The Portland daily press., 1900-12-05
BETTER THAN A PLEDGE.
How DR.. sehn wesley Brown Helped a
Man TO Give Up shs Liquor HABIT
lFrom the clereland nealer.l

(From the Cleveland Dealer.l
A Cleveland man tells the pathetic and
characteristic story OF the late Rev. Or.
John Wesley Brown, the incident occur
ing while he was rector of Trinity church
In shat city. Inc story was told the mar
rator by the doctor himself.
One evening . stranger called at the
rsctory on Superior street, adjoining the
church. He was well dressed. well APP
pearing man, but evidently In deep
trouble.
"Dr. Brown, he said, 81 have come
to ron for advice and assistance. am 9
victim Of the drink habit. have an ex-
csllent positlon--I am cashier for q
wealthy eorporation-and 1 know can
not retain 10 unless / reform. 1 want
you 70 draw up pledge for me--make It
as strong as You can. piease-and l Will
sign 10, and you will witness IT,"
DIR. Brown leaned back and looked ut
the man. s~~ssss sss
"How long have you been drinking to
excessf' he asked
The man told MIN II was five or six
years ever since he obtained his present
position. lie only drank to excess when
he was with his friends. He never drank
at other times. When he was with his
friends he would forget himself and over
step the limit. Sometimes he didn't go
on q spree for q whole month, but the
attacks were growing more frequent. lie
seemed to bs losing his Will power.
"My friend,' said the doctor, "you
don't need q pledge. 1 see In you VIC
tim of good oomradeshiD. You are far
from being an ordinary drunkard. II
you signed o temperance pledge an d
broke it--as you undoubtedly would do
it would still further degarde you In your
own eyes. j do not advise the plsdgef'
The man looked dumbfounded.
"But what am TO doY' he gasped.
The doctor drew q card from his desk
and rapidly wrote few lines.
s'There," ne said "read that
THIS is what the man read.
sTo my friends; / find am becom-
ing a victim of the liquor habit. II 1
do not quit am sure to lose my posi-
tion and ruin myself. For God g sake,
don t ask me to drink with you.''
ssThere," said Dr. Brown, "sign that
and will sign IL az q witness. All
temptation is at your elbow, and II you
fall come here and tell me about 1t.
THERE Good night"
IL was a full month before the man re-
turned, worried and detected.
"I expected you long bef2re this" said
the doctor, as he greeted the stranger.
''Tell me about 1t. Did you show the
cardf''
Eyes" replied the man. 1.-THE first
time was the very next night after 1
called on you. A good friend, a railroad
man, came into the office and after had
checked up his accounts said: Come,
Charlie, let's go over TO the Oyster House
and have a drink Well, sir, l was
reaching for my hat when / remembered
the card. took IL out and handed 1t TO
him. Thought he would never finish
reading 1t. lie looked at me and he
iooked at the card. And then he slowly
put his arm down on the counter and
said: Charlie, I'D sooner ut that hand
OH than ask you 90 drink again. Well,
sir, l showed that card several times after
that, and every blessed man showed IL
to took IL seriously. Sometimes they
said, all right old boy Sometime
they laid it down without word. And
then--it was last night forgot about
it, and here am"
"xou are doing we'll, said the doctor.
"Have courage and try and make the
interval little longer nsxt time"
Is was three months before the man
came back. The next time 10 was six
months.
.sAnd now," said the doctor to the
narrator, sit Is nearly two years since
his last call, ana ] have every reason to
believe that he will not find IL necessary
to come to me again. So, you see, was
quite right. 1t wasn't pledge that he
needed"