made lots o' money dealing, drinking pint arter pint o' gin
and beer and calling it pison, an' saying they was killing theirselves.

"Sometimes 'e used to get pitiful over it, and sit shaking 'is 'ead at
'em for drowning theirselves in beer, as he called it, when they ought
to be giving the money to their wives and families. He sat down and
cried one night over Bill Chambers's wife's toes being out of 'er boots.
Bill sat struck all of a 'eap, and it might 'ave passed off, only Henery
White spoke up for 'im, and said that he scarcely ever 'ad a pint but
wot somebody else paid for it. There was unpleasantness all round then,
and in the row somebody knocked one o' Henery's teeth out.

[Illustration: There was unpleasantness all round 192]

"And that wasn't the only unpleasantness, and at last some of the chaps
put their 'eads together and agreed among theirselves to try and help
Job Brown to give up the drink. They kep' it secret from Job, but the
next time 'e came in and ordered a pint Joe Gubbins--'aving won the
toss--drank it by mistake, and went straight off 'ome as 'ard as 'e
could, smacking 'is lips.

"He 'ad the best of it, the other chaps 'aving to 'old Job down in 'is
chair, and trying their 'ardest to explain that Joe Gubbins was only
doing him a kindness. He seemed to understand at last, and arter a long
time 'e said as 'e could see Joe meant to do 'im a kindness, but 'e'd
better not do any more.

"He kept a very tight 'old o' the next pint, and as 'e set down at the
table he looked round nasty like and asked 'em whether there was any
more as would like to do 'im a kindness, and Henery White said there
was, and he went straight off 'ome arter fust dropping a handful o'
sawdust into Job's mug.

"I'm an old man, an' I've seen a good many rows in my time, but I've
never seen anything like the one that 'appened then. It was no good
talking to Job, not a bit, he being that unreasonable that even when
'is own words was repeated to 'im he wouldn't listen. He behaved like a
madman, an' the langwidge 'e used was that fearful and that wicked that
Smith the landlord said 'e wouldn't 'ave it in 'is house.

"Arter that you'd ha' thought that Job Brown would 'ave left off 'is
talk about being teetotaler, but he didn't. He said they was quite right
in trying to do 'im a kindness, but he didn't like the way they did it.
He said there was a right way and a wrong way of doing everything, and
they'd chose the wrong.

"It