Sowing and Reaping - A Temperance Story | Page 7

to have oozed in great drops from every marble ornament or
beautiful piece of frescoe that adorned his home, for that home with its
beautiful surroundings and costly furniture was the price of blood, but
the glamor of his wealth was in the eyes of his guests; and they came to

be amused and entertained and not to moralize on his ill-gotten wealth.
The wine flowed out in unstinted measures and some of the women so
forgot themselves as to attempt to rival the men in drinking. The barrier
being thrown down Charles drank freely, till his tones began to thicken,
and his eye to grow muddled, and he sat down near Jeanette and tried to
converse; but he was too much under the influence of liquor to hold a
sensible and coherent conversation.
"Oh! Charley you naughty boy, that wine has got into your head and
you don't know what you are talking about."
"Well, Miss Jenny, I b'lieve you're 'bout half-right, my head does feel
funny."
"I shouldn't wonder; mine feels rather dizzy, and Miss Thomas has
gone home with a sick headache, and I know what her headaches
mean," said Jeanette significantly.
"My head," said Mary Gladstone, "really feels as big as a bucket."
"And I feel real dizzy," said another.
"And so do I," said another, "I feel as if I could hardly stand, I feel
awful weak."
"Why girls, you! are all, all, tipsy, now just own right up, and be done
with it," said Charles Romaine.
"Why Charlie you are as good as a wizard, I believe we have all got too
much wine aboard: but we are not as bad as the girls of B.S., for they
succeeded in out drinking the men. I heard the men drank eight bottles
of wine, and that they drank sixteen."
Alas for these young people they were sporting upon the verge of a
precipice, but its slippery edge was concealed by flowers. They were
playing with the firebrands of death and thought they were
Roman-candles and harmless rockets.

"Good morning Belle," said Jeanette Roland to her cousin Belle as she
entered her cousin's sitting-room the morning after the party and found
Jeanette lounging languidly upon the sofa.
"Good morning. It is a lovely day, why are you not out enjoying the
fresh air? Can't you put on your things and go shopping with me? I
think you have excellent taste and I often want to consult it."
"Well after all then I am of some account in your eyes."
"Of course you are; who said you were not[?]"
"Oh! nobody only I had an idea that you thought that I was as useless
as a canary bird."
"I don't think that a canary bird is at all a useless thing. It charms our
ears with its song, and pleases our eye with its beauty, and I am a firm
believer in the utility of beauty--but can you, or rather will you not go
with me?"
"Oh Belle I would, but I am as sleepy as a cat."
"What's the matter?"
"I was up so late last night at Mrs. Glossop's party; but really it was a
splendid affair, everything was in the richest profusion, and their house
is magnificently furnished. Oh Belle I wish you could have been there."
"I don't; there are two classes of people with whom I never wish to
associate, or number as my especial friends, and they are rum sellers
and slave holders."
"Oh! well, Mr. Glossop is not in the business now and what is the use
of talking about the past; don't be always remembering a man's sins
against him."
"Would you say the same of a successful pirate who could fare
sumptuously from the effects of his piracy?"

"No I would not; but Belle the cases is not at all parallel."
"Not entirely. One commits his crime against society within the pale of
the law, the other commits his outside. They are both criminals against
the welfare of humanity. One murders the body, and the other stabs the
soul. If I knew that Mr. Glossop was sorry for having been a liquor
dealer and was bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, I would be
among the first to hail his reformation with heartfelt satisfaction; but
when I hear that while he no longer sells liquor, that he constantly
offers it to his guests, I feel that he should rather sit down in sackcloth
and ashes than fireside at sumptuous feasts, obtained by liquor selling.
When crime is sanctioned by law, and upheld by custom and fashion, it
assumes its most dangerous phase; and there is often a fearful
fascination in the sin that is environed by success."
"Oh! Belle do stop. I really think that you will go crazy on the