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TWO WAYS OF KEEPING A HOLIDAY.

and were it not that now and then they managed
to get a good joint which happened to be cooked
all right, one might have supposed that all the
confusion arose from want of means rather than
from want of skill in rightly using them.

All at once Joseph asked for something to drink,
and then as usual one of the children had to
be sent to a neighbouring public-house for a quart
of beer; by this time the dinner hour was nearly
up, and thus amid "confusion worse confounded"
he went back again to the shop. This was a
specimen of how things were managed (or mis-
managed) there, and although they had been
married about the same time as the Ellis's, and
sometimes double the money passed weekly
through their hands, what with bad habits at
home, and Joseph's occasional sprees abroad, they
were living so to speak from hand to mouth, in-
stead of having everything comfortable and put-
rainy day;" for, not-
ting by something for a
withstanding Susan's statement that they only
took a little, it was astonishing the quantity they
drank in "littles," and if they had kept an account
of the cost, it would have startled them; in ad-
dition to which, Joseph's occasional treats to his
boon companions formed a considerable item in
his expenses; for he had the reputation of being
a "jolly good fellow," and those who called him
so, were not backward in getting him to prove it;
for should he omit to "tip up," they touched his
bump of approbation, and soon their wants were
supplied.

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How many there are to be found, who thus, through a mistaken notion of good fellowship, lead to ruin, not only themselves, but also their families, and those with whom they associate.

The week before a holiday is a busy one, for it is generally understood that nothing will be done during the holiday, so from early in the morning until late at night, the men are to be found closely at their work, with the double motive of getting more money, and having as the result more plea

sure.

At length Whitsunday came, and on the Monday morning, Ellis, with his wife and children, and a large party of others like-minded, took the excursion train to R, and we need say little more than that the pleasures of the journey were increased, by the children asking all sorts of questions as the train rattled along, and when they at length saw the sea with its never-ceasing roll of waves, and ships in full sail, and began to pick up the pebbles and shells which lay on the shore, their little tongues ran, as the mother said, "nineteen to the dozen;" but as they had nothing else to do but to see and ask questions, they found the time pass away both quickly and pleasantly; and ere the week had passed away, owing to the influence of the sea air and the scorching sun, their little faces had become as brown as gipsies.

On the Friday morning, while they were strolling over the sands, a boy came along selling the daily papers, so Charles bought one and sat down by the side of Jane to read it; he had not been thus engaged long ere his eye rested upon a paragraph headed "Shocking Murder," and he read as follows, "We have to record, with sincere regret that last night a murder was committed at S- ; it appears that in the afternoon a party of five persons came out from the town of B

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to keep the holiday; after spending some time at
the Blue Post,' the only public-house in the place,
they arose with the intention, as the landlord tells
us, of returning home, but one of the party it
seems, was unwilling to go, it being only seven
o'clock; however, the person who had been stand-
ing treat said Well, I shall go,' so they began to
move in the direction of the town; they had,
however, not proceeded far, when the air began
to take effect (query the drink), and the result it
appears was, that one of the party said, 'Let us
turn back and have it out,' and began to take
hold of one of his companions' arms to push him
in that direction. This led by way of a lark as
was said, to a general movement among them,
but still the leader persisted in returning home,
until excited by the drink and the opposition, one
of the party began to swear that he shouldn't go,
and this led to harder words and then to blows,
until one and another of them dealt out a series
of severe blows, and the result was that all at once
one of them was heard to cry out and then sud-
denly noticed to fall, and ere any assistance could
be rendered he had ceased to exist. We found
upon enquiry that the name of the unhappy man
whose life has thus been so suddenly brought to
a close is Joseph Harvey, of B-

If a thunderbolt had struck Charles, the newspaper would not have dropped more quickly from his hands, and some moments passed ere he could realize where he was or what he was doing; and when he looked round he saw that Jane also was so overwhelmed with sorrow that she had fallen backward on the sands in a fainting fit, and it was some time ere he could arouse her; at length she opened her eyes, and then faintly said, "Poor Mrs. Harvey, what will she do with all that family?"

"I am sure I don't know," said Charles, "for I fear that they have not a penny in the world to call their own.'

"Then there is nothing but the workhouse before them, for what can a woman do with such a lot of children?" said Jane; "Oh, the cursed drink, how it robs the poor of their happiness!"

"Yes it does," said Charles, "and I have felt since I read about poor Harvey, that had it not been for you, I too might ere this also have become a victim."

"Let us both be thankful that God has enabled us to shun the appearance of evil, and determine by His grace more and more to battle against the foe." "and may we Amen, amen," said Charles, soon be able to say the land is free from such traps as public-houses altogether."

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Just then the children came running up with their little basket full of sea-weed and shells, and pebbles, while the little one said, "Me take 'em to Faver, see, see, beauty."

The thought of the fatherless ones at home brought tears to the eyes of Jane, while the little one said again, " Dinna cry, mamma, I be good!" Yes, my dear, you are good, but run away to

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play."

So away they went, and Charles read the newspaper account again; but nothing could be gathered beyond the fact that the inquest would be held on Saturday.

"I am glad our tickets will let us return to

6

TWO WAYS OF KEEPING A HOLIDAY.

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away

So she went, and in due time the things were packed, and on the Saturday afternoon they made their way to the railway station, and while they are journeying towards home we will just look back again at B, and fill up a few particulars which were gathered from Susan Harvey, when they returned.

It appears that Joseph Harvey, after spending the early part of the week in the usual way, was induced on the Thursday afternoon to accompany four of his shopmates to S, a village about three miles out of B. The weather being very fine they would go as they said for a stroll, and get a little fresh air. On arriving one of them said he felt thirsty, and with Joseph's usual generosity he offered to pay for a quart of ale, so in they went to the "Blue Post;" after they had drank that, he called for another upon condition that Thomas Dent would sing a song, and this led to other quarts; and so they contrived to be merry in their way. The result, however, was, as already stated, he lost his life.

When the news reached his wife, for a moment or two she stood paralyzed, and then uttered such a shriek that the person who was present was quite bewildered, and ere he could recover himself Susan Harvey had fallen full length to the floor in a swoon; by dint of effort, with the aid of a medical man who was called in, they at last perceived a return of life; gradually she began to look about her as if she missed some one, and at length she said "Where is he, my husband, I mean?"

66

Hush!" said the doctor, "you must keep very quiet."

46

But is it true," she said, "do tell me is he dead?"

66

Compose yourself as well as you can," said the doctor, "it is, I fear, too true."

"Oh, my poor children, what shall we do?" and turning her head, sobs deep and loud alike testified how much she was suffering.

Grief such as this is too sacred to be narrated, and therefore we hasten on to say, that on the Friday about the time when the Ellis's were reading the paper, Susan stood by the side of her dead husband, as he lay in the very room at the 66 Blue Post" where the drink had been supplied, and which resulted in the horrid deed.

Let us draw the mantle of obscurity over the scene of that solemn interview between the living and the dead. God grant it may never be our lot either to cause or to suffer such a calamity. What were the reflections of the landlord at that moment it is difficult to conceive, but judging by the fact that he still continues to sell drink, we must conclude that something more than "moral

suasion" as it is called, is needful to convince publicans to abandon a traffic, which neither a widow's tears, nor the orphan children's cry can influence, so long as the sound of the sixpence tingles in their ears.

In due time they led Susan back again to her desolate home to await the coroner's inquest; and on the Saturday, with all due solemnity, the Coroner opened the enquiry. The evidence was simple and yet difficult. The fact was clear that the man's life was sacrificed, but whether it was occasioned by the blow, and by whom that was given, or the fall, or both combined, was a question which the jury failed completely in eliciting, and so after examining all the witnesses, including even the publican, they came to the conclusion that justice required them to return a verdict of manslaughter against Joseph Harvey's four companions, and ordered them to be taken into custody, and brought before the magistrates.

Not one word was said either by the Coroner or the jurymen about the responsibility of the landlord in supplying the drink which led to the mischief; surely there must be a day coming when such things shall be allowed no longer; the publican should be made at least to share the responsibility of his acts, in the same way as his customers.

but

When the inquest concluded, arrangements were made for the undertaker to bring a coffin, and in the course of the evening a few of the neighbours carried the dead body back to the house which Joseph Harvey had so recently left full of health, but which was now to be but a resting-place, ere he was taken to the place from whence he will at the Great Day be summoned, to give an account of the deeds done in the body. It was late ere the Ellis's arrived at Bas soon as they had partaken of some refreshment, and the children were put to bed, Jane hastened to see Susan Harvey. The meeting was, as may be imagined, painful to both; but one thought seemed to be uppermost in Susan's mind, "Would that I had taken your advice, and then this might have been prevented." But alas! such regrets, however sincere, could not undo the mischief; so Jane could only give a few words of sisterly counsel, and with a promise soon to come again, she returned to her home.

The rest is soon told. In due time the body of Joseph Harvey was carried to the grave amid a large concourse of people, and soon after the four companions were brought before the magistrates, who felt bound by the evidence presented to send the case to the Assizes. In the course of a short time afterwards they were found guilty, and sentenced to be kept prisoners for five years each. Susan Harvey and the children had to go to the workhouse, for after Joseph's affairs began to be examined, it was found that when the whole of his effects were sold, many claims would remain unsettled.

And mark, all this arose from one public-house, the only one in the village; and yet, although Charles Ellis's earnings are less every week than Harvey's used to be, he and the rest of the ratepayers of B-, are saddled with the expenses arising out of this affair for years to come. there is the expense of a coroner's inquest, and the police and magistrates, then railway fare to the county gaol, then the assize, and the cost of

First

WHAT BROUGHT THE RAIN?

keep, &c., of the four prisoners for five years in gaol, and then the widow and children in the workhouse, altogether making a serious sum; and yet, as the law at present stands, the same sort of thing may be repeated again and again. Surely we may say that with a fact such as this (which alas, occurs almost every day), the ratepayers ought to have the "Permissive Bill," to veto the common sale of such drinks; and we feel sure that if such a power was placed in their hands, it would not be long before they would say that one at all was one too much, and proceed to put it down, and thus stop the foe from committing any further mischief. Will you aid in getting this great boon? If so, then join with those who are banded together, determined, by God's help, never to cease the fight until the "Liquor Traffic," with all its body and soul-destroying influence, is for ever banished from our land. Meantime learn the lesson," MIND HOW YOU KEEP YOUR HOLIDAYS!"

What Brought the Rain?

WHAT time the flowers their petals furled With snowy wings outspread,

The Guardian Angel of the world

To earth from heaven sped.

It was a glorious harvest night,

The spheres were all in tune,

The stars were out, and shining bright
About the Lady Moon.

The flowers had closed their eyes and slept

A pure, untroubled sleep;

The world, above their slumbers, kept
A silence calm and deep.

The Angel kissed the sleeping flowers,
And bade them all "good night,"
Then fluttered through the forest bowers
With swift and noiseless flight.

The stream had chos'n a song, and sang
Upon its quiet bed,

And through the trees the music rang

That whispered overhead.

The Angel left the forest shade,
He left the purling stream,

To murmur to the listening glade
The wonders of its dream.

He stood upon a breezy hill,

And saw the moon-lit plain Like a great ocean shining still

With waving, golden grain. "And, oh! to think," the Angel sighed, "That this should be the source

Of blood the earth can never hide-
The blessing prove a curse!"

"And, oh! how soon to be disgraced,
This precious gift of heaven;
The world will waste it with a waste
For which it was not given!

And, oh! how men will choose the cup
That maddens them and kills,
When the very earth is bubbling up

With springs, and founts, and rills!"
He looked across the silvered plain,
"Ye streams that men despise,
Your waters shall return again

Unto their kindred skies!"
Then fell a shade upon the moon,

The stars burnt wan and dim,
The streamlet hushed its merry tune,
And sang a parting hymn.

And up, and up, its waters rise,

Up through the misty air;

Thick mist had covered earth and skiesThe mist was everywhere.

There was no stream in all the land,

No river, fount, nor lake,

But did, amid a misty band,

A misty journey take.

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Such floods were never seen before

May they ne'er be again!

There was no reaper's gladsome song
Among the sheaves that year,
And as the winter rolled along,

Full many a home looked drear;
Empty was many a barn and stall,

And rotting lay the sheaves
In the bleak fields; the farmer's all
Lay strewn like withered leaves.

Yet bright grew many a tear-dimmed eye
Ev'n in that mournful time,

For the tavern fount alone was dry

That fount of grief and crime; And the drunkard fled his former haunt, And from the purling stream Drank to the memory of the want

That woke him from his dream.

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ALCOHOL IN RELATION TO THE NUTRITIVE FUNCTIONS.

beaten in the fair strife of argument and reasoning. Alcohol in its divers forms has always been considered hitherto as a tonic and a nutrient-as heat-producing, and, therefore, an indispensable "element of respiration." Some medical authorities of high standing have maintained this, among whom may be mentioned the learned Dr. Carpenter and Professor Miller. These gentlemen have contributed to the medical literature of the Temperance movement-its very pith and substance; and, as physiologists and physicians, have done more to aid the Temperance cause by their advocacy of it on medical grounds than perhaps any two men in the profession in this country. How, then, have they been misled; and to what cause are we to look for an error in the opinion of two men so accustomed to accuracy of observation, and so remarkable for the general correctness of their views? We may trace it, I think, to a twofold source-namely, to education, and to the want of sufficient light in reference to the action of alcohol on the human organism. Medical men educated in a certain mode of practice, retain a preference for it until it can be shown to them to be erroneous. Bleeding, mercury, and wine were the tripod of the medical practice of our fathers in the profession: they were the threefold power by which disease was to be overcome, and the patients supported; and without which it was thought impossible to work a cure. The two former--namely, bleeding and mercury, have been superseded, and proved beyond a doubt to be mischievous; and the time is now drawing on when wine and other alcoholics will deservedly receive a similar condemnation. We must expect, however, that medical practitioners will retain some leaning ever through life to the principles of practice in which they were educated. To this cause, then, we must attribute much of the show of defence still made by certain learned Temperance physicians in favour of using alcholics in different forms, under what they are pleased to call "special circumstances"-those circumstances being far too general to be properly within the designation of "special."

In the second place, it is confessedly true that our knowledge of the action of alcohol on the body has been limited and imperfect-that, in fact, we have been altogether in the dark. Much has been done within the last few years; and bright are the gleams of light that have broken through the clouds in reference to the work of alcohol when taken into the human system. That light shows us more vividly than ever the mischievous action of this deadly drug; shows us more clearly than ever that, so far from being beneficial, it is baneful in the worst sense of the word. The mischief is directly proportioned to the quantity taken, so that even a small measure cannot be imbibed without producing an equal measure of diseased action. This is worthy the consider. ation, not of drunkards only, but of moderate drinkers

too.

While, then, we attribute the general custom of practitioners in ordering alcoholic beverages, in part to educational prejudices, and in part to the notion that they are nutritive and beneficial, we rejoice that further acquaintance with the question has given us advantages in regard to the knowledge of the physiology of alcohol, which our fathers did not possessa knowledge which, indeed, was still hidden from the world when even the works of Carpenter and Miller issued from the press.

Malt liquors are considered by all to be nutritive, and their qualities in this direction are attributed to the alcohol. Brewers' men, who almost subsist on these liquors, are remarkable for their fatness. This is conceded. But their stoutness does not arise from the alcohol. Physiologists have affirmed very

positively to the contrary, and have accounted for it by saying that the alcohol being combustible is resolved into its elementary constituents, and that its carbon combines with the oxygen of the air, forming carbonic acid and giving out heat; and that the hydrogen is also burnt in the same way, combining with oxygen and forming watery vapour. This we altogether deny. Where obesity results from drinking malt liquors, it is from the nutriment contained in the saccharine portion of the constituents of the beverage, and not from the alcohol. Saccharine substances are very closely allied to the oily and fatty compounds, and, passing into these, are deposited in the tissues of the human body to be consumed in the respiratory process, as occasion calls for. In support of this view we have two great arguments, one of which is of a positive, the other of a negative character. It must be remembered, too, that the bitter principle in malt liquors-the hop, the quassia, and other similar ingredients-put the absorbent system of vessels into a condition rendering them capable of taking up more nutrimental matter available for the purposes of repairing the system. In this fact consists the great value of the bitter tonics. The one argument is derived from the fact that those beverages which contain the largest proportion of alcohol and the smallest amount of saccharine matters do not afford in a visible degree any nutriment to those who take them. Spirit drinkers are never stout in conse. quence of their potations. On the contrary, they are often extremely spare, ill-thriven, and shrivelled; while the same persons on becoming Total Abstainers have gained flesh and visibly improved in their physical appearance. We should naturally and logically expect, if alcohol were nutritive, that spirit drinkers would have the advantage, or, at any rate, be equal in point of stoutness to the consumers of malt liquors; but such is far from being the case. They ought, indeed to present a better aspect, if the supposed good they get were attributable to the alcohol. But it would not be difficult to show that alcohol even obstructs and hinders the due repair of the system; certainly it diminishes the powers of physical resistance, and indeed interferes with the nutritive functions throughout. There is a second argument against the supposition that alcohol is burnt up in the system, and that it is resolved into carbonic acid and water; or that it affords nutritive elements capable of being, as saccharine matters are, stored up in the form of oily and fatty substances in the tissues. If it could be shown that alcohol passes through the system unchanged, our ground for denying its supposed nutritive properties would be quite established. This we can now do without the possibility of refutation. We can demonstrate, by appropriate tests, the presence of alcohol, after it has been drunk, in the secretions and textures of the body as accurately as we have the presence of sulphuric acid by barytes, or any other substance, by its proper chemical reagent. This achievement is the result of very recent inquiry, and adds the strongest and most forcible argument for temperance practice that has ever been derived from scientific sources. Alcohol has been obtained by many medical men of eminence from the blood, the urine, and the substance and ventricles of the brain, showing that it had passed into the secretions and tissues of the body unchanged. We have here quite sufficient proof that alcohol is not used in the animal economy, and that it is neither nutritive nor available as an element of respiration. The researches of Lallemand and his colleagues show that alcohol can be detected by its chemical test soon after it has been taken, and for a certain length of time after, according to the quantity taken; for if large, it could be demonstrated in the secretions and the

HEALTH: HOW TO SECURE AND RETAIN IT.

breath for 24 or even 48 hours. But they have fully and beyond any question established the fact-vital in its importance, in a Temperance point of viewthat alcohol invariably passes through the body without undergoing the changes which aliments undergo, and that it sets up a morbid action in the system, which is excited to an unnatural degree; and that excitement is the result of an effort of nature to throw off what it feels to be a noxious agent-a positive poison. The effort is precisely the same as is made by the system to get rid of any other deleterious substance. The chloric and sulphuric ethers, which are similar to alcohol, and the compounds allied to them, all exert a poisonous action on the system; and nature, on their being taken in, exerts herself in the same marked manner to free herself from them. Now, no medical man in the world ever argued that the etheral bodies were nutritious! No medical man ever contended that they were anything else than dangerous drugs, which when used, even medicinally, require the most watchful care in their administration. But alcohol, which, however, may be taken in larger quantities without a fatal result, is favoured with an exceptional regard, and is even ordered ad libitum?

As then alcohol is found to be eliminated from the system unchanged in its composition, and incapable, therefore, of affording the elements of nutrition-and since it is known to be productive of mischief in proportion to the quantity imbibed-why is not its use as a beverage at once discarded, and the sale of it repressed by the strong arm of the law? How is it that this fruitful source of crime and social disorder is not at once stopped? We are not taking a chimerical view of the thing, when we say that no agency for the amelioration of our fellow-countrymen and our race can be considered perfect unless it be founded on and begin with temperance. Let thoughtful men duly ponder the question in all its importance. Let them be assured that alcohol is now found to be incapable of affording nutriment to the system; incapable of any good whatever, in a physiological point of view; and capable only of damaging health, setting up disease, shortening life, and effecting the mortal ruin of those who are led captive by its insidious and deadly enchantments.

Health: How to Secure and Retain it.

By S. B. LOUDON, Liverpool.

SECTION 4.-AIR.

WHAT food is to the stomach air is to the lungs; and insufficient or unwholesome food does not engender disease more certainly than does an impure atmosphere. But few persons ever stop to consider what an impure atmosphere is, and they imagine that if they are not inhaling air laden with pestilential gases or poisoned by decaying animal or vegetable matter, they must be breathing the pure air of heaven. Now, it is by no means necessary that atmospheric air should be charged with miasma to render it unfit for the lungs. It cannot be too strongly stated that, by the simple act of respiration, about 8 per cent. of oxygen (the only part of air which supports life) is destroyed, and carbonic acid takes its place. Hence air, which has been once used, is utterly unfit to be breathed over again, and the effect of sending it to the lungs is to irritate and disease those organs to a greater or lesser extent. It is

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enormous the quantity of air which is required to sustain life. Every adult individual uses 18,000 cubic feet of it every hour; and as it has been well and forcibly expressed by an eminent writer, We spoil, vitiate, and destroy about fifty hogsheads of atmospheric air in one day." The Mighty Ruler of the universe, who is praised by "snow, vapours, and stormy wind fulfilling His word," has made ample provision by the simple operation of natural law (for, notwithstanding their apparent mystery to us, all God's laws are natural)-for the purification of the atmosphere so that, type of the Redeemer's grace, the constant drain upon it by the myriads who people the world causes no diminution of its life-giving properties. This fact alone should surely teach us that every moment of our lives we require a continual supply of fresh and pure air. I say continual, for some do vainly teach that to admit air into the house by opening the door or windows is to invite disease to enter, and the most orthodox plan is to "lay in a good stock" of air outside, and then come home and keep both doors and windows hermetically sealed lest the unwelcome intruder should effect an entrance. Does not everybody know that the night air is most destructive of health? Why, there was old Mrs. Wheezer, who had to answer the door one night when the servant was out, and she never recovered the effects of the "cold air." And who has not heard of her near neighbour, Mr. Hobbledehoy, who nearly lost his life by the carelessness of his maid (servants will be careless!) in forgetting to replace the sand-bag after cleaning the window one day.

But, notwithstanding these weighty arguments, and many more which might be advanced, I humbly recommend my many readers to feed their lungs well with the pure air of heaven. Don't be afraid of the night air, if it is dry and not foggy. Keep a little of your window open-the air outside must be very bad, indeed, if it is not more wholesome than what every one in the room is breathing over and over again, and which is being consumed by the fire and the lights as well. Some people ventilate their rooms by leaving the door open. Well, undoubtedly, this kind of ventilation is better than none at all; but surely, as some one observes, "We may allow ourselves the best and purest air within our reach, and choose the open window instead of the tainted air of a house."

The

The proper ventilation of a bed-room is, if possible, more important still. If people did not halfsuffocate themselves at night in their sleepingrooms, their health and the health of their children would be more vigorous. Not long since I was taken by a friend into his room one night, and what does the reader suppose I found? windows firmly closed, the Venetian blinds down, the curtains closely drawn, and, to crown all, two gas lamps burning for the purpose of warming the room! And in this comparatively small space two human beings were to spend ten hours, breathing over and over again the same air, already charged with gas!

I shall not have employed my humble pen in vain if I succeed in persuading some of my readers, at least, not to follow such a suicidal course. If the night is cold, warm your room by all means, but do so by a fire; and instead of ex

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