226 HILLS AND LAKES. 



make 'em taste pleasant. It's a strange thing, Squire, 

 to see a man, that may be, has a wife and little chil- 

 dren that he loves, that cling around him in their 

 young affections, like the wild vine that creeps up, 

 and hugs the trunk of the strong old oak. To see 

 sich a man givin' way to destroyin' drinks, pluckin' 

 up from his heart the love of the husband and the 

 father, and castin' from him the fond arms of his little 

 ones, and goin' straight along down to a drunkard's 

 grave, in spite of his wife's anguish, and his children's 

 tears. It's a sad sight Squire, but you and I have 

 seen it more than once. It's a thing I can't under- 

 stand a foolishness that no dumb animals was ever 

 guilty of. 



" And then to see people breakin' the laws, plun- 

 derin' their neighbors, and may be takin' away, by 

 violence, human life. Crime, Squire, is a wonderful 

 folly, outside of the moral wrong, and the sin against 

 God. I was once down to Plattsburgh, when a court 

 was sittin' there, and I went into the court-house, 

 where they were tryin' a man for robbing a store in 

 the night time. The jury were listenin' to what the 

 witnesses were telling against him. It was all clear 

 and straight, that he was the man who did the rob- 



