he poisonous
cup entirely away. "I must take a little, only a little," he said, and
that little continually asserted its power to entice and ensnare.
Couched in terms of Christian sympathy and forbearance, his dismissal
from the flock, over whom for years he had tenderly watched, came at
length. He was sitting in his study bending over it in remorse and shame
when a knock was heard at his door, and a brother minister entered.

"Just in time to witness my degradation," he exclaimed bitterly. "Look
here, Shafton! it has come to this! What will become of my wife and
children now?"

The Rev. Ernest Shafton laid his hand upon the shoulder of his brother,
perused in silence the official paper before him, and then walked to the
window. Deeply cogitating, he stood there for some time, while Mr.
Harris's face grew darker, and he muttered, "Turned against me, like
every one else! Well, it's my own doing."

"Harris," said Mr. Shafton, suddenly, "do you know what this means for
you, my poor fellow?"

"Ruin, I suppose," was the gloomy answer.

"Ay, ruin for time and eternity--having preached to others to become
yourself a castaway; but you will not suffer alone, Harris. Your gentle,
refined wife will be plunged from comfort to penury; your beautiful,
promising children will know the cruel shifts of poverty; will hear
their father's name uttered in accents of contempt by a scoffing world;
will watch his downward career with fear and loathing, and yet, oh! mark
my words, will probably follow in his footsteps, drag out miserable
existences, and eventually fill drunkards' graves."

"God forbid! God forbid! anything but that," exclaimed the startled
minister, rising in great agitation and pacing the room.

"God does forbid; but you Harris, are paving your children's road to
ruin. Come, I have a proposal to make. By God's help, I will save you if
you will let me."

"Do what you will, I am ready to submit to anything," groaned the
trembling man.

"I will use all my influence to change this dismissal into a long
suspension of duties. Meanwhile, you shall leave your home and come and
stay with me, and I will stand beside you while you fight in God's
strength against your foe; but, my brother, you must pledge yourself to
abstain from all intoxicants, now and for ever. Say, are you resolved,
for the sake of your wife and children, and your own eternal happiness,
to put the accursed thing beneath your feet?"

There was a solemn pau