Gough, I believe?"
"That is my name," I replied, and was passing on.
"You have been drinking to-day," said the stranger, in a kind voice,
which arrested my attention, and quite dispelled any anger at what I
might otherwise have considered an officious interference in my affairs.
"Yes, sir," I replied. "I have----"
"Why do you not sign the pledge?" was the next query.
I considered for a moment or two, and then informed the strange friend
who had so unexpectedly interested himself in my behalf that I had no
hope of ever again becoming a sober man, and that I was without a
single friend in the world who cared for me; that I fully expected to
die very soon, cared not how soon, or whether I died drunk or sober,
and, in fact, that I was in a condition of utter recklessness.
The stranger regarded me with a benevolent look, took me by the arm,
and asked me how I should like to be as I once was, respectable and
esteemed, well clad, and sitting as I used to, in a place of worship;
enabled to meet my friends as in old times, and receive from them the
pleasant nod of recognition as formerly; in fact, become a useful
member of society?
"Oh," I replied, "I should like all these things first-rate; but I have
no expectation that such a thing will ever happen.
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