bours
said, "the makings" of a better or a worse man than ever his father had
been; and when, after his mother's death, the young builder brought home
the pretty and good Alice Lambton as his wife, a "better man" they all
declared he was to be; for they believed that now he would not be in
danger from his one temptation. But as his business increased, his
temptation increased. He was an intelligent man, and a good fellow
besides; and his society was much sought after by men who were lovers of
pleasure. Some of them were men who occupied a higher position than
his; and, flattered by their notice, he yielded to the temptations which
they placed before him.

He did not yield without a struggle. He sinned, and repented, and
promised amendment often and often; but still he went away again, "like
an ox to the slaughter; like a fool to the correction of the stocks."

Of course ruin and disgrace were the only ending to such a life as this.
There was but one chance for him, they told his wife, who, through
poverty, neglect, and shame, had still hoped against hope. If he could
be made to break away from his old companions, if he could begin anew,
and start fair in life again, he might retrieve the past.

It almost broke her heart to think of leaving their native land--of
leaving behind all hope of ever seeing again her father or her mother,
or the home among the hills where her happy girlhood had passed. But,
for _his_ sake, for the sake of the hope that gleamed in the future, she
could do it. So, with their six little children, they removed from the
States to Montreal in Canada, to begin again.

At first he struggled bravely with his temptation, though it everywhere
met him; but, added to the old wretched craving for strong drink, was
the misery of finding himself in a strange land without friends or a
good name. If some kind hand had been held out to him at this time it
might have been different with him. He might, with help, have stood
firm against temptation. But, before work came, he had yielded to his
old enemy; and his acknowledged skill as a workman availed him little,
when, after days of absence, he would come to his work with a pallid
face and trembling hands.

I have no heart to enter into the sad details of the family life at this
time. It is enough to say that the miseries of Alice Morely's former
home were renewed and deepened now. Here she was friendless. Here she
could not fall back on the farm-h