The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-25
NllI!Iss { ';aiglf
LOCKED OUT.
A Story with m Old Fashioned
Moral.
By CHARLES W. HooKE.
lcoFYnIodr. 1893. !

lccFYnIodr. 1881
Jack Alden drank heavily while he
was in college, bat we called him a
good fellow. After he left college he
began to drink heavily and to be a
good fellow. but we called him a
drunkard When he was twenty-five
years old, 1 looked upon him as a
lost man. ] believed that he would be
q mere sot at thirty, and that he would
die miserably before he was thirty
five.
We lost each other for come years,
and then, after chance meeting in
New York, l dined with him most hap
PLY in the comfort of his home and in
the light of beautiful woman's eyes.
When tho light was withdrawn, and
we were left to dim the remaining IL
Elimination with a haze of tobacco
smoke, fell into deep thought upon
the agreeable failure of my prophecy.
What had saved Jack? l might have
said it was his marriage, but / knew
that he had fallen into the depths
again soon after. Hearing that report,
1 had pitied her exceedingly, and had
thought the worst Of Jack. Yet
could not doubt that he was at last in
the sure way. Knowing him SO well
] felt that some surprising incident
must have changed the course of his
life, and my curiosity craved the story.
81 know what you're thinking
about" said he. You're wondering
why l am here instead Of being in the
gutter"
''Oh, no, Jack" said I, nothing Of
the sort. always knew you'd come
out all right. You drank little at
one time, of course, but"
mo, didn't" said Jack. IT never
drank little. / drank barrel Mod
Grafton wasn't in me. was a drunk
ard. 1 lived the life of drunkard. I
died the death of drunkard.
"Metaphorically?"
Literally. That may sound absurd,
but it is only the truth. Nothing but
death could save me-"
"Not even"
mo; not even Alice"
His eyes filled with tears of tender
ness at the mention of his wifes name.
Il was never SO wrong headed" he
continued, ''as to suppose that man
can be saved by love alone. Any person
who has had experience in such mat
tiers knows that an added motive for
sobriety is an added temptation to the
drunkard. You see man mary and
keep sober for awhile. Then you see
him take drink again. You say it is
because his love has waned with the
honeymoon. It's no snch thing. At
first he does not drink because the nov
city of the situation keeps his mind off
the subject. Marriage seems like a
great vacation from the dullness of
life. And then love grows stronger till
he begins to realize what it is. The
preciousness of his possession reveals
itself to him. He who has more than
his due is never free from fear. What
If he lose her? He reviews the dangers.
In the front rank of them he sees his
appetite. And that is the end of him.
AS soon as he knows that it will be alb
fatal for him to touch drop
Of liquor. he is certain to do it. That
greater because l knew it all before
hand"
yet you escaped the consequence"
"No; it killed me, as have already
said. I will tell you the story. You
can make farce-comedy or tragedy
out of it, just as you like 1t was a
CHASTITY joke. Mother Nature is the
griInmest practical joker, after all, and
this is the way she played it on me.
But first must let you into the mystic
ries of Our early housekeeping. The
details trivial but they contribut-
ed to final catastrophe.
Il began with the usual drunkard's
balance-on the wrong side of the
books. We took a fat in that long
row pointed out to you as we came
mp town on the l.. Our furniture we