye and express a kindly wish.
Attractive in person and possessed Of
fine social qualities, he might have been
a real power for good and welded an i'm
mense influence in society. But the very
qualities that made him popular proved a
curse instead of a blessing.
No social gathering or club meeting was
complete if Oliver was absent. His wit
and jollity kept everyone up to the highest
state of social enjoyment.
Alas! that men and women should think
wine necessary at their ~feasts, and amid
the flowers Of social life set a trap of steel
to ensnare the feet Of men,
The mother was the first to see that
divers feet were slipping. She reached
from the black, slippery sleeps of death.
She was not herself a total abstainer; in
deed, she thought many who advocated
the temperance cause were unreasonable
and unwise; but when divers feet began
to slip she became a total abstainer, and
urged Oliver to follow her example. But
he would only laugh and joke his mother
as to the probability of her becoming a
temperance crank.
With an aching. bleeding heart she saw
her son sinking lower and lower amid the
pillows of death. Wit and laughter were
still on his lips.
But there came a time, as the years
drifted by, when everybody could see that
Oliver was going to destruction. The very
persons who had urged him to take a So
eial glass at their tables were the first to
say, "What a pity Oliver can't control his
appetite. He is SO brilliant and witty and
social; but the drink will be his ruin yet.
| wonder if his mother knows? I should
think it would about break her heart if
she does
One night Oliver and other young men
belonging to a debating club had supper;
drinking and card-playing followed. There
was tue utmost good fellowship, accom-
panied by songs and boisterous laugter.
This was kept up till one o'clock in the
morning, when one Of the more prudent
ones, aided by the ~janitor, who feared he
would have some Of them dead drunk on his
hands all night, succeeded in closing the
But most of them stopped at an elegant
saloon on the corner, only three doors
away. The saloon-keeper was waiting for
them; he always tarried behind the bar till
the club meeting was cut. They were all
crowded in together, in the best Of humor,
when divers best friend took out a new
revolver to show to the landlord. He was
half drunk, and somehow, in the awkward
handling, the pistol went off, and a bullet
went crashing through divers lungs, very
near the heart. He fell unconscious to tile
floor. An exclamation of surprise and
horror was on every lip. The police came
in and arrested the friend as he stood there
transfixed with horror, with the smoking
pistol still in his hand. The bullet, that
had passed entirely through bis body and
lodged in the window casing, was dug out
and carried away as link Of evidence in the
case, while Oliver was carried to a near
drug store. and by the help of a physician
restored TO consciousness. His first words
wefe: Somebody 90 and tell mother, and
then take me home
The mother was still waiting for Oliver.
How could she close her eyes in sleep when
her boy was in grasp of the destroyer?
Her fear for years had been that Oliver
would kill some one in a drunken row, and
be hung for the deed. So, when the mes
senger announced hat Oliver had met with
an accident, and was badly hurt, her first
question was:
did he kill anyone9n
"0h, no; no one else is hurt
Thank God for that
They brought him home on a stretcher
and carried him to his room, the doctor
taking the arrangements into his own
hands, while the mother stood by with
white lips and dry. wide-staring eyes,
speechless in her agony. His clothing had
been torn away from his breast, and she
could see the red flow of his life-blood from
the gaping wound, for the doctor had said
that the flow of blood must not be stopped
or it would flow inward and smother him.
As last the mother had the opportunity to
bend over him. He looked into her face
for an instant, and then, with a bitter vail,
cried out:
'0h. mother
stOh, my poor boyl'' she sobbed.
The mother dropped ou her knees at his
beside and cried to God to save him from
his sins and from a drunkard's doom.
Oliver fingered nearly a week in great
agony, but every breath was a prayer for
forgiveness and salvation.
His friend was brought in from the jail
that he might identify him and record his
version of the case. It was a most sorrow-
full meeting.