The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-08-22
TOWSON MD. SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 1903.

Md, SATU
family, is lying in some rum shop,
continually drinking and not caring
whether his family is being taken
care of or not. Many wife, although
doing the best she can under these
trying circumstances, is beaten and
cruelty treated by a brute of hus-
band. My friends, if there is any
one among my hearers tonight who
is leading life as this, my earnest
appeal to the heaven above is that he
will redeem himself tonight. that he
will join us tonight, give up the habit
of drinking forever and proudly wear
the little bow Of blue. Do this to-
night Do not wait until tomorrow !"
With that he concluded his ad-
dress. Down in the rear of the hall,
almost out of the sight of everyone,
we find man dressed in tattered
clothes, with head bowed on the edge
Of a bench, and weeping bitterly.
This io Will IraFl<ia,, ----------
X \. X X X X
1t is about 10 o'clock at night and
in room in tenement house on the
East Side we find true little woman
on her bended knees at the bedside of
her two babes, fervently praying to
God to guide and protect her little
ones, to return an erring husband and
father to the path of righteousness
and honor.
"Oh, God," is her prayer, "help
me and my dear little children, guide
and protect my husband and their
father. Help him, o God, that he
may tonight give up his bad habits
and become new man. Help him,
0 Lord, that he may again take an
interest in his family and earnestly
try to keep us from want. Grant to
us the privilege of living happily all
the days of our life" " This was Nell
Larkins.
She had finished her prayer and
was sitting and waiting for the return
Of her husband. While thus occu-
pied her thoughts wandered back to
the days of her girlhood. She could
see herself at home in the little town
of her birth what happiness it had
been for her to have a number of the
young men of the locality to visit her,
and each one tried his very best to
win her hand. But she had placed
her trust in steady, honest and up
right Will Larkins, although he was
only poor clerk in the town bank,
while some of the others were sons of
wealthy parents. How happy her
and Will had been after they were
married and he was struggling hard
to gain promotion, SO that Nell and
the little ones could be we'll taken
care of. And then suddenly there
came the change, and from an earn
est, honest and Industrious man Will
Larkins sank down to the lowest level
of humanity-a drunka,dI Nell was
sitting with her head bowed, deeply
engrossed in these thoughts, when,
VAS WAS coming ming; through t'rt1 the hallway and
directly to her door.
A knock at the door, and then
voice cried, "Nell, Nell open the
door, it is I, Will p
In great haste she sprang up from
her chair and ran towards the door
and unlocked it. There stood Will
Larkins Not the same old drunk
ard, but sober man with eyes that
shone clear and bright, as if the heav-
ems had opened to them, and on his
rag ged coat was pinned little 6ow of
blue
"Nell," he cried, "from tonight on
1 begin new life. I will drink no
more. May God help me that may
fulfill the mission of this little bow
of blue !''
Amid her sobs Of Joy he told her
how he had chanced to enter the
meeting house of the temperance So
ciety how he sat and listened to the
words of the orator, and how they
had awakened him from reckless
slumber to realize the real pitiful state
of affairs he had brought about by his
love for drink.
That night they both knelt at the
bedside of their children and gave
thanks to Almighty God that He had
helped them in their hour of need
and asked that He would help them
forever.
The next day, about noon, Will
was passing within a square of his
old Office looking for work, when
whom should he run into but Mr..
Thorpe, the general manager of the
Grand Central R. R.
After Mr.. Thorpe had gotten over
his surprise at seeing Will Larkins
sober again, he questioned him some
what, and when he found out how
things really were he asked him to
call at his Office the next day at about
the same time and he would see if he
could not help him in some way to
get position.
The following day promptly at IL
O'Clock Will Larkins presented him
self at the Office of the Grand Cen
trail R. R. After waiting a few mo-
ments he was shown into the private
Office of the general manager. As
he walked through the offices it seem
ed like olden times to him, and oh
how his heart yearned for just one
more chance there
"We1l, Larkins, 1 see you are on
time" were the words with which he
was greeted as he entered the room.
''Larkins, continued Mr.. Thorpe
in an earnest tone, "I have been
thinking this matter over ever since
left you yesterday, and I have come
to the conclusion that if you will
promise me that in the future you
will live an honest and upright life,