News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-07-27
STORY OF THE JUG.
Once It Was the Abode of n Fiend, and
Farm Went Through Its Mouth.


Farm Went Through Its Mouth.
1 am beauty now, know, with my
delicate azure tint and spray Of apple
blossoms that little Maggie painted on
me last summer, and the gilded words
that encircle me, praise God, from
whom all blessings flow" (Mother Sey-
mour's suggestion that was), and this
lovely knot of ribbon that decorates the
handle. Yes, I'm beauty, and / am
rlad and thankful for all my good for
tune, but / am going to do as some
smarter people have done before me-
am going to astonish you with my early
history.
was not always this lovely decorated
Jug, standing on the handsome, draped
mantel, petted ornament in happy
home. / was a hOmely enough little
brown fellow among my brothers in a
dark corner of grocery down town.
Father Seymour bought me for his water
Jug to carry out to the field when he
lived ON his farm. A handsome farm he
owned then. But little by little the
farm went to ruin. Father Seymour
would take me to town with him and
have me filled with whisky to take home.
How ashamed and degraded / felt, for /
could see by the harm it was doing the
Seymour family and the appearance of
the men in the whisky shop that l was
in terribly bad business and disgracing
myself.
The farm was finally sold ON a mort
gage, and the family moved into a dreary,
mean, little house in town, where matters
only went fNom bad to worse. know
there was dreadful suffering and shame,
and was often about the only sort of
dish in the house that had anything in
it, and what had was poison. Often /
had heard Father Seymour promise his
wife that he would drink no more, but it
would not be long before he would take
me to the whisky shop and be as bad as
ever.
But one day Father Seymour came in
and sat down, trembling, and said:
Mother, am going to have a chance
now to be a man. They carried no IL
cense at the last election, and the rum
shops are all closed, and / won't have to
stand the temptation of them any more.
And, mother, now, by Gods help and
to be the man | ought"
How she cried and kissed him, and
how Maggie and Tommy shouted for joy,
'Oh, goody, goody!"
"And this old jug ofyours now, papa"
said Tommy; don't you want me to
smash it so it can't harm you any more"
And thought my days were over just
as their good days were beginning. But
Mother Seymour said: mo, dear, we
will put it to good uses just as we will
make good use of our lives hereafter.
The jug may live to do all thegood it can
to make up for its past record. What
can Tommy do with that jug, father,
that will be of good to us? Could you
give him little money to get some milk
to go with our bread for supper
So Tommy washed me sweet and clean
from the filthy, poison whisky, and went
and got me filed with fresh, rich milk
at good neighbours. How proud 1 W. b,
and how happy all the family grew
Father Seymour soon was able to move
his family to a better home with many
comforts and to keep a COW, so that /
was no longer needed to carry milk.
Father Seymour always looked at me
with a sad look, as if he would like to
have me give him back the years, wasted
in shame and sin, when almost all he
had went for drink.-Union Signal.