laugh at me, and say, 'Miserable fool, nothing can save him! When
such are dead, we can train up a generation of temperate people.' I
am kicked and cuffed about like a dog, and not a hand is extended to
relieve me. When I first tasted, I told him who gave it me the blame
should rest on him if I fell. Where he is now, I know not; but,
wherever he is, I know his is a miserable existence. Years have
passed since then, and here I am, a miserable drunkard. My
wife-where is she? and my good old aunt-where is she? At home in
that comfortless room, weeping over my fall, and praying for my
reform. Brothers, let us arise; let us determine to be men-free
men!"

"It is done," said one and all; and the keeper of the cellar dashed
bottle after bottle against the wall.

"Yes, let us renounce these habits; they are hard to renounce;
temptation is hard to resist."

"The present pledge is not safe for us," said the keeper of the
cellar, as he took a demijohn of liquor up the steps, and emptied it
in the gutter.

"Then let us have one of our own," said the first speaker. "Let it
be called 'The Hope of the Fallen;' for we are indeed fallen, and
this, our last refuge from more fearful evils, is our only hope. May
it not disappoint us! May we cling to it as the drowning man grasps
the rope thrown out for his rescue! And not for us alone shall this
hope exist. Let us go to every unfortunate in our land, and speak
kindly to him. Al, my friends, we know the value of a kind word. Let
us lift him from the gutter, place him upon his feet, and say,