Ten Nights in a Bar RoomArthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
General
Ten Nights in a Bar Room
Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Christian fiction; Temperance -- Fiction
"I think you'd better vote on the Maine Law side at next election,"
said I.
"Faith, and I did it last time!" replied the man, with a brightening
face--"and if I'm spared, I'll go the same ticket next year."
"What do you think of the Law?" I asked.
"Think of it! Bless your heart! if I was a praying man, which I'm sorry
to say I ain't--my mother was a pious woman, sir"--his voice fell and
slightly trembled--"if I was a praying man, sir, I'd pray, night and
morning, and twenty times every day of my life, for God to put it into
the hearts of the people to give us that Law. I'd have some hope then.
But I haven't much as it is. There's no use in trying to let liquor
alone."
"Do many drinking men think as you do?"
"I can count up a dozen or two myself. It isn't the drinking men who
are so much opposed to the Maine Law as your politicians. They throw
dust in the people's eyes about it, and make a great many, who know
nothing at all of the evils of drinking in themselves, believe some
bugbear story about trampling on the rights of I don't know who, nor
they either. As for rum-sellers' rights, I never could see any right
they had to get rich by ruining poor devils such as I am. I think,
though, that we have some right to be protected against them."
The ringing of a bell here announced the arrival of some traveler, and
the hostler left me.
I learned, during the morning, that Matthew, the bar-keeper, and also
the son of Mr. Slade, were both considerably hurt during the affrays in
the bar-room, and were confined, temporarily, to their beds. Mrs. Slade
still continued in a distressing and dangerous state. Judge Lyman,
though shockingly injured, was not thought to be in a critical
condition.
A busy day the sheriff had of it, making arrests of various parties
engaged in the last night's affairs. Even Slade, unable as he was to
lift his head from his pillow, was required to give heavy bail for his
appearance at court. Happily, I escaped the inconvenience of being held
to appear as a witness, and early in the afternoon had the satisfaction
of finding myself rapidly borne away in the stage-coach. It was two
years before I entered the pleasant village of Cedarville again.
NIGHT THE EIGHTH.
REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.
I was in Washington City during the succeeding month. It was the short,
or closing session, of a regular Congressional term. The implication of
Judge Lyman in the affair of Green and young Hammond had brought him
into such bad odor in Cedarville and the whole district from which he
had been chosen, that his party deemed it wise to set him aside, and
take up a candidate less likely to meet with so strong and, it might
be, successful an opposition. By so doing, they were able to secure the
election, once more, against the growing temperance party, which
succeeded, however, in getting a Maine Law man into the State
Legislature. It was, therefore, Judge Lyman's last winter at the
Federal Capital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account