AN AWFUL EXAMPLE.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 524, 5 January 1889, Page 13

AN AWFUL EXAMPLE.

A STOItV WITH A MOliA.li.

""W^k K was a thin Mid hungry-looking mdi vidual in a worn and shabby t>we<. j d suit. _ J ll ) )/ a hat whose glory hail faded and. gone. 'Jf and nu'uber 1J boots very much the worse for wear. Ho was sauntering listlessly up the sunny side of Queen- street when his pa is fane ! and gone-10-the-dogs appearance first attracted \ my attention. Presently he came to an anohoi opposite a restaurant, and eagerly scanned the dinner bill-of-fare for the day hanging at the door. Having, with the aid of a bony forelinger 'spotted ' a particular item on the tempting list of good things to be had inside, the thin man hoaved a deep sigh, glanced furtively through the halfopened door of the eatiug-honse. and thoughtfully jingled a few loose coins in his right-hand trousers 1 pocket. He was evidently undecided whether to advance or retreat. At this critical moment the words, ' Chops, one,' pronounced in a very loud tone by a bustling waiter within, appeared to settle the question. The thin man, as "if yielding to an irresistible impulse, hesitated no longer but walked in, took a scat near the door, and called for grilled chops. Struck by the peculiar manner uf the shabby ruau, I lost no time in following his example, and I saw him, with some astonishment, dovqiir four plates of grilled chops in rapid succession. He called for a iifth plate, indeed : but at tin's point the waiter, who appeared to know his man well, seized him by the arm. and with a firm ' Come now, you have had as much as is good for you, and had better go home, you had indeed,' succeeded with some difficulty in elbowing the shabby man out. 'Sad case,' said I to the waiter when he returned, ' Man appears to be in a famishing condition. Couldn't havo had any food for a week I should say. Who is he ?' ' Why, bless you sir,' replied he of the napkin, with an amused smile, ' that is the third time we've had him here to-day, and he'll be in again b3fore tea. That man has eaten about twelve pounds of mutton chops to-day, and, so long as his money lasts, mutton chops he will have. He can't resist 'em. But,' continued the waiter, lowering his voice to a mysterious whisper, ' what nonplushes me in a manner of sneaking, is that he don't seem to get no fatter on it. Why, sir, with the feeding that man treats hisself to a Alderman ought to be a joke to 'im— -and look at 'im he's nothing but skin and bone, a animated skeleton, that's \vbp,t he i?, and nothing but it.' Having delivered his opinion with great impressiveness the waiter hurried away to attend upon a fresh customer, and left me to cogitate over the queer customer chance had thrown in my way. Further inquiry proved the truth oi.' ihe waiter's words ; the shabby man was a hopeless glutton ; he was possessed of an insatiable appetite for mutton chops, and squandered all his substance on what, in his case, had become a vice. I felt strangely interested in the thin mac, and pondered long and earnestly over him, trying to think out some plan by which the glutton could be turned from the error of his ways. At length one evening last week I was induced by a Blue Eibbon friend to go and hear Glover, and his eloquent condemnation of the 'curse of strong drink ' filled me with admiration. Mr GK, in his forcible way, not only pointed out the evil, but suggested the remedy for it —the only reliable

| remedy, he said, was to abstain from intoxicating i liquor altogether. All at once, as I listened, it i occurred to me that here was the method to save my erring acquaintance, the man of skin and bone. « If,' I reasoned, « I can only induce hip to shun temptation by signing a pledge to abstain from meat altogether, or, better still, to confine his diet in future to simple bread and water, aIJ may yet be well, an<i I may snatch a brand from the burning. Ah ! if people would only abstain from meat 3iow much gluttony would be avoided !' When I meet the thin man again I am going to try the experiment.