A Slumbering Demon Aroused.
THE following startling account appears in an English journal: A man who had been a drunkard for many years was induced to sign a pledge of total abstinence, which he kept inviolate through all temptation. At length, while superintending some repairs on a hotel, the landlord offered him a glass of beer. This he declined. He was urged to drink, but he still refused. Continued urging only made his refusal more peremptory, while he claimed the right to do as he pleased. But for some reason the landlord chose to tempt him further, and watching for an opportunity, tipped the glass so that some drops of beer fell upon his lips. This taste was sufficient to rouse the demon of appetite that had so long slumbered. The glass was seized and drained of its contents with an eagerness which startled all who witnessed it. Work was abandoned directly, and a family which had rejoiced over the rescue of a husband and father from a fate worse than death, were prostrated with grief. Many efforts were afterward made to reclaim him, and often did he promise never again to touch the destroying drink, but these promises were quickly broken. He had lost all power of self-control. He lived to become a miserable vagabond, wandering from place to place, wretched and despairing, dying at last in a public almshouse, and all because of a glass of beer.—Christian Herald.