rl like Fanny. What if he had been seen, now and then,
a little the worse for drink! What if he showed more fondness for
pleasure than for business! Fanny did not look into the future with
doubt or fear. She believed that her love was strong enough to win him
from all evil allurements: and, as for this world's goods, they were
matters in which her maiden fancies rarely busied themselves.

"Well. Dark days came for her, poor soul! And yet, in all the darkness
of her earthly lot, she has never, it is said, been anything but a
loving, forbearing, self-denying wife to Morgan. And he--fallen as he
is, and powerless in the grasp of the monster intemperance--has never,
I am sure, hurt her with a cruel word. Had he added these, her heart
would, long ere this, have broken. Poor Joe Morgan! Poor Fanny! Oh,
what a curse is this drink!"

The man, warming with his theme, had spoken with an eloquence I had not
expected from his lips. Slightly overmastered by his feelings, he
paused for a moment or two, and then added:

"It was unfortunate for Joe, at least, that Slade sold his mill, and
became a tavern-keeper; for Joe had a sure berth, and wages regularly
paid. He didn't always stick to his work, but would go off on a spree
every now and then; but Slade bore with all this, and worked harder
himself to make up for his hand's shortcoming. And no matter what
deficiency the little store-room at home might show, Fanny Morgan never
found her meal barrel empty without knowing where to get it replenished.

"But, after Slade sold his mill, a sad change took place. The new owner
was little disposed to pay wages to a hand who would not give him all
his time during working hours; and in less than two weeks from the day
he took possession, Morgan was discharged. Since then, he has been
working about at one odd job and another, earning scarcely enough to
buy the liquor it requires to feed the inordinate thirst that is
consuming him. I am not disposed to blame Simon Slade for the
wrong-doing of Morgan; but here is a simple fact in the case--if he had
kept on at the useful calling of a miller, he would have saved this
man's family from want, suffering, and a lower deep of misery than that
into which they have already fallen. I merely state it, and you can
draw your own conclusions. It is one of the many facts, on the other
side of this tavern question, which it will do no harm to mention. I
have noted a good many facts besides, and one is, that b