Theodore P. Wilson

“ Dear Mrs Franklin! The drink has washed out all kindness: there’s ruin hanging over that house, not as I wishes it to them, but it is so. The children’s been brought up to think of just nothing but themselves; their eating and drinking, and dressing, and playing: there’s sipping in the parlour all day long; drinking in the dining-room; swilling in the kitchen. Our poor Jim’s seen his betters there living as if men, women, and children had nothing to do in this world but to drown the thoughts of the next in drink and pleasure, and he’s learnt his lesson too well ”

“ An omnibus had been hired expressly for the occasion. Mark sat by the driver, and acted as presiding genius. The common meeting-place was an old oak, above a mile out of the town, and thither by ten o’clock all the providers and their provisions had made their way. No one could look more bright than Mark Rothwell, no one more peacefully lovely than Mary Franklin. All being seated, off they started at an uproarious signal from Mark. Away they went, along level road, through pebbly lane, its banks gorgeous with foxgloves and fragrant with honeysuckles, over wild heath, and then up grassy slopes. ”

“ And John, my son, I once thought you’d nearly lost the noblest and best of wives; but you’ve won her, and dearly, too, but she’s worth the price of a little stooping, ay, and of a great deal too. And old Esau Tankardew nearly lost his peace and his self-respect, in selfish unsanctified sorrow, but he has won something better than respect, though it cost him a hard struggle; he has won a daughter who hates that drink which blotted out light and joy from the old man’s home and heart ”

“ I like to see a person obliging from principle, and not merely from impulse: not merely when his being obliging is only another form of self-gratification.”
“But why should not Mark Rothwell be obliging on principle?”
“Well, Mary, you know my views. I can trust a person as truly obliging who acts on Christian principle, who follows the rule, ‘Look not everyone on his own things, but everyone also on the things of others,’ because he loves Christ. I am afraid poor Mark has never learned to love Christ.” ”

“ And so we want to gather together the power and influence of total abstainers in Total Abstinence Societies and Bands of Hope, by their union through the pledge as a common bond. We want to set hearts on fire with a holy love that shall make them burn to rescue poor slaves of the drink from their misery and ruin. Won’t you help? Can you hold back? Are not souls perishing by millions through the drink, and is any sacrifice too dear to make, any cross too heavy to take up in such a cause?”
The old man had risen, and was walking up and down the room with great swinging strides. ”

“ Will you promise me that you will never knowingly marry a man who loves the drink?”
Mary buried her face in her hands. A few moments, and no one spoke.
“Hear me, my child,” cried the old man, again beginning to pace the room with measured strides; “you are dear to me, very dear, for you’re the image of one lost to me years ago, long weary years ago. I cannot bear to see you offered as another victim on the altar of the Drink-Moloch: he has had victims enough: too many, too many. Do you wish to wither into a premature grave? ”

“ Mark pressed the intoxicants upon them even to rudeness, but without effect. Mr Rothwell was evidently annoyed at his son’s pertinacity, and tried to check him; but all in vain, for Mark had taken so much as just to make him obstinate and unmanageable. But, finding that he could not prevail, the young man hurried away in anger, and plied the other members of the company with redoubled vigour.
So engrossing had been the luncheon that few of the party had noticed a sudden lull in the atmosphere, and an oppressive calm which had succeeded to the brisk and cheery breeze. ”

“ How unjust!” exclaimed Mary, when Mr Tankardew was gone. “Poor Mark! Every one strikes at him.”
But was it cruel? was it unjust? Let us go with Mark Rothwell himself, as he leaves his house that very night, sneaking out at the backdoor like a felon.
A few hundred yards to the rear of the outbuildings stood a neat and roomy cottage; this was occupied by John Gubbins, the coachman, a man bound to Mark by unlimited donations of beer, and equally bound to a gang of swindlers who had floated their way to his pocket and privacy on the waves of strong drink. ”

“ Upstairs, Mrs Rothwell tosses about with a sick headache, unable to rest and unwilling to rise. The young ladies are dawdling in dressing-gowns over a bedroom breakfast, and exchanging mutual sarcasms and recriminations, blended with gall and bitterness flung back on last night’s party. Poor Mark has the worst of it, nausea and splitting headache, with a shameful sense of having made both a fool and a beast of himself. So much for the delights of “lots of negus, wine, and punch!” He has also a humbling remembrance of having been rude to Mr Tankardew. ”

“ Poor Mark Rothwell quite forgot himself. I was truly glad to get away early.”
“Oh! So was I, mamma; it was terrible. I wish he wouldn’t touch such things; I’m sure he’ll do himself harm if he does.”
“Yes, indeed, Mary; harm in body, and character, and soul. Those are fearful words, ‘No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.’”
“I wish I was like Mr Tankardew,” says Mary, after a pause; “did you see, mamma, how he refused the negus? I never saw such a frown.”
“Well, Mary, I’m not certain that total abstinence would suit either of us, but it is better to be on the safe side. ”

“ She had done this to make the child a willing partaker in her sin, to bribe her to secrecy, and to use her as a tool for the gratifying of her own vile appetite. Thus was she deliberately poisoning the body and soul of her child, and training her in deceit, that she might league that little one, as she grew up, with herself in procuring the forbidden stimulant, and in deceiving her own father. O accursed drink, which can thus turn a mother into the tempter and destroyer of her own guileless and unsuspecting child! ”

“ Poor Mary burst into tears, but her mother came to her aid, and said:
“I don’t quite see what good Mary’s signing the pledge will do. She has taken neither beer nor wine for some time past, so that she does all that is needed in the way of example.”
“No, she does not, madam, if you’ll excuse my being so blunt. She just does not do what will make her example tell. Power for good comes through combination; the devil knows it well enough, and he gets drunkards to band together in clubs; and worldly people band together in clubs, and back one another up and concentrate their forces. ”

“ The sight of his mother and sister seemed partially to sober him, for the spirit within him bowed instinctively before the beauty of holiness, which neither poverty nor terror could obliterate from the face of those whom he used to love so dearly. But the spell was soon broken.
“I say,” he exclaimed, “what’s to do here? I want my supper; I haven’t scarce tasted to-day, and nobody cares for me no more nor a dog. I say, mother, stir yourself, and get me my supper.” ”

“ Mrs Franklin and her daughter had learnt to love the old man, in spite of his eccentricities; they saw the sterling strength and consistency of his character. They had, however, hardly expected such an invitation; but the reports of the strange changes in progress in Mr Tankardew’s dwelling had reached their ears, so that it was evident that he was intending, for some unknown reasons, to break through the reserve and retirement of years, and let a little more light and sociability into the inner recesses of his establishment. ”

“ It was a grand thing to be allowed to sit with such company, and to hear the wonderful stories of the gentlemen who condescended to come and place their stores of gold and silver within a poor footman’s reach. What with the tales, and the songs, and the whisky punch, Jim thought himself the happiest fellow alive the first night he joined the party, especially when he found himself the winner of three or four bright sovereigns, which had become his own for the mere throwing down of a few cards, and a rattle or two of the dice box. ”

“ Take some yourself, my dear, it’ll do you good.”
“And me too, mamma,” cries Alice, stretching out her hand.
“Really, Alice, you’re too young; you mustn’t be getting into wanting wine so early in the day, it’ll spoil your digestion.”
“Oh! Nonsense, mamma! Everybody takes it now; it’ll do me good, you’ll see. Mark often gives me wine; he’s a dear good brother is Mark.”
Mrs Rothwell sighs, and takes a sip of sherry: she is beginning to brighten up.
“What in the world did your father mean by asking old Mr Tankardew to the party to-night?” she exclaims, turning to her elder daughters. ”

“ She had never been in the neighbourhood before, for her brother was only a recent settler in the place. I was charmed with her; the more so because she was so like her brother, so bright and so open; so thoroughly transparent. She beamed upon me like a flood of sunshine, and gilded my cloudy reserve with her own radiance, so that I shone out myself in her company; so they told me, and I believed it. I was young then, you’ll remember. I wasn’t the wrinkled old pilgrim that I am now. We got attached to one another, it would seem, at once; others may fall in love; we leapt into it ”

“ A strange contrast were these visitors to the old room and its furniture. Mr Rothwell was a tall and rather portly man with a pleasant countenance, a little flushed, indicating a somewhat free indulgence in what is certainly miscalled “good living.” The cast of his features was that of a person easy-going, good-tempered, and happy; but a line or two of care here and there, and an occasional wrinkling up of the forehead showed that the surface was not to be trusted. Mark, his son, was like him, and the very picture of good humour and light-heartedness ”

“ Do you wish to see the light die out of your mother’s smile? Then marry a drink-worshipper. Do you wish to tremble every time you hear the footstep of the man who has turned ‘sweet home’ into a shuddering prison? then marry a drink-worshipper. Do you wish to see little children hide the terror of their eyes in your lap and tremble at the name of father? Then marry a drink-worshipper. Stay, stay, I’m an old fool to break out in this way, and scare you out of your wits;” for Mary and her mother were both sobbing bitterly: “forgive me, but don’t forget me ”

“ All was still as death, little of the fence remained, the stock yard was all to pieces, the garden was a wilderness, the cottage a wreck. I made inquiries afterward very diligently, and heard that the young farmer had taken to drinking, that the younger children had followed his example, the poor mother was in her grave, and her eldest son a disreputable vagabond; where the rest were no one knew. Oh! I resolved when I heard it that never would I under any circumstances offer intoxicating drinks to others, as I had previously, while myself a total abstainer, occasionally done. ”

“ Instantly the whole gang took to their heels, closely followed by the constables. No shout had been raised, no word had been spoken, for John Randolph had been most anxious that the thieves should be captured without alarming the ladies. And now in the darkness, pursuers and pursued were scattered in different directions. John sprang after the young man who had raised the pistol, and succeeded in grappling with him before he could mount the fence. The clouds were now dispersed, and there was light enough for one to recognise another. ”

“ Are the wine and negus God’s good creatures?”
“Certainly they are,” was the reply: “God has permitted man to manufacture them out of the fruits of the earth, and to make them the means of pleasurable excitement, and therefore surely we may take them and give them as His good creatures.”
Mr Tankardew made no answer, but striding up to Mary, where she sat with a circle of little interesting faces round her, eagerly intent on some simple story she was telling them, he said, “Miss Franklin, will you favour me by bringing me a few of your young friends here. ”

“ Then he raised the jug with unsteady fingers, but, before a drop could reach the tumbler, Mr Tankardew had risen, and with one sweep of his hand dashed it out of Mary’s grasp on the ground. Few heard the crash, amidst the din of the general merriment, and those who noticed it supposed it to be an accident. “Nearly lost!” whispered Mr Tankardew in Mary’s ear; then he said, in a louder voice, “Faugh! The atmosphere of this place does not suit me. I must retire. Mrs Franklin, pray make an old man’s excuses to our host and hostess.” ”

“ You’ll never regret it. You must help us to fight the doctors: they mean well, some of them; but most of them are building up the palace of intemperance faster than we can pull it down. ‘The doctor ordered it;’ that’s an excuse with thousands to drown their souls in drink. I wonder if they’d swallow a shovelful of red hot coals if the doctor ordered it?”
Summer had now given place to autumn; it was a bright September day when the above conversation took place. When Mr Tankardew rose to go, Mrs Franklin and Mary volunteered to accompany him a little way. ”

“ The dust and cobwebs have had notice to quit, brooms and brushes have travelled into corners and crevices hitherto unexplored, the piano rests in a parlour which smiles in the gaiety of a new carpet and new curtains; prints have come to light upon the walls, chairs and tables have taken heart, and now wear an honest gloss upon their legs and faces ”

“ I could see he was thirsting for the drink, for his eye sparkled when the flask was produced. I whispered to my friend to forbear, but he would not. ‘Nonsense,’ he said; ‘just a little can do them no harm, it is only friendly to offer it.’ ‘Just a taste, then, merely a taste,’ said our host, and produced glasses. The mother tried to interfere, but her son frowned her into silence. So grog was made, and the younger ones, too, must taste it, and before we left the flask had been emptied. I took none myself, for never has a drop of intoxicants passed my lips since I first left my English home. ”