lad; luff you can."

"And did this make you an abstainer?" asked Hubert.

"No, sir; so far from it, that I was just beginning to like my grog when
I could get it. I didn't see the evil of the drink then; I didn't see
how the habit keeps winding its little cords round and round a man, till
what begins as thin as a log-line, becomes in the end as thick as a
hawser. My mother trembled for me, I knew; I saw her look at me with
tears in her eyes many a time, when I came home talkative and excited,
though not exactly tipsy. I could see she was sick at heart. But I
hadn't learned my lesson yet; I was to have a terrible teacher.

"There was a young man who began to visit at our cottage when my sister
was just about twenty. They used to call him--well, that don't matter;
better his name should never be spoken by me. He was a fisherman, as
likely a lad as you'd see anywhere; and he'd one boast that few could
make, he had never been tipsy in his life; he was proud of it; he had
got his measure, he said, and he never went beyond it. He laughed at
teetotallers; they were such a sneaking, helpless lot, he said--why
couldn't they take what was good for them, and stop there when they'd
had enough; surely a man ought to be master of his own appetites--he
was, he said; he could stop when he pleased. However, to make a long
story short, he took a great fancy to my dear sister, and she soon
returned it. Our cottage was near the sea, but on a hill-side some
hundred feet or more above the beach. High ground rose behind it and
sheltered it from the north and east winds. It had a glorious view of
the ocean, and one of the loveliest little gardens that any cottage
could boast of. The young man I spoke of would often sit with my sister
in the little porch, when the roses and jessamine were in full flower
all over it; and I used to think, as I looked at them, that a handsomer
couple could never be made man and wife. Well, it was agreed that they
should wait a few months till he was fully prepared to give her a home.
My father just then was ashore, and took to the young man amazingly; he
must have him spend many an evening at our cottage, and you may be sure
that the grog didn't remain in the cupboard. My father had a great many
yarns to spin, and liked a good listener; and as listening and talking
are both dry work, one glass followed another till the young man's eyes
began to sparkle, and my poor sister's to fill with tears; stil