. And he went on followin' the same old
beaten track that men 'a' been walkin' since the days of Noah. And at
last he got to neglectin' his farm, and he'd go to town every week and
come home in such a condition that it wasn't safe for Milly and the
children to be in the same house with him. Folks used to say that the
first drink made Sam a fool, and the second drink made him a devil,
and the third drink put the fool and the devil to sleep.

"Sam was as smart a man as you'd find anywhere, and many a time I used
to feel for Milly when he'd mortify her before company by sayin'
foolish things he never would 'a' said if he'd been in his right
senses. I ricollect once she had a parlor full o' company and she was
showin' an ambrotype of her brother David, and somebody passed it to
Sam and he took it and looked at it right hard, and says he, 'Shuh!
that don't look half as much like Dave as he looks like himself.' And
another time, one county court day, me and Abram happened to be
standin' on the corner in front o' the old drug store, and Sam come a
staggerin' up and laid his hand on Abram's shoulder and looked him
straight in the eye like he had somethin' mighty important to say, and
says he, 'Uncle Abram, I want to tell you right here and now, and
don't you ever forgit it; if there's anything I do despise it's one
thing more'n another.' I don't believe Abram ever got through laughin'
at that. And if Sam had only stopped at the first glass that made a
fool of him, his drinkin' would 'a' been a small matter. But the man
that can stop at one glass don't live in Kentucky, child, and so Sam
went from the first glass to the second and from the second to the
third and from that to the gutter. And many a time the neighbors had
to pick Sam up and bring him home, for betwixt the shame of seein' him
in that condition and the danger of bein' with him, Milly had to stop
goin' to town.

"I ricollect one county court day me and Abram happened to be passin'
along in front o' the old Methodist Church, and Sam come walkin' out
o' Jockey Alley leadin' his big bay mare--Jockey Alley, child, is the
alley that runs from State Street clean back to the street leadin'
over to the old footbridge, and everybody that had a horse or a mule
or a colt to swap, why, they'd go to that alley and do their swappin'
every county court day.

"Well, as I was sayin', Sam come along leadin' his bay mare. That mare
was the pride of Sam's heart. He used to say there