The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-12-18
COUGHS TEMPTATION.
THE REFoRMER'S NATURAL Ape.
TlTE FOR LIQUOR.

'''G 'Oh ItQOON'
Stories OF the Famous Man Told by One
Who Was As ooated with Him In
the Temperance Work - Milo Dos.
worths Whisky Bottle.
Yes, gentlemen carried pint bot.
tie OF whisky III my pocket for fifteen
years and never drank drop of it,"
said Milo b >sworth, well-known citi.
zen. when | was young fellow
drank pretty hard, in fact, was drunk
about all the time, but when | got mar
ried | thoGght IL was time to call hat.
went down to ChaSrin Falls on little
business, and before came home
stopped at Boards grocery, as
was my custom, and had my flask
| 1lled. | had made up my mind that that
Sotild be the last liquor i would drink
| for fifteen wears, but when l got into my
wagon fell to thinking about the mat.
ter and came to the conclusion that there
was no time like the present, and just
put that bottle in my hip pocket, and
there | carried II for fifteen long years.
and during that time never touched
| drop of liquor of any kind.
=; well, about twelve years after that,
Cough the great temperance orator,
was advertised to speak in Cleveland.
Tho posters informed us that the meet
Ing would be held in the Presbyterian
| Church. You young fellows probably
never heard of that church. 1t was
)aIs.a wooden structure, and stood on
the site of the Old Stone Church. OF
| Course we attended the meeting which
occurred on the Sabbath, and l kinder
took notion to Got!gh aud asked him to
go home and dine with us he accepted,
and after dinner took out the bottle /
had carried for twelve years and asked
him il he would take drink. / just said
1t In fun; but great guns you ought to
have seen tn t man. He turned first
red, then white, and finally gasped out
the words:
'''P Put it up. l can't stand it. Put 1t
up, say, before l disgrace myself l
was frightened, and put tue flask in my
pocket in hurry. He didn't say any
thing for several minutes, but sat with
his head between his hands. Finally
he looked up and said:
:" My friend, I am truly sorry that /
should display my weakness in your
| house, but sometimes l have an uncon-
trollable de sire for liquor, and when
saw your flask l would have given my
| life for a drink. But, he continued, L
understood you to say that you had car
ried that bottle and not drank any thing
for twelve years?
THAT is true, said, and then pro-
coded to tell him of the circumstances
of my swearing off. When he had heard
me through he said; You are just the
man am looking for, and | want you to
go to England with me. OF course /
was taken by surprise, and asked him to
explain. He said that he had long
wanted reformed drunkard to travel
with him and lecture, and that man
with my will was just the chap he de-
sired. Well, l talked the matter over
with my wife, and she said that she
guessed she could spare me for year or
so, and the upshot of the thing was that
Cough and l formed a partnership
whereby was to receive a handsome
percentage of the receipts, and we
started out.
Albany was the first place where we
were billed to lecture, and tell you
there was a crowd there to hear us.
Cough had advertised the reformed
drunken feature for all it was worth,
and l was regarded with as much Gu
riosity as the dime museum freaks are
to-day. From Albany we went to Bos-
ton and finally to New York, where we
bid goodbye to America and set sail for
England. A stop was ma lie in Ireland,
and at Dublin the largest hall in the
city wouldn't hold the people, l gave
thoaL who were on the outside tickets
and Md them come the next night. One
way d running the lecture was to have
Cough make an opening speech, after
which he would introduce me as the re-
formed drunkard. l would step forward
and as a starter would slap down my
whisky bottle on the table and tell the
audience how long l had carried it.
After that we would call for people to
come forward and sign the pledge, and
there were dozens who complied every
night In England we We're very sue
cessful and we remained there three
years. At the end of that time / was
getting little HON esick and wanted to
see my family. So told Cough that
guessed l would quit, and We looked
over the books and settled up. l had
| $l1 600 coming to me. and | brought
every cent of it back to cleveland and
I deposited it in the old bank down on
Canal street"
, Speaking of Cough, he said: He was
a great orator and grand mob eman, but
he was not master of himself. Iremem-
Der one time, when a man put some
whisky in glass of soda water he was
about to drink. just the taste was
enough to set the appetite afire within
him. Very few people ever knew Of this.
| but it is true nevertheless, and the fact
is related in one of his biographies.
When he came out of it l never saw
| man feel so in all my life. He cried like
a baby, and vowed that he would never
speak before an audience again, and if
remember rightly he Cancelled his en-
gagements for the rest of that year. He
| told me many times when passing
saloons mounted on horse, he had dug
| the spurs into the beasts flalks and
ridden for miles at breakneck speed to
get out of reach of the temptation. -
| Cleveland Leader.