PROFITABLE LOSSES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue XXV, 19 December 1896, Page 196

PROFITABLE LOSSES.

The following good speech is nearly a verbal report of one heard at a temperance meeting : — • I have been thinking since I came into the meeting to-night, about the losses I’ve met since I signed the total abstinence pledge. I tell you there isn’t a man in the society who has lost more by stopping drink than I have. Wait a bit until I tell you what I mean. There was a nicejob of work to be done in the shop to-day, and the foreman called for me.

1 “ Give it to Law,” said he. “ He’s the best hand in the shop.” * Well. I told my wife at supper time, and she said : 1 “ Why, Laurie, he used to call you the worst. You’ve lost your bad name, haven’t you ?” • “ That’s a fact, wife,” said I. “ And it ain’t all I’ve lost in the last sixteen months either. I had poverty and wretchedness, and I’ve lost them. I had an old ragged coat and a shockin’ bad hat, and some waterproof boots that let the wet out at the toes as fast as they took it in at the heel. I’ve lost them. I had a red face, a trembling hand, and a pair of shaky legs that gave me an awkward tumble now and then ; I had a habit of cursing and swearing, and I’ve got rid of that. I had an aching head sometimes, and a heavy heart, and, worse than all the rest, a guilty conscience. Thank God I’ve lost them all.” ‘ Then I told my wife what she had lost.

‘‘‘You had an old ragged gown, Mary,” said I, “ and you had trouble and sorrow and a poor, wretched home, and plenty of heartaches, for you had a miserable drunkard. Mary, Mary, thank the Lord for all you and I have lost since I signed the temperance pledge.” ’ — Woman’s [Signal.