A colored man, who had been for a long time in the employ of Mr. Lagrange, was retained in the employ of the store.  Ralph Orton was his name.  He having been for a long time in the store, and during that time having had free access to the wines, had formed an appetite for them, in consequence of which he was often intoxicated.

His inebriation was periodical, and not of that kind whose subjects are held in continual thraldom; yet, to use his own words, “when he was drunk, he was drunk, and no mistake.”  He obeyed the old injunction of “what is worth doing is worth doing well,” and as long as he got drunk he got well drunk.

He had ofttimes been reasoned with in his days of soberness, and had often promised to reform; but so many around him drank that he could not resist the temptation to drink also, and therefore broke his promise.  This habit had so fastened itself upon him, that, like one in the coil of the serpent, the more he strove to escape the closer it held him.

If there is any one habit to which if a man becomes attached he will find more difficulty to escape from than another, it is that of intemperance; yet all habits are so one with our nature that the care taken to guard against the adoption of evil ones cannot be too great.

Behold that man!  He was tempted,—­he yielded.  He has surrendered a noble estate, and squandered a large fortune.  Once he had riches and friends; his eye sparkled with the fire of ambition; hope and joy beamed in each feature of his manly countenance, and all bespoke for him a long life and happy death.  Look at him now! without a penny in his pocket, a wretched outcast, almost dead with starvation.  Habit worked the change-an evil habit.

Perchance some one in pity may bestow a small sum upon him.  Utterly regardless of the fact that his wife and children are at home shivering over a few expiring embers that give no warmth, without a crumb to appease their hunger, and although he himself a moment before believed that if aid did not come speedily he must perish, he hastens to the nearest groggery, and, laying down his money, calls for that which has brought upon him and his such woe.

If there is any scene upon earth over which demons joy, it must be when that rumseller takes that money.

This propensity of Ralph’s was a serious objection to him as a servant; yet, in every other respect, he was all that could be desired.  He was honest, faithful and obliging, and, knowing as they did that he was well acquainted with the trade of the city, and could go directly to the houses of Mr. Lagrange’s customers, Messrs. Dayton and Treves were induced to have him remain.

At the end of a month, Edward found himself in prosperous circumstances, and wrote to his old village friends of the fact.  They, as a matter in course, were overjoyed in the reception of such intelligence, and no one more so than Emily Lawton.