“When I came into the Home, mind, memory, hope and energy were shattered.  The only animating thought remaining to me was a misty speculation as to where the next drink was to come from.  I had a kind of feeble perception that a few days more of the life I was leading must end my earthly career, but I didn’t care.  As to the ’hereafter’—­that might take care of itself; I had no energy to make any provision for it.

“To-day, how different!  A new man, utterly defiant of the devil and all ‘his works and pomps,’ I am ready and eager to take my place once more in the battle of life; atone for the miserable time gone by; to take again the place in the world I had forfeited, bearing ever in my breast the beautiful maxims of the German poet and philosopher, Schiller:  ’Look not sorrowfully into the past; it comes not back again.  Wisely improve the present; it is thine.  Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear, and with a manly heart.’”

Another writes:  “I have been true and faithful to my promise, and have not touched or tampered with the curse since the first morning I entered the Home, ten months ago to-day, and, Mr. Superintendent, I shall never drink again as long as I live.  My whole trust and hope is in God, who made me live, move and have my being; and as long as I trust in Him—­and which I am thoroughly satisfied I always shall—­I will be crowned with success in each and every good effort I make. * * * The day I reached here, my little ones were out of town, but were telegraphed for at once.  They came in the next morning, and, oh! how my heart rejoiced to see they knew and loved me.  They came to my arms and threw their little arms around my neck, and hugged and kissed me until I wept with joy.  They begged of me never to leave them again, and I never shall.  My dear father, mother and all now wish me to stay with them, for they feel I can now be as great a comfort as I once, I might say, was a terror to them.  Thank God, I can prove a comfort to them, and my daily life shall be such that they never can do without me.  Praises be to God for His goodness and mercy to me, and for showing and guiding me in the straight path, that which leadeth, at last, to an everlasting life with.  Him and His redeemed in that great and glorious kingdom above.”

Another writes, two years after leaving the Home:  “In different places where I lived, I was generally a moving spirit in everything of a literary character, and, from a naturally social, convivial disposition, enjoyed the conversation and society of literary men over a glass of beer more than any other attraction that could have been presented.  For years, this continued, I, all the time, an active spirit in whatever church I was a member of, and an active worker in whatever I engaged in, thereby always commanding a prominent position wherever I was.  Thus matters progressed till I was about twenty-seven, and then I began to realize my position; but, alas, when it was too late.