ONLY A HUSK.


Tom Darcy, yet a young man, had grown to be a very hard one. Although
naturally kind-hearted, active, and intelligent, he lacked strength of
will to resist temptation, and had therefore fallen a victim to
intemperance. He had lost his place as foreman of the great
machine-shop, and what money he now earned came from odd jobs of
tinkering which he was able to do here and there at private houses;
for Tom was a genius as well as a mechanic, and when his head was
steady enough, he could mend a clock or clean a watch as well as he
could set up and regulate a steam-engine, and this latter he could do
better than any other man ever employed by the Scott Falls
Manufacturing Company.

One day Tom was engaged to mend a broken mowing-machine and reaper,
for which he received five dollars; and on the following morning he
started for his old haunt, the village tavern. He knew that his wife
sadly needed the money, and that his two little children were
absolutely suffering for want of clothing, and that morning he held a
debate with the better part of himself, but the better part had become
weak, and the demon of appetite carried the day.

So away to the tavern Tom went, where, for two or three hours, he felt
the exhilarating effects of the alcoholic draught, and fancied himself
happy, as he could sing and laugh; but, as usual, stupefaction