"I will go this once, William," said he, at length, with a long
inspiration; "and then I will quit it. I see and acknowledge the
force of what you say; I never viewed the matter so seriously
before."

"This once may confirm a habit now too strongly fixed," urged his
companion. "Stop now, while your mind is rationally convinced that
it is wrong to waste your time, when it is so much needed for the
sake of making comfortable and happy one who loves you, and has cast
her lot in life with yours. Think of Ellen, and be a man."

"Come, Harry!" said a loud, cheerful voice at the shop door; "we are
waiting for you!"

"Ay, ay," responded Henry Thorne. "Good morning, William! I am
pledged for to-day. But after this, I will swear off!" And so
saying, he hurried away.

Henry Thorne and William Moreland were workmen in a large
manufacturing establishment in one of our thriving inland towns.
They had married sisters, and thus a friendship that had long
existed, was confirmed by closer ties of interest.

They had been married about two years, at the time of their
introduction to the reader, and, already, Moreland could perceive
that his earnings brought many more comforts for his little family
than did Henry's. The difference was not to be accounted for in the
days the other spent in pleasure taking, although their aggregate
loss was no mean item to be taken from a poor man's purse. It was to
be found, mainly, in a disposition to spend, rather than to save; to
pay away for trifles that were not really needed, very small sums,
whose united amounts in a few weeks would rise to dollars. But, when
there was added to this constant check upon his prosperity the
frequent recurrence of a lost day, no wonder that Ellen had less of
good and comfortable clothing than her sister Jane, and that her
house was far less neatly furnished.

All this had been observed, with pain, by William Moreland and his
wife, but, until the conversation recorded in the opening of this
story, no word or remonstrance or warning had been ventured upon by
the former. The spirit in which Moreland's words were received,
encouraged him to hope that he might exercise a salutary control
over Henry, if he persevered, and he resolved that he would extend
thus far towards him the offices of a true friend.

After dinner on the day during which her husband was absent, Ellen
called in to see Jane, and sit the afternoon with her. They were
only sisters, and had always