o become a pledged abstainer; and promise me
that you'll never marry a man that loves the drink."

Poor Mary burst into tears, but her mother came to her aid, and said:

"I don't quite see what good Mary's signing the pledge will do. She has
taken neither beer nor wine for some time past, so that she does all
that is needed in the way of example."

"No, she does not, madam, if you'll excuse my being so blunt. She just
does not do what will make her example _tell_. Power for good comes
through combination; the devil knows it well enough, and he gets
drunkards to band together in clubs; and worldly people band together in
clubs, and back one another up and concentrate their forces. All who
see the curse and misery of the drink should sign, and not stand apart
as solitary abstainers; they won't do the same good; it is by uniting
together that the great work is done by God's blessing. A body of
Christian abstainers united in the same work, and bound by the same
pledge, attract others, and give them something to lean on and cling to:
and that is one reason why we want children to combine in Bands of Hope.
Why, I've seen a man light a fire with a piece of glass, but how did he
do it? Not by putting the fuel under one ray of the sun; not by
carrying it about from place to place in the sunshine; but by gathering,
with the help of the glass, all the little rays together into one hot
bright focus. And so we want to gather together the power and influence
of total abstainers in Total Abstinence Societies and Bands of Hope, by
their union through the pledge as a common bond. We want to set hearts
on fire with a holy love that shall make them burn to rescue poor slaves
of the drink from their misery and ruin. Won't you help? Can you hold
back? Are not souls perishing by millions through the drink, and is any
sacrifice too dear to make, any cross too heavy to take up in such a
cause?"

The old man had risen, and was walking up and down the room with great
swinging strides. Then he stopped abruptly and waited for an answer.

"I'm sure," said Mrs Franklin, "we would both sign if it could do any
real good."

"It _will_ do good, it _must_ do good: sign now;" he produced a pledge-
book: "no time like the present."

The signatures were made, and then Mr Tankardew, clasping his thin
hands together, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, offered a short
emphatic prayer that God would bless and strengthen these His servants,
a