BALANCING ACCOUNTS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 22, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 21.

BALANCING ACCOUNTS.

A THICK-SET, ugly-looking fellow was seated on a bench in the public park, and seemed to be reading some writing on a sheet of paper which he held in his hand.

“You seem to be much interested in your writing,” I said.

“Yes! I've been figuring my account with Old Alcohol, to see how we stand.”

“And he comes out ahead, I suppose?”

“Every time; and he has lied like sixty.”

“How did you come to have dealings with him in the first place?”

“That's what I've been writing. You see he promised to make a man of me, but he has made me a beast. Then he said he would brace me up, but he has made me go staggering around and then threw me into the ditch. He said I must drink to be social. Then he made me quarrel with my best friends, and to be the laughing stock of my enemies. He said he would steady my nerves, but instead he gave me delirium tremens. He said he would give me great strength, and he made me helpless. He promised me courage.”

“Then what followed?”

“Then he made me a coward, for I beat my sick wife and kicked my little child. He said he would brighten my wits, but instead he made me act like a fool, and talk like an idiot. He promised to make a gentleman of me, but he made me a Tramp.”—Our Paper.