Blue-grass blade. [volume] (Lexington, Ky.) 188?-19??, 1892-01-09

saw MIN aown In basement, and
when had called to him he invited me
down.
It was two-room habitation and a
most wretched, woebegone home.
Sans father was lying drunk on the
floor and his mother reclined on an old
mattress In a corner and muttered and
mumbled and tried to sing now and
then.
Home. Sweet Homer quietly OBJ
served Sam. Take off your overcoat
and have chair. Glad to see you down
this way"
"And SO this is where you live?"
Eyes. Elegant start on the road to
success, isn't it? Lots of things to en-
courage boy to make man Of HIM
self"
us that your father and mother?"
'Of course"
"Sham! Sham! Whoze that, Sham?"
called the mother.
Nov, you hushg' he replied, as he
pointed at her. ~ want you to keep
quiet and 60 to sleep"
"All rize, Sham-al rize!'' she re-
piled, as she fell back on the bed.
Drunk, of course" said the boy, as
looked from father to mother. "It's
this way about four nights in the week.
WAS figuring just before you came in,
and here's how ] came out Father has
been drinking man for thirty years
He has paid out an average of 10 cents
per day during that time. That's
$50. SO per year or about 81, 100 without
interest Mother has been drinking
for about ten years.
"We'll call that $780, Here's about
$500 gone from our income. Am /
right?"
| YES"
lowing to drink father has lost at
least one day out Of . week. I've known
him to lose q job and not work for
three months. Well call 1t only fifty
days in a year. That's 1900 days in
thirty years, and being a mechanic he
has never had less than 81 per day
There's $1,000 more lost from our in.
come. Z Am correct?"
"You are"
The father now turned over, groaned,
stretched and rose up on his elbow and
thickly inquired:
''Sham, whaz time is it?"
"Never you mind!" answered the boy
"You have gone to bed for the night
and want You to stay right there!'
The man muttered and complained,
but fell back and was soon snoring
again, and Sam continued:
"a man who gets drunk generally
gets into trouble with the law. Fathel
has been arrested at least hundrd
tines in the thirty years. He has beef
fined at least $500 and mother at leaA
800. While drunk father broke his lea
once and his arm once, and mothel
once broke her arm. Mother also
broke lamp and we lost $500 worth d
furniture. Loss Of furniture, doctd
bills, etc, about $500. II that too
high?"
II don't think So"
"Well, then, let's add up. Here we
have total of about $500 in cash, ia
say nothing of interest lost from one
mechanics income up to the present
date. It's just as much lost as If flung
into the fire and burned to ashes 1t
hasn't done us one iota of good. On
the contrary it has disgraced. degraded
and brutalized us"
II see."
"Sham! Sham! I want to shingr'
called the mother at this juncture.
81 want you to keep quietg' he stern
~ replied.
"An rize, Sham-all rizeI"
"Now let's see what we could do II
we had this money which has done ne
good" continued the boy. "Five thou
sand dollars would buy US a snug farm;
It would take us out west, by house
and lot and establish father In shop
Of his own; It would educate me as Z
lawyer or doctor twice over; It would
keep father and mother the last ten
years Of their lives without work 81
worry. Seel Isn't it appalling when
you come to figure il out in black and
whittier"
at certainly is"
"A Sunday or two ago." said Sam,
after an interval of silence, ''you ex-
pressed wonder in your sketch that
rich people did not do more to help the
poor. It would have been wiser in you
to wonder why poor folks didn't do
more to help themselves"
by abstaining from drink"
EXACTLY. I know there are plenty
of cases where industrious sober men
are brought down to hard times, but
eight times out of ten drink is the
cause of 1t. We can't say to a labor
ing man that he can't have glass OF
beer when he wants 1t, but what does
his want of it result IMP"
"Have you a remedy2"
| mo, there Is none. Every man runs
his own affairs according to his own
ideas If he prefers to get drunk you
must not NEEDLE. He knows what the
result will be; therefore. let him
| alone"
ashanti Sham!" called the father.
"What about my own case?" queried
Sam, as If suspecting that might put
the question. 1T would be labor
thrown away to try to do anything.
The end will come in q year or two
more. The city will bury them and
I'll only have myself to look after"
THAT'S q tough thing to look for
ward TO-"
swell. what can you do? There is
only one end to drunkard's life. He
himself knows that"
"Sham! Sham. / want'er shing q
shong!" called the mother.
"Whoozer calm Sham?" asked the
father. as he tried to get up.
Sam and ] looked at each other, and
he held out his hand as ! opened the
door. Words would have been wasted.
Queer boy, that Sam, but think a
great deal of HMM. Quad. in N. Y.