And from his sobbing wife's white lips And then on her wan visage beamed A smile of joy once more, And clinging to her husband's neck, He kept his oath, and from that time And daily both gave thanks to God A JUDGE'S TEMPERANCE LECTURE. At Morris, Grundy county, Illinois, three saloon keepers-one woman and two nien-were arrested and indicted for selling liquor to minors. As usual in such cases, the liquor sellers were lavish of their funds in aid of their unfortunate coworkers, and eminent counsel was employed in defense of these destroyers of the bodies and souls of the young and rising generation. But the proof of their guilt was so fully demonstrated that the jury were compelled to pronounce them guilty. Hon. J. N. Reading, the presiding Judge, in pronouncing the sentence of the court, used the following language: The jury having found you guilty of selling intoxicating liquors to a minor, it remains for the court to pronounce the sentence of the law. The penalty of this offense, fixed by the Legislature, indicates that it considered the crime to be of a serious character. By the law you may sell to men and to women if they will buy. You have given your bond and paid for your license to sell to them, and no one has the right to molest you in your legal business. No matter what the consequences may be, no matter what poverty and destitution are produced by selling according to law, you have paid your money for this privilege, and you are licensed to pursue your calling. No matter what families are distracted and rendered miserable, no matter what wives are treated with violence, what children starve, or mourn over the degradation of a parent, your business is legalized and no one may interfere with you in it. No matter what mother may agonize over the loss of a son or sister blush for the shame of a brother, you have the right to disregard them all and pursue your legal calling; you are licensed. You can fit up your lawful place of business in the most enticing and captivating form; you can furnish it with the most elegant and costly equipments for your lawful trade; you may fill it with the allurements to amusements; you may use all your arts to induce visitors; you may skillfully arrange and expose to view your choice wines and most captivating beverages; you may then induce thirst by all contrivances to produce a raging appetite for drink; and then you may supply that appetite to the full-because it is lawful; you have a license. You may allow boys, almost children, to frequent your saloon; they may witness the apparent satisfaction with which their seniors quaff the sparkling glass; you may be schooling and training them for the period of twenty-one, when they too can participate, for all this is lawful. You may hold the cup to their very lips: but you must not let them drink-that is unlawful. But, while you have all these privileges for the money which you pay, this poor privilege of selling to children is denied you. Here parents have the right to say, " Leave my son to me until the law gives you the right to destroy him! Do not anticipate that terrible moment when I can assert for him no further rights of protection! That will be soon enough for me, for his mother, for his sisters, for his friends, and for the community, to see him take his road to death. Give him to us in his childhood, at least! Let us have a few years of his young life, in which we may enjoy his innocence, to repay us in some degree for the care and tove we have lavished upon him!" This is something you, who now stand a prisoner at the bar, have not paid for; this is not embraced in your license. You have your "bond" to use in its full extent; but in thus taking your "pound of flesh," you draw the blood, and that which is nearest the heart. The law in its wisdom does not permit this, and you must obey the law. By the verdict of the jury, you have been found guilty of transgressing the law. Its extreme penalty is thirty days' imprisonment in the county jail, and $100 fine; its lowest, ten days' imprisonment and $20 fine. For this offense, the court sentences you to ten days' imprisonment in the county jail, and that you pay a fine of $75 and the costs, and that you stand committed until the fine and costs of this prosecution are paid. BLIFKINS THE BACCHANAL.-B. P. SHILLABER. Do I look like a debauchee?" said Blifkins, as he came in the morning after the re-union of the Jolliboys at Parker's. We told him that we didn't think he did. We turned him round to the light, so that we could look into his eyes. They were as clear as a bell, and as full of laugh as an egg is full of meat. "Why do you ask?” we said, as he sat down on the damask lounge in our back room, in front of the great mirror that had in the early days of the republic reflected the features of the Father of his Country. He looked up, with a very roguish expression, as he said, "Mrs. Blifkins," and broke out with a laugh that shook things. We took another look at him, to ascertain if our first impression were not wrong, for it seemed to us that a sober man would not have acted thus. He cooled down, and then again attempted to explain the reason for his mirth. After several commence ments he managed to tell his story. "Mrs. Blifkins will have it that I was tight," said he, "though there isn't a Jolliboy that will not say I was right as a trivet. It was about three when I got home, and when I unlocked the door there stood Mrs. Blifkins in a spirit of patience, and a long flannel bed-gown, waiting for me. "So you've come,' said she as I entered. "I assured her that such was the fact, and asked her if she wasn't afraid that getting up so early would be injurious to her health. Whereupon she informed me that her health was the last thing I cared for-that no man who cared for his wife's health would expose her to the danger of sitting up till three o'clock in the morning, and he away indulging in dissipation. "But,' said I, 'my dear, there was no need of your sitting up. I was fully competent to take care of myself. I have that prudent regard for myself that never leads me over the bounds of sobriety, and to-night, in particular. I am wonderfully correct.' "I attempted to salute her, but she drew back with a contemptuous and deprecating 'Faugh!' as though she detect ed odors of bacchanalian haunts in my breath. But I saw that a change was coming over her face, and she immediately assumed the patronizing and sympathetic. "Come, Mr. Blifkins,' said she; 'you had better go to bed, and sleep it off. Your head will ache fearfully in the morning, and serve you right, because a man with a family ought to know better than to make such a brute of himself.' 'But, my dear,' said I, interrupting her, 'I assure you your fears are groundless. See me walk that seam in the carpet.' 666 I attempted it; but I stepped on a confounded marble that one of the children had dropped on the floor, and came nigh falling down. "I knew so,' she sighed; 'what a pity! But I am used to it. I am glad the children are not up to witness their father's disgrace-little dears.' "But I'm not,' cried I, trying to save my credit. "Don't say another word,' she said: 'go to bed, and sleep it off.' "I made no further parley, but walked up stairs, and in five minutes was enjoying the sleep that only the innocent know. When I awoke in the morning, Mrs. Blifkins was standing over me with the most severely virtuous face I ever knew her to wear. "Well,' said she, 'I dare say your head aches finely this morning-good enough for you, and all such as indulge in such practices.' “Nary a headache,' said I, sitting up in bed; 'never felt better in my life. Give us a cup of chocolate, and I will soon join you.' "Chocolate!' said she; 'chocolate after a debauch! You mean a cup of strong tea.' "I thought of Mrs. Joe Gargery's tar water, and said no more. She was determined, I saw, that I was ‘an example,' although I assure you, on my word as a member of the Association for the Promotion of Universal Good, that I was as straight as a die. Isn't it strange?" We assured Blifkins that the saying, "Once a rogue, always suspected," applied to him, and that he ought to be grateful for the never-tiring interest thus disposed to watch over his unguardedness; but he didn't see it. -Partingtonian Patchwork. MEPHISTOPHELES, GENERAL DEALER. Who'll buy tresses, bonnie brown tresses? Who'll buy hair of lustrous yellow? Maids and matrons, 'tis bright as gold, "Twas shorn from the head of a wretched pauperStarving with hunger, and bitter cold. It brought her a supper, a bed, and a breakfast; Twill help to cheat the silly lovers Who care not for heads that have brains within. Who'll buy tresses, jet black tresses? Belonged to a murderess red with crime. Who'll buy tresses, snow-white tresses? Widows and matrons whose blood is cold, The face and the wig should pull together, Who'll buy hair of all shades and colors, 80 |