ht." A few months later he resigned his position
and went west, hoping to break the spell of his habit. But no mountain
was high enough, nor cavern dark enough for him to hide from his mad
pursuer. He returned to Louisville and gave himself up to the
maddening bowl. His wife left him and went to a country home which she
had saved out of her wealth. One night when he was sleeping drunk in
one room, his old mother in another said: "Oh God, is my cup of sorrow
not yet full?" The pitying angel pushed ajar the golden gates and the
broken heart entered into rest.

Time and again this man took the pledge, but only to fail. When the
"blue ribbon" wave swept the country he again took the pledge, and
this time went on the platform as a temperance advocate. He drew great
audiences, and when he had kept his pledge for months we invited him
to Louisville. It was my privilege to introduce him, or rather to
present him to the great audience. Before going on the platform he
said: "I have made a mistake in coming here. It was here I lost
everything a man could ask to make him happy. The memory of my sainted
mother comes over me, and my wife is so near and yet so far from me."

To bring him back to himself I said: "These things will help you to
give the greatest lecture of your life. Come, a great audience of old
friends are waiting."

When introduced he said: "My friends, if I ever did a dishonorable act
before I fell from the pulpit through drink, rise and tell me." Soon
he had his audience in tears and lifting his eyes heavenward he said:
"O my sainted Mother, look down from your home in glory and see your
poor drunken boy. He has staggered all the way back, his feet upon the
up-hillward way, and will travel it with a martyr's step."

He further said: "Will I ever drink again? No; this brow was not made
to wear the brand of a vassal, nor these hands the chains of a
drunkard. Here in Louisville, where I fell in my manhood's might, I
vow I will never drink again." Manhood's might is too weak to win
alone in the battle against sin. Poor J.J. Talbott went down to rise
no more, and on his dying bed, when a minister quoted passage after
passage of promise from God's word, the answer came: "Not for me! Not
for me!" Peace to his ashes.

Young man, will you tamper and trifle with strong drink? Do you say
you can drink or let it alone? I admit you can drink but are you sure
you can let it alone? If you can _now_, are you sure you can two y