mselves if they will be
so foolish. We cannot forbid the sale of pistols, because men often
use them for purposes of committing suicide; and, even to suppose that
a man is quite certain when he sells a deadly weapon to another, that
he will use it for the purpose of self distruction, I hold that he has
the legal right to sell it; that he has no moral right I readily
admit."

"I do not understand law, Sherman; _perhaps_ our constitution is so
framed that the people have not the power to say whether or not, our
nation shall become a nation of drunkards; perhaps the thousands of
intelligent men, who, heart-sick as I am this day in view of the
dreadful consequences accruing from the sale of intoxicating drinks,
have ignorantly petitioned their state legislature for a prohibitory
law, which they had no power to enact; perhaps those judges are
correct who have said their state can not have a law that would
restore peace and happiness to thousands of families, whose sorrow it
is too harrowing to think upon. I say, _perhaps_, for, I cannot but
hope that judges who are equally intelligent and who have told us
differently may not be mistaken. One thing is certain, the hand of the
liquor dealer must be stayed, or in every house there will be one
dead."

"Public opinion might do much towards accomplishing the desired
object," suggested Mrs. Sherman."

"True enough, Mrs. Sherman, said the doctor, "but public opinion must
have its naps, and at best it is seldom half awake and it requires an
immoderate amount of force to bring the sleepy thing to the right
standpoint."

"Well, doctor, I am willing to use my little strength in the cause,
although I regret to say that my efforts as far as my family are
concerned have proved entirely fruitless."

The doctor turned a surprised look towards Louise, whose face was
instantly suffused with blushes.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE NEW YEAR'S BALL--A CHECK TO FESTIVITY--THE MIDNIGHT
RIDE--DEATH IN THE OLD BROWN HOUSE.

Holiday festivities and dancing parties were words synonymous in the
early settlement of Minnesota, and, although Mrs. Sherman would have
been shocked at the bare idea of her daughter attending a public ball
in her native village, the influences of a new country so wrought upon
her prejudices, that her scruples gradually yielded; and, when Louise
rather doubtfully asked permission to attend a party of the kind to
be given on New Year's Eve, she gained a reluctant