others? Be not allured by the fact that you drink only the moderate
beverages. You take only ale; and a man has to drink a large amount of
it to become intoxicated. Yes; but there is not in all the city to-day
an inebriate that did not _begin_ with ale.

"XXX:" What does that mark mean? XXX on the beer-barrel: XXX on the
brewer's dray: XXX on the door of the gin-shop: XXX on the side of
the bottle. Not being able to find any one who could tell me what this
mark means, I have had to guess that the whole thing was an allegory:
XXX--that is, thirty heartbreaks. Thirty agonies. Thirty desolated
homes. Thirty chances for a drunkard's grave. Thirty ways to
perdition.

"XXX." If I were going to write a story, the first chapter would be
XXX.; the last--"A pawnbroker's shop."

Be watchful! At this season all the allurements to dissipation will be
especially busy. Let not your flight to hell be in the winter.

I also remark that the winter evenings, through their very length,
allow great swing for indulgences. Few young men would have the taste
to go to their room at seven o'clock, and sit until eleven, reading
_Motley's Dutch Republic_ or _John Foster's Essays_. The young men
who have been confined to the store all day want fresh air and
sight-seeing; and they must go somewhere. The most of them have, of
a winter's evening, three or four hours of leisure. After the evening
repast, the young man puts on his hat and coat and goes out.

"Come in here," cries one form of allurement.