Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-05-17

il BE ~ul'c-3, ~eire-, SOS
his mothers death Aashed .,s-r hir...
lie sat down. trembling. Ii seemed, q
IL there Was something more than
that. How difficult it was TO dress
lnstinctively he thought that only one
drink would steady his akirg hands
and cool his parching throat. Only one
drink Merciful heavens! His awful
VOW of the night before struck him
like blow. Never to drink, till he
took il from his mothers hand. And
that hand lay cold in death. Great
drops of sweat stood out ON his fore
head.
BY a supreme effort of will he
dressed and left the room, stealing
noiselessly past the parlor in which
his mother lay.
The day passed like a nightmare.
Food he could not swallow, not even
the fragrant coffee pressed upon him
by kind neighbors. AS one in a dream
ne used the hot bath and the clean
linen that had been prepared, and put
on his black clothes, now too small
for him. He wondered in and ont
covering his burning eyes with his
qulvering hands. Sometimes he sat
down suddenly, when the sick craving
made him faint. The women who took
charge of the house said to each
other: Poor boyi How well he loved
her, after all! He is sorry, and now he
knows he can never tell her so"
That nfuhf in he =,
saloon, when the noise was at its loud
est, the watchful bartender saw the
back door cautiously open, and a
mans hand thrust through. tapping
softly on the panel. Unnoticed. he
hurried to the door. There stood Win
Rochester, with a white, set face. and
madness in his eyes.
For Gods sake, Sam, fetch me out
a drink, something hot. Don't let the
fellows see mel"
THAT you, Bill? Awful tough on
you, old fellow. amt it. an YOU won't
come in tonight? What | ell most
internal luck! Wait here and III bring
something.
With barely a word of thanks Will
clutched the deep and heavy glass. and
hurried away into the darkness. Hell
must drink it. The enticing odor
crept up his nostrils and penetrated
TO the roof of his mouth. His tongue
moved, his lips twitched; every drop
of his blood seemed to have open
mouths, TO drink it in. But, lurid ON
the darkness before him, burned those
words, God being my witness-neverI
TO drink-unless | take il from my own
mothers hand"
Onward through the darkness he ,
sped, like n demoniac, scourged by
avenging furies. And ever before his
eyes, foated fragments of his awful
VOW.
Reaching his mothers house, he en-
tered with caution. crept steadily to
the room where rested the lifelss body.
and still listening and painting like
wounded animal. In the adjoining
apartment he heard the To-, uur1uur
of voices. Suppose they should enter!
He crouched down beside the head
of the bier, carefully guarding (as he
had in all his flight the fateful cup. The
cold night air blew i'm from a screened
window. lie shuddered violently, and
carefully set the cup upon the floor
Thea, slowly and fearfully rising,
CHASTITY as the ghost of Love, he
drew the sheet down, lifted up
the cold right hand, stopped for
the cup, placed it in his moth
er's hand, and with both his own,
crushed the stifrened fingers round it,
then. bending, he placed his boyish lips
60 the cup, and drank the raw spirits
greedily.%
Then he hurriedly skunk out of the
room, like thief, went on his way
his way TO n drunkard's life, a drunk
ards death, n drunkard's grave, and
a drunkard's hell
Why does God permit these ruined
boys, these broken-hearted mothers?
Because, all around us, whenever n
maiden's "Yes" is whispered to a
bridegroom who drinks intoxicants, if
he only drinks little, she is weaving
the fatal spell which will call into be-
ing such demon-ridden souls, being
cursed, even before their birth, with
the drunkard's thirsty blood, her
itage of woe, Of death and shame
Mrs. McVean Adams, in Union Signal.
can aCtnal Incident