Temperance Column.

Evening Post, Volume XLIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

Temperance Column.

The matter for this Column is supplied by a representative of the local Temperance bodies, who alone is responsible for the : opinions expressed in it.] tl A COLD WATER STORY. t l Somewhere lives a small farmer of such fl ociable habitß that his coming home intoxi- q :ated was once no unusual thing. His wife n irgt-d him in v-iin to reform. y '• Why,!you so?," ho would say, " I don't L iks to break it off at oik c ; it aiu't whole- Si .itne. Tlio best way i< iilwavs. to trot u-ed a ai a. f liiua b$ ile^r. cc, ;ou Uuiv." tt " Very well, old iimu," Inn he piueet \ouMuijjin, " »cc, now, if you dou't tall tito a hole ouo of these days, while you tl iau't take care of yourself, and nobody near 0 take you out " Sure enough, as if to verify the prophecy, 3 1 couple of days after, whon returning from , i wrotched frolic, the old fellow reeled into ll nia own well, and, after a deal of useless 6 ¦crambling, shouted for the "light of his tl ?yes " to come and help him out. fci "Didn't I tell you so?" said the good / >oul, showing her cap-frill over the edge of ;he parapet; "you've got into a hole at ast, and it's only lucky I'm in hearing, or t: fon might have drowned. Well," she con- c :inued, after a pause, letting down the t racket, "take hold." . And up he came, higher at every turn of " the windlass, until, the old lady 1 a grasp t slipping from the handle, down he went to t the bottom again. This occurring more than once made the temporary occupant of g bhe well suspicious. , "Look here!" he screamed, in fury, at c the last splash, "you're doing that on pur- t pose ; I know you are !" "Well, now, I am," responded his old j 'oman, tranquilly, while winding him up , once more; " didn't you tell me it's best to c get used to a thing by degrees ? I'm 'f raid if I was to bring you right up on a sudden, t you wouldn't find it wholedome." The old fellow could not help chuckling at her application of his principle, and protested that he would sign the pledge on the 6 instant, if she would lift him fairly out. 1 This she did, and packed him ofl to sign ] wet as he was. ,