File:A knight that smote the dragon; (1892) (14590020158).jpg

Identifier: knightthatsmoted00rand (find matches)
Title: A knight that smote the dragon;
Year: 1892 (1890s)
Authors: Rand, Edward A. (Edward Augustus), 1837-1903
Subjects: Gough, John B. (John Bartholomew), 1817-1886
Publisher: New York, Hunt & Eaton Cincinnati, Cranston & Stowe
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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IN STILL DARKER DEPTHS. 99

when he raised that bottle of benumbing poison
to his lips ? I know that angels do minister to
the needy of earth. Gough turned away from
that selected place of death, but what would
he do? If he did not die under the wheels of
the locomotive, he seemed to be fated to perish
before that pitiless demon drink.
The last Sunday of October has come. How
chilly are the streets of Worcester ! The sharp
evening wind rustles and sweeps aside the dead
Leaves of autumn. A drunkard, who feels the
sting of the wind, comes sauntering along. He
has been drinking and is under the influence of
liquor still, but he is not insensible to a kind
word or a cross one that may be spoken. He can
appreciate a touch of sympathy or a rough
hand of restraint. He feels his loneliness, for
he is without a home. He feels his uselessness
in life, for he is without any serious purpose.
He shrugs his shoulders, for cutting is the wind
and his clothing is scanty and shabby. It is not
any despondency of old age that burdens him.
He is young and yet nigh unto despair, for he
is a drunkard. As you look, you can see through
the shadows that gloomy face. You can hear
the uncertain, uneven walk of this drunkard.

100 A KNIGHT THAT SMOTE THE DRAGON.

This very night John Bartholomew Gough
is to come under the influence of a movement
destined to revolutionize his life. What will be
its character?
October ! It is not a month when the gardener
looks for hopeful beginnings. It is harvest-
time, not seed-time.
A drunkard's life! It offers to the eye
but little hope. God, though, reigns.
Text Appearing After Image:

A FRIENDLY HAND. 101

CHAPTER XII.
A FRIENDLY HAND.

YES, what will be the nature of this revolu-
tionary influence in Gough's life? He is
to be stopped in his career. Shall he feel a hand
of violence or that of kindness and sympathy?
Some men cease tobecome drunkards when they
become convicts. It may, in one way, be a great
blessing to a man when he steps into the shadow
of such a shame as imprisonment. A physician
was asked by a man if he could cure a malady
of his eyes. "Yes," said the doctor, "if you
will follow my prescription." " O, certainly,
doctor," said the patient. "I will do any thing
to have my eyes cured. What is your remedy,
doctor?" " You must steal a horse," said the
doctor, gravely. " Steal a horse, doctor ?" cried
the astonished patient. " How will that cure
my eyes?" " You will be sent to the State
prison for five years, where you cannot get
whisky, and during your incarceration your eyes
would get well," was the physician's answer.

102 A KNIGHT THAT SMOTE THE DRAGON.

The man with the sick eyes tested not the worth
of this prescription, but if he had it would have
been a sure cure.

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