Be not

gusting other people with boasting of your triumph. like the pompous Pharisee, who stood up in the most public place he could find, and thanked God that he was not like other men with a heart vile, unworthy, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, but rather be like the poor Publican, and while you acknowledge your own frailty and weakness, do what you can, however humble the effort to strengthen others by your own example, and in every way endeavor to reason with and persuade them to forsake the error of their way, live sober, and be useful, happy and contented. Let every effort you make in behalf of sobriety be characterized as it should be prompted by a spirit of love and a sincere regard for the true interests of humanity. "The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few.” There is an abundance of work for every one to do in the great warfare which is before us. No one need to fold his hands and say "there is nothing for me to do." The work of overcoming and destroying this monster evil, this, the greatest enemy of mankind, the devil not excepted, is no child's play. Every true man, woman and child, throughout the length and breadth of this besotted land is expected to do their utmost and entire duty in the struggle. If they will only come to the rescue, there may yet be hope for the ultimate salvation of our people from the clanking fetters of a slavery a thousandfold more galling and intolerable than have ever been forged for the vanquished and oppressed by the tyranny of all ages of the world combined. It was Burns, nature's poet, who said:

"Man's inhumanity to man

Makes countless thousands mourn."

This is true, but can man's inhumanity at all compare with the numbers of its sorrowing and mourning victims with the demon alcohol, who is each day of the world's existence making countless millions send up the sad, tearful wail of

their pent up sorrow and unutterable despair? Is there left in your bosom, my dear reader, one spark of the love of humanity, a single impulse of self-sacrificing charity, one lingering sentiment of true patriotism? If so, then arouse at once from your lethargic repose and indifference, and go to work with all your might and main in an effort to check the onward march of this dread enemy to every human interest, hope and aspiration. Do what you can, however weak and inconsiderable you may conceive yourself to be, however lightly you may esteem your own personal influence, to stay the dreadful ravages and wide-spreading desolation that mark the progress of the damnable career.

Before closing this chapter I desire to speak briefly of the benefit of consolidated effort that leads me to review the work and influence for good accomplished by the organization and maintenance of temperance socities. The fable of the old man and the sticks is familiar to many, if not all, of my readers, and may serve to illustrate the thought intended to be conveyed in the discussion of this important branch of the subject, An old man who had several sons, none of whom had perhaps ever learned the value of domestic harmony and concert of action, gathered up a large bundle of small sticks, which he bound together with twine. He passed the bundle thus bound together to each of the sons, beginning with the youngest and weakest, and bade them break it if they could. Each in turn gave a trial of his strength, and not one of them was able to break the bundle of sticks. He then unbound it and divided them out among his sons; he told them to break them in pieces. This they accomplished almost without an effort. He then impressed upon them the important lesson which he wished to teach by this simple illustration, the great value of union-the maxim that "in union there is strength." This maxim is particularly true when ap plied to human action and individual resolution. The great

est cowards often become brave and full of courage when cheered by the presence of others engaged in the same hazardous undertaking. How often was this fact demonstrated upon the battlefields of the late war. There were thousands of soldiers on both sides of the conflict who fought bravely and gallantly, distinguishing themselves on many a bloody field, who, at home, engaged in the peaceful pursuits of life, had not sufficient personal courage and manhood to resent the most flagrant insult or injury; who were everywhere known to be arrant cowards who would not fight single-handed and alone under any circumstances whatever. I know many myself whose cowardice at home was such that every one thought when they went off to the war that they would be certain to desert on the first smell of gun-powder, but who returned covered all over with glory on account of their personal bravery and soldierly bearing. The wonder was, how it could be so, but it is not so hard to understand after all. It is, I think, attributable to the fact that individual resolution and personal courage are strengthened and inspired by the association of others exposed to a common danger. Besides, the great mass of the common soldiery are but followers, and while a man may fight valiantly under the leadership of his captain, he may have none of the elements of a commander himself, and would never fight upon his own personal responsibility. And so it is with the great mass of mankind to-day, and in all ages of the world. There are, and in the very nature of things can be, but few leaders in society in any of its phases, or in any of its enterprises, whether political, social, or moral. The majority are content to be followers. They are ready to take their places in the ranks, and while they may be always critcising the conduct or judgment of their leaders, they have no vaulting ambition to become leaders themselves. With all their complaining they constitute the great body of the common soldiery, and are indispensable to the success of every

moral, social, or political revolution Individually, they will do but little, if anything, of value to the great cause, but organize them into bands and societies, and they are a host. They will fight bravely and effectively for the cause in which they may enlist, and get enough of them together and they will come off victorious.

There is no estimating the good which has been accomplished by the many temperance organizations throughout the length and breadth of the country. I can not undertake to enumerate them, or to give even an epitomized history of their labors in the great cause of temperance reform. But I must speak of the work of one council of the The United Friends of Temperance, with the history of which and its results, I was at one time personally familiar. About the year 1873, when the Texas & Pacific railroad was completed through Kaufman county, a little town sprung up in the north-western part of that county, which was named Forney after a high official of the railroad company. Among the first business houses that went up in the new town, was a saloon of the doggery type. The morals of the neighborhood were by no means good previous to that time, but for a while after the town was started it was everywhere regarded as among the hardest places in North Texas for its size and limited opportunities. It so happened that about the time the town started, a few young men settled there who had for years been consistent and active temperance workers, had long been prominent as members of The United Friends of Temperance. They went to work and gathered together a small band of workers, and organized a council at Forney. They kept it up, increasing the membership to a hundred or more, giving periodical celebrations and exhibitions, and in every way using the society in the education of the people. Prominent of these faithful workers I remember the names of the Shands boys, J. W. Walker, now member of the State

Central Prohibition Committee, and Rev. E. B. Thompson, the latter of whom was perhaps the first among this gallant band. There were many others whose names I do not now call to mind, It was many years before they had worked up such a sentiment against whisky that they felt satisfied that they could carry local option. They brought on the election and carried it by a small majority. There were two saloons in full blast at the time. They closed up and the proprietors moved away. They kept up the council; they kept up the enthusiasm. One year afterwards they carried local option again by an increased majority. To the influence of that one society Forney owes her freedom from whisky and much of her material prosperity, which has been truly phenomenal. In the next chapter I will discuss the local option law and its practical results.