"George," she answered steadily, "I had a praying mother once, and so had you. I once knew how to pray myself, and so did you; and if ever our mothers' prayers for us are going to be answered, it'll be now; and if ever we begin to pray for ourselves again, it'll be this very minute, or we shall be lost for ever!" And Susan fell on her knees, and passionately poured out her whole soul that forgiveness might be granted to herself and her erring husband, and that to their weakness and feebleness there might descend the almighty power and perpetual help of an Omnipotent Saviour. Was that prayer answered? Could two souls so bound and tied by Satan's strongest fetters be loosed and set free, no longer slaves of a tyrant but children of a King? Let the new home in a new land, and the subdued brightness of their faces, and the happy abandonment of their children's glee answer, and say that once again the captives of the mighty have been taken away, and the prey of the terrible delivered. In his own land, Timothy Morris hears, from time to time, of the well doing of his former neighbours; and rejoices that he has been the humble instrument of bringing light and succour to a household which had been darkened and degraded for years through the insidious advances of moderate drinking. [Illustration] [Illustration] THE COMMITTEE'S DECISION. THE weekly Band of Hope meeting had been carried on through the long winter months with vigour and success, and now on the evening of one of the first spring days, its committee had met to decide upon the all-important question as to whether the meetings should be discontinued through the summer months. "I certainly think it would be a pity to hold the meetings on the long bright evenings," said Mr. Jones, and, judging from the expression on many of the faces, his opinion was shared by several. "It would be a downright shame to coop up the children in a close school-room when they might be enjoying themselves in the bright sunshine," said Mr. Gale. It may be here stated that the committee was comprised of equal numbers of abstainers and non-abstainers, to which latter class the afore-mentioned speakers belonged. From a corner, a nervous little man summoned up courage to suggest the possibility of the younger members of the Band of Hope breaking their pledge, if they had not a constant reminder in the shape of their attractive weekly meeting. "That goes to prove what is my firm conviction, that these kind of affairs, popular as they have become, accomplish little of what they profess to, for although pledges of total abstinence are taken from the young folks who attend in large numbers, it only needs a trivial pretext such as a change of residence, or the suspension of their meetings, and they become forgetful of the pledge which they have signed," said a prominent member of the committee.