WHAT ONE GLASS OF RUM DID.
A SAILOR once spoke as follows to a large audience of people:— “My friends, I don't know how to make a speech, but I want to tell you what one glass of rum did for me. I had a small vessel on the coast. My brother was the mate, and there were two other sailors. I had my wife and two children on board. One night it was stormy. My brother was to keep watch that night. The sailors persuaded him to take one glass of rum to help him through the night. He was not used to liquor. It overcame him, and he sank into a heavy sleep. I woke after midnight to find my vessel a wreck. I took one of the little ones in my arms, and my wife took the other. For hours we battled with the cold waves. After a long struggle the waves swept the little one from my embrace. Before long the other little one was swept from the arms of my wife, and our darlings were lost from us forever. We battled on with the storm and the waves. Then I looked at my wife, and she was cold in death. I struggled on, and made my way to the shore. Then I found that my wife, my children, and all I had in the world were snatched away from me by one glass of rum.”