ause I was not the escaped
prisoner, but because he was so nervous. I could not leave him without a
jolly, so I said, "Captain, if you'll come up to the corner I'll treat,"
patting my pocket in which I had a few pennies. He thanked me and said,
"No." I met the captain every night taking his men as far as Salina
Street, and we always saluted one another.

My new pal couldn't be got up on Main Street to the postoffice again for
anything, and as soon as he earned money enough he took the train for
"little old New York." I've met him on the Bowery since I became a
missionary there, and we did smile about that ride in the "hurry-up
wagon" in Syracuse.

Finally I came back to New York, after being away quite a time, got work
in a carpet factory, and was quite steady for a while.

My poor dear mother was sick, sometimes up and oftentimes in bed. I can
still see her and hear her say, "David, my poor boy, I do wish you would
stop your drinking. I've prayed for you, and will pray until I die. Oh,
Dave! I'd die so happy if my only son would stop and be a man!" But that
cursed appetite, what a hold it had on me! It seemed as if I couldn't
stop if I had been given all the money in the world.

I did love my mother dearly; I didn't care for any one in the world but
her. Still, one of the meanest acts I ever did was to my mother. And
such a good mother she was; there are not many like her!

She was in bed and had only a few weeks to live. One day she called me
to her bedside and said, "Dave, I am going to leave you, never to see
you again on this earth, but oh! how I wish you were going to meet me on
the other side. Now, Dave, won't you promise me you will?" I said, "Yes,
mother, sure I will." And she made me promise then and there that when
she was dead, and waiting burial, I would not get drunk, at least while
her body was in the house. I went down on my knees and promised her that
I'd meet her in heaven.

She died, and the undertaker had been gone but a short time when I began
drinking, and the day of the funeral I was pretty drunk. That was one of
the meanest things I ever did. But I am sure that sometimes my dear
mother looks over the portals of heaven, and sees her boy--a man now, a
Christian--and forgives me. And some day, when my time comes, I am going
to join her there.

I went from bad to worse, wandering all over, not caring what happened.
I took a great many chances. Sometimes I had plenty of money, and at
other tim