Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-09-28

Wd1keu DICK. E0ttfl0S the citiD IL
told a waiter 10 bring him "Manhat
b tan" Tie mental gazed At the youn:
man in amazement for Il moment ani
then retired to fulfill his task. Ashton
was known to the members and en-
| ployes of the club as the only man con
nected Herewith who never dranl
anything stronger than water.
About o'clock that evening a top
heavy stick that looked as though il
had spent the day in unseemly c;rousal
lay prone upon the sidewalk of a
cross street near the avenue. Ashton
had dropped it there when taken into
custody by policeman, who had found
the youth leaned against front rail
ing and calling for cocktails of every
Ipasser-by. Even in its ignominious con
ditiOn the head of the cane seemed
larger than it had been in the morn
ing, as though it had grown proud of
its days achievements.
Marvin Waldron. a much-respected
business man, stumbled over the stick
as he hurried homeward. WaIdr0n was
u well-dressed, tive. abstemi-
Gus citizen. devoted to his wife and
children and superintendent of a Sun
day school.
Waldron was somewhat shocked at
the di<0rdered appearance of the cane.
! but he picked it up gently and looked
about him for 4 possible owner. There
WAS nobody in sight save a few boys
and three or four women.
I'll take it home and advertise it in
| the papers tomorrow" murmured the
good man, as he fastened forward.
| He wished to see the children before
! they went to bed But. suddenly. he
was seized with a most insistent thirst.
Il longing for beer that he had never
known before. He paused for 4 mo-
ment. Was he Ill? Should he call on
his doctor at once? No: the doctor
would give him some vile decoction
and what he wanted was beer, a cold,
foaming draught that would delight
Gambrinus himself.
This is awful" said Waidron. sadly,
as, for the first time in his life, he
entered a saloon.
1t was 10 O'Clock. A pOrtly but in
toXicated citizen, famous in temper
ance circles, had just been sent home
in a cab from this paradise Of beer and
pretzels, and the uncanny cane lay on
the floor near the table at which
Waldron had given way to the maudlin
madness too much malt begets.
Its prosperous proprietor was one of
those thrifty dispensers of alcoholic in
vigOratiOn who never taste their
wares. He had seen the effects OF over
indulgence in beer SO often that from
early bOyhood he had vowed to abstain
from any beverage that could fiddle or
confuse. The habitues of his saloon
dubbed him Thirsty Fritz" on the
ground that they never had been able
to make him take a drink. And while
they drank and grew poor he abstained
and waXed rich.
1t was shortly after 10'that Thirsty
Fritz found the evil-minded stick on
the floor where the weary NValdron had
let it fall. Picking it up he looked at
it attentively.
Whose cane is this?" he asked the
bartender in q voice that astonished
that be-aproned functionary. And then
before the latter could answer he said,
with an uuwonted longing in his eyes:
"Give me, Heinrich, a glass of
schnapps.''
The bartender turned pale, looked at
l. hos ~
moment and then poured out the de
sired draught.
An hour had passed. Down near the
river Il man of exemplary habits, man
whose apparent detestation for the
poison he had peddled had given him
the nickname of Thirsty Fritz lean
ed against Il wood-pile and held in his
I hand that stick that seemed to his dis
! ordered brain to whisper: ''Schnapps,
more schnapps; there's joy and life in
| schnapps."
! Then the man and the cane lay down
together by the woodpile and the man
slept.
Tim the Tippler'' was a tramp. He
| had been in hard luck of late, and hav-
! inc no money to pay FOR Il lodging had
climbed into warmer corner of the
woodpile to WOO from nature a nights
repose without paying tribute to any
sordid landlord who might hold that
sleep is not as free as air.
About midnight Tim awOke. He had
been dreaming of the old Oaken bucket
from which he had quenched his thirst
in boyhood, and the burning in his
throat demanded satisfaction. But it
was not the clear water of that ancient
we'll he craved. He wanted whisky,
and as he climbed down from his snug
bedroom among the pine boards he
determined to quiet his awful thirst,
even though he had to commit crime.
AS he jumped down from the last pile
he struck against the cane and nearly
fell PROSTATE as it rolled beneath his
worn and shattered shoes. With an
oath he picked up the stick. 1t seemed
to grin at him in the dim light, as
though it drew him onward to scenes
of CHASTITY jollity, and on the instant
his craving for strong drink became sc
potent that, unheeding the PROSTATE
man near by, he rushed forward wild
~.
Drink, drink he cried, clasping the
cane to his tattercovered breast, u
) must have drink
! The light of low grogshop urged him
| onward