Annie Frances Perram

“ You know, sir, I was brought up in the town, and couldn't help seeing the curse that drink is. Sometimes the husband was the drinker, and sometimes both of them; and there was scarce a home about us that hadn't been ruined by drink; and so I made up my mind that if ever I had a home of my own, I would do my part towards keeping it free from such a curse, and for John's sake, I have signed the pledge, and for John's sake I must keep it, sir. I hope you and mistress will forgive me for refusing your wine."
"Bravo, Ruth! you're a brick," cried Harry. ”

“ It's miserable to walk by one's self," she said.
So she went to the Bible-class which Alice so regularly attended. The lesson was interesting and impressive, and as, from the lips of the minister's wife who gave it, there fell words of invitation to the sin-burdened and weary, Ruth felt strangely moved. Unconsciously her tears fell, for her heart ached with loneliness and longing as she heard of the Saviour and Friend, who was willing to come into her life and crown it with His forgiving love and mercy. ”

“ But Dick was soon dismissed from the conversation, for Ruth and John had much to talk over that was of far more interest even than a brother newly arrived from the other side of the world. Before they parted that night, John had succeeded in imparting to Ruth a little of his own enthusiasm in view of the new life he was about to enter upon, though her last thought before closing her weary eyes in sleep was: "Women feel so differently from men, and I must try and not discourage John by any of my fears, poor boy!" ”

“ At first Richard had taken considerable pride in the tiny atom of humanity which had found its way into the home; but baby came in for her share of neglect, and after a while her father took little notice of her.
"Poor little baby! your father doesn't care for you or me! He loves the drink and his public-house mates a deal better than the pair of us," sighed Jane many a time. Well, Jane, who sent him to the public-house to find friends and amusements, in the first place? You have no one to thank but yourself you know, or you might know, if you would care to think. ”

“ Jane, his wife, had been a domestic servant in a clergyman's family for many years, and had left, with mutual regrets, when Richard would no longer wait for the fulfilment of her promise to him. There was only one fault that her mistress ever had occasion to find with Jane; and, before her maid left, she very faithfully pointed it out; showing her that continued yielding to her failure would be likely to prove disastrous to her happiness as a wife. Jane listened attentively, and promised to remember the warning, and guard against what she knew to be her greatest besetment. ”

“ Kind, good Mrs. Reston, there is just one thing you have left undone; but when you shortly learn how you have failed to do all that was necessary to effectually help your weak sister, will you have sufficient courage and love to enable you to remedy the past and help to save a soul from perishing in its sin?
There was a knock at the door, and Jarvis entered with swollen, downcast eyes and face redder than usual. [182]
"Well, Jarvis," said Mrs. Reston, after a moment's silence.
"I've got nothing to say, ma'am; I can go as soon as you like," sullenly replied the woman.
Mrs. Reston sighed. ”

“ Years passed and Donovan Ryan went down to a drunkard's grave unwept and unhonoured. With rapid footsteps his wife followed him, leaving to the children as her legacy, the craving for intoxicants which had been engendered in their infancy and ministered to with such assiduity in following years.
Is the story improbable, impossible? No, for thousands of lives cursed with the disease of drink attest its truth. ”

“ Nevertheless, her heart leaped to hear her mistress say:
"You should not try to think that, Ruth, for I believe you wrong John by doing so; he is true and manly, and probably he would be only too happy to receive a letter from you."
"Well, ma'am, I don't feel as if I could write first," was the obstinate reply; and Ruth presently left the room with a still heavier heart than she had entered it.
"It's a sad case, George, and my conscience is not at rest about the part we have played in it," was Mrs. Groombridge's remark to her husband, after retailing her conversation with Ruth. ”

“ Say, gentle reader, whether being assured of the thousand parallel cases which exist in this civilised land of ours, you will dare to place temptation in the way of your sister, by advocating the use of alcohol as the necessary stimulant which alone can nerve the failing heart and brain to meet the exigencies of her daily life, thus placing before her unwary feet the stumbling-block over which she may fall never to rise? ”

“ Long before his time for returning [155] from work had arrived, the kitchen was spotlessly clean, the kettle singing on the shining grate, and Jane herself arrayed in a clean gown and new ribbon.
"Surely, he'll want to stay at home to-night, when he sees how pleasant everything looks again," said she to herself. When he came in, he took no apparent heed of his surroundings, but drank his tea in moody silence. When he had finished, he rose and took his hat, but Jane started up, crying:
"Oh, Richard, pray don't leave me again to-night! ”

“ He had seen the beauty and acknowledged the power of a life that was far above him, and from his heart he loathed the life he had hitherto led, and earnestly desired to put it away for ever. But strong only in his own strength, and looking to no higher power than earthly love to aid him in his upward course, what marvel that he deceived himself and others also. With his heart's desire at length accomplished, and with renewed prospects of a bright future, Roland West might have retrieved the dark past, and entered upon a career of usefulness, such as had been fondly pictured for him. ”

“ Ay, ruin for time and eternity—having preached to others to become yourself a castaway; but you will not suffer alone, Harris. Your gentle, refined wife will be plunged from comfort to penury; your beautiful, promising children will know the cruel shifts of poverty; will hear their father's name uttered in accents of contempt by a scoffing world; will watch his downward career with fear and loathing, and yet, oh! mark my words, will probably follow in his footsteps, drag out miserable existences, and eventually fill drunkards' graves. ”

“ We only commenced last week, but we are getting on nicely, and intend, on Sunday evenings, holding a lively service, with plenty of singing. Will you join us?" asked Mr. Martyn.
"I should like to, sir; but don't talk of me being the one to help you, for I want helping myself. Perhaps you don't know; but I've been going down, down, these six years and more, and I'm fairly sick when I think what a fool I've made of myself," said Richard, with drooping head.
"Come, my friend," answered Mr. Martyn, with his hand on Richard's shoulder: "that's the first step towards becoming a wiser man. ”

“ Choosing for himself companions rife for mischief and folly, on leaving school he indulged in those pursuits, from which, though most congenial, he had been greatly debarred during his seclusion. Now he began, as he termed it, to enjoy life. Each evening he sought the exciting scenes of revelry and debauch, and neither his father's stern reproaches nor the tearful pleadings of his mother, moved him to more than a passing thought of the ruin which he was inevitably working out for himself. ”

“ When I'm big, I'll drink, oh, bottles and bottles; not have a taste of papa's," said the child, looking contemptuously at the remains of the sparkling wine, which, in his father's glass, had been set before him.
"When you're a man, Roland, you will be a little wiser than you are now," said his father, somewhat sharply. ”

“ Sir, if for the summer months we could compel the publicans, and all who are licensed to sell alcohol in any shape or form, to close their premises, and take a long vacation, and could we during that time banish from the homes of our land every temptation to strong drink, then we might afford to give up our meetings for the next few months; but while the monster Intemperance is ceaselessly devastating homes and blighting lives in all classes and [84] communities, let us not dream of giving our endeavours to meet and vanquish the strong man armed a summer holiday. ”

“ That is well said, my dear; but—but—shall we agree to refrain from offering intoxicants to callers, and the visitors who occasionally sit at our table, lest we place temptation in their way, while every day those dearer than our life sit and partake with us of the cup which I now believe to possess such fatal allurements? If we have decided no longer to tempt our guests, shall we continue to tempt our innocent children, to whom we stand in their early years as their sole medium of light and knowledge? ”

“ If she took her ale home George would be sure to want some; and she knew that he had already exceeded by far his usual limit; why should she not stand and drink hers there? There was no one to see her; no one would ever be the wiser. It would only be just for once, she told herself, to put temptation out of her husband's way.
"If you'll kindly bring me a glass, I'll drink it here," she said to the barmaid.
"Certainly, ma'am;" and Susan rapidly drained her glass, and walked home with her empty jug. ”

“ But no such task lay before him when he left his neighbour's cheerful fireside; neither was his wife lying in a state of helpless intoxication across the bed; nor was she even sitting muddled and stupified, waiting his arrival to make the cottage resound with her oaths, when he should refuse to supply her with the means for further revelry and drunken debauch. In the usually empty grate a glowing fire shed its warmth and radiance through the room; on the table there was a jug of steaming coffee, and a pile of bread and butter ”

“ Graham came up, and John went to see about Ruth's luggage, further explanations and news from home being reserved till the evening, when John had finished his day's work.
When Ruth's long story was finished, John sat thoughtful and silent for some time.
"Yes, Ruthie, I do feel you are right. I want a stronger power than even my love for you to keep me from yielding to temptation, and I will from this time give my whole life, with its many sins and mistakes, into the Hand of the One who will forgive all, and make me a new creature," he presently said. ”

“ CAN'T think what's come to Ruth," said Mr. Groombridge one day, at dinner-time, about six months after John Greenwood had sailed for Australia; "she's lost all her brightness, and goes about the house as white and silent as a ghost." ”

“ Green spoke again: "There is only one step to be taken; from this day all intoxicants must be banished from our home. Neither our children nor our friends must ever have further opportunity of stumbling over our well-meaning but cruel kindness. God, who knows how blindly and ignorantly we have sinned in the past, will surely grant His forgiving mercy to us, and help us in the future to wage successful battle against this subtle foe who has had, till now, his acknowledged place in our house."
"Thank God for that decision; my heart already feels lighter. ”

“ Often, when engaged in pursuits new and exciting, or carousing with companions as degraded as his own brother, the sweet, happy restraints of the old home life, and the pure face of the woman he loved would rise before him in vivid contrast, and with an unutterable loathing he would turn from his present life, and long to be free. ”

“ No, you're right, Richard. Dear old soul! It's very likely that I shouldn't have fixed the rooms half so nicely; but I shall do my very best to keep them just as they are for many a day. Missis always said I was careless about my work; but it seems to me as if doing for one's own home must be a very different thing to slaving for any one else. ”

“ Ruth's face grew scarlet.
"Why doesn't he write to me, then, and let me know what he means?" she cried with bitterness. [40]
"I'm sorry you should have quarrelled, my dear, for I believe you're the very woman for him; and I know he's desperately fond of you, and here's Dick saying Jack would do better with a woman to keep him out of mischief."
"What's his address?" asked Ruth. It was written down for her, and she soon made an excuse to leave. There were many conflicting thoughts and emotions at work in her mind and heart. How could John suppose she could ever forget him? ”

“ Sir, it has been suggested that Bands of Hope accomplish little of what they profess to do, and in proof of that, two of our non-abstaining friends have readily confessed that in their boyhood they were associated with Bands of Hope. Sir, there doubtless is a percentage of children who carelessly or ignorantly take upon themselves [83] these solemn vows, and fail to fulfil them. I may add that to my knowledge, many a drunkard has gone down to his dishonoured grave uttering the impotent wish that he had kept the pledge of his childhood. ”

“ You'll never be a man unless you can drink a glass of wine with your friends."
Charlie coloured, but pushed his glass further away.
"Never mind, dear! our little friend's whims must not be interfered with. He will learn better when he is older," said the hostess, ordering a glass of water to take the place of the wine.
Elsie sat next to Charlie, and turning to her the host said:
"Now, Miss Elsie, you don't look as if you belonged to this army of youthful abstainers. Let us see how you can drink your wine; then you shall have the glass that Charlie despises." ”

“ I know that there are many who are never anything but moderate drinkers; but there's danger somewhere, and because I can't rightly say where it comes in, and perhaps shouldn't know when it did, I've put myself out of the way of it altogether." [6]
"That's woman's logic all the world over; but I would like to know why you cannot just for once take a glass of wine. You know it's good, and quite unlike the wretched stuff that ruins so many."
"I've promised not to take any kind of intoxicating drink, and I dare not break my promise, sir," said Ruth firmly. ”

“ Day after day, week after week, and even month after month passed away, and still, to George and Susan Dixon's unbounded astonishment, Timothy Morris kept his pledge, and into his wretched home there began to creep an air of comfort. Rags gave place to decent clothing, and the children no longer fled terrified at their father's approach. ”

“ Yes, Ruth, I think there is cause for anxiety about John, but you must not lose heart. I think you acted unwisely in letting him go as you did; at least you might have gone out to him if you knew he was keeping sober and doing well, and the very anticipation of your coming might have given him a motive and impetus that nothing else could. Men dislike to be forced into anything, and have a great objection to be bound by a pledge. ”