one night frightened
him, and next morning he went into an inebriate home of his own
accord--to a place where his friends had been trying to get him for a
year past. For the first day or two he was nearly dead with remorse and
shame--mostly shame; and he didn't know what they were going to do to
him next--and he only wanted them to kill him quick and be done with it.
He reckons he felt as bad as if he was in jail. But there were ten
other patients there, and one or two were worse than he was, and that
comforted him a lot. They compared notes and sympathized and helped each
other. They discovered that all their wives were noble women. He
struck one or two surprises too--one of the patients was a doctor who'd
attended him one time, and another was an old boss of his, and they
got very chummy. And there was a man there who was standing for
Parliament--he was supposed to be having a rest down the coast.... Yes,
my old mate felt very bad for the first day or two; it was all Yes,
Nurse, and Thank you, Nurse, and Yes, Doctor, and No, Doctor, and
Thank you, Doctor. But, inside a week, he was calling the doctor 'Ol'
Pill-Box' behind his back, and making love to one of the nurses.

"But he said it was pitiful when women relatives came to visit patients
the first morning. It shook the patients up a lot, but I reckon it
did 'em good. There were well-bred old lady mothers in black, and
hard-working, haggard wives and loving daughters--and the expressions of
sympathy and faith and hope in those women's faces! My old mate said
it was enough in itself to make a man swear off drink for ever.... Ah,
God--what a world it is!

"Reminds me how I once went with the wife of another old mate of mine to
see him. He was in a lunatic asylum. It was about the worst hour I ever
had in my life, and I've had some bad ones. The way she tried to coax
him back to his old self. She thought she could do it when all the
doctors had failed. But I'll tell you about him some other time.

"The old mate said that the principal part of the treatment was supposed
to be injection of bi-chloride of gold or something, and it was supposed
to be a secret. It might have been water and sugar for all he knew, and
he thought it was. You see, when patients got better they were allowed
out, two by two, on their honour--one to watch the other--and it worked.
But it was necessary to have an extra hold on them; so they were
told that if they were a minute late for `treatmen