t I ever
touched it. Let us now mutually pledge ourselves never again
to drink anything that will intoxicate." But Cousin John only
laughed, and kissed his young wife tenderly and went away to
the wood, taking the brandy bottle with him.

When he came home at night, and the supper was over, and he
had, as usual, seated himself by Maria and taken her hand in
his, (at which signal I invariably become suddenly sleepy and
am obliged to retire,) I stole away from the scene, and
sitting down by my little window, looked out into the faint
moonlight, and thought much and long upon the joys and
sorrows of earth, but most upon its sorrows, for the "whole
creation groaneth," and my own heart is always sorrowful.

I do not know why, but it may have been, and probably was,
because all the anguish and sorrow that has ever come under
my personal observation, has been occasioned by that drink
that "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder,"
that the scene of the morning mingled with the thought of my
cousins below eagerly quaffing their cup of bliss; the
sweetest that earth offers to youthful lips. 'Can bitter
drops ever mingle there?' thought I. 'Can the honey become
wormword and gall, and every joy be forgotten? Can the little
speck that I thought I saw this morning on the horizon become
a great cloud and overshadow us all?' In imagination I saw
lovely cousin Maria pale and faded, and careworn, and cousin
John's noble and manly countenance bloated and brutish, as I
have seen men become by the use of stimulating drinks, and
involuntarily I threw up my hands and cried, 'Is there none
to help?'

It may have been a morbid condition of the mind that wrought
these sad fancies, and I am sure those who have never
realized the danger of the cup would treat them lightly, but
you dear friend, know that from just such beginnings the most
harrowing sorrows have sprung.

I know cousin John would smile if he knew what a serious
matter I have made of a thing that he considers so trifling,
and he is so good and kind to me, and his whole soul so free
from vice, that I almost regret having put these thoughts on
paper. But out of the fulness of my anxious heart I have
written as perhaps I ought not.

God grant that all my fears may prove groundless, and that
the serpent's st