A young man calls upon a lady, and the
first thing she thinks of offering him after a seat is a glass of wine.
It is always there on the sideboard, and to refuse would be an act of
utter impoliteness. What could you do in such a case, my boy, eh?"

"I should, I hope, have sufficient courage to tell the young lady I
never drank, and must be excused; and if she liked me the less for it, I
would bear in mind that if such an act deprived me of her good will, her
good will certainly was not worth retaining."

"I should like to see you tried once, with a pretty girl in the case,"
returned Clinton, gulping down a second glass.

"I cannot wonder at the depraved state of society in this city," said
Guly, earnestly, "when woman, who should be the first to frown upon and
discountenance such practices, not only is the tempter, but the hearty
partaker of them. I am certain if the other sex were more strict--would
positively refuse to attend places of amusement on Sabbath evenings,
would refrain utterly from drinking wine themselves, and offering it to
others--there would be a great change here for the better. Woman little
thinks how much of man's depravity can be traced back to be laid upon
her shoulders."

"Nonsense!" said Clinton, with a short laugh. "Women, you'll find when
you've been here long enough, have less to do with it than rain-water
full of wriggle-tails, as they call those young animals that fill our
cisterns in summer time, and the no less disagreeable--to one not a
native here--muddy water from the river as a beverage. One is absolutely
forced to 'tip the goblet red,' in order to have something palatable to
rinse down his food. Woman, indeed! Poh! come, have a glass, and be
social."

"No," said Guly, firmly, drawing back; "I will not drink. However you
may scoff, Mr. Clinton, at woman's influence, it is to that I impute my
strength to withstand temptation here. My last promise to my mother, was
never to become a wine-bibber, and I shall keep it."

"Bravo!" exclaimed Clinton. "Here's a bumper to your resolution and your
mother," and touching glasses with Arthur, he swallowed the contents of
his goblet; though his companion, with conscience awakened in his breast
by his brother's words, scarcely touched the sparkling beverage to his
lips.

"You spoke of the depravity of this city, also"--continued Clinton,
shoving back from the table, and wiping his lips. "It isn't, in my
opinion, one-half, or, to say the least