St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-01-28

best quality OF rye all day Tor
sickness"
The young man was new to the
business, and could not but feel that
in dealing out this precious COM
modify to what, without it, was a
dying community, he was something
of a cross between a missionary and
an angel.
Mr.. Wallace Brett went home and
explained the situation to his wife,
as he entered, by declaring, "A-chou!
A-CHoUl A-C-H-O-U!"
He took the capsules out of his
pocket, and put them on the table.
Then with some misgiving, he pro-
duced the flask, and repeated the
doctors advice.
Mrs. Brett objected. Mr.. Brett
said he presumed she wanted him to
die!
Mrs. Brett demurred; she said it
was not only nonsense, but it was
wicked and shameful. Mr.. Brett
wanted to know when she took her
medical diploma. Mrs. Brett began
to cry; then she began to scold.
Then she reached for the bottle, and
Mr.. Brett wrenched it out of her
hands.
And the first quarrel of this other
wise, and up to this time happy,
couple was over that pint-bottle of
old rye.
Mrs. Brett said DR.. Know-nothing
was well and truly named. She
wished somebody would complain of
him to the church authorities, and
have him turned out. Why didn't
he go to DIR. Kavo? Henever recon-
mended men to drink till they saw
double.
How soon had the poison worked ?
Even before the bottle had been I'M
wrapped. The man who, in the doc
tors Office, was conscientiously OPP
posed, and in the drugstore was
rvo before the clerk, was now
determined to drink whisky.
Well, in a weeks time, in spite of
the quinine and whisky, Mr. Brett
was about and at the office again.
He said rye whisky had saved his
life, and he'd never be such a fanatic
again.
He went on drinking it to prevent
a relapse. He argued that if the air
was full of grippe germs, it was well
to be on the safe side.
The relations between himself and
Mrs. Brett were severely strained.
She had used upon him every argu-
ment that love, or common sense,
scorn, or contempt could make use of,
and all in vain.
Do not understand me that Mr..
Brett grew into a brute all at once
upon the use of whisky, as Ulysses
companions were turned to swine by
partaking of the treacherous dainties
of Gree. At first he laughed at Mrs.
Brett; then he became good-natured-
ly sarcastic; then gradually her
and anger. Then he told her twas
a sorry day when he ever married
her. She said it was-for her. Then
he went off to business. She fretted
all day over the unkind words of the
morning, and longed for the slow
hours to pass that he might return,
and she would throw herself into his
arms, and they would make mutual
concessions. She would prevail on
him through his love for her to give
up that terrible whisky, and they
would be happy once more.
Poor Carries father had been one
of those unfortunates who commit
spiritual and moral suicide through
drink. She knew its insidious tenden-
cies, and she felt she would rather die
than live to suffer through it such
anguish and sorrow as her broken
hearted mother had known.
The fact that Wallace Brett had
been a temperance nan had been the
casting-die which had decided her in
her choice between him other suitors.
Within eight or nine months from
the time when Mr.. Brett took
cognizance of his headache, and said
"A-chou!" over his ledger IN Novem-
Der, he was pretty well along on the
primrose path of dalliance" that
leads to the everlasting bonfire.
His nose had grown red; there
were whisky pimples on his face,
which was fabby and unwholesome-
looking. He began to stay out late,
and come home drunk. The children
had stopped running to meet him,
and SUNK out of sight when they
saw him coming.
He had stopped going to church
he wasn't banking any of his salary
he had fallen behind with the pay.
ments on his property. At the Office,
the proprietors said it "1ooked as il
Brett was going to the dogs; if he
didn't pull up pretty soon They'd
have to ship him."
About this time Mrs. Brett, who
had been growing pale and thin with
the intolerable trouble she was bear
ing, fell into a low, condi
ton, bordering On prostration. She
couldn't sleep or eat; everything SHE
attempted seemed to overcom her
She would sit in her chair or lie or
the couch all day. and brood ane
sigh, or burst into tears if spoken to