New Temperance Tales. No. 1: The Son of My Friend

New Temperance Tales. No. 1: The Son of My Friend

The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Son of My Friend, by T.S. Arthur #18 in our series by T.S. Arthur
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg file.
We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers.
Please do not remove this.
This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they need to understand what they may and may not do with the etext. To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end, rather than having it all here at the beginning.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and further information, is included below. We need your donations.
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file.

Title: New Temperance Tales. No. 1: The Son of My Friend
Author: T.S. Arthur
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4623] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 20, 2002]
The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Son of My Friend, by T.S. Arthur *******This file should be named snfrn10.txt or snfrn10.zip********
Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, snfrn11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snfrn10a.txt
This etext was created by Charles Aldarondo ([email protected])
Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition.
The "legal small print" and other information about this book may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this important information, as it gives you specific rights and tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used.

No. 1. THE SON OF MY FRIEND.
NEW TEMPERANCE TALES.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR-ROOM."
PHILADELPHIA:
T. S. ARTHUR & SON.

THE SON OF MY FRIEND.

"I'VE been thinking," said I, speaking to my husband, who stood drawing on his gloves.
"Have you?" he answered; "then give me the benefit of your thoughts."
"That we shall have to give a party. You know we've accepted a number of invitations this winter, and it's but right that we should contribute our share of social entertainment."
"I have thought as much myself," was his reply. "And so far we stand agreed. But, as I am very busy just now, the heaviest part of the burden will fall on you."
"There is a way of making it light, you know," I returned.
"How?" he queried.
"By employing a professional caterer. He will supply everything for the table, and furnish writers. We will have nothing to do but receive our guests."
My husband shrugged his shoulders and smiled, as he said, "What will it cost?"
"Almost anything we please. But the size of the company will have the most to do with that."
"Say we invite one hundred."
"Then we can make the cost range anywhere between three hundred dollars and a thousand."
"A large sum to throw away on a single evening's entertainment of our friends. I am very sure I could put it to a better use."
"Very likely," I answered. "Still, we cannot well help ourselves. Unless we give a party, we shall have to decline invitations in future. But there is no obligation resting on us to make it sensational. Let the Hardings and the Marygolds emulate extravagance in this line; we must be content with a fair entertainment; and no friend worth the name will have any the less respect for us."
"All that is a question of money and good fame," said my husband, his voice falling into a more serious tone. "I can make it three, five, or ten hundred dollars, and forget all about the cost in a week. But the wine and the brandy will not set so easily on my conscience."
A slight but sudden chill went through my nerves.
"If we could only throw them out?"
"There is no substitute," replied my husband, "that people in our circle would accept. If we served coffee, tea, and chocolate instead, we would be laughed at."
"Not by the fathers and mothers, I think. At least not by those who have grown-up-sons," I returned. "Only last week I heard Mrs. Gordon say that