Yet notwithstanding all these means wherewith Satan has made the path of woman so hard to travel, he has discovered that he can not disgrace her by any means so effectually as through the old temptation. Consequently Satan has kept the seed of the central tree of the garden and still raises, on the broad uplands of Hell, _forbidden fruit_ which, through engrafting processes, has come to many varieties. This mysterious product of the tree, so suited to the natural palate of womankind, is provided abundantly on each side of the King’s Highway along the whole length of the Valley of Temptation, and is offered, ostensibly, free of charge. I watched, with chagrin and horror, the subtle influences of this fiendish work, seeing young women and those of riper experience go down alike under this intoxication of Hell. As I looked again at the whole Valley, what sad sights of intemperance painfully greeted my eyes! The intervening ground was a veritable bed of iniquity, for it swarmed with half-clothed inebriates who patronized the miserable and filthy hovels of lowest resort, while inebriates, in finer array, entered the apartments which were decorated and finished in all the beauty that wealth could afford, and supplied with alcoholic beverages under a fashionable bill of fare. I could see the same Devil controlling all, and the same gutter or the same Hell receiving all who did not yield to the agencies of eternal life. Among the many temperance organizations that operated throughout the valley I observed a band of women who threatened to overthrow the evil. They had, by long persistent effort, discovered the underground connections between the distillery and the saloons, and therefore they were endeavoring to kill the traffic at the head. This movement at first created laughter in the ranks of the foe, but the women have continued patiently and have built a thousand batteries from which they hurl projectiles of death into the camp of intemperance. Since then the agents of darkness have ceased their laughter and instead have set to building defences behind which they hope to carry on their business with impunity. But the bands of women have entered into an eternal agreement, pledged their faith one to another, and have been calling upon Heaven for help; therefore they declare that no flag will be lowered, and no gun will be silent until the great wall around the city of their foes shall fall, either at a long blast of the horn or a continuous volley from their ramparts. CHAPTER IX. THE TOWER OF TEMPTATION. 1. The tower affords the most advantageous view of the world and a most discouraging view of the King’s Highway. 2. The triumphant flight of Mrs. Discouraged from the tower’s top to a place on the King’s Highway called “Victory by Faith.” 3. Mr. World and Miss Church-Member ride from the tower’s top in Satan’s new air ship.