and worked with him for six months, getting him job after job, which
he always lost through drink or temper. He seemed incapable of
taking directions or working with other people. In all that time the
agent felt that he was getting no nearer the root of Aleck's
trouble, though he came back after each dismissal and doggedly took
whatever was offered. Finally, the agent's patience wore thin, and
when Aleck had been more than usually dour and aggravating it went
entirely to pieces. Aleck listened to his outburst apparently
unmoved; then said, "Very well, if you want to know what would make
me stop drinking, I'll tell you. If I could see any ray of hope that
I was on the way to getting my home and family back, I'd stop and
stop quick." On the agent's desk there happened to be a letter from
a friend who wanted a tenant farmer. He thrust it into Aleck's hand
saying, "There's your chance if you mean what you say." The man's
reply was to ask when he could get a train. At the end of several
weeks Aleck wrote that he had not drunk a drop and was making good,
which was enthusiastically confirmed by his employer. He begged the
agent to intercede with his wife, and a letter went to her which
brought the telegraphic reply, "Starting tomorrow."

How they got through the first winter the agent never knew exactly.
But they pulled through and the next year was easy, as country-born
Aleck's skill came back. Six years later, during which time the
agent heard from them once or twice a year, Aleck was still keeping
straight, the children were doing well in school, and the family,
prosperous and happy, had bought a farm of their own in another
state.

FOOTNOTES: