WHAT I LOST BY SIGNING THE PLEDGE.
I have been thinking about the losses I have met with since I signed the total-abstinence pledge. There isn't a man that has lost more by stopping drink than I have. Wait a bit, and I will tell you what I mean. There was a job of work to be done in the shop, and the boss called for me. “Give it to Spencer,” said he; “he's the best hand in the shop.” Well, I told my wife, and she said— “Why, John! he used to call you the worst. You've lost your bad name, haven't you?” “That's a fact, wife,” said I. “And it isn't all I've lost in the last sixteen months, either. I had poverty and wretchedness, and I've lost them. I had an old ragged coat, and a ‘shocking’ bad hat, and some waterproof boots that let the wet out at the toe as fast as they took it in at the heel. I've lost them. I had a red face, a trembling hand, and a pair of shaky legs, that gave me an awkward tumble now and then. I've lost those. I had a habit of cursing and swearing, and I've got rid of that. I had an aching head sometimes, and a heavy heart, and, worse than all the rest, a guilty conscience. Thank God, I've lost them all.” Then I told my wife what she had lost. “And you had trouble and sorrow, and a poor, wretched home, and plenty of heart-aches, for you had a miserable drunkard for a husband. Mary, thank the Lord for all that you and I have lost since I signed the pledge.”—Tenn. Agitator.