The Lights and Shadows of Real LifeArthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
General
The Lights and Shadows of Real Life
Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Conduct of life -- Fiction; Temperance -- Fiction
"That's it, exactly! Sub-Treasury--Sub-Treasury. Let it be called
Sub-Treasury! And now, as I have more power over Graves than any of
you, let me have the managing of him.' And so saying, Adams seemed
to go away, and remain, for a day or two. When he came back, all the
devils gathered around him full of interest to hear of his success.
They greeted him, first, with three wild, infernal cheers, full of
malignant pleasure, and then asked,
"'What news? What news from earth?'
"'Glorious!' was his response. And then another wild yell of triumph
went up.
"'I found Graves,' he went on, 'just the same pliant fool that he
has ever been. He fell into my suggestions at once, and on the very
next day advertised his 'Sub-Treasury.' It took like a charm. I
could tell you of a dozen young fellows just about being caught by
the teetootallers, who couldn't withstand the new temptation. There
was one in particular. His name is Joe Bancroft. Only married about
three years, and almost at the bottom of the hill already. On the
day before 'Sub-Treasury' was announced, he came home sober, for the
first time in six months. His wife, a beautiful young girl when he
married her, but now a thin, pale, heart-broken creature, sat near a
window sewing when he entered. But she did not look up. She heard
him come in--but she could not turn her eyes towards him, for her
heart always grew sicker whenever she saw the sad changes that drink
had wrought upon him.
"For a few moments Joe stood gazing at his young wife, with a
tenderer interest than he had felt for a long time. He saw that she
did not look up, and was conscious of the reason.
"'Sarah,' he at last said, in a voice of affection, coming to her
side.
"'What do you want?' she replied, still without looking up.
"'Look up at me, Sarah,' he said, in a voice that slightly trembled.
"Instantly her work dropped from her hands, and she lifted her eyes
to the face of her husband, and murmured in a low, sad tone,
"'What is it you wish, Joseph?'
"'You look very pale, and very sorrowful, Sarah,' her husband said,
with increasing tenderness of tone and manner.
"It had been so very long since he had spoken to her kindly, or
since he had appeared to take any interest in her, that the first
tenderly uttered word melted down her heart, and she burst into
tears, and leaning her head against him, sobbed long and
passionately.
"With many a kind word, and many a solemn promise of reformation did
the husband soothe the stricken heart of his wife, into which a new
hope was infused.
"'I will be a changed man, after this, Sarah,' he said--
'And then it must go well with us. It seems as if I had been, for
the last year, the victim of insanity. I cannot realize how it is
possible for any one to abandon himself as I have done; to the
neglect of all the most sacred ties and duties that can appertain to
us. How deeply--O, how deeply you must have suffered!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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