ed and combed and brushed his hair
till he looked more like his old self than he'd looked since he took
to drinkin'. She said the road to town never had seemed so short and
she kept hopin' somethin' would happen to send Sam back home, but
nothin' happened, and when they struck the Square, Sam went right down
Main Street right in the direction of the coffee house. Milly said her
heart give a jump and she shook all over like she was havin' a chill,
but she didn't say a word, because she knew if Sam had made up his
mind to drink that day, she couldn't stop him. And sure enough he went
on and stopped right in front of the coffee house. The barkeeper was
standin' in the door, and Sam called out to him and says, 'Fix me up a
glass o' that old Bourbon the way I like it and bring it out here to
me.' And the barkeeper went in and fixed it up and come out with it,
smilin' as a basket o' chips, and handed it to Sam.

"Sam had his purse out and says he, 'How much is the glass worth?' And
the barkeeper says, 'About five cents, I reckon.' And Sam handed over
the money for the drink and the glass, and then he held the glass up
and looked at it, and he put his face down and smelled it, and then he
put it to his lips like he intended to drink it, and then he turned
around to Milly and says, 'Look here, Milly!' and he dashed it down in
the gutter, and the glass broke into a hundred pieces, and the whiskey
spattered on the horse's hoofs and the barkeeper's shoes. Milly said
Sam was as white as a ghost and shakin' as hard as she was, and he
nodded to the barkeeper and says he, 'That's my last drink.' And then
he turned around and drove up the street towards the Square.

"Milly said she was so thankful he hadn't touched the whiskey that she
begun cryin' for joy, but still she didn't know whether that was his
last drink or not, he'd broken so many promises to her before. And Sam
seemed to know what was in her mind, for he says to her, 'Milly, do
you believe me or not?' And Milly said all at once she thought o' that
text o' scripture that says, 'For by grace are ye saved through
faith.' And she thought o' Sam the day her Father come to take her
home and how he kept sayin', 'Keep on believin' in me, Milly, and your
faith'll save me.' And she laid her hand on Sam's knee and says she,
'Yes, Sam, I do believe you.' And the minute she spoke the word, she
said it looked like a stone rolled away from her heart, and she felt
in her soul that she'd c