SCENE IN A BARROOM

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 26, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 33.

SCENE IN A BARROOM.

A YOUNG man entered the barroom of a village tavern and called for a drink.

"No," said the landlord, "you have had the delirium tremens once, and I cannot sell you any more."

He stepped aside to make room for a couple of young men who had just entered, and the landlord waited upon them very politely. The other had stood by silent and sullen, and when they had finished he walked up to the landlord, and thus addressed him:—

"Six years ago, at their age, I stood where those two young men now are. I was a man with fair prospects. Now, at the age of twenty-eight, I am a wreck—body and mind. You led me to drink. In this room I formed the habit that has been my ruin. Now sell me a few more glasses, and your work will be done. I shall soon be out of the way; there is no hope for me. But they can be saved. Do not sell it to them. Sell it to me and let me die, and the world will be rid of me; but for heaven's sake sell no more to them."

The landlord listened, pale and trembling. Setting down his decanter, he exclaimed, "God help me, it is the last drop I will sell to anyone!" And he kept his word.—The Christian.