“Won’t you drink this morning, Jarvis?” asked the other, with a look of surprise.

There was evidently a powerful struggle going on in the mind of the drunkard.  This lasted only for a moment or two, when he said, loudly, and emphatically—­

“No!”

And instantly broke from his old boon companion, and hurried on his way.

A loud laugh followed him, but he heeded it not.  Ten minutes’ walk brought him to the store of a respectable tradesman.

“Is Mr. R—­in?” he asked, as he entered.

“Back at the desk,” was the answer of a clerk.

And Jarvis walked back with a resolute air.

“Mr. R—­, I want to sign the pledge!”

“You, Jarvis?” Mr. R—­said, in tones of gratified surprise.

“Yes, me, Mr. R—.  It’s almost a hopeless case; but here goes to do my best.”

“Are you fully sensible of what you are about doing, Jarvis?”

“I think I am, Mr. R—.  I’ve drunk nothing since yesterday morning, and with the help of Him above, I am determined never to drink another drop as long as I live!  So read me the pledge and let me sign it.”

Mr. R—­turned at once to the constitution of the Washington Temperance Society, and read the pledge thereunto annexed: 

“’We, the undersigned, do pledge ourselves to each other, as gentlemen, that we will not, hereafter, drink any spiritous liquors, wine, malt, or cider, unless in sickness, and under the prescription of a physician.’”

Jarvis took the pen in his hand, that trembled so he. could scarcely make a straight mark on paper, and enrolled his name among the hundreds of those, who, like him, had resolved to be men once more.  This done, he laid down the quarter of a dollar which he had obtained from his wife, the admission fee required of all who joined the society.  As he turned from the tradesman’s store, his step was firmer and his head more erect, than, in a sober state, he had carried it for many a day.

From thence he proceeded to a hatter’s-shop.

“Well, Jarvis,” was uttered in rather a cool, repulsive tone, as he entered.

“Are you not in want of a journeyman, Mr. Warren?”

“I don’t want you, Jarvis.”

“If you will give me work, I’ll never get drunk again, Mr. Warren.”

“You’ve said that too many times, Jarvis.  The last time you went off when I was hurried with work, and caused me to disappoint a customer, I determined never to have any thing more to do with you.”

“But I’ll never disappoint you again,” urged the poor man earnestly.

“It’s no use for you to talk to me, Jarvis.  You and I are done with each other.  I have made up my mind never again to have a man in my shop who drinks rum.”

“But I’ve joined the temperance society, Mr. Warren.”

“I don’t care if you have:  in two weeks you’ll be lying in the gutter.”

“I’ll never drink liquor again if I die!” said Jarvis, solemnly.