ersuaded, and his friend had great hopes of
him, but his companions and their influence had proved to be too strong.
He had gone back to his evil ways, trusting, perhaps, to "a more
convenient season," which, alas! never came to him.

The clergyman detailed these facts to his hearers, among whom were, of
course, all the young men of the place; and while delicately avoiding
hazarding any suggestions as to the present or future condition of their
unfortunate companion, pressed upon all present the importance of
calling upon the Lord "while he may be found," and the awful risk of
delay.

"No one could have supposed," said Mr. Morven, "when poor Harry trifled
with the most important of all questions, his soul's salvation, and put
off his final decision till some 'more convenient season,' that that
season would never come to him."

Of all the young men of Squantown he had seemed the least likely to be
suddenly called into eternity. Yet he had been, in a condition, too, in
which any one would least like to be found when called suddenly to stand
before God and answer for the deeds done in the body. Who would be
called next? Was that one all ready? Therefore, he once more urged upon
his hearers, "Prepare to meet thy God." Nor did the earnest pastor fail
to draw attention to the lessons concerning the use of intoxicating
liquors, in any form or degree, which the occasion so plainly afforded.
It was not as an habitual drunkard that Harry Pemberton met his fate,
nor was it from the use of what is usually denominated "strong drink."
Lager beer, considered and spoken of by many as "a temperance beverage,"
was responsible for the mischief, and the thoughtless joke of careless
young men had hurried one of them, known to all present as a boy of
great promise, uncalled into the immediate presence of God. Perhaps a
better object-lesson for total abstinence could not have been found,
since it is the occasional drinkers, who are not as yet bound by the
chains of almost irresistible habit, to whom alone such an appeal can be
made with any prospect of success. Poor Harry had been precisely one of
these, and probably no young man in Squantown had considered himself
farther from meeting death as the result of intemperance.

This sad and sudden death made a great impression upon James Mountjoy.
Always a perfectly _temperate_ man, as became an earnest, devoted young
Christian, he had never been known as a _temperance_ man, that is, an
advoca