all, and telling them that even when people did not drink enough liquor
to make them either stupid or quarrelsome, _any_ quantity of it taken
into the stomach injures it very much.

To make them understand this she broke the egg-shell and dropped the
white of the egg into the goblet, holding it up and showing them how
soft and clear it was. Then, uncorking the bottle, she told them it
contained alcohol, the substance that is found in all intoxicating
drinks, even the weaker ones, such as wine and beer.

"Now, watch," she said; and as she poured two or three drops of the
liquid into the glass the interested eyes saw the egg grow white and
hard, and at last become tough and leathery. "This," she said, "is just
what happens when people drink anything that contains alcohol. The brain
is a substance like the white of an egg. The alcohol acts upon it in the
same way it has acted upon the white of this egg--it _cooks_ it! The
brain of a drunkard becomes _cooked_--tough and leathery. The man cannot
think as clearly as other men. His mind becomes degraded." The children
all expressed their astonishment, and after they had talked a little
while, their teacher said:--

"I am sure you don't want people to injure their brains in this way, and
so you will be ready to keep that part of your pledge which says we will
'use our influence against intemperance,' of course."

"Yes, yes!" was shouted out by dozens of voices, and many hands went
up. One boy said:--

"How about tobacco?"

"Oh, we'll talk about that next time. Now I want you to sing again, and
then we will investigate the contents of this box," proceeding to unlock
it as she spoke.

When the second hymn was over Miss Etta drew out several folded papers,
and handing; them to the secretary, who had come in since the beginning,
asked her to read them aloud.

"Remember, children, that neither you nor I know who wrote them. They
have no signatures. Perhaps some of the children wrote them themselves,
perhaps they got their parents to do so. All we want to know is that
they are accounts of how some of our members have tried to be unselfish
and helpful to other people during the week that has past. I hope every
meeting we shall have a number of such papers to read. You can any of
you write them, and slip them into this box, and our secretary will read
them to us. But be sure that you don't put any names to them and that
what you write is true."