THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 MR. AND MBS. 
 ALFRED R. GIFFDI 

 
 THROUGH 
 
 SH A: 30 w 
 
 TO 
 
 SUNSHIN 
 
 FITCH. 
 
 "No man shall arise in the judgment and say 'Doctor 
 Benjamin Rush made me a drunkard.'" 
 
 Doctor Rush in 1775. 
 
 HASTINGS, NEBRASKA. 
 
 GAZETTE-JOURNAL COMPANY. 
 1885.
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 MY FATHER, 
 
 WHO, THOUGH HE HAS ENTERED INTO 
 THE KI'.ST THAT KEMAINETH, 
 
 STILL LIVES 
 
 IX HIS LOVING COUNSELS AND PIOUS EXAMPLES, 
 AND TO 
 
 MY MOTHER, 
 
 AT WHOSE KNEE I EARLY LEARNED 
 
 THOSE PURE PRINCIPLES 
 
 WHICH HAVE BEEN THE GUIDE A.\*D SAFEGUARD 
 
 OF MY LIFE, THIS LITTLJJ OFFERING IS 
 
 > ' 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 
 1881, by II. P. FITCII, in the office 
 of the Librarian of Con 
 gress, Washington. 
 
 [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. The Students 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. The Wedding 1 1 
 
 CHAPTER III Gathering Shadows 21 
 
 CHAPTER I V Plotting 28 
 
 CHAPTER V The Victim 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI The Comforter 62 
 
 CHAPTER VII The Shadows Deepen 72 
 
 CHAPTER VIII The Cup Full 79 
 
 CHAPTER IX The Blackness of Darkness 92 
 
 CHAPTER X The Trial 109 
 
 CRAPTER XI The Morning Dawneth 143 
 
 CHAPTER XII "Asa Whirlwind." 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIII Sunshine 178 
 
 CHAPTER XIV Conclusion 185 
 
 754866
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 For a number of years the Author of this little volume 
 has been in the habit of keeping a memorandum of the 
 various incidents coming under his own observation, illus 
 trative of the laws regulating the traffic in intoxicating 
 drinks. In the following pages he has endeavored to 
 weave these various incidents into the form of a simple 
 story, in the hope that it may aid those who are so earn 
 estly striving to save our country from this great 
 national evil. 
 
 He is fully conscious of its many demerits as a literary 
 effort, and trusts this frank acknowledgement will, as much 
 as is proper; disarm criticism. It h<is been written at odd 
 times, snatched from the most possible busy, active life, in 
 many cases during hours that should have been devoted to 
 sleep. The scenes are mostly given just as he knew them 
 in some cases not even the name being changed. 
 
 With an earnest prayer that it may accomplish its pur 
 pose, that by it some weak ones may be strengthened, and 
 sorrowing ones be encouraged to labor and to hope, he 
 sends it forth on its humble mission. H. P. F.
 
 Through Shadow to Sunshine. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE STUDENTS. 
 
 In a small, plainly furnished room in the sec 
 ond story of a house, in one of our beautiful 
 eastern cities sat, in earnest conversation, the 
 two friends, Harry Ferguson and Harry Wards- 
 worth. They had met together to spend their 
 last evening, before passing out from their stu 
 dent life to meet the sterner duties of their pro 
 fession. They had not only been fast friends, 
 but had been both room and classmates, 
 through all their course, in that pride of Ameri 
 can culture, Yale College. 
 
 Now, their course was completed, and howev 
 er firm and lasting their friendship, their paths 
 in life, must, from this point diverge. 
 
 They had graduated with the highest honors 
 of their class, had delivered their graduating 
 orations, had listened to the parting advice and 
 counsel of the President, and had met in their 
 room, to spend together their last evening, 
 before going out into the world, each one to 
 take his own way, and, though in different 
 fields, to engage in the great battle of life. 
 
 It was a deeply interesting hour to the two 
 friends. It was the hour in which they took a
 
 b THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 review of the past, and with earnest eye, 
 sought to scan the future. Their friendship 
 had been such as is only formed in college 
 halls. Well fitted, each to attract the other, 
 they had early been drawn together by mutual 
 tastes and aims, and their friendship had deep 
 ened with every year of their acquaintance. 
 
 They had been members of the law depart 
 ment, and had labored to thoroughly prepare 
 themselves for the duties of their profession. 
 And certainly, among all those who were to go 
 out from those college halls, no two students 
 gave better promise of future success. Well 
 read in legal lore, with a mind trained to close 
 thought, and a power of concentration possessed 
 by few, combined with an eloquent delivery, all 
 who had the pleasure of their acquaintance 
 predicted for them a most brilliant future. 
 
 In size and form they were much alike. 
 Standing nearly six f^et, well proportioned, 
 with a noble, manly bearing, they were men 
 who would attract attention, even in a multi 
 tude. Ferguson was the senior of his friend 
 by one year, having reached the age of twenty- 
 five. 
 
 "So you have finally decided to follow the 
 setting sun and pitch your tent in Cedarville?" 
 remarked Ferguson to Wardsworth, as he help 
 ed himself to a glass of wine and then passed 
 the decanter to his companion. 
 
 "Yes, Ferguson, I have decided to try it
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 7 
 
 there," replied Wardsworth as he filled his 
 glass; "it is a beautiful little city of about ten 
 thousand, and is, withal, a most thriving place. 
 As I have told you before, on the death of my 
 parents, I became possessed of a little money, 
 sufficient to purchase me a nice residence, and 
 I do not know of a better place to invest it than 
 in Cedarville. I propose, after a time, to secure 
 me a good home, and, settling down to hard, 
 earnest work, do my best to honor the profession 
 I have chosen. But you have not yet told me 
 anything concerning your plans." 
 
 u No, for the simple reason that I have none. 
 I shall fulfill a promise I have made my parents 
 to go home and visit, and recruit for a few 
 weeks, and, in the meantime, look around. I 
 have thought some of going into the State of 
 
 , and hanging out my shingle in some of 
 
 the new towns springing up there, but I have 
 not yet decided. Were I to clo so, we would 
 not be quite as far apart as if I remained in the 
 East. One thing is certain, Wardsworth, there 
 is room for us, us one of the great men said, 
 'in the upper story,' and I for one am going to 
 make an effort to climb up there. We shall 
 both make our mark somewhere, I hope. You 
 have the advantage of me a little, in having 
 some money to start with. I have nothing but 
 willing hands and a determined spirit, but 
 these are enough in this country, to enable a 
 man to succeed. I shall expect to see the name
 
 8 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 of Harry Wardsworth written, in a few years, 
 very high up in the list of America's brilliant 
 lawyers, and, perhaps, statesmen." 
 
 "As to that I cannot say, Ferguson, I certain 
 ly intend to do my best, and I have high hopes 
 of accomplishing some good while I live. I 
 think I can say that simply making money, or 
 merely a living, 'was not, by any means, the 
 primary object I had for choosing the profes 
 sion of law. The power of dointr good; of es 
 pousing the cause of the weak against the 
 strong; the satisfaction of sometimes being able 
 to protect the oppressed agamst the tyranny 
 and injustice of the oppressor for, you know, 
 we have these things, even in our own land- 
 has weighed as much with me in making my 
 choice, as anything else. One thing I have 
 resolved never to do, let the consequence be 
 what it may, and that is to degrade my profes 
 sion by espousing an unrighteous cause for the 
 sake of gain." 
 
 U A noble resolution, truly, Wardsworth, and 
 one I hope we shall both be able to carry out. 
 The law can either be made a power for good, 
 or, a mighty instrument of evil, and which, de 
 pends on the disposition and motives of the 
 man who wields it. And yet, I apprehend we 
 shall have some difficulty in carrying out these 
 resolutions. I can easily imagine cases in which 
 we may be perfectly satisfied of the justice of 
 our cause, and yet be mistaken. There is
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 9 
 
 where those fine powers of perception, the pos 
 session of which I have sometimes almost envied 
 you , will serve you a noble purpose. When do 
 you leave for Cedarville?" 
 
 "To-morrow evening. I am somewhat impa 
 tient to get there and get to work. I hope, 
 Ferguson, wherever you settle, the friendship 
 that has been so warm during our college life 
 will not be allowed to grow cold by our contact 
 with the sterner duties of our profession." 
 
 "I most cordially reciprocate that wish my 
 dear friend, but our country is so large, and 
 our professional men acquire the habit of such 
 close application to business, that it will not be 
 much wonder if we drift apart, save, perhaps, 
 as we occasionally cross each other's path in 
 the swift journey through life. Ah, well! I 
 suppose it must be so, and I am ready to 
 assume my share of life's burdens; but, as far as 
 enjoyment is concerned, I could be very well 
 satisfied to spend a few years in old Yale yet." 
 
 Thus the two friends continued their conver 
 sation till past the hour of midnight . There 
 was go much of the past to be recalled, so much 
 of the future to be explored. What plans they 
 laid! What high and lofty purposes they ex 
 pressed! What noble resolutions they formed, 
 and strove to strengthen each other to carry 
 them out! How grand and noble life appeared 
 to them as they looked off into the future! 
 Oh! could they have lifted the curtain and read
 
 10 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 all of their future life, could they have known 
 all, how they would have shrunk back dismayed! 
 Could they have seen all the bitter heart 
 struggles, the blasted hopes, the blighted pros 
 pects, the withered joys! But they could not; 
 and so, full of that ardent enthusiasm, that 
 throbs in the breast of every young man who 
 makes his mark in life, they resolutely prepared 
 to buckle on their armor and go forth to fight 
 life's battle. Will they be able to carry out 
 all those noble resolutions? Will they realize 
 all their bright anticipations? Fair and beau 
 tiful appears their barque as she turns her 
 prow toward the other shore. Will she nobly 
 defy the storm and the tempest, or will she, 
 with dismantled rigging, go down beneath the 
 angry billows? We shall see. 
 
 The next day was spent by Wards worth in 
 making a few calls on personal friends, and 
 packing his trunks for his departure. The 
 nine o'clock bell struck as the train which was 
 to bear him away reached the depot. With a 
 last shake of the hand, and amid many wishes 
 for future success, the friends separated, and 
 Wardsworth turned his face toward the setting 
 sun, to carve out for himself a name and a 
 destiny.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 Three years have elapsed since the events 
 narrated in the last chapter, and we find our 
 selves in the beautiful city of Cedarville, in the 
 State of . Wonderful indeed has been 
 the progress of the city during those three 
 years. Its population has increased from be 
 tween ten and twelve thousand to over fifteen 
 thousand, with all the advantages and improv- 
 ments of a city of the first-class. As we walk 
 along its finely paved streets and admire its 
 large and costly brick blocks, we instinctively 
 exclaim: "How wonderful is this growing 
 West!" 
 
 On one of the most prominent business 
 streets, on the ground floor of an imposing and 
 handsome block, we notice a large and attrac 
 tive looking office. We pause and read on the 
 nicely painted shingle, "Harry Wardsworth, At- 
 toriiey-at-Law." At once we are reminded that 
 three years ago this was the city toward which 
 the young lawyer looked from the halls of his 
 Alma Mater. 
 
 So far he has succeeded beyond his most sail-
 
 12 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 guine expectations. Possessed of a brilliant 
 intellect, a fine personal appearance, extensive 
 erudition, and a gift of eloquence excelled by 
 few, he had at once taken his place among the 
 foremost lawyers of the State. He has invested 
 his money prudently, and is now the happy 
 possessor of one of the most beautiful and cost 
 ly residences, on one of the finest streets of the 
 city. At present he has gone East on impor 
 tant business, whither we will follow him. 
 
 It was a bright, glad May morning in one of 
 the interior cities of the State of New York. 
 Nature had put on her most beautiful robes, 
 as if in anticipation of the happy event which 
 was that day to be consummated. Never had the 
 birds sung more sweetly. , Never had the flow 
 ers bloomed more beautifully, nor given forth a 
 more delightful fragrance. Never had the sun 
 shone more brightly.' So thought Belle Har- 
 grave, as she looked forth from her chamber 
 window, and, with a heart full of glad hope, 
 contemplated all the varied scenes of beauty by 
 which she was surrounded And gladly did 
 her own heart respond to the voice of Nature 
 in rendering praise to the Giver of all good. To 
 her this is to be the day of all the days of her 
 life: it is her marriage day. This is the day she 
 is to publicly plight her vows of life-long devo 
 tion to the man of her choice, "For better, for 
 worse, till Death do us part." With what ea-
 
 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 13 
 
 ger joy she seeks to scan the future! As she 
 looks forth on all the beautiful picture Nature's 
 hand has painted, she exclaims, u How beautiful 
 is earth! How bright and cloudless are the 
 skies! Even so, Father," she added reverently, 
 "if it be Thy will, may the sky of my life be 
 ever bright, until its sun goes peacefully down 
 without a cloud to obscure its departing rays." 
 And she truly believed it would be so. Even 
 so does the hand of Destiny hide from our eyes 
 the book of fate. What mattered it to her, 
 -though she had spent the last night in the dear 
 old home that had ever been her shelter and 
 refuge! That henceforth that dear house, with 
 all its pleasant associations, was to be her home 
 no more. That the kind and loving parents, 
 whose gentle hand had so tenderly led her, 
 should no more be her guardians, her guide. 
 That this day she is to go to a land of stran 
 gers, having taken upon herself the solemn 
 vows of wife! True, she felt sad at the thought 
 of leaving her parents all alone. That she 
 could no more be permitted to soothe their cares 
 or minister to the wants of their declining 
 years. That they could no more listen to her 
 voice in song, or her merry laugh, save as they 
 came to them in their dreams of night. But, 
 for herself, there was no thought of sorrow. 
 Fancy painted the future in such glowing col 
 ors, that her heart's only wish was to hasten 
 forth to meet her life's destiny.
 
 14 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Ah! well it is for us that we cannot read all the 
 future. That Fancy's hand so gently touches 
 the canvas, 011 which is painted the scenes of 
 our life's destiny, that all the lines are fair, and 
 all the picture beautiful. What heart would 
 be brave, or what feet could steadily tread the 
 pathway, did we but know of all the thorns by 
 which they are to be lacerated? Happily for us 
 we do not, and so, with a brave heart and a 
 steady purpose, we press on, and when the way 
 grows rough and our feet grow weary, a gift of 
 strength is imparted by which we may still 
 overcome. 
 
 A rap at the door aroused Belle Hargrave 
 from her reverie, and, hastening to open it, her 
 sister Kate entered. "Good morning, sister 
 Belle," said her visitor, as she planted a kiss 
 upon the cheek of the fair young girl. For an 
 swer, Belle threw her arms around her sister's 
 neck, and looking up into her face, said, "Oh! 
 Kate, I am so happy. Do you think it possible 
 that anybody else could be as happy as I amf 
 
 "I doubt if any other bride elect would be as 
 thoughtless as you are," she answered, return 
 ing her salutation. "Here it is after seven 
 o'clock and Harry is to be here at ten. Come, 
 let your castle building rest for awhile and 
 bring yourself down to the matter of fact busi 
 ness of dressing yourself for your intended 
 marriage." Thus admonished, the younger sis 
 ter allowed herself to be seated, while the elder
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 15 
 
 one began to array her for the ceremony that so 
 soon was to make her the wife of Harry Wards- 
 worth. 
 
 "Do you know, Kate," continued Belle, as the 
 sister went 011 with her toilet, "I never thought 
 I could be any happier than I have been here, 
 with you and our dear parents. I am almost 
 surprised at my own capacity for happiness." 
 
 "True, sister," replied Kate, "every new joy 
 develops some new capacity to retain it, as every 
 new sorrow develops some new power to endure 
 it. Very happy indeed does the future appear 
 to you, my dear sister, but it is well to bear in 
 mind that it is not always the brightest morn 
 ing that gives us the most cloudless day. While 
 I would not cast a shadow over your pathway, 
 I would suggest that it is better to be prepared 
 to meet the shadows, and then, if your life be 
 all sunshine, so much the more will you enjoy 
 it. 
 
 "True, sister, but is it not better, instead of 
 borrowing trouble, to enjoy whatever of happi 
 ness there is in the present, and if the future 
 bring sorrow, to meet it nobly and bravely?" 
 
 "Most certainly, Belle, I would not have you 
 borrow trouble, as you term it, but, oftentimes, 
 by looking ahead we can see where trouble lies, 
 and, by a judicious course, shun it." 
 
 "Why, Kate, you cannot possibly see any 
 trouble in my future, can you? Am I not to 
 have one of the noblest and best of men for my
 
 16 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 husband? Am I not to have one of the most 
 beautiful homes (you know I showed you a pho 
 tograph of it), and every thing to make me com 
 fortable and happy? What more can a woman 
 ask or wish? 1 ' 
 
 "True, sister, and I do earnestly pray that 
 your fondest anticipations may be realized. But 
 you will admit that I am three years your sen 
 ior, and have been two years married already, 
 so I have had a. little more experience than you. 
 And I tell you this, dear Belle, there is no home 
 into which there does not enter a shadow. It 
 will enter your home, in some form or another, 
 for every human life is made up of a mixture of 
 sunshine and shadow." 
 
 u And pray, you dearest and best sister." re 
 plied Belle, looking up with an arch smile, 
 "look along the pathway on which I am so soon 
 to enter, and see if you can discern any clouds 
 or shadows there." 
 
 "There is but one cloud that I can discern in all 
 the sky of your life, so far as I am able to scan 
 it," replied the elder sister, and her voice became 
 grave, almost to sadness. 
 
 "And what is that, dear Kate," she asked 
 with a sudden pain at her heart. 
 
 "I am told your intended husband has 
 one habit of which I wish he was dispossessed." 
 she added with earnestness. 
 
 " Oh! I know what you mean. You refer to 
 his habit of drinking wine, do you not? I ad.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 17 
 
 m't, Kate, if it were possible for anything to 
 make me happier than. I am now, it would be 
 the assurance that Harry never tasted liquor of 
 any kind; but I have so much love for him and 
 so much confidence in him that I have no fears 
 for the result. He is the very soul of honor, 
 and loves me most devotedly, and this, I am 
 sure, will help to keep him from temptation. 
 Besides, Kate, you know how firmly we have 
 been taught to believe in the power of prayer. 
 I do believe in it, and this is the strong ground 
 of my hope. I have resolved to rely on this in 
 every time of trial, even supposing trials do 
 come." 
 
 "You cannot tell, dear sister, how I .rejoice to 
 hear you say so; for I do assure you, there is 
 no refuge from sorrow like this. While I do 
 earnestly hope that your future life may be all 
 your fancy has pictured it, I do know, and it 
 may grieve you to say this, no man can continue 
 the habit of liquor drinking without falling, 
 more or less, beneath its power. And when 
 once he has fallen, how very seldom, may I not 
 say never, has he the power to rise, only as he 
 is lifted by a Power from on high." 
 
 "But surely, dear Kate, you don't think there 
 is any danger of Harry, do you?" and the tears 
 came into her eyes. "You almost frighten me, 
 your words are so solemn-" 
 
 "I have not said there is danger in his case; 
 and yet, for your sake, I wish he were entirely
 
 18 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 free from the habit. More than that, Belle, I 
 wish his feet were planted on the same Rock 
 on which you and I have been enabled to take 
 refuge. I wish he were a temperance man and 
 a Christian, then I believe I could rejoice for 
 you with a full heait." 
 
 'Well, Kate, since you have spoken so freely, 
 I, too, could wish it were otherwise; but I cannot 
 believe there is danger and have even laughed 
 at my own fears. I do not now believe there 
 is danger. True, Harry is not a Christian, 
 though he seems good enough to be one, but he 
 likes Christian people, and has taken a pew in 
 the church. He knows I am a Christian, or try 
 ing to be one, and says he loves me all the bet 
 ter for it. I have thought all these things 
 over," with a pure earnest look into the face of 
 her sister, "and I have made my choice. If sor 
 row comes I shall pray God to give me a brave heart 
 and a patient spirit. This cup of joy has been 
 placed to my lips, and I will not make its con 
 tents bitter by anticipation. On one thing, 
 however, I am firmly resolved: Never by word 
 or act will I countenance the use of liquor in 
 any way. I have told Harry this, and he heart 
 ily approves my decision." 
 
 "I am so thankful to hear you say that, Belle! 
 You are starting right. Keep to that resolution, 
 and then, whatever comes, you cannot reproach 
 yourself for being, in part, the cause of your own 
 sorrow. Oh! how many a wife, and mother too
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 19 
 
 as they have wept over the dishonored graves 
 of their loved ones, have found their bitterest 
 sorrow in the reflection that they have, with 
 their own hands, sown the seeds from which 
 they are reaping a harvest of misery. Keep 
 faithfully to the course you have marked out, 
 and, with God's blessing, you may hope for a 
 prosperous and happy life." 
 
 At that moment a carriage drew up at the 
 front gate, and through the shutters the sisters 
 'saw the bridegroom elect, Harry Wardsworth, 
 alight, and hastened their preparations. 
 
 The hour of ten found a goodly number of 
 relatives and friends assembled in the parlors 
 of the Hargrave residence, to witness the mar 
 riage of the fair Belle. She had grown up from 
 infancy in their midst and was a general favorite 
 with all. They had known her, only to love 
 her. She was so full of innocent mirth, of joy 
 ous activity, and, withal, so kind and gentle, 
 that she held a large place in the affections of 
 all who knew her. 
 
 As she stood there, dressed in her bridal 
 robes, while the aged pastor, who had known 
 her from childhood, pronounced the solemn 
 words, that made one, those two, already united 
 in heart, "henceforth to live, for better, for 
 worse, until death do you part," a look of sub 
 lime devotion rested upon her countenance, and 
 she appeared like some angel from a purer, 
 happier clime. She had laid her heart, her all..
 
 20 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 on the altar of her devotion. Will the sacrifice 
 be merely consumed? or will the hallowed in 
 cense, bearing the fragrance of her love, ascend 
 to the throne of the Eternal, and move the 
 heart of God to overshadow her continually 
 with the blessing of his favor? 
 
 The parents of the bride strove to be cheer 
 ful, but there were tears on their cheeks, and a 
 close observer could have detected a look that 
 told not only of sorrow, at parting from the 
 child of their affection, but of anxiety, lest this 
 bright and cloudless morning be but the har 
 binger of a day of gloom. 
 
 The marriage ceremony was ended. The 
 bridegroom and bride had received the congrat 
 ulations of their friends, the last meal had been 
 taken in the dear old home of her childhood, 
 and Belle Hargrave, now Mrs. Harry Wards- 
 worth, was ready to start on her journey, to her 
 new home in the distant West. A few mo 
 ments were spent, at her own request, with her 
 parents, in the privacy of their own room. 
 u Let me go," she said, "with my father's voice 
 in prayer yet sounding in my ears," so, kneeling 
 down together, the man of God, in tremulous 
 tones, commended her to the care of a covenant- 
 keeping Father. 
 
 The hour of departure arrived. The last 
 "God bless and keep you," had been spoken, the 
 last kiss, the last wave of the handkerchief giv 
 en, and Harry Wards worth and his young wife,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 21 
 
 their hearts filled with a glad hope, were away, 
 alike on their journey of life, and to their home 
 in the beautiful, though distant west. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GATHERING SHADOWS. 
 
 Five years more have elapsed, and again it is 
 bright, glad spring-time in the beautiful city of 
 Cedarville. It is the hour of midnight. The 
 restless activity of business, and the busy hum 
 of industry have given place to the silence of 
 rest and repose. Night has come down and re 
 leased the rich man from his business and the 
 poor man from his toil. The lights are extin 
 guished, and the city is in darkness, save here 
 and there, where some lone watcher keeps his 
 vigil beside the couch of suffering, or awaits 
 the coming of a belated traveller; or, it may be, 
 the noisy reveler still continues his revelry and 
 dissipation, and foolish man "puts an enemy in 
 his mouth to steal away his brains." 
 
 On one of the most fashionable streets stands 
 a beautiful and costly residence, in which the 
 lights are still burning. In the sitting room an 
 anxious watcher sadly waits the return of one 
 who is dearer to her than life. Hour after hour 
 through the long evening has she waited, lis 
 tening to the tramp of hurrying feet, as they
 
 22 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 hastened to the quiet and rest of home, until 
 the last hurrying traveller has passed, and still, 
 her husband conies not. 
 
 "Twelve o'clock and Harry not home yet! Oh! 
 how can I endure this agony?" and the wife of 
 only five short years throws herself, in the hope 
 lessness of her grief, on the sofa, and gives way 
 to a flood of tears: 
 
 "What have I done to cause this great sor 
 row! Why have I been thus robbed of my 
 husband's love? But no! I will not believe he 
 has lost his affection for the wife of his choice. 
 Oh! it cannot be that he no longer cherishes a 
 love for his wife, and the dear boy who bears 
 his own image and name. Could he but tear 
 away from the influences that surround him! 
 could he but break the chain that binds him! 
 could he have strength to carry out his resolu 
 tions, he might even yet recover himself. Oh! 
 God," she cried, "that I could aid him in this! 
 That I could help him break this accursed chain, 
 that he might once more be free. Oh, how help 
 less I am! I can do nothing but weep and suf 
 fer. Nothing! Surely I cannot so soon forget 
 that 'The name of the Lord is a stong tower, 
 whereunto the righteous may flee and be safe.' 
 True there is nothing left me but prayer. That 
 refuge never yet has failed; and to that truest 
 source of comfort I will go; and kneeling down 
 before Him who has said "Come unto me, ye 
 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 23 
 
 you rest," she poured out her burdened spirit 
 in an agony of supplication. And the Comfor 
 ter came down, and above the darkness and 
 the storm was heard the voice which stilled the 
 wild waves of Gallilee, "Peace; be still." Her 
 soul understood the word of the Master, and her 
 faith rose up above the lowering clouds and 
 rested on the Divine promises. 
 
 Only five short years before, on a bright, 
 glad spring morning, we saw her who now 
 weeps, as she lonely watches, standing, in all 
 the joyous ness of her young life, and plighting 
 her vows to the man of her choice. Then all 
 was bright and joyous. Fancy painted her fu 
 ture in the most glowing colors. Hope beck 
 oned her on, and pointed with its radiant finger 
 to brighter scenes beyond. How eagerly she 
 pressed forward to quaff the cup of bliss that 
 Hope held to her lips! How brightly bloomed 
 the flowers along the pathway on which her 
 feet had entered! 
 
 But alas! for the heart that trusted. Alas! 
 for the hopes so bright; for the love so devoted 
 and the man so noble! With all that joyous 
 sunshine, the shadow was even then gathering. 
 One little cloud appeared on the horizon, so 
 small as to be almost imperceptible by one 
 whose hope was so buoyant, and whose love 
 was so pure. As we have seen, Harry Wards- 
 worth had learned to "look upon the wine when 
 it was red." Secure in the consciousness of his
 
 24 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 own strength, lie had not dreamed of danger. 
 Generous to a fault, he had been confiding and 
 trusting, where he ought to have been suspi 
 cious and guarded. Little by little, slowly but 
 surely, the deadly serpent had wound around 
 him his fatal coils. Tighter and firmer had he 
 bound him until at last the victim lay helpless 
 Sit the mercy of his foe. 
 
 The devoted young wife, ever watchful for 
 him she loved, saw the danger, and faithfully 
 sounded the alarm. With a voice made tremu 
 lous by her fears and her devotion, she, at 
 first, reasoned, then plead, and then as the 
 cloud grew larger, and the shadow deeper, with 
 strong supplication, she besought him, for the 
 love he bore her, to grapple manfully with his 
 foe and conquer. 
 
 But why need we write the history? It is 
 lout the history of thousands, over all this land. 
 Every city, every town and village has written 
 it. In the records of our courts, in the wrecks 
 that fill our prisons and poor-houses it is writ 
 ten. In the sad-faced widows and orphans, 
 pinched with starvation and shame, that every 
 where meet us, it is written. Above, the "low, 
 silent mounds, where sleep the victims of the 
 rum traffic," it is written. Yea, it is written in 
 the book of God's remembrance, recorded there 
 by an eternal hand. 
 
 Harry Wardsworth's history was no excep 
 tion to the course in all such cases. A history
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 25 
 
 of a social glass with a friend; of appetite thus 
 formed, of habits that grew stronger, of crav 
 ings indulged, of intellect beclouded, honor 
 tarnished and manhood shorn of its strength. 
 
 At last there came an awakening; and the 
 heart-rending truth forced itself upon his 
 friends, and ere long upon himself, that Harry 
 Wardsworth was a drunkard. Then there was 
 a repetition af the old history of promises made, 
 only to be broken; of resolutions formed, with 
 no power to carry them out; of falls, and ris 
 ings up, only to fall again; each time going 
 lower than before; of nights of weary, anxious 
 watching on the part of the wife, and of revelry 
 and dissipation, followed by days of sorrowful 
 regrets, on the part of the husband . 
 
 It was indeed, the same old story. Every 
 fall but made him weaker, and his manhood 
 more degraded, until, at last, he seemed to give 
 up all effort to recover himself, and plunged 
 madly into the current, whose dark waters are 
 bearing seventy thousand annually out to the 
 deeper darkness beyond. 
 
 This is the reason why she, who, only a few 
 short years ago, was a joyous happy bride, now, 
 with the roses gone from her cheeks, the light 
 of hope from her eye, and sorrow filling her 
 heart, is sitting there, on this May midnight, 
 in the hopelessness of her grief. 
 
 But what of the erring husband all this time? 
 Of the once proud and gifted Harry Wards-
 
 26 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 worth? He had gone out in the early evening, 
 promising to return befor nine. And he had 
 fully intended to do so. But who that is caught 
 in the toils of the Demon of Rum can 
 say where, or how he shall direct his steps? 
 Wards worth was no exception to the rule. The 
 coils of the serpent were around him, and the 
 victim was led captive at his will. "Just one 
 glass, Harry," said his false friend, as he met 
 him that evening: "Just one glass," answered 
 the craving appetite within, and, in a moment, 
 all his promises and good resolutions were 
 swept away, and the husband whose gentle 
 wife, waited and watched for his coming, held 
 in his hand the cup that sparkles but to kill. 
 
 The clock had struck the hour of two, and 
 Mrs. Wardsworth decided to retire. Little 
 Harry had already been put in his crib, the last 
 good-night kiss pressed upon his cheek, the 
 nightly prayer had gone up from the desolate 
 wife, when the sound of voices and confused 
 footsteps fell upon her ear. The steps drew 
 nearer and paused at the door, which was 
 opened, and her husband stood before her in a 
 state of beastly intoxication. 
 
 "Do not feel alarmed, madam," said a stran 
 ger, who was holding him by the arm; "your 
 husband is all right. He has been spending 
 the evening with some friends, and took a lit 
 tle too much wine. He will be all straight in 
 the morning." To this explanation or apology.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 27 
 
 the wife made no reply. Too well she knew 
 where he had been, and the influences by which 
 he had been surrounded. She uttered no word 
 of complaint, but a red spot burned on either 
 cheek, as, taking him by the arm, she assisted 
 his unsteady steps to the sofa, on which he 
 threw himself heavily. A few feeble attempts 
 were made at apology, but they were almost 
 unintelligible, and, in a few moments, he was 
 in a sleep so deep, that, only for the dark flush 
 upon his face, he might have been thought 
 dead. 
 
 The devoted wife made him as comfortable 
 as possible, and then sat down to meditate, 
 and, if possible, to plan some mode of deliver 
 ance. What wonder if memory, with a home 
 sick longing, went back to the joyous days of 
 her girlhood. Back to the dear old eastern 
 home, where "free from sorrow's dull aching," 
 she had nestled. Back over the early years of 
 her married life, when all was bright and beau 
 tiful, and 110 thought of sorrow had yet come. 
 Alas! how sudden and how sad the change. 
 
 Slowly passed the hours of night, and still 
 the husband slept, while the wife waited and 
 watched, and pondered. At last the grey dawn 
 stole up from the far east, the darkness fled 
 from the valleys and the hills the birds came 
 forth, with their morning song, from their 
 nightly hiding place, and the sun poured its 
 bright beams, into the abode of sorrow, as the
 
 28 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 wife, weary and prostrate, threw herself on her 
 couch, for a short respite in sleep. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PLOTTING. 
 
 The Honorable Hezekiah Simkins sat lazily 
 in his office watching the wreaths of smoke 
 that floated gracefully up from his cigar, and 
 sadly dreaming of departed glory. To tell the 
 whole truth, the Hon. Hezekiah was in a very 
 unpleasant frame of mind. He was living in 
 the past, as that contained whatever of respec 
 table influence he had ever enjoyed, or perhaps 
 ever would. He was a lawyer, not overstocked 
 with brains or learning; but what nature, and 
 the schools, had denied him, in this respect, 
 had been more than compensated by an extra 
 ordinary quantity of cheek. He was also blessed 
 with a very fluent tongue, was subtle and cun 
 ning, in his way, and boasted of representing 
 in his practice more money than any other law 
 yer in the city. He was popular with all the 
 saloon-keepers, could take his glass with any of 
 them, could talk politics by the hour to the 
 drunken crowd by whom he was generally pur- 
 rounded, and was, in all respects, a first-class 
 representative of what is known as a street 
 corner politician.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 29 
 
 Some few years before the events recorded in 
 the last chapter, the friends of law and order 
 had united in an effort to secure the passage of 
 a prohibitory liquor law for the State. This 
 had aroused all the energies of the liquor deal 
 ers, and forgetting everything else in their de 
 sire to save their craft, they resolved to unite 
 in one solid phalanx for the purpose of defeat 
 ing the temperance measure. 
 
 The first step was to secure a candidate for 
 the State legislature who would pledge himself 
 to vote against the measure, in whatever form 
 it might come up, "first, last, and all the time." 
 The name of lawyer Simkins was proposed in 
 convention and received with cheers. In fact, 
 he was the man. He was fond of Jirs glass. 
 The whisky dealers were his clients. His prin 
 cipal support came from that party which, it 
 was argued, gave them a great power over him, 
 and he was, moreover, ambitious of legislative 
 honors. A committee was therefore appointed 
 to wait on him; the pledge was readily given, 
 and Hezekiah Simkins, attorney at law, be 
 came the candidate of the whisky party, bound 
 by his pledge of honor, by whatever of personal 
 influence he possessed, and by his own appetites 
 and tastes, to oppose the submitting to a vote 
 of the people any amendment to the constitu 
 tion looking to the prohibition of the liquor 
 traffic. 
 
 Oh! when will the friends of temperance
 
 SO THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 learn a lesson from their enemies? When will 
 they learn that to succeed in this great conflict 
 between good and evil, between the down-trod 
 den victims of the liquor traffic, and humanity's 
 most deadly foe, they, too, must sink every 
 other political consideration! That members 
 of every political party, of every religious creed, 
 must unite in one determined effort and confin 
 ing, at least for the present, the fight to the 
 individual States, resolve, that there everything 
 else shall bow before this mighty effort for the 
 alleviation of our people. 
 
 The fight at Cedarville was indeed a desper 
 ate one, as all such fights usually are. On the 
 one side were the lovers of law and order. 
 Christian men, sober, solid business men, the 
 very backbone of the community. Unfortu 
 nately, a few temperance men made the fatal 
 mistake that is always made in those contests. 
 Their sympathies were with prohibition, but 
 they did not wish to vote against their political 
 party. The result was, the friends of temper 
 ance were pitted not only against their legiti 
 mate foes, but against some of their so-called 
 friends as well. They were thus wounded in 
 the house of their friends, besides meeting the 
 whole combined influence of the liquor traffic; 
 itself. To the contestants 011 that side, money 
 was no object, if only they could accomplish 
 their purpose. Every art, both fair and foul, 
 was brought into requisition. Whisky flowed
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 31 
 
 like water, and money was lavished with an un 
 sparing hand. Nevertheless the prohibition par 
 ty made a most gallant and determined fight; and 
 coiild they have had the support of all of the 
 temperance men, would have gained the victory. 
 As it was they were borne down by numbers, 
 and Simkins was elected by a small majority. 
 
 The first thing the victorious party did was 
 to celebrate their victory. The saloons were 
 all thrown open and liquor w T as free. They 
 could afford it, with Simkins elected. Every 
 man was invited to drink. The successful can 
 didate was cheered whenever he appeared. He 
 drank with everybody who invited him. He 
 made speeches whenever called upon to do so. 
 He was first eloquent, then boisterous, then ob 
 scene and maudlin, till at last even his system, 
 trained as it was to drinking, was no longer 
 able to withstand the pressure and Hezekiah Sim- 
 kins, attorney at law, member-elect of the State 
 legislature, the man to whom was entrusted the 
 enactment of laws for two millions of people, 
 was carried home on a shutter in a state of 
 beastly intoxication. 
 
 The Hon. Hezekiah faithfully carried out all 
 his pledges. In whatever shape the temperance 
 measure was presented he voted against it. He 
 also kept the whisky men thoroughly posted on 
 .all the doings of the temperance party, so far 
 as either by fair means or foul he could learn 
 them, and, without blushing, could boast that
 
 32 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 he was doing the work of a spy, "free, gratis, 
 for nothing." He gave to the committee of lob 
 byists the names of all those members whom he 
 had reason to believe could be safely approach 
 ed for the purchase of their votes. In short, he 
 worked in the house and out of the house, hon 
 estly and dishonestly, for the masters to whom 
 he had sold himself body and soul, mentally 
 and politically. And he had his reward; for 
 when the final vote was taken on the question 
 of submitting an amendment to the vote of the 
 people, and it was defeated by a small majority, 
 the whisky dealers again came forward with 
 their money and the Hon.(?) Hezekiah and his 
 friends again celebrated their victory by getting 
 gloriously drunk. 
 
 But somehow a change had come over the 
 spirit of his dreams. The very few, who, at 
 first, had supported him from principle, soon 
 became disgusted and withdrew from the par 
 ty. Others who remained, but who yet pos 
 sessed the smallest amount of respectability and 
 intelligence, saw that with Simkins for their 
 candidate, they were certain of an inglorious 
 defeat, and used their influence to secure, at 
 least, a more respectable candidate. The result 
 was, that, at the end of the first term, when the 
 convention again assembled for the choice of a 
 candidate, Simkins was defeated by a large 
 majority, and consigned to the cold shades of 
 private life.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 33 
 
 Hezekiah Simkins, however, was not a man 
 to forget an injury, nor to even palliate a mis 
 take. He had carefully noted every man who 
 had voted and worked against him, and had 
 vowed revenge against everyone. He never 
 dreamed that they could have been conscien 
 tious in what they did. He never fancied, for 
 a moment, that any other man could more in 
 telligently represent the voters of his county 
 than himself. They had all acted, in his esti 
 mation, from personal motives. They had acted 
 meanly, and meanness they should have to 
 their heart's content. 
 
 Among those who had supported his first 
 nomination, but who had been led to see his 
 danger, and for his own sake, and for the sake 
 of those dear to him, earnestly desired the pas 
 sage of a prohibitory law, and had therefore 
 withdrawn entirely from the party, was Harry 
 Wardsworth. Against him, therefore, in com 
 mon with some others, the Hon. Hezekiah had 
 sworn special vengeance, and he only waited a 
 favorable opportunity to put his threat into 
 execution. 
 
 We have said that this particular hour, when 
 we introduce him to our readers, he was in a 
 very unpleasant frame of mind. He had been 
 living over again the scenes of the past. He 
 had remembered, oh with what a hungry long 
 ing, all the gay scenes he had enjoyed at the 
 capitol. His thoughts fondly dwelt upon the
 
 34 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 f ree drinks and free lunches, and even free 
 dinners with which he had regaled himself. He 
 remembered the 'fair women and brave men," 
 whose acquaintance he had made, and whose 
 society he had enjoyed. This part of his medi 
 tation was pleasant enough; but, unfortunately 
 it was followed immediately by the very un 
 pleasant reflection, that, so far as he was con 
 cerned, these pleasures had been fleeting as the 
 mists of the morning. Had gone, doubtless to 
 return no more. Others would stand up and 
 pom* forth their oratory within those halls. 
 Would mould their wisdom into laws, and place 
 them on imperishable records. Would stand 
 amid the glare of gaslight and by their elo 
 quence, move the multitude at will; would eat 
 all the free dinners and drink all the free 
 drinks, but the glory of Honorable Hezekiah 
 Simkins had forever departed; or. in other 
 words, his palitical influence had "gone where 
 the woodbine twineth." 
 
 The ex legislator had just reached the point 
 in his meditation, where for, perhaps, the five 
 thousandth time he had resolved to wreak his 
 vengeance, as he expressed it, "on the dastardly 
 rascals who had dared to go back on him," when 
 his office door was opened, and in walked his 
 friend and client, Solomon S locum, E-q. 
 
 Reader, we wish we could give you a descrip 
 tion * f this gentleman, but, as we are perfectly 
 incapable of doing the subject justice, we shall
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 35 
 
 not enter into it farther than to say imagine a 
 very large squash, with a very small head on 
 one end and very short legs on the other, and 
 you have a tolerably fair representation of his 
 form. His head was very small, and his body 
 very short; but then it was large enough in cir 
 cumference to make it up. His face was full, 
 and round and red. His eyes kept a constant 
 furtive movement, turning suddenly from on^ 
 point to another, as though they wanted to 
 look all ways at once. His nose turned up, as 
 though it had been trying to get as far as pos 
 sible from what was going into his mouth. 
 When he walked, he waddled like a duck, and 
 when he sat down, he threw his head back, 
 projected his stomach forward, and puffed, like 
 a horse that has the heaves and had been driv 
 en too fast. His voice was wheezy like that of 
 a pig when it gets too fat; or like the sou-nd of 
 a blacksmith's bellows when it gets a hole in it. 
 Do not let our readers understand us as 
 wishing to prejudice them against Solomon 
 Slocum, Esq. We have only endeavored to 
 give them an idea of his personal appearance. 
 We admit that, so far as that was concerned, 
 the combined labors of nature and habit had 
 resulted in a very bad failure. But Squire 
 Slocum was a gentleman. He sported a gold- 
 headed cane, wore a broadcloth suit, patent 
 leather boots, a shirt with a ruffled front, was 
 said to be one of the richest men in Cedarville,
 
 36 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 and was, moreover, the client and bosom friend 
 of Honorable Hezekiah Simkins. As he very 
 frequently reminded the ex-legislator, "Old 
 Slocum had never gone back on him." Besides 
 this, he boasted that he had risen to opulence 
 by his own exertions. 
 
 Slocum's first money was the result of his in 
 tense patriotism. At the commencement of the 
 late war he was so very patriotic that he suc 
 ceeded in enlisting several times and drawing 
 his bounty every time. This had given him 
 sufficient capital to open a small retail saloon. 
 By the judicious use of rain water and certain 
 other ingredients, he had succeeded in getting 
 and saving money enough to build a small 
 brewery. This he had enlarged from time to 
 time until it did a large business. At last he 
 reached, as he said, the goal of his ambition, 
 and was able to build a large distillery. This 
 made a market for grain, and he would have 
 been quite popular had it not been for his 
 avarice. 
 
 A year or two before he is introduced to our 
 readers, he had become posessed of a very valu 
 able secret. A secret so valuable that he re 
 vealed it to no one, but his sworn and trusty 
 distiller, and they two Kept it confined within 
 the darKened cellar, into which no one but 
 themselves were allowed to enter. It was no 
 less, than the art of maxing, by the judicious 
 combination of logwood, aloes, strychnine, and
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 37 
 
 other harmless drugs of that nature, with the 
 necessary coloring matters, all kinds of liquors,, 
 from the rare and costly wines of France and 
 Spain, to the cheap whisky which kills its vic 
 tims at forty rods. 
 
 From that time Slocum considered his for 
 tune made. True, people began to wonder how 
 it was, that he could make so much liquor, and 
 that of every description, out of so little grain, 
 but the sworn distiller, and the dark cellar 
 faithfully kept their secret, and none knew of 
 the wonderful transformations going on there. 
 
 Another thing they noticed was, that Slo- 
 cum's liquor had a strange effect upon anyone 
 who drank any quantity of it. It not only 
 made them drunk, but it made them demons. 
 They would become raving maniacs; while sev 
 eral who had drank to excess, had died with all 
 the indications of poisoning. However, the 
 coroner was a member of the whisky party, and 
 did not feel justified in putting the county to 
 the expense of an inquest over a poor, drunken 
 pauper, so they were buried without, and the 
 grave, like the dark cellar, faithfully kept its 
 secret, and the work of death went on. 
 
 Having, during this explanation, given Squire 
 Slocum time to rest himself and throw off the 
 superabundance of carbon, with which his body 
 is charged, he is ready for business. 
 
 "Are you alone," he first asked, glancing 
 cautiously around the room.
 
 38 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 "Quite alone, Squire," replied the Hon. Hez- 
 ekiah; "'what is up now? Anybody been cross 
 ing your path?" 
 
 "Well, no, or, at least, not exactly; but I 
 have rather an important business that I want 
 attended to, and you know I always employ 
 you, and you have never yet failed," he added 
 with a knowing look, which was easily under 
 stood by the wily lawyer. 
 
 "At your service, Squire." 
 
 "You know that drunken lawyer, Hank 
 Wards worth, who was in here to execute some 
 papers a while ago?" 
 
 "Know him? I think I have reason to know 
 him." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I remember now, when he used to 
 keep sober he was considered more than 
 your match;" and the Squire gave a coarse 
 laugh which ended in a wheeze and a cough. 
 
 "I don't care for that so much, but confound 
 the rascal, had it not been for his drunken 
 twaddle, I would have received the nomination 
 for the legislature. I have sworn to get even 
 with him yet; though for that matter, if he 
 keeps on as he is going now, he will soon spare 
 me that trouble, or I am much mistaken in the 
 character of Solomon Slocum's whisky." 
 
 Somehow the Squire didn't seem to relish this 
 remark of Simkins, but allowing it to pass, he 
 continued: 
 
 "That is just what I came to see you about.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 39 
 
 You know his residence up on Maple stree." 
 
 "Yes, I have often admired that place, 
 wouldn't mind owning it myself. Bought it 
 with money left him by his dead father, I un 
 derstand." 
 
 "So I am told. How much do you think the 
 property worth?" 
 
 "Well from ten to twelve thousand, I should 
 judge." 
 
 "I think so. It is all going to rack, and 
 ought to be owned by someone who will keep 
 it in repair, and not allow it to be a disgrace to 
 the avenue." 
 
 "Oh! I understand. You think itw^ouldmake 
 a very nice residence for the family of Solomon 
 Slocum, Esq." 
 
 "Well, you can put it in that way. You re 
 member I already hold a mortgage on it of 
 three thousand dollars." 
 
 "Yes, I know I drew and executed a mortgage 
 for that amount; but for the life of me, Slocum, 
 I can't understand how he ever came to be in 
 debted to you in that amount. However, you 
 are sure enough of the property; he will never 
 be able to redeem the mortgage." 
 
 "True enough, but perhaps some other man 
 may have his eye upon it, and admire it as 
 much as I do. In that case, if I were to sell it 
 under this mortgage, I might have to pay more 
 for it than I care to." 
 
 "How do you propose to manage it then?"
 
 40 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 "I propose to increase the mortgage. Or, 
 what is the same thing, get another one on the 
 same property. Listen; and I will explain;" 
 and the eyes of Slociim turned away from the 
 steady gaze of the man whom he knew to be as 
 big a rogue as himself. "You see Wards worth 
 has become sadly addicted to the vice of gam 
 bling. In fact, the greater part of what he 
 owes me now is for money spent at the gaming 
 table. The whole property is sure to go 
 that way, and I may, as well have 'it as 
 for the keeper of some low groggery to get it." 
 
 "I understand that well enough," replied the 
 lawyer, '-but how do you propose to get it? 
 That is what I fail to comprehend." 
 
 "That is just what I am coming at," and S lo 
 cum turned his gaze still further from that of 
 the lawyer. "You know Colonel Bradshaw?" 
 
 "Bradshaw the gambler? Yes, but what of 
 him?" 
 
 "Our plan is simply this: Bradshaw has of 
 fered, for five hundred dollars, to play against 
 Wardsworth. We will get Hank about half 
 drunk, and in that condition he always plays 
 so long as he can raise a dollar; though when he 
 is sober you can't get him to touch a card. My 
 plan, therefore, is to meet, we three, in some 
 quiet place, say your office. Let Bradshaw and 
 Wardsworth begin to play. Of course Hank 
 will lose. I will agree to stand security for all 
 the money he wants to bet, taking a second
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 41 
 
 mortgage on his place. We can let it run as 
 long as we like, I becoming responsible to 
 Bradshaw for whatever he wins. When the 
 amount has reached four or five thousand dol 
 lars, you can draw the mortgage and we will 
 get Wardsworth to sign it. As I said, if the 
 plan is successful, Bradshaw's fee is to be five 
 hundred dollars, and I don't mind making 
 yours the same." 
 
 For a moment the ex-legislator was shocked. 
 He had seen roguery in every form, had been 
 familiar with many of the scoundrels and black 
 legs in the country, but the cool, deliberate 
 planning of so terrible a crime, so hellish a 
 scheme to rob an unfortunate victim of his 
 home, and that of his wife and child, he never 
 yet had seen. Hardened as he was himself, 
 this proposition of Slocum's revealed a purpose 
 so deadly that, for a moment, he could hardly 
 believe the evidence of his senses. For an in 
 stant his lost manhood seemed determined to 
 reassert itself, and move him to kick the scoun 
 drel out doors. But he remembered that he 
 too, was in Slocum's power; besides, the fee of 
 five hundred dollars was very tempting. Only 
 for a moment was his better nature able to con 
 tinue the struggle. Avarice and fear combined 
 and conquered; and turning to Slocum, he an 
 swered: 
 
 "All right, Slocum? I am ready to do my part 
 in the infamous transaction, but when the
 
 42 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 gentleman from the lower regions comes, looking 
 for the most infamous scoundrel on earth, I 
 shall direct him to the residence of Solomon 
 Slocum, Esq." 
 
 Even so, men think to wash their hands of 
 the very sin they commit. 
 
 This home thrust made Slocum wince. He 
 turned, if possible, still redder in the face than 
 before; but gathering boldness from success, he 
 retorted: 
 
 "You needn't think to play Pontius Pilate in 
 that manner, Simpkins. Perhaps I know an 
 other gentleman who wont come far behind in 
 that race, if he does write Hon. before his name. 
 
 But don't let us quarrel over the matter. You 
 sa y yu will consent to my proposal, so let 
 us arrange particulars. Let me see, this is 
 Tuesday. Suppose you see Wardsworth, and 
 get on the good side of him, and make an ap 
 pointment to meet me here some evening next 
 week. You can adopt your own plan to get 
 him here, and when you have made the appoint 
 ment, let me know, and I will arrange the rest." 
 
 And with a sort of demoniac smile, Slocum 
 took his cane and departed.* 
 
 *Does the reader regard this as an impossible picture? 
 We assure him that such a case was known to the author, 
 in which a personal friend was a victim. It but serves to 
 illustrate the terrible power for evil of our nation's horri 
 ble curse the liquor traffic; the right hand of the gambler 
 the weapon of the vicious in their warfare against virtue.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE VICTIM. 
 
 Morning dawned bright and beautiful at the 
 home of the Wardsworth's. The glad sunshine 
 streamed down, enveloping the earth in floods 
 of golden light, but it brought no sunshine to 
 the weary hearts within. The birds poured 
 forth their sweetest melodies, but they awak 
 ened no echoing response from the sad inmates. 
 In the chamber, morn looked down on the weary, 
 care-worn watcher, worn out with sorrow's vigil, 
 and "sick with a heart-breaking sadness," and, 
 in the parlor, on the once proud and happy 
 husband, still fast locked in the slumbers of the 
 inebriate. The deep, dark flush that rested on 
 his face, when he returned, had given place to 
 a more natural hue. The hair had fallen back 
 from his forehead, revealing a brow and face, 
 of surpassing beauty, and one that once seen is 
 not easily forgotten. In spite of his degredation, 
 the stamp of intellectual greatness and nobility 
 yet remained. As we stand and look at him 
 lying there, with all that greatness a mass of 
 ruins, his manhood shorn of its strength, the 
 fire of his genius quenched, and when we re-
 
 44 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 member what he was, and all he gave promise 
 yet to become, and then remember that he is but 
 the representative of a vast army of seventy 
 thousand such victims, which, in Christian 
 America, are being annually crushed beneath 
 the remorseless hoofs of the rum traffic, we can 
 not refrain from uttering the direst curses 
 against the foul monster. Oh! citizens of our 
 glorious Republic, to you we turn, and implore 
 you to listen to the agonizing cries that come 
 from those seventy thousand. You who hold 
 in your hand that most sacred of all trusts, the 
 ballot of an American voter, why will you per 
 mit this wholesale slaughter of humanity's 
 noblest specimens? Why will you let so foul a 
 tyrant rule over this nation of free men and 
 free women? Why will you permit so foul a 
 pestilence to depopulate our shores to the ex 
 tent of seventy thousand a year, when you hold 
 in your hands the power to prevent it? Why 
 do you give your consent and approval to the 
 desolation of seventy thousand homes? Why 
 will you not interpose to prevent the breaking 
 of the hearts of seventy thousand mothers, wives 
 and children, some of whom may yet be of your 
 own flesh and blood. Will not the blood of 
 those victims be required at your hands? Can 
 yon wash your hands and truthfully say, "I am 
 innocent," knowing that you possess the power 
 to prevent this, and yet refuse to exercise that 
 power? Citizens of America, let your voice be
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 45 
 
 heard. Go to the suffering, heart-broken in 
 mates of those seventy thousand homes and tell 
 them to hope. Tell them that their cry has at 
 last reached the ear of the Nation, and it will 
 come to their deliverance. Go! Do this! and 
 the blessings of high heaven will attend you. 
 
 Mrs. Wardsworth was the first to awaken on 
 that morning of sorrow, and softly rising, so as 
 not to disturb little Harry, she descended to 
 the parlor. Her husband was still sleeping, 
 and entering softly, she knelt down at the head 
 of the sofa, and, as she looked into his face and 
 caressed the dark locks into which there had 
 not yet entered a single gray hair, remembering 
 the days when he stood up in the nobility of a 
 truer, better manhood, a great flood of tender 
 ness and love swept over her soul, and she 
 could not resist the impulse to stoop down and 
 imprint upon that brow an impassioned kiss. 
 This act awakened him. Just for a moment a 
 glad smile played upon his countenance, then 
 the memory of all his degradation came back 
 upon him, and he could no longer look up into 
 the pale tearful face of his injured wife, but 
 turning his face to the wall, he wept such tears 
 as are only wrung from a heart filled with a 
 hopeless despair. 
 
 Tenderly the loving wife stole her arm under 
 his neck, and drawing his head until it rested 
 upon her bosom, she mingled her tears with 
 his. And angels paused in their heavenward
 
 46 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 flight, and looking down on that scene of love 
 and devotion, caught up the whisperings of 
 that prayer of faith, and carrying them all up, 
 laid them down before the throne of the Eter 
 nal, and they were placed on record in the book 
 of God's remembrance, and over against them 
 was written, u The fervent, effectual prayers of 
 the righteous availeth much." 
 
 For some moments they remained thus, 
 neither speaking, till, at last, the silence was 
 broken by the husband. 
 
 "It is no use, Belle, I know how unworthy I 
 am of your devotion. What a sad failure I 
 have made of life, but all my good resolutions 
 are like ropes of sand before the power of the 
 tempter. The demon of drink has bound me 
 hand and foot, and there is nothing left but for 
 you to let me go. I am only dragging you 
 down lower and lower. Oh, God! if I alone 
 could suffer; but that I should make those I 
 love the victims of my degradation. Oh, to 
 stand on the brink of an awful precipice and 
 know that I am doomed to go over. To see the 
 deep, dark pit before me, and no power to avoid 
 it. To know that all the dearest treasures of 
 my life are destined to be involved in the gen 
 eral ruin, and yet compelled to move helplessly 
 on to my doom. Oh! I wish I had never been 
 born;" and the strong man shook with the very 
 intensity of emotion. 
 
 "Oh my dear husband, do not talk so. Have
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 47 
 
 I not vowed before God to love and cherish you 
 till death do us part? True, my heart some 
 times almost breaks with the intensity of my 
 grief; but it is for you and little Harry. Not 
 for myself do I grieve. But oh, my Harry, the 
 husband of my joy, will you not try once more 
 to conquer your deadly foe? Oh, let my love 
 plead, not for myself, but for you, the dearest 
 and most loved of all the treasures God ever 
 gave me. By the memory of those happy days, 
 all too quickly fled, for the sake of future joys 
 which may even yet be ours, promise me that 
 you will make one more effort." 
 
 "Alas, Belle! it seems worse than useless to 
 promise. Have I not promised time and again, 
 only to deceive your hopes? What prospect is 
 there for a man like me, when on every street 
 corner there stands a saloon? When I cannot 
 walk down the street without inhaling the 
 fumes of liquor, which arouses all the powers 
 of this morbid, craving appetite? A thousand 
 temptations are around me on every side. For a 
 poor wretch like me there is no hope but to 
 drift with the current until I reach the cataract 
 and then plunge beneath the dark waters. 
 But for your sake, Belle, my injured wife, and 
 for little Harry's I will promise; I will make 
 one more effort. Perhaps I may yet recover 
 myself; and oh, my dear wife, whatever the re 
 sult of this struggle may be, do believe me, I 
 want to conquer, I want to be free."
 
 48 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 The breakfast bell here rang, and going to 
 his own room, Wards worth made a hasty toilet 
 and descended to the dining-room. His wife 
 had not yet entered, and he waited a few mo 
 ments. She soon came, wearing her old cheer 
 ful smile, so much so that her husband won 
 dered. Ah! had he but followed her as she 
 went into the council chamber of her God, had 
 he heard her as she plead the Divine promises, 
 had he seen the look of holy faith and trust, as 
 the Spirit came down and sealed the witness 
 upon her heart, the secret of her cheerfulness 
 would have been explained. 
 
 The days passed on and lengthened into 
 weeks, and still Harry Wardsworth kept his 
 promise. He attended to whatever business he 
 had, which was but little, it is true, and seemed in 
 part, to be himself once more. But a cloud was 
 over him. He possessed but little of his old 
 cheerfulness and vitality. He seemed to per 
 form his duties in a sort of mechanical way, 
 but it was evident he had but very little heart 
 in his work. Still he kept sober, and this, to 
 his wife, was a source of untold joy. Oh! how 
 earnestly she labored, how faithfully she watch 
 ed, and sought by every means in her power, to* 
 lift the shadow from his heart. She walked 
 with him to the gate, met him there on his re 
 turn, had his dressing gown and slippers ready 
 for him, and in every possible way strove to 
 make his home so attractive that he would have
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 49 
 
 no desire to leave it. She sang the old songs 
 he used to love, watching his every mood, and 
 adapting everything to his tastes and wishes. 
 And her faith grew stronger and her hopes 
 brighter as she witnessed his strong determi 
 nation to conquer and break the chain that 
 bound him. As the weeks passed, and she saw 
 his old smile come back to him again, and as 
 his walk grew quicker and more vigorous, she 
 felt that the blessing for which she had so long 
 prayed had indeed come. 
 
 His friends, too, began to rally around him. 
 The white haired old pastor, under whose min 
 istry he had long sat, knelt in his family circle 
 and prayed with a fervency that was born of 
 hope. His friend, Dr. Thornton, congratulated 
 him on his improved appearance. Altogether, 
 there was a brighter prospect of ultimate tri 
 umph than for long months before. 
 
 This was the condition of things when, one 
 day, as Wardsworth was walking down street, 
 he was met and accosted by the Hon. Hezekiah 
 Simkins. 
 
 "Why, how are you, Wardsworth," exclaimed 
 the lawyer, "I am truly glad to see you looking 
 so well. You look like a new man.' 1 
 
 Wardsworth's first impulse was to give him a 
 short answer and pass on; but it was never in 
 his nature to be rude, so lie paused and entered 
 into a short conversation. 
 
 "By the way, Wardsworth," said Simkiiis, "I
 
 50 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 have been looking for some one to take two or 
 three cases I have, as I have to be gone for a 
 week or two, and yon are just the man I want. 
 I shall be pleased to put them in your hands. 
 They are important cases, and I don't know of 
 any one I would as soon trust them with as 
 yourself. What do you say?" 
 
 "I shall be glad to take them, Simkins, and 
 shall feel grateful to you as well. To tell the 
 truth, business has been very dull with me 
 lately, and I need all the legitimate work I 
 can get" with a slight accent on the word 
 legitimate. 
 
 . "Let me see," said Simkins, "I shall be from 
 home to-morrow and next day. If you will call 
 at my office next day evening, I will explain 
 the cases to you. I have no doubt but that 
 you will be successful and the fee will be 
 liberal." 
 
 "I know of nothing to prevent me from com 
 ing," replied Wardsworth, though, truth to tell, 
 he felt ill at ease in the presence of the wily 
 lawyer. Thus, however, the appointment was 
 made, and the two men separated; the one to 
 enter the purer atmosphere of his home, and 
 the other to report to Slocum the success of his 
 plan. That gentleman(?) was delighted with 
 the prospect, and instantly started in quest of 
 his friend, Colonel Br-adshaw, arranged for him 
 to drop into Simpkins' office about 9 P. M. the 
 next evening but one. Thus the trap was laid.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 51 
 
 and the trio of honorable gentlemen only 
 awaited the presence of their victim to 
 spring it. 
 
 "I shall not be at home this evening quite as 
 early as usual, my dear," remarked Wardsworth 
 to his wife, the next evening at tea . "I have 
 promised to call at Simkins' office. He has a 
 few important cases he wishes me to take, as he 
 is going away for a short time." 
 
 The countenance of Mrs. Wardsworth fell. A 
 sad foreboding seized her heart. She remem 
 bered, all too vividly, other evenings when he 
 had gone out, expecting to return shortly, and 
 the coils were thrown around him, and she 
 dared not think of what the result might be 
 again. Still she nerved herself and resolved to 
 hope for the best. She could not harbor the 
 thought of even a possibility of her short heav 
 en of happiness being invaded by the dark form 
 of sorrow. She assisted in changing dressing 
 gown for coat, she walked with him down to 
 the front gate, and there, with the bright moon 
 beams as witnesses, she wound her arms around 
 his neck and sent him away with a wife's pure 
 kiss upon his cheek, even though there were 
 fear and trembling in her heart. 
 
 Wardsworth was surprised, on reaching Sim- 
 kin's office, to find there no less a personage 
 than Solomon Slocum; but as that gentleman 
 soon rose to take his departure, he presumed it 
 was merely accidental. Had he but known the
 
 52 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 dark, secret purposes of those two men! but he 
 did not. 
 
 "Call in about an hour Squire," said Simkins, 
 "and I will be through with Mr. Wardsworth, 
 and will finish your business." 
 
 The reader is, no doubt, by this time fully 
 aware that it was no part of Simkins 1 plan to 
 put any cases into the hands of Wardsworth. 
 On the contrary, the latter was there in accor 
 dance with the deep laid plot for his ruin. 
 Nor will he be surprised when he learns that 
 the very first thing Simkins did, was to bring 
 out and set on his desk a bottle of what he 
 called u pure old French wine," but which was 
 nothing more than some of Slocum's poison. 
 
 Of all the arts and wiles Simkins made use 
 of to induce Wardsworth to drink, the reader 
 need not be told. Has he, too, not seen them 
 practiced? Are they not as common as the gin 
 palaces of our country? Are not the victims 
 of those wiles continually reeling along our 
 streets? Are they not crouching and hiding 
 from the curses and blows of those whom those 
 wiles have robbed of their manhood and their 
 reason? Are they not uttering the "low, sad 
 wail of anguish" over the dishonored graves of 
 husbands, sons, brothers and fathers? Ah! but 
 too sadly familiar are our readers with those 
 experiences, or spectacles, to require any expla 
 nation of them from our pen. Suffice it there 
 fore, to say, before the cunning and crafty
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 53 
 
 wiles of the deceitful lawyer, the good resolu 
 tions of Wardsworth proved too feeble. Home 
 with all its endearments, his wife with her 
 smiles and songs and loving counsels, his babe 
 with its prattle and childish glee, health, wealth, 
 honor, all the mighty barriers raised by virtue, 
 gave way before the fierce onslaught of the 
 tempter, and again the demon had his coils 
 around his victim. He at last yielded under a 
 sacred promise of Simkins, that he should be 
 asked to take but one glass. But one glass 
 taken, the appetite was aroused, the lion was 
 unchained, and from that moment the villain's 
 task was easy. The result was, that when Slo- 
 cum, who by the way had "accidently" run 
 across Bradshaw, during his absence, returned, 
 he found Wardsworth in the very condition he 
 desired. Nothing was more plausible than for 
 Slocum to express surprise at finding Wards- 
 worth still there; but, as there were four of 
 them, a game of cards, "merely for pleasure you 
 know, would be just the thing." The result 
 can be imagined. 
 
 Does the reader wonder, does he express sur 
 prise, that all this could be accomplished for 
 the ruin of Wardsworth? Does he ask, how 
 could he be so unwise, so easily overcome? Why 
 did he not refuse to yield, and tearing away 
 from those who compassed his ruin, return at 
 once to the safe and sacred refuge of his home? 
 True, reader, this would have been the wise and
 
 54 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 safe course. But do you ask why he did not do 
 it? Then you know nothing of the power of 
 an inebriate's appetite. Go stand on the shore 
 of the ocean, whose billows have reached the 
 mountain surge, and bid them cease their roll 
 ing. Go stand amid the deafening roar of the 
 mighty Niagara, and bid the pouring cataract 
 turn back upon itself. Go bid defiance to the 
 thunder, and command the lightning to cease 
 its flashing. Turn back the hurricane and the 
 tempest. Bid the avalanche stand still, midway 
 down the mountain side. Go, and when you 
 have accomplished all these, undertake to con 
 trol the demon appetite for strong drink when 
 once it is aroused in the breast of its victim. 
 
 What wonder then, with all this odds against 
 him, that Wardswortli f ell? Fell as he had 
 fallen before. Lower and lower, deeper and 
 deeper in the pit of hopeless ruin. Alas for 
 Wardsworth! Alas for his wife and child! 
 Alas for the home that shelters them! Where 
 is the angel that watches over him? Justice, 
 where is thy sword? Love and sympathy, 
 whither have ye fled? Pity, hast thou left the 
 human breast? Is there no strong arm that may 
 be outstretched to save? 
 
 By midnight, Harry Wardsworth was not on 
 ly shorn of his manhood, but bereft of his reason 
 and robbed of his home. He played with the 
 recklessness of a maniac. Bradshaw had only 
 to name the amount and Wardsworth immedi-
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 55 
 
 ately covered it, on the promise of Slocum that 
 he would see it paid. At one o'clock Bradshaw 
 had won from him $3,500. Then was the time 
 for the execution of the most diabolical part of 
 their plan. At this point Slocum paused and 
 refused to stand security for Wardsworth's 
 losses. He held that it was a debt of honor, 
 and Wardsworth ought to secure it. But if he 
 would give him a second mortgage on his place 
 he would make it $4.000, and stand good for 
 another $500. To this the victim consented. 
 In an incredible short time, so short, indeed, as 
 to afford almost positive evidence that he had 
 it prepared beforehand, Simkins produced the 
 mortgage. Here, however, the victim wavered. 
 Through his maddened brain there seemed to 
 glimmer a thought of what he was doing, and 
 he hesitated. Another glass of Slccunrs wine, 
 and then the hellish deed was done. As best 
 it could, the trembling hand affixed the signa 
 ture, and the beautiful house of Harry Wards- 
 worth passed, to all intents and purposes, into 
 the hands of Solomon Slocum. One game more, 
 and the last $500 for which Slocum stood se 
 curity was lost, and Wardsworth and his family 
 were paupers. 
 
 Then out into the darkness. Into the deep, 
 silent night, where the stars looked down with 
 pitying eyes. To his home? No, not there. 
 Not where his wife sat at the window, watch 
 ing and waiting for his return. Not where his
 
 56 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 babe nestled in his crib and waited so long for 
 papa's good night kiss. Not where the peace 
 and warmth and safety of home love had been 
 wont to throw around him their protecting 
 shield. Not where the joyous song even yet 
 waited, trejnbling 011 the lips, and only needed 
 the light of his manhood's presence, to break 
 forth in tones of delight. No, not there. He 
 had gone out with his manhood upon him. He 
 had left his home in the strength of his reason, 
 and with a wife's pure kiss upon his cheek. 
 Now what was he? A being to be despised 
 and shunned. No, he could not go home. He 
 could not meet the tender, tearful eyes of the 
 wife whom he still loved, but whom he had so 
 deeply wronged. These were the thoughts 
 that, in a confused manner, passed through his 
 mind as he wandered on in the darkness. On 
 through the deserted streets, where no light 
 gleamed upon his path. Out where the trees 
 lifted up their imploring arms, where the flow 
 ers bloomed by the wayside, and the apple 
 blossoms gave forth their joyous fragrance, 
 as if they fain would compensate for man's cru 
 elty. On, on, until his weary feet refused to 
 do his bidding, and his now poisoned body sank 
 from sheer exhaustion, and he fell by the way 
 side, unconscious alike of his degradation and 
 his doom. Still the stars looked down in sol 
 emn pity. Night, the silent witness of all 
 his wrongs, gently enwrapped the sleeping form
 
 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 57 
 
 in lier sable robes, and nature wept a million 
 drops of dew at the sad spectacle of "man's in 
 humanity to man." 
 
 Slocum's plan had succeeded beyond his 
 most sanguine expectations. It Tras just as he 
 wanted it. Should the validity of the mort 
 gage be questioned, were there not three re 
 spectable gentlemen who could give testimony 
 that all was fair and square? What mattered 
 it, though he had committed robbery most cool 
 and cowardly. Though perjury the foulest 
 lay deep upon his soul? Had he not secured 
 what his avarice coveted, the home of Harry 
 Wardsworth ? 
 
 Slowly passed the hours of night, and still 
 the patient, weary wife continued her vigil. 
 As the night advanced and her husband came 
 not, hope gave place to fear and anxiety. But 
 when "the clock in the tower struck two," and still 
 no signs of his coming, a dull weight of sorrow 
 settled upon her breast. Reason and a too sad 
 experience alike bore testimony that there could 
 be but one cause for his absence. The buoyancy 
 of hope gave place to the darkness of despair. 
 
 Would, dear reader, that this were an imagi 
 nary, or even a solitary picture; but it is not. 
 Over all this otherwise free and happy land, 
 there are thousands of such sad, weary vigils. 
 A mother watches for her boy, whose feet have 
 been turned in the way of darkness. A wife 
 watches for the husband, who, overcome by an
 
 58 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 appetite, formed in accordance with law, lies 
 helpless in the grasp of his enemy. Alas for 
 the weary, helpless watchers, when the power 
 of that law, which should be the refuge of the 
 weak and defenseless, is in league with the hosts 
 of rum. 
 
 Slowly and sadly passed the hours of night. 
 The grey dawn, harbinger of the coming day, 
 stole up from the far east. The bright beams 
 of the morning streamed down on valley and 
 hill. The flowers opened their petals to wel 
 come the glad sunshine, the birds came forth 
 from their quiet resting place, where nature's 
 hand had built their shelter, and awoke the 
 earth with their morning song. The bells rang 
 out the morning call, and the mechanic went 
 forth to his toil. The city awoke to new life, 
 and again was heard the busy hum of industry, 
 but Harry Wardsworth came not. His wife, 
 filled with apprehension and alarm, called to 
 her aid a few chosen friends, who undertook to 
 search for him. 
 
 Simkins was seen, who stated that he left his 
 office about ten in the evening, and that so far 
 as he could judge he was sober. At last a man 
 was seen who said he had found a person bear 
 ing his description by the roadside, and had 
 brought him to the city, leaving him at a cer 
 tain corner; and that he appeared to be either 
 sick or intoxicated. Then began the search in 
 earnest. Down into the basement saloons,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 59 
 
 where men hide away from the gaze of the mul 
 titude, that they may do evil. Searching over 
 the records of the police station, in the gin pal 
 aces of the "respectable" where the liquid 
 poison and death is held in bottles radiant 
 with bands of silver and gold. All day the 
 search continued. To each inquiry, every sa 
 loon-keeper answered they had not seen him. 
 
 "Is it Harry Wardsworth you are looking for?" 
 asked a poor, half drunken man, as two of his 
 friend* passed out of one of the saloons. 
 
 "Yes. Can you tell us anything about him?" 
 
 "I reckon I can, only you must not go back 
 on me if I tell you." 
 
 "You need not fear," said Dr. Thornton, "no 
 harm shall come to you in the least, so long as 
 you are not implicated in any way." 
 
 "Well, then look about Walt Pitman's saloon 
 and you will find him." 
 
 "But we have just been there, and Mr. Pitman 
 says he is not there and has not been there." 
 
 "Did you look for yourselves? Not in the 
 bar room, I mean, but out around?" 
 
 "No, we did not. But he can't be stowed 
 away there, can he?" 
 
 "I reckon that is just what they does with 
 1 em, sir, that is the respectable ones. They 
 don't let 'em stay in the saloon when they get 
 so awful drunk; they stows 'em away. Least 
 wise, you go to Pitman's and look around and 
 you'll find him;" and with a motion of the hand
 
 60 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 toward Pitman's saloon, lie was gone. 
 
 "Possibly he may be right, after all,"- said 
 Dr. Thornton; "let us go back to Pitman's and 
 look around. There is no trusting the word of 
 those fellows." 
 
 So back to Pitman's they went, and began a 
 thorough search of the premises, so far as they 
 were able, without subjecting themselves to a 
 charge of trespass. At last they found him. 
 But where, reader, do you think he was found? 
 In an old out-house, among boxes and barrels, 
 lying on a bundle of hay in a state of perfect 
 unconsciousness.* 
 
 And Walter Pitman, it was said, kept the 
 most respectable saloon in the city; and perhaps 
 he did. His place was the resort of all the 
 better class of drinkers. His place of business, 
 licensed by law, you know, was one of the most 
 nicely fitted and furnished in the city. Mir 
 rors hung on the walls, costly decanters con 
 tained the sparkling wines, and, in short, the 
 place was so respectable that the proprietor, 
 rather than suffer the disgrace of having 
 Wardsworth found on his premises drunk, after 
 robbing him of his money and his reason, pre- 
 fered to stow him away in an out-house and 
 then lie about his being there. Moreover, Pit 
 man knew Wardsworth as well as he knew his 
 
 *A true incident, in which the author assisted in the 
 search.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 61 
 
 brother. He knew his friends were anxiously 
 searching for him. He knew that he had re 
 ceived favors from Harry Wardsworth without 
 number, yet with all this, Pitman was too re 
 spectable to do him a kindness, and send him 
 home. Has not the reader seen the same scene 
 enacted time and again? Its counterpart may 
 be found in almost every town and city in the 
 land. Such is the cruelty of rum. 
 
 We say that Harry Wardsworth was found, 
 but oh how changed! What a terrible wreck 
 the twenty-four hours had made. Could that 
 ghastly, besotted looking being be the noble 
 looking husband and father, who went out but 
 yesterday, with the glad laugh of his child 
 still ringing in his ears, and a wife's pure kiss 
 still warm upon his cheek? 
 
 They carried him to his home. Alas! his no 
 longer; and there, through the long hours of 
 the night, kind friends watched him in his long 
 bitter struggle with imaginary demons, and 
 tried to comfort his grief -stricken wife. 
 
 The struggle continued even down to the 
 very doors of death; but at last nature triumph 
 ed, and slowly rallying, he drifted back again 
 to life. But his hopes seemed crushed and his 
 powers of resistance gone. A few feeble efforts 
 were made, but they accomplished nothing. He 
 seemed to have passed the turning point, be 
 yond which scarcely dawns a ray of hope. To 
 be tempted was to yield, and soon it became a
 
 62 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 common saying, "Poor Wardsworth is drunk 
 again." The wife's cup of misery seemed full. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COMFORTER. 
 
 The family of Rev. Chas. Bradley had risen 
 from breakfast, and the pastor had retired to 
 his study to finish his Sunday morning's ser 
 mon, when the servant returned from the post- 
 office and handed Mrs. Bradley a letter ad 
 dressed to herself. It was postmarked "Cedar- 
 ville," and the address was in the hand-writing 
 of her sister, Belle. Something in the address 
 seemed strange, and filled her with apprehen 
 sion and fear. A strange foreboding seized 
 her, and it was some moments before she could 
 open the letter. The writing was evidently 
 her sister's but it had the appearance of having 
 been the work of a trembling hand. JShe broke 
 the seal, and after reading the letter twice 
 over, sat some moments in thoughtful medita 
 tion. Mr. Bradley had reached one of the most 
 interesting portions of his discourse, when the 
 study door opened and his wife entered. 
 
 "Can you spare me from home for a few 
 weeks, husband," she asked. 
 
 Looking at her a moment, in some surprise, 
 he answered pleasantly:
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 63 
 
 "I presume I can, my dear, if you wish. 
 Where do you want to go?" 
 
 For answer, his wife placed in his hand, her 
 sister's letter. He took it and read as follows: 
 CEDARVILLE, June , 18 . 
 
 Dear Sister Kate: You remember when on 
 that bright May morning, now five years ago, I 
 stood up, and in the glad joyousness of my 
 girlhood, took upon me the solemn vows of wife. 
 And you remember when you, my dearest friend, 
 while rejoicing with me in my happiness, bade 
 me remember that life was not all sunshine, I 
 even laughed at the thought, that to me could 
 ever come sorrow. 
 
 You know not, dear sister, how sadly I have 
 learned the bitter lesson. Hitherto I have 
 tried to write cheerfully, for I have hoped for 
 the best; but now all hope seems gone and my 
 heart is brea.viii^ with the fullness of its grief. 
 
 You remember on the morning of my mar 
 riage, you referred to Harry's habit of drinking 
 wine; and said that was the only dark cloud 
 you could discern on the horizon of my life. I 
 could not then believe there could be the 
 slightest danger; but, oh! how bitterly I have 
 been compelled to mourn my mistake. Slowly, 
 but surely, the serpent has wound his deadly 
 coils around my dear husband until, all help 
 less he lies in the grasp of his foe. Oh! dear 
 sister, what shall I do? My pen refuses to 
 write the sad words expressive of my sufferings.
 
 64 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Is it too much to ask of you, clear sister, to 
 come to me. for a short time^ I need you, oh, 
 so much! Do not, when you write home, tell 
 the dear ones there the story of my trials. It 
 would almost kill them. I am glad they are 
 all far enough away not to hear it. May God 
 bless them, and make their life flow smoothly 
 on, whatever becomes of me. 
 
 Write me, and if you can come, please do so 
 without delay. Your loving sister, 
 
 BELLE WARDSWORTH. 
 
 Mr. Bradley read the letter over carefully, 
 and after a few moments thought, said: 
 
 "It does seem like a call of duty. I think 
 you had better go and carry all the comfort 
 you can. Poor girl, if that is the state of affairs 
 she is indeed in want of all the sympathy it is 
 possible to impart. When can you be ready to 
 start?" 
 
 "This is Thursday," answered his wife, "not 
 before Monday, I think. I have some work I 
 must do for the children first. I can finish 
 that this week, and be ready to start Monday." 
 
 "Very well. You had better get ready to go 
 on that day dropping her a note to that effect 
 by to-day's mail. And one word more, Kate, 
 I fear you will find matters worse than we ex 
 pect. Should they have reached a crisis, don't 
 fail to give Belle the warmest assurance of a 
 place in our home and our hearts. Poor girl,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 65 
 
 to think that one so pure and so loving should 
 know the sad pangs of a drunkard's wife." 
 
 "Thank you, my dear husband, it is what I 
 might have expected from one so noble;" and 
 the proud wife imprinted a fervent kiss upon 
 his cheek. 
 
 The balance of the week all was hurry and 
 bustle at the parsonage. Mrs. Bradley had 
 much to do before she could leave her own lit 
 tle family comfortable, and yet she often found 
 herself pausing in the midst of her work, to 
 picture the sad, lone sister in the far away 
 western home. Time dragged heavily, although 
 her hands were so busy; and for the first time 
 in all her married years, she was glad when the 
 hour arrived that was to see her borne away 
 from the home of her household treasures. 
 
 As already intimated, Mrs. Bradley was the 
 senior of her sister Belle, by two years. Three 
 years before the opening of our story, she had 
 married the Rev. Chas. Bradley, the beloved 
 pastor of a large and prosperous congregation 
 in a city but a few miles from the home of her 
 parents in the State of New York. Hitherto, 
 Mrs. Wardsworth had taken the greatest care 
 to conceal her trouble, not once referring to it 
 in her letters, but writing with as hopeful a 
 spirit as possible. But the loving sister had 
 become satisfied that it was not all sunshine 
 with her. A tone of pensive sadness ran 
 through all her letters and once she detected
 
 66 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 what she believed to be a tear stain. She was 
 not, therefore, unprepared to hear of the sad 
 state of affairs which Belle's letter revealed. 
 
 Wednesday evening brought her to her des 
 tination. Mrs. Wardsworth had not yet, from 
 some cause;, received the note advising her of 
 her coming, and was therefore not fully pre 
 pared to receive her. She had just tucked 
 little Harry away in his crib, and had sat down 
 to her w T ork, when a carriage halted at the gate 
 and a lady alighted. Instantly she knew it 
 was her sister Kate. Had she had time to get 
 control of her feelings, she would have been 
 more composed; but as it was, she had only 
 strength to totter to the door, when she fell 
 into the arms of her sister. All the long pent- 
 up feelings of the soul burst instantly forth, 
 and it was with the greatest difficulty that Mrs. 
 Bradley could get her into the room and keep 
 h*r from fainting. She sat her down upon the 
 sofa, and took her head upon her breast, just 
 as she used to in those old days, when together 
 they nestled in the dear old home. The poor, 
 aching heart had at length found a refuge. No 
 words were yet spoken, but the elder sister was 
 glad to see that the younger had found relief 
 in tears. For herself, she could only press the 
 dear form closer to her breast and let her weep. 
 Presently she became calmer, and raising her 
 tear-stained face, she imprinted one long im 
 passioned kiss, that revealed at once her soul's
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 67 
 
 deep love and all the long story of her heart's 
 bitter sorrow. 
 
 "I am so glad to see you, sister, but I wish I 
 had known you were coming so soon." 
 
 "Did you not get my letter informing you of 
 my visit? I received yours on Thursday and 
 wrote immediately that I would start on Mon 
 day. I would have telegraphed, but I supposed 
 you would surely get the letter." 
 
 "Never mind, it is all right now," and again 
 she wound her arms around the sister's neck 
 and laid her head on her bosom, just as a child 
 who feels that there alone it is safe. 
 
 As she thus lay, with her sad face upturned 
 to her sister's, for a moment Mrs. Bradley could 
 not suppress the bitter thoughts that came un 
 bidden to her heart. Oh! what a sad wreck 
 these five years had made of that once light- 
 hearted and happy girl. Could that pale-faced 
 woman, with those shrunken cheeks and those 
 hollow eyes, be the glad, merry-hearted sister 
 Belle of only five years ago? Could this be the 
 same being who proudly stood up and took up 
 on her, her wifely vows, and then went so joy 
 ously out from the shelter of the home roof? 
 Alas! it is not Time's destroying hand that has 
 early robbed this flower of its bloom. It is not 
 the wasting touch of disease that has robbed 
 the eye of its lustre and the cheek of its rose. 
 "An enemy hath done this! "A foe more deadly 
 cruel than disease and death hath stolen into
 
 68 THBOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 this dear treasure house and left his desolating 
 track; and as she thought of all that innocent 
 being had suffered, as she recognized that all 
 this was but a system of legalized murder, the 
 more cruel because it killed so slowly, she felt 
 like invoking Heaven's direst vengeance on the 
 liquor traffic and all concerned therein. But 
 better thoughts ere long prevailed. A feeling 
 of yearning tenderness came over her, and her 
 heart went out in pitying prayer, not only for 
 the helpless suffering wife, but for the wander 
 ing, erring husband as well. 
 
 Very carefully and tenderly, little by little, 
 the wise and thoughtful Mrs. Bradley drew out 
 the story of her sister's wrongs, and learned 
 that her husband's worst fears were more than 
 realized. Everything was gone. Even some 
 of their best furniture had been sold to supply 
 them with the necessaries of life. "The sad 
 dest part of it all is," said Mrs. Wardsworth, 
 after they had talked a long while, "we have 
 to leave this once beautiful home. Though, as 
 to that, it has become to me more like a prison 
 than a home." 
 
 "Why, how is that?" asked Mrs. Bradley, 
 "has Harry become so deeply involved?" 
 
 At this question the wife buried her face in 
 her hands and again gave way to a fit of weep 
 ing. When she again controlled herself and 
 looked up, there was a blush 011 her cheeks 
 that told but too plainly how deeply she felt
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 69 
 
 her husband's degradation which she was 
 forced to reveal. 
 
 "I cannot tell how it is, but I awfully fear, 
 that to the vice of drinking, Harry has added 
 that of gambling. A man by the name of Slo- 
 cum, living in the city, and who owns a large 
 distillery, says he holds a mortgage on it for 
 seven thousand, dollars. The neighbors say it 
 is worth ten thousand, but it is so fast going 
 to decay that it wont be worth the mortgage 
 much longer. I cannot understand how ever 
 Harry got in debt to him so much. I have 
 spoken to him of it once or twice, but I see it 
 affects him so badly that I have ceased to men 
 tion it. Of one thing I am certain, Harry 
 never had that much money from him, or I 
 would have had some of it. I fully believe my 
 husband has been robbed, but we are helpless 
 and can do nothing but submit," 
 
 "What does this man Slocum propose to do? 
 Does he want to take the place himself?" 
 
 "Yes. He was here a few days ago, and said 
 that the place was so fast going to the bad that 
 it would not be security for the amount much 
 longer. That he hated to foreclose the mort 
 gage, for if he did, the balance would be all 
 eaten up with costs; but if I and Mr. Wards- 
 worth would consent to give up the place with 
 out the necessity of foreclosure, he would give 
 us five hundred dollars. Harry was not at 
 home, and I have not yet spoken to him about
 
 70 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 it. I suppose, however, it is the best we can 
 do." 
 
 "Where is Harry, now?" presently asked Mrs. 
 Bradley. 
 
 At this question a look of terrible suffering 
 came into the face of Mrs. Wardsworth, but she 
 controlled herself and replied: 
 
 "I have not seen him since yesterday morn 
 ing. He has got so now that he don't come 
 home when he is drinking so very hard, but 
 stays at the saloon until his money is all 
 gone." 
 
 "Well, Belle, I have a message from my 
 husband, and I will deliver it now. It is that 
 if at any time you may feel it necessary to sever 
 the connection with your husband, our home 
 and our hearts are open to receive you," and 
 Mrs. Bradley again folded the sorrowful woman 
 to her breast. 
 
 Mrs. Wardsworth drew herself up and some 
 thing like the old pride came back, and a bright 
 spot burned on her cheeks as she answered: 
 
 "It was not for that you came was it Kate ? 
 For if it was, I may as well say to you now, once 
 for all, that when I wedded Harry Wardsworth, 
 I wedded him for life, and never till death doth 
 us part will I forsake him. Besides, my hopes 
 are not all dead yet," and a sad, sweet smile 
 stole over her face. "You remember, Kate, the 
 refuge of which we learned in our dear old 
 home. I have never yet forgotten the pathway
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 71 
 
 to a throne of grace, and when all else has 
 failed, that has supported me still." 
 
 "Heaven bless you for those noble words, 
 dear Belle. And now in answer to your ques 
 tion. No, it was not for that I came. I am 
 thankful, dear sister, that your love and faith 
 have survived this trying ordeal. God grant 
 that they may yet be victorious. But if worst 
 comes to worst, know where you may find a 
 safe shelter and as much of joy as may be. 
 But now it is long past midnight, and you have 
 not yet shown me this wonderful little Harry 
 about which you have so often written me." At 
 the mention of his name the mother's eye 
 brightened and something like a glad smile 
 played on her face as she led the way to an ad 
 joining room, and holding the lamp in one 
 hand, stooped down and pressed a warm kiss 
 upon the soft cheek, an example that was fol 
 lowed by the elder sister. The intrusion 
 disturbed the slumbering boy, and turning 
 uneasily in his crib, murmured the name 
 "papa." "Somehow, Kate," remarked Belle, "I 
 cannot help but believe that in some way God 
 will use our boy as a means of reclaiming my 
 husband. He loves me just as dearly as he 
 ever did, but he fairly worships little Harry. 
 Oh if he had only power to crush his foe, but I 
 confess that sometimes my hope grows weak. 
 And yet I find that in spite of all, my faith 
 still clings more and more to the belief that the
 
 72 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 boy will yet be the saviour of the man." 
 
 "God grant that it may be so, and in his own 
 good time and manner, 1 ' replied her sister, "and 
 now let us have prayer and retire." 
 
 Together they knelt, side by side, just as 
 they had done in those long gone happy days 
 of girlhood, and poured their supplications into 
 the ear of their loving Father. Oh how strongly 
 and fervently did the wife plead for her erring 
 husband. Like the patriarch of old, she clung 
 to the arm of God, and refused to let him go 
 until she obtained the blessing. And her 
 prayer fell upon the ear of him who never yet 
 hath said, "Seek ye my face in vain." The mes 
 senger of peace came down, and sealed the 
 spirit/s witness upon her heart; the recording 
 angel wrote her supplication in Heaven's regis 
 ter, and over against her prayer was written 
 the Divine assurance, "They shall call upon me 
 in the day of trouble and I will deliver them."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SHADOWS DEEPEN. 
 
 When Harry Wardsworth first began to ab 
 sent himself from home, during his seasons of 
 dissipation, his wife would use every effort to 
 find him and induce him to return. For a time 
 she was in this successful, but for a while back 
 failing in her efforts, she had given up the 
 practice, finding that it only served to irritate 
 him, besides subjecting herself to a great deal 
 of shame and suffering. On the morning fol 
 lowing her sister's arrival, however, finding he 
 had not returned, a strange foreboding seized 
 her. There came to her a presentiment of 
 impending danger, which she found it impossi 
 ble to throw off. She strove to cast it aside, 
 but all in vain. She had made the fire for a 
 long time she had done all the work about the 
 house and had set about preparing breakfast, 
 when the door bell rang, and a* stranger handed 
 her a note, saying it was from her husband, 
 and immediately departed. For a moment she 
 was so overcome that she found it impossible 
 to break the seal. Collecting herself, she 
 opened the note, and read as follows. She
 
 74 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 recognized her husband's writing, although it 
 was almost unintelligible. It said: 
 
 "My Injured Wife: The end has at last come, 
 and I am in prison. Last night, in a fit of in 
 toxication I struck a man and so injured him 
 that it is feared he will die. Before God, my 
 dear wife, I have not flie slightest knowledge 
 of what transpired. Perhaps it is better so, on 
 ly for you and little Harry. May God pity you 
 and forgive me.' 1 
 
 On reading the note, Mrs. Wards worth im- 
 mediatly called her sister, and then hastened 
 her preparations for breakfast, intending as 
 soon as it was over, to go in search of her hus 
 band. She had nearly finished preparing the 
 meal, when a neighbor called one of those 
 sympathizing kind, who think the deeper they 
 can probe the wound in a human heart, the 
 greater kindness they do them and handed 
 her a morning paper, saying, "Here, Mrs. Wards- 
 worth, is something about your husband, I 
 thought it would be a kindness to let you 
 know," and then took her departure. 
 
 Mrs. Bradley w_as ready to descend, when she 
 heard a violent scream. Instantly rushing 
 down stairs, she found her sister lying on the 
 floor in a deathly swoon. She was a woman of 
 rare, cool judgment, and knowing it was only 
 a faint, she placed her on the sofa, loosened her 
 clothing, and then ran for a bottle of ammonia
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 75 
 
 she had in her valise . Presently her sister 
 partially recovered, and looking wildly around, 
 she cried: "Oh, Kate! was it some horrible 
 dream? No, there is the paper," and turning 
 her face to the wall, she gave way to an uncon 
 trollable fit of weeping. 
 
 On picking up the paper the elder sister in 
 stantly defined the cause of her terrible grief. 
 Headed in large display type, she found the 
 following announcement: 
 
 "Fearful Tragedy! A Cold- Blooded Murder! 
 Another Victim of the Rum Traffic! 7" 
 
 "About two o'clock this morning, a drunken 
 row occured in Sweeney's saloon, corner of 
 Fifth and Cedar streets, resulting in the mur 
 der of a young man named Frank Steele. It 
 appears that Steele and Harry Wardsworth, 
 who, a few years ago, was a promising lawyer 
 in Cedar ville, but at present is noted only as a 
 drunkard and a gambler, had been drinking to 
 gether, when they got into a quarrel as to who 
 should pay for the drinks. Wardsworth called 
 Steele a mean scoundrel; whereupon the fight 
 commenced. During the struggle, Wardsworth 
 dealt his antagonist a powerful blow which 
 felled him to the earth, striking on the curb 
 stone, from the effects of which he died at five 
 o'clock this morning. Wardsworth is in jail, 
 awaiting the result of the coroner's inquest. 
 There is no doubt but he will be committed to 
 await the action of the grand jury."
 
 76 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 On reading the above, Mrs. Bradley could 
 only exclaim, in the fullness of her heart, "My 
 poor, dear sister, I fear this blow will kill her. 
 Thank God, that I am here to afford her, at 
 least, some little comfort." 
 
 After a while the stricken wife grew calmer, 
 and turning to her sister, said: "Kate, I want 
 you to look after little Harry. I am going to 
 the cell to see my husband." Mrs. Bradley 
 questioned the wisdom of such a course, but 
 finding her determined, consented on condition 
 that she should lie perfectly quiet until break 
 fast was prepared and then should take a cup 
 of tea and some toast. This done, the devoted 
 wife set out on her journey to that dark abode 
 of sin and suffering which contained the dear 
 est of all her earthly treasures. 
 
 On giving her name she was readily admit 
 ted, and following her guide she passed along 
 the dark corridors, through the darkness and 
 vileness, past low, coarse vulgarities, and foul- 
 mouthed obscenity, where were incarcerated 
 alike and together, the low, hardened criminal, 
 and the victim for the first time fallen beneath 
 the power of the tempter, only to learn more 
 evil, and to go out a still greater adept at crime. 
 Clinging closer to the arm of her guide, she 
 passed on until, at last, she stood at the door 
 of her husband's cell. The policeman unlocked 
 the door, and merely saying, "Here is a lady 
 wishes to see you," permitted her to enter. A
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 77 
 
 look of mortal agony passed over the husband's 
 face as he recognized his wife, and, for a mo 
 ment, she questioned if she were not mistaken. 
 His face was so pale and haggard that it seem 
 ed impossible that the man before her was her 
 husband. But when in accents of indescribable 
 anguish he asked, u Oh Belle, my wife, why did 
 you come to this terrible place?" her doubts 
 were all removed, and for answer she fell 
 weeping on her husband's breast. Only for a 
 moment did she give way, then with a strong 
 effiort at self control she replied: "Why did I 
 come here, first because I felt it my duty to 
 come, and second because I could not help it, 
 Harry, you are my husband, and I have sworn 
 to stand by you, for better or worse, till death 
 parts us, and God giving me strength I shall do 
 it." As she said this, a look of unutterable 
 sympathy came into her face, and parting the 
 still jet black locks, she imprinted a pure kiss 
 on his once manly brow. 
 
 Long they talked, he telling her all he knew 
 about the sad affair. In her heart she knew her 
 husband was no murderer, nor yet a gambler. 
 He was the victim of a traffic sanctioned and 
 upheld by law. A foul, moral crime ; and though 
 the sad consequences might be visited on his 
 head, it would be but another victim added 
 to the many who were being continually sacri 
 ficed on the unhallowed altar of the rum traffic. 
 
 Strange to say, from her sad visit, and even
 
 8 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 from the overwhelming calamity itself, she 
 seemed to gain strength. She still clung to the 
 belief in the power of God, and faith clung to 
 Him as her refuge and hope. Perhaps, she 
 thought, even this last crowning sorrow may be 
 made the means of salvation. Thus strength 
 ened, she turned away from the abode of misery, 
 leaving behind her a pure and holy radiance, 
 as if some angel from the far away glory had 
 passed by. 
 
 As was predicted, the coroner's inquest made 
 short work of the case, and the jury had no hes 
 itation in sending out their verdict that "Frank 
 Steele came to his death at the hands of Harry 
 Wardsworth, and recommending that the said 
 Harry Wardsworth be held without bail to await 
 the action of the grand jury." That body, of 
 whom Slocum chanced to be foreman, after, as 
 that worthy gentleman expressed it, "going 
 very carefully over all the facts in the case, 1 ' 
 rendered a true bill and Wardsworth was com 
 mitted, to take his trial at the next term of 
 court. 
 
 Wardsworth was so far subdued that he 
 looked upon all the legal proceedings with 
 indifference, never once making any effort to 
 take any advantage on points of law. He 
 seemed, in fact, like one in a dream. To all 
 who questioned him on the subject, he made 
 but one reply. "I have not the slightest knowl 
 edge of the transaction. I know that I had no
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 79 
 
 enmity in my heart toward Steele that I 
 wished him no wrong, and I am not, therefore, 
 morally, a murderer, whatever the law may 
 make of me. I cla'm no palliation, but am 
 ready to let the law take its course. Only for 
 my wife and child, the sooner it is over and I 
 am out of the way, the better. Though, God 
 help me, I fear I am a curse instead of a 
 blessing to them." 
 
 Still there were many friends who had known 
 him in his prosperity, and who resolved not to 
 turn against him even though he was deep 
 down in the valley of adversity. Prominent 
 among these \vas Dr. Thornton, of whom men 
 tion has been previously made, and Thos. 
 Sherwood; the latter, a wholesale merchant, 
 and a man of extensive wealth. He was, more 
 over, a noble specimen of the Christian gentle 
 man. His vrife, too, clung to him all the more 
 closely, frequently visiting him in his cell, and 
 always meeting him with a cheerful smile^ even 
 though her own heart was breaking. 
 
 There Avas yet nearly three months before the 
 court would sit, and his friends hoped for good 
 to result from waiting. It would give him an 
 opportunity for reflection. Possibly by that 
 time, he might get control of his appetite and 
 gain strength to overcome his foe. Of his final 
 acquittal they had no doubt. Thus the days 
 went by, sadly and slowly, each one bringing 
 its own burden of sorrow.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CUP FULL. 
 
 Solomon Slocum, Esquire, had finished his 
 somewhat late dinner, had smoked his cigar, 
 and was ready to make his usual afternoon 
 visit to his distillery and dark cellar, when the 
 door bell rang and a lady was announced. 
 Being admitted into the library, the Squire 
 returned her salutation somewhat awkwardly, 
 and requesting her to be seated, prepared him 
 self to listen to what she had to say. 
 
 "I understand, Mr. Slocum, you hold a mort 
 gage on the residence now occupied by the 
 family of Harry Wardsworth." At the mention 
 of Wardsworth's name, Slocum started, and a 
 look of uneasiness became very apparent. Re 
 covering himself, however, he put on a bold 
 front and replied: "Yes, I have a mortgage on 
 it, and have been repeatedly advised to fore 
 close, but out of sympathy for the family I 
 have let it run. I would have very much 
 preferred to have Mr. Wardsworth redeem it, 
 and save it to his family, and have told him so, 
 but, perhaps as you are aware, the poor fellow
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 81 
 
 lias fallen into very unfortunate habits, and I 
 fear will never be any better." 
 
 " I think I know something of his habits, 
 Mr. Slocum, and also the unfortunate influences 
 by which he has been surrounded;" and she 
 fixed her gaze steadily upon him; u but it is 
 about the mortgage, not about his habits, that 
 I came to talk with you." 
 
 "Yes, yes, madam! Well, as I was saying, 
 my sympathy for the family has kept me from 
 foreclosing, but I think I shall do so now." 
 
 "I am the sister of Mrs. Wards worth, and I 
 came at her request to inquire how her husband 
 came to give you the mortgage and on my own 
 behalf, to get all the information concerning it 
 possible." 
 
 For a moment Slocum winced. This was 
 touching a subject that he did not wish venti 
 lated. So, after clearing his throat once or 
 twice, he replied: 
 
 "I am hardly prepared to give you the full 
 information now; I can only say, in a general 
 way, that the most of it was for cash advanced, 
 though a small part was for book account. 
 Did you wish to take up the mortgaged" 
 
 Mrs. Bradley for it was no other than she 
 saw at once that it was useless to question 
 him, though satisfied that the whole business 
 was a fraud. Doubtless, however, he had been 
 sharp enough to make himself secure in his 
 villainy, and as she did not wish to parley
 
 82 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 where no good could possibly result, merely 
 replied: 
 
 "It was not for that purpose I called; but to 
 confer with you about surrendering the place 
 to you. My sister informs me that you pro 
 posed to her, to pay them five hundred dollars, 
 and take the property. Is that correct?" 
 
 "That is correct, madam. I did make such 
 an offer." 
 
 "I am glad to learn that much, Mr. Slocum," 
 replied Mrs. Bradley, with a slightly tremulous 
 voice. "As you know my sister is in deep 
 trouble, and five hundred dollars would be of 
 almost untold value to her now. We proposed 
 to get one or two friends to go with you, if you 
 will be kind enough, to the prison, and pay the 
 money to Mrs. Wardsworth, and her husband, 
 I am sure, will sign any papers that may be 
 necessary? I am here on a visit from New 
 York State, and desirous of helping her to 
 move and get settled in some comfortable little 
 cottage before I return." This also had the 
 effect of making Slocum feel uncomfortable. 
 He had scarcely expected the matter would 
 come up in this shape, though it would have to 
 come out and he might as well meet it now as 
 any time. With another throat clearing he 
 answered : 
 
 "Really, my dear madam, I am surprised at 
 your request. I wonder that Mr. Wardsworth 
 did not inform his wife before of the state of
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. S3- 
 
 the matter. The truth is, the five hundred 
 dollars has already been paid to him, and I 
 hold his receipt for the money, and also an 
 agreement signed and witnessed, to vacate the 
 premises whenever I shall give him ten days 
 notice." 
 
 Mrs. Bradley was almost overcome with dis 
 appointment and chagrin; but rallying herself 
 in a moment she answered: 
 
 "My sister was not aware of that fact, Mr, 
 Slocum, or I would not have troubled you. 
 While I am here, however, will you please let 
 me look at the receipt and agreement?" 
 
 "I am very sorry to disappoint you in that, 
 Mrs. Bradley, but they, with the rest of my 
 papers, are in the hands of my attorney, Hon. 
 Hezekiah Simkins. 
 
 Mrs. Bradley saw that nothing could be 
 gained by extending the interview, so apolo 
 gizing for the trouble she had given him, she 
 withdrew. 
 
 But the disappointment was terrible to bear. 
 How could she go back and convey the sad 
 intelligence to that already heart-broken woman, 
 that the last dollar of their beautiful home 
 had been swallowed in the awful ruin? That 
 she and her boy were helpless beggars and 
 her husband in a criminal's cell? She could 
 not do it. 
 
 Oh! rum traffic, thou cruel monster, thou 
 destroyer of innocence, thou weapon of the
 
 84 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 tyrant and the right hand of him who would 
 trample to the earth the helpless and defense 
 less. Thou slayer of the lowly, and the scourge 
 in high places, as there is a God who rules on 
 high, thy doom is written, and the day of thy 
 destruction comes. 
 
 Such were the thoughts of Mrs. Bradley as 
 she wended her desolate way back to her more 
 desolate sister. No, she could never bear to 
 that dear, suffering one, the last drop that 
 would fill her cup of bitterness. This she 
 would do. She had one hundred and fifty 
 dollars of her own with her. This amount she 
 would give, as though it had been given by 
 Slocum, and explain that the balance had 
 already been paid to her husband. Even this 
 appeared like mocking at her suffering, but it 
 was the best she could do. Her husband, she 
 well knew, would approve the act, and she 
 would have time to write home for sufficient for 
 Tier expenses before she would need it for 
 returning. 
 
 Leaving Mrs. Bradley, to carry out her noble 
 resolution and explain matters in her own way, 
 we ask the reader to accompany us to another 
 scene. Almost at the very hour in which Mrs. 
 Bradley was making her visit to Slocum, the 
 following conversation was going on in the 
 counting-room of Mr. Sherwood: 
 
 "I say, Sam," remarked one clerk to another, 
 "Did you hear that old Slocum had got his
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 85 
 
 fingers on that beautiful property of Harry 
 Wards worth?" 
 
 "No. Is it true, though? How did you hear 
 it?" 
 
 "Only a few nights ago I was at the Opera. 
 Jim Slocum and young Brooks, both of them 
 somewhat the worse for liquor, sat right behind 
 me. I was not an eavesdropper, but they 
 talked so loud I could not help but hear what 
 they said." 
 
 "What did Slocum say of it?" 
 
 "Oh! he was boasting of his old man's smart 
 ness, as he called it. He said he was too smart 
 for Wardsworth, that he had got him in a 
 tight place and had got a mortgage on his resi 
 dence, and Wardsworth had agreed to surrender 
 the property for five hundred dollars. 'But 
 you bet,' added Jim, 'the old man is smart 
 enough to cheat him out of that. If he can't 
 beat him out of the five hundred, and get it 
 that way, he is going to foreclose, and turn 
 them out into the street. You bet the old man 
 knows what is what. The mortgage is only 
 seven thousand, and didn't cost the old man 
 that, and the property is worth ten, at least. 
 Oh, let old Slocum, as they call him, alone. 
 He is smart enough for any of them.' " 
 
 Mr. Sherwood overheard the conversation 
 and he was indeed startled. This was the first 
 intimation he had that Wards worth's property 
 was so seriously involved. If this were true,
 
 86 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 what would become of the wife and boy? 
 Somehow, as a Christian man, he felt a respon 
 sibility he could not throw off. Why should 
 poor Wardsworth and his family be left entirely 
 at the mercy of the avaricious Slocum? Suppose 
 they were driven into the street, would his 
 conscience be clear, remembering that he was 
 Wardsworth's friend? These thoughts passed 
 rapidly through his mind, and quickly his res 
 olution was taken. True, he had but little to 
 hope for from Slocum, in whom avarice was 
 the ruling passion; but he could at least try. 
 
 It was true, as young Slocum said, the 
 property was worth ten thousand dollars, for 
 the family. It was at least worth the effort. 
 Even if nothing else could be done, he would 
 place the amount of the mortgage in the hands 
 of an attorney and let him act for Wardsworth 
 in taking up the mortgage. On the latter' s 
 honor he felt he could rely to secure him till 
 such time as they could sell the property. 
 
 And so it was that scarcely had Mrs. Bradley 
 retired from her interview with Slocum, than 
 the bell again rang, and Thomas Sherwood was 
 ushered into the presence of the burly distiller. 
 
 "I say, Slocum," remarked Sherwood, "I called 
 over to make some inquiries relative to Wards- 
 worth's residence. I am told you have a mort 
 gage on it." 
 
 "Yes, I have a mortgage on it." 
 
 "What is the amount of the mortgage?"
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 87 
 
 "Seven thousand dollars when given. The 
 interest makes it more than that now." 
 
 "What interest does it draw?" 
 
 To use a homely phrase, Slocum began to 
 smell a rat. He in no way liked these close 
 questions. Evidently Sherwood's visit boded 
 him no good, and the less he allowed himself to 
 be pumped, the better. So pausing a moment, 
 as if in thought, he answered: 
 
 "I can't say what the interept is now. The 
 papers are in the hands of my attorney, 
 Simkins." 
 
 "Strange," said Sherwood, "that you don't 
 remember how much interest the mortgage 
 bears. What will you take for the mortgage, 
 cash?" 
 
 "Do you want the property for yourself, Mr. 
 Sherwood? 
 
 "No, I do not. I want to save a home for poor 
 Wardsworth's family. Come now, Slocum, let 
 it be known that you have done a noble act. 
 You shall have all the cash for it. I will give 
 you the face of the mortgage, cash. What do 
 you say?" 
 
 "I consider the property worth ten thousand 
 dollars, Mr. Sherwood. Don't you think so 
 yourself?" 
 
 "I presume it is. That is the reason I wish to 
 save it for them. That will give them some 
 three thousand dollars clear, or enough to pur 
 chase them a comfortable little home."
 
 8 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 "You seem to take a great deal of interest in 
 Wardsworth's wife, Mr. Sherwood; more than he 
 does himself, I reckon," and the man gave a low 
 brutal laugh. "If you want to buy the property 
 for her, you can have it for ten thousand." 
 
 At any other time and place Sherwood 
 would have resented the gross insult, and have 
 dealt out to the villainous wretch, summary 
 vengeance. But now, he was on an errand of 
 mercy, and had a benevolent purpose to serve, 
 and he passed it by with the re mark, "I can do 
 better than that, Slocum, and I will, too. You 
 had better get your papers all ready, for in less 
 than two hours from now the cash will be in 
 the hands of Harry Wardsworth to pay the 
 mortgage." 
 
 "It will, will it? Perhaps I may be allowed 
 to inform you that Harry Wardsworth don't 
 own the property. I have a dted for it, 
 and a written agreement signed by him to 
 vacate it, at any time, on receiving ten days' 
 notice. What do you say to that, Mr. Sher 
 wood? You will have to buy Wardsworth's 
 wife a house somewhere else, I reckon," and 
 again he gave that low, insulting laugh. 
 
 "What have I to say to that, Solomon Slo 
 cum? I say you are either an infernal liar or 
 an infernal scoundrel, or both. I say, moreover, 
 that you dare not go to the prison and look 
 your victim in the face. You dare not go to 
 the home of which you have robbed him, and
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 89 
 
 look into the face of his suffering wife, whom 
 you liave made the subject of your brutal jest; 
 a person who in purity and true virtue is as far 
 above your whisky bloated self, as God is purer 
 than Satan. I say further, that you dare not 
 go down with me to Simkin's office and show 
 me all the papers you hold against Wardsworth. 
 I say still further, you dare not tell me, just, 
 truthfully, how you became possessed of that 
 mortgage. And further yet, that you got it by 
 fraud, that you got poor Wardsworth down to 
 Simkin's office, that you got him drunk, and 
 then and there put into operation a plan that 
 would put to shame the Devil himself, by which 
 you robbed him of his home and sent him out 
 a beggar. That is what I have to say, Mr. 
 Solomon Slocum, Esquire." 
 
 "It is a li#r shouted Slocum, "an infernal lie, 
 and I will cane any man that dares to utter it," 
 and springing to his feet, he propelled his un 
 wieldy form over to where Sherwood was 
 standing. 
 
 ;i Softly, Slocum! softly, my dear sir ! Remem 
 ber you are built more for drinking liquor than 
 for fighting, and like it a great deal better. 
 You had better calm yourself. I have yet one 
 or two things to say before I go, arid I will say 
 them now." 
 
 ' " You won't, I say. I won't listen to any more of 
 your infernal lies. You've insulted me in my own 
 house, and I bid you get out of it. Do you hear me?"
 
 90 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 "Certainly, Squire Slocum, I hear you, but 
 you forget that you gave me the first insult. I 
 intend to do your bidding presently, and leave 
 your house; but not until I have finished my 
 answer to the question you asked me some time 
 ago. You a?ked me what I had to say to it. I 
 have told you in part, please do not interrupt 
 me till I have finished. I said you have robbed 
 poor Wards worth of his home. You feel com 
 paratively safe, because you know it would not 
 be worth while to expose his failings and dis 
 grace his family, besides wasting in law what 
 little there is left that your rapacity has not 
 stolen from him hence you will probably pass 
 into possession. But let me tell you, Slocum, 
 there is yet a God in Heaven, and sooner or 
 later swift and awful retribution will overtake 
 you. Why, you poor coward, you are trembling 
 like an aspen, even now, in the presence of a 
 man like yourself. What wiil you do when God 
 rises up to judge you for your robbery of the 
 poor, and to visit upon you the awful pun 
 ishment for your crimes? You asked me what 
 I had to say. I have told you. Go you now 
 and take poor Harry Wardswoiih'8 home. 
 Turn his wife and child into the street, but 
 remember and prepare for the just retribution 
 that is sure to overtake you;" and Mr. Sherwood 
 walked out, leaving Slocum the most sadly dis 
 concerted man in the city of Cedarville. In 
 fact he scarcely knew whether he w^as dead or
 
 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 91 
 
 alive. The first thing lie did was to go to his 
 cupboard and take down a bottle and pour out 
 a glass of brandy, which he drank. Not of his 
 own manufacture. He knew too much about 
 what he made to drink that. This done, his 
 courage revived, and looking to see that all the 
 doors were shut, he muttered: "Confound it, 
 here is a pretty kettle of fish. How did that 
 fellow, Sherwood, ever find out about that 
 mortgage? I am just in time in getting the 
 property. True, as he says, they will not be 
 apt to do anything, as the matter stands, and 
 if they do, I have Simkins and Bradshaw fast 
 enough. They will both swear they saw me 
 pay the money over to Wardsworth. That will 
 fix that. Hah! Sherwood, old Slocum is a little 
 too sharp for you there." 
 
 "True, Wards worth's wife has not signed the 
 deed, and, in the absence of her signature, there 
 will be a cloud on the title. I will fix 
 that all right however. Wait till her drunken 
 husband is either hung, or sent to prison, and 
 I will soon fetch her to time. Nothing like star 
 vation for bringing proud people to terms. 
 Let her have her choice between signing the 
 deed, and the alms house and a few hundred 
 dollars will secure her signature, and fix that 
 all right. As I don't want to sell the property, 
 I can afford to wait." 
 
 "But that retribution business is what upset 
 me. Heavens! he talked like a preacher. I
 
 92 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 haven't stopped shaking yet. I guess I will 
 take a little more brandy, that will set me 
 right agaiu." and suiting the action to the word, 
 he took another stiff drink. "Now I feel better. 
 I must go and see Simkins and have him issue 
 the .notice for them to vacate the premiess at 
 once." In doing which, we will leave him to his 
 own reflections. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS. 
 
 Mrs. Bradley carried out her noble resolution 
 and her sister never suspected the sacrifice she 
 had made. While bitterly lamenting the loss 
 of her beautiful home, a feeling of devout grat 
 itude went up to God that even that small 
 amount was saved to her. The house had so 
 many sorrowful associations connected with it T 
 that she could leave it with far more resignation 
 than under different circumstances. In fact, 
 the loss of their home and all other troubles 
 seemed to be swallowed up in the one great 
 sorrow arising from the condition of her hus 
 band. Were he the noble, manly man he was 
 when they were wed, a home in a hovel would be 
 a palace compared with their present condition. 
 
 Still she did not lose all hope, but through 
 all the accumulating sorrows still clung to the 
 belief that at some time all would come right 
 again.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 93 
 
 Oh hope, thou most precious boon to mortals 
 given. Without thee, how dark, how gloomy 
 would be our life's journey. Thou dost bid the 
 heart take courage even when every prospect 
 fails. Thou dost cheer the weary pilgrim, bind 
 up the heart that is broken, paint the darkest 
 cloud with a silver lining, and mingle sweetness 
 even with the most bitter cup. Thy radiant finger 
 points to brighter scenes beyond, and thy cheer 
 ing voice makes the drooping spirit rally. 
 Without thy bright presence earth would be 
 desolate. Despair would fold her gloomy man 
 tle over all, and voices of anguish unuttera,ble 
 would chant the funeral notes of the world's 
 sorrowful dead. 
 
 Mrs. Wardsworth had finished her morning 
 work and had sat down for a few moments rest, 
 when the door bell rang, and a strange gentle 
 man was admitted or at least we will call him 
 that, in the absence of any known classification 
 to give him. He was short and stout, with a 
 very red, bloated face, and a most villainous 
 expression of countenance. Without heeding 
 the polite invitation to be seated, he stood for 
 some minutes fumbling in his pockets, and then 
 produced a note, and handing it to Mrs. Wards- 
 worth, remarked: "Here's a letter for yer, and 
 I was told to wait and see yer read it, so I could 
 swear yer got the notice to vacate, supposing 
 they had to put the law on yer." Mrs. Wards- 
 worth took the missive and read as follows:
 
 94 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Notice to Vacate To Mrs. Henry Wardsworth: 
 -You are no doubt aware that I hold a deed 
 of the property now occupied by you, and an 
 agreement signed by your husband to vacate 
 the same at any time required, 011 receiving ten 
 days' notice. You will please, therefore, vacate 
 the residence at once. Signed, 
 
 SOLOMON SLOCUM. 
 
 By his att'y, HEZEKIAH SIMKINS. 
 
 Dated at Cedarville, . 18 . 
 
 Mrs. Wardsworth glanced over the document 
 and then handed it to her sister, merely re 
 marking to the bearer, ''You can say to Mr. 
 Slocum that the property will be given up to 
 him without any delay on our part." 
 
 "I guess yer better," replied that worthy of 
 ficial, "'cause old Slocum has no mercy on a 
 feller when once he gets him in his paws." 
 And with this comforting remark he left the 
 two sisters to arrange their plans as best they 
 could. 
 
 "Well," said Mrs. Bradley, "I suppose, sister, we 
 must look the matter squarely in the face. The 
 first thing to do is to find a suitable house. I 
 am stronger than you, and will go out to look 
 for one and let you attend to little Harry, and 
 she immediately commenced her preparation. 
 At that moment the door bell again rang, and 
 Mr. Sherwood was admitted. He had often 
 been there before and his visits had always
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 95 
 
 brought sunshine. A brighter atmosphere 
 seemed to pervade the room as soon as he 
 entered. Without any false modesty he imme 
 diately announced his errand. 
 
 "I learned a day or two ago, Mrs. Wardsworth, 
 that your property here had passed into the 
 possession of Slocum, and that you are required 
 to vacate it. Is that correct?" 
 
 "It is, Mr. Sherwood. We have just received 
 the notice to do so this morning," and she 
 passed him the note. Mr. Sherwood read it 
 over and with a smile, remarked, "I see, Slocum 
 has but one style of doing business with all. 
 But I consider it somewhat fortunate, Mrs. 
 Wardsworth, one of my tenants has just va 
 cated a house that I think will suit you. It is 
 a very comfortable house of seven rooms, and 
 on a good street. If one of you can go with 
 me I shall take pleasure in showing it to you." 
 
 Thus, even in the darkness, there appeard a 
 ray of light. Mrs. Bradley accompanied Mr. 
 Sherwood and found the house more than they 
 could desire. "As for the rent," said Mr. 
 Sherwood, "I will arrange that with Mr. Wards- 
 worth after he gets through with his trouble. I 
 consider it very fortunate that it is vacant just 
 at this particular time." 
 
 Mr. Sherwood did not explain how it became 
 vacant. He did not say that he had paid the 
 tenant fifty dollars to have him move out of it; 
 but such was the fact, nevertheless. Ah, no, he
 
 96 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 did not say that; but He, who knoweth all 
 things, knew it. He who watcheth the sparrows 7 
 fall, had seen it all, and over against the name 
 of Thomas Sherwood had written, "Inasmuch 
 as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, 
 ye have done it unto me.' : 
 
 Both Mrs. Wardsworth and her sister were 
 deeply affected by this exhibition of true gen 
 erosity; and when that night they knelt together 
 in their evening prayer, side by side, with 
 their petition for grace for the erring husband, 
 went up the earnest supplication that blessings 
 might descend upon the head of their bene 
 factor. 
 
 The next thing was to move, and they 
 decided to do that the day after to-morrow. 
 They had sufficient furniture left to furnish 
 the. cottage comfortably, and together they 
 could make it a very cosy, comfortable home. 
 The next day they received a call from Mrs. 
 Sherwood. She came, she said, to go over to 
 the cottage and see if they desired any change, 
 and putting on their wraps, and taking little 
 Harry in his carriage, they set out. Mrs. 
 Wardsworth appeared more cheerful than for 
 months. She even joined in the laugh that 
 arose, and entered with something of her old 
 cheerfulness into her sister's plans for fur 
 nishing the cottage. 
 
 Somehow, Mrs. Sherwood succeeded in learn 
 ing all the sister's plans; some slight changes
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 97 
 
 were suggested which it was concluded would 
 take one or two days to complete, so it was de- 
 ided to postpone the moving for one day 
 longer. Before leaving, the visitor secured a 
 promise that the sisters would spend the day 
 after to-morrow with her. The carriage would 
 call for them early and they must come pre 
 pared to spend the entire day. 
 
 According to promise, Mrs. Sherwood called 
 in person for her friends, and so far as it was 
 possible under the circumstances, Mrs. Wards- 
 worth enjoyed her visit. When night came 
 they were prevailed on to remain till morning. 
 
 u l am very sorry, Mrs. Wardsworth," remarked 
 Mr. Sherwood, next morning at breakfast, "but 
 we did not succeed yesterday in getting our 
 work quite finished at the cottage. If we can 
 prevail upon you to remain with my wife to 
 day, I am sure it will be ready for you to 
 morrow. Perhaps Mrs. Bradley could ride over 
 with me in the carriage, and give a little 
 instruction on one or two points." To this 
 arrangement Mrs. Wardsworth consented, al 
 though the time dragged heavily. She was 
 now more than ever anxious to leave a place so 
 full of painful memories and retire to the 
 quietness of her cottage home. 
 
 After breakfast Mr. Sherwood and Mrs. 
 Bradley drove over to the cottage, promising 
 to be back to dinner. It was late when they 
 returned, and consequently, that evening tea
 
 98 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 was served a little later than usual. As Mrs. 
 Wardsworth declined to remain longer, the 
 carriage was ordered and the two sisters were 
 driven home. Somewhat to Mrs. Wardsworth's 
 surprise, the carriage was driven in the direc 
 tion of the cottage, Mrs. Bradley explaining 
 that she left a parcel there she wished to get. 
 On arriving it was proposed that they go in and 
 see how the changes suited. On reaching the 
 house, Mrs. Wardsworth uttered an exclamation 
 of astonishment. Everything was done. The 
 carpets were down, stoves up, beds arranged, 
 all the furniture in its place, and everything 
 in perfect order for housekeeping, with no 
 necessity for going to the old place again. 
 
 At this exhibition of thoughtful kindness Mrs. 
 Wardsworth was overcome, and throwing her 
 arms around her sister, wept tears of gratitude. 
 
 "Oh! it is so thoughtful and kind of you, 
 sister. What would I do in this hour of my 
 soul's dark trial were it riot for you?" 
 
 "Please, sister, do not give me the credit for 
 it. It was Mrs. Sherwood's plan, and I only en 
 tered into it. She is a noble Christian woman, 
 I think." 
 
 "She is truly. How true it is, sister, that tile- 
 bitterest cup contains some drops of sweetness, 
 and the darkest cloud may have a s'lvery lining 
 Oh, if Harry were only here, and with this 
 dark cloud lifted from him, this cottage would 
 be a paradise. But oh, how my poor, weak faith
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 99 
 
 does sometimes waver and my weary feet almost 
 refuse to walk the path so thickly crowded with 
 thorns. Kate, do you think it possible that so 
 dark a night can ever know a morning?" 
 
 For answer, Mrs. Bradley drew her sister's head 
 upon her breast, and gently stroking the 
 throbbing temples, said, as if in meditation: 
 
 "It was a dark tempestuous night. Hour after 
 hour the storm had raged on Geneseret's lake. 
 The weary disciples had put forth every effort 
 in vain. The wind blew more fiercely, the 
 billows rolled higher, and the frail craft, 
 tossed about more wildly. Shipwreck and 
 death stared them in the face. In this hour of 
 their peril they came to their Savior. 'Master, 
 carest thou not that we perish?' It is enough. 
 The Savior but looked out upon the tempest 
 and breathed the gentle command, 'Peace, be 
 still,' and lo! there was a great calm. Belle r 
 that same Savior is saying to you, 'Come unto 
 me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 
 I will give you rest.' I know how dark your 
 pathway has been, and I do not know how much 
 deeper may be the darkness through which 
 you will yet have to pass; but I do know He 
 has said, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake 
 thee.' Your faith has been sorely tried, and 
 may be tried yet more severely, but as you have 
 so faithfully believed and so nobly trusted, do 
 not let your hope forsake you now." 
 
 Thus did the loving sister and wise counsel-
 
 100 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 lor instruct and comfort, till at last, she had 
 the pleasure of seeing the wavering faith 
 again reassert itself, and looking up smiling 
 through her tears, her sister replied: 
 
 "Bless you, dear Kate, for those words of 
 encouragement and hope. I do feel that come 
 what will, God is too wise to err, and too good 
 to be unkind. I will trust him, even though he 
 slay me." 
 
 "And now, dear Belle, I must begin to talk of 
 leaving you. I have been with you several 
 weeks, and I feel as though duty calls me back 
 to my loved ones in the east. It is hard for 
 me to leave you in your sorrow, and I still think 
 it would be better for you to go with me, but 
 at the same time, my heart approves your strong 
 determination to stand by your husband to the 
 last. I shall probably leave you in a few days, 
 but remember Belle, whatever betides, your 
 place in our home is open for you, as that in 
 our hearts is already filled." 
 
 "Oh I know, Kate, how dear I am to you, 
 and how cheerfully you would receive me; but 
 for the present, I have but one thought, and 
 that is for poor Harry. I shall lay no plans for 
 the future, but hope and pray, if it be God's 
 will, that he will restore me my husband. If 
 that cannot be done, that he will give me grace 
 to bear whatever his hand may send me. And 
 now, as it is late, let us retire . To-morrow I 
 must go again and see Harry.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 101 
 
 The days swiftly sped and the time arrived 
 for Mrs. Bradley to return. Indeed, she would 
 have started a day or two before, but little Harry 
 had been unwell, and she did not wish to leave. 
 Now, however, he was better, and the next day 
 was set for her departure. But that night there 
 came another messenger. He came, notwith 
 standing the doors were barred and the win 
 dows fastened. He stole in noiselessly, and 
 they dreamed not of his coming until he had 
 gained admittance and his cold breath was felt 
 upon the cheek, and his icy fingers grasped the 
 strings of life . 
 
 About midnight Mrs. Bradley was awakened 
 by her sister. "Come into my room, Kate, and 
 look at Harry. He is making such a strange noise, 
 and I do not know what is the matter with him." 
 
 Mrs. Bradley hastily threw on a wrapper and 
 went into her sister's room. She found the 
 little fellow apparently sleeping, but his breath 
 ing was labored, and with each inspiration there 
 was a sort of crowing sound. 
 
 "What do you think is the matter with him, 
 Kate?" 
 
 Mrs. Bradley did not answer for a moment, 
 but presently she said: 
 
 "Belle, do you make a fire as quickly as you can, 
 and get some water on to heat. I will dress and 
 go for Dr. Thornton. I fear the child has the 
 croup. We have no time for lamentations or 
 hesitation. This must be met promptly, and
 
 102 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 hastening to her room she was very soon ready 
 for her visit to summon the doctor. Fortu 
 nately, that gentleman had just returned from 
 a visit, and had not yet retired. Answering 
 the bell himself, he was surprised to meet Mrs. 
 Bradley. She quickly delivered her message, 
 and stated her fears relative to the case, and 
 asking him to come at once, hurried back with 
 out waiting for him. 
 
 Dr. Thornton awakened his wife, and asking 
 her to arouse James, the servant, and send him 
 up in case he might be needed, hastened at 
 once to the sick chamber. 
 
 There was no mistaking those symptoms. 
 They pointed too unmistakably to that terrible 
 disease croup. 
 
 By this time the servant arrived, and hastily 
 scribbling a note he directed the servant to 
 carry it to Dr. Nichols. It read as follows: 
 
 "Dear Doctw: Come at once to 255 Cedar 
 street, and help me in a severe case of croup. 
 We must save the patient." 
 
 In a very short time Dr. Nichols arrived, and 
 then the battle commenced in earnest. Dr. 
 Thornton's treatment was approved, and to 
 gether the two physicians bent all their ener 
 gies to arrest the dread disease. Oh, what a 
 mortal struggle! On the one side sympathy, 
 reputation, science and knowledge, and on the 
 other fell disease. All night long the struggle
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 103 
 
 continued, the helpless mother looking on the 
 terrible scene in an agony of hope and fear. 
 Never did science put forth more noble efforts, 
 and never did she have a more stubborn and 
 deadly foe to contend with. 
 
 When the cold gray morning stole into the 
 room and lighted up the haggard faces of the 
 lone watchers, it found the struggle ended. 
 The vanquished representatives of science who 
 had so nobly fought with Death, stood looking 
 with solemn, speechless sorrow on the result of 
 the conflict. Their eyes rested only on the 
 cold dead for.n of what, but yesterday, was the 
 fondest hope and joy of his suffering 
 mother, litttle Harry Wardsworth. The form 
 was there, the same sweet smile rested on his 
 countenance, but the childish laugh was silent, 
 and the arms that so often loved to twine the 
 mother's neck, lay peacefully folded across the 
 breast, for little Harry Wardsworth was dead. 
 Beside the dead form the mother sat, looking 
 down upon it with cold tearless eyes. "Oh 
 God,"she cried/'surely them hast brought me into 
 the blackness of darkness. Oh, Kate ! what great 
 sin have I committed that I should suffer thus 
 terribly? Can it be that even God, in whom I 
 have trusted, has risen up against me ?" and she 
 gave way to her unutterable anguish. 
 
 Gradually she became calmer and suffered 
 herself to be removed from the room, and 
 Mrs. Thornton, who had been summoned by her
 
 104 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 husband, and Mrs. Bradley, set about preparing 
 the body for its last resting place. 
 
 The suffering mother sought the quiet and 
 privacy of her own room. There, in the early 
 morning, another messenger found her. Found 
 her kneeling at the vacant crib, with hands up 
 lifted and streaming eyes upturned to Heaven. 
 It was the messenger of Peace. He had caught 
 the ascending prayer arid bore it up to the 
 Throne of the Eternal. It fell upon the ear of 
 Him who never yet hath said to the seed of 
 Jacob, "Seek ye my face in vain." The Com 
 forter came down, and taking his place 
 beside the kneeling, suffering pleader, set the 
 seal of Divine peace upon her heart. Above 
 the storm was heard the Divine promise, "I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Faith 
 again mounted above the thick darkness and 
 rested upon God. When she came down from 
 that "secret place of the most high," how 
 changed! The look of despair had given place 
 to one of calm resignation and trust. 
 
 How peacefully slept her dead! ? How "safe 
 in the arms of Jesus!" She felt that her loving 
 Father had done wisely, although she could not 
 trace the wonders of his hand. Stooping down 
 and pressing a kiss upon the dear dead face, she 
 exclaimed. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
 taken away." "Oh, help me, Father, to 
 bow in meekness to thy chastening rod." 
 Faith had triumphed where science failed,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 105 
 
 and "underneath her were the everlast 
 ing arms." 
 
 The next day was the burial, and kind 
 friends came in and took sole charge of the ar 
 rangements. Sherwood and Thornton selected 
 a beautiful lot in the cemetery, and after ar 
 ranging for the digging of the grave, went to 
 break the tidings as gently as possible to the 
 incircerated father. They made an early call, 
 first on the Judge, and then in company with 
 that gentleman, on the sheriff. 
 
 "Davis," said the Judge, to the sheriff, I have 
 a mind to grant the request of these gentlemen, 
 if you will allow me to assume the responsi 
 bility, and allow Mr. Wardsworth to go and at- 
 teud the funeral of his child. I know the risk 
 we run in doing so, but it is for humanity's sake. 
 I believe we can rely on Wardsworth's honor. 
 The res alt was that they all repaired to Wards- 
 worth's ceil, and how it all happened no one 
 ever knew, but when they came out the prisoner 
 accompanied them.* 
 
 While Sherwood took Wardsworth with him 
 for a complete change of clothing, Thornton 
 went to tli-3 cottage to convey the news of his 
 coming; and so it happened that two hours be 
 fore that appointed for the funeral service, the 
 stricken wife and mother was permitted to lean, 
 weeping, on the breast of her husband, as 
 
 *An occurrence similar to that above described was 
 known to the author in 1860.
 
 106 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 together they looked down upon the peaceful 
 face of their dead. 
 
 At two p. m. the friends assembled for the 
 last rites. They were those who had known 
 Harry Wards worth in the days of his pros 
 perity, and who had been his fast friends all 
 through his downward career. Those who had 
 labored for his recovery, and who even yet 
 hoped for the best. Not one of his companions 
 in dissipation was there. They had drunk of 
 his wine, had pledged him in the cup, in the 
 better days of his prosperity, had partaken of 
 his generosity, but now, in his humiliation, not 
 one was there to speak a word of comfort. 
 Even thus cruel is rum to its victims. 
 
 The funeral service began, and the voice of 
 the aged minister grew tremulous with emotion 
 as he read the beautifully solemn words of the 
 Episcopal burial service. "Man that is born of 
 woman is of few days and full of trouble. He 
 cometh forth as a flower and is cut down." He 
 continued reading to the end, and the service 
 was concluded. Still no one moved. A spell 
 seemed to be upon all. The silence became op 
 pressive. The pastor laid aside his ritual and 
 bowed his head in extempore prayer. His 
 prayer became more earnest and his voice more 
 tremulous as he prayed for the tempted and 
 erring father. Oh! how he plead that Om 
 nipotence might come to his deliverance ; and 
 as he prayed, his listeners caught the inspiration
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 107 
 
 of his faith, and from many a lip was heard the 
 low, fervent "God grant it." He prayed for the 
 wife and now childless mother. That her faith 
 might not fail her in this hour of her extremity. 
 Again the listening spirit caught up the pe 
 tition, and it was treasured in the book of 
 God's remembrance. 
 
 The funeral service was closed and the dear 
 little form left to its peaceful sleep in Rose- 
 bloom cemetery. An hour or two at home and 
 then Wardsworth must return to his cell. He 
 had pledged his honor that he would do so, and 
 that pledge should be kept inviolate, whatever 
 the consequence might be. But who shall tell 
 the result of that hour, amid the solemn influ 
 ences of his home, still filled with the radiant 
 presence of a living faith, even amid the 
 solemnities of death. What sad retrospects! 
 What lockings forward? What sins repented 
 of, what resolutions made? What backward 
 longings over joys departed, what aspirations 
 toward a purer and a better life? Who shall 
 tell what thoughts of prayer went up, or what 
 aspurances of comfort and strength came down 
 upon his soul? Ah! none may enter into the 
 sacred sanctuary of that, save him who knoweth 
 the hearts of all, and who permits not one 
 earnest desire after good to -fall unheeded in his 
 ear. Suffice it to say, when the evening- 
 shadows gathered and the stars came out, one 
 by one, the sad adieus were spoken, and Harry
 
 108 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Wardsworth took again his prison garments and 
 went back to his solitude and his cell. 
 
 Mrs. Bradley now, more than ever, thought 
 to prevail on her sister to accompany her home 
 and remain, at least, till time for Wardsworth's 
 trial, which would not come off yet for several 
 weeks. To this, however, she would not consent. 
 To all Kate's arguments she would answer, 
 "please sister, do not urge me. God has kindly 
 taken care of little Harry, and now I have 
 nothing to do but to give my life wholly to my 
 husband. Oh, Kate, my dear sister, you can't 
 tell how, with what loving, longing sympathy 
 my heart yearns toward him now. If the sac 
 rifice of my life could be but his ransom, I am 
 ready to lay it on the altar. More than ever he 
 needs my presence near him, and more than 
 ever am I now in a position to minister to his 
 wants and to influence him for good. Please, 
 dear Kate, don't think me ungrateful," and she 
 wound her arms tenderly around her sister's 
 neck and raised her tearful eyes to her face 
 "but I can't leave my husband.'' 
 
 Finding it useless to urge her further, the elder 
 sister prepared for her departure. The hour of 
 separation came, the last farewell spoken, the 
 last impassioned kiss given, and Mrs. Bradley 
 was borne swiftly away, leaving the heartbroken 
 wife and childless mother to take up anew the 
 burden of her sorrow and carry it alone.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 Let not the reader imagine that during all the 
 events recorded in the last chapter, Harry 
 Wardsworth, or his future welfare, was treated 
 with indifference. His wife had continued to 
 make him regular visits, and strove by every 
 art in her power to lift him up to a higher 
 plane of thought. Sherwood and Dr. Thonton, 
 with others, also interested themselves and 
 made every needful preparation for his trial, as 
 well as to arouse the better energies of his na 
 ture, and thus prepare him for the new struggle 
 in which he would have to engage after his 
 release. 
 
 As for Wardsworth himself, he seemed almost 
 to have lost all interest in life. He would sit 
 for hours apparently in deep meditation, unless 
 aroused, and then would answer so vaguely, 
 and in that listless sort of a way, which showed 
 his mind to be occupied with something else. 
 His friends saw very clearly, that if left to 
 himself to prepare for trial, he would be almost 
 completely at the mercy of his enemies, and set 
 themselves resolutely to work, resolved that he
 
 110 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 should have simple, impartial justice, and they 
 asked nothing more. 
 
 One morning the Hon. Hezekiah Simkins was 
 surprised by a visit from Sherwood. 
 
 "Simkins," said Sherwood, "I have called to 
 see if you will allow yourself to be retained for 
 the defense of Wardsworth in the approaching 
 trial." 
 
 'Really, Mr. Sherwood, I am sorry to disap 
 point you, but I do not think I can take the 
 case for the prisoner." 
 
 "And why not, will you allow me to ask? 
 
 "Well," and Simkins looked uneasily around, 
 for several reasons. "In the first place, there 
 is no disguising the fact, that Wardsworth is a 
 poor, drunken, reprobate, and whoever has any 
 thing to do with him must expect to lose his 
 hold on respectable society." 
 
 "Not necessarily, Simkins. I have stood by 
 Wardsworth all the way through, and intend to 
 stand by him to the end. I have not yet lost 
 my respectability, and do not think there is the 
 least danger of doing so. So far from that, I 
 have always regarded it as pre-eminently re 
 spectable to stoop down to human wretchedness 
 and help to raise the fallen. As to your fee, 
 you need have no fear about that. I will see 
 it paid." 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind the fee, so far as that is 
 concerned, but to tell the truth, I have promised 
 to assist the state's attorney in the prosecution."
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. Ill 
 
 "All! then you are retained against him. So, 
 putting your theory and your practice together, 
 they amount to this: You believe Wardsworth 
 to be a poor drunken outcast, of whom the 
 sooner the world is rid of the better, and acting 
 on that belief, you have arranged to do your 
 share toward accomplishing that end. Now 
 my belief is just the reverse of yours, and there 
 fore my action directly opposite. I believe 
 Wardsworth yet possesses the elements of a 
 true and noble manhood. I believe also, that 
 there is sufficient hope in his case to warrant 
 the most gigantic efforts to save him; and acting 
 on that belief, I am bound to make such an 
 effort. I am glad, however, -to know you will be 
 there, for we shall want you for an important 
 witness for the defense." 
 
 "I, an important witness? And pray, what 
 do you expect to prove by me? I know nothing 
 about the case." 
 
 "Not so fast, Simkins. I think you do know 
 a good deal about the case. And now, to 
 answer your question, we expect to prove by 
 you where Wardsworth first became intoxicated 
 on the night of the killing. We expect to prove 
 by you how Slocum came to get possession of 
 Wardsworth's home. We propose to prove by 
 you just where he was up to the hour when we 
 first find him at Sweeney's saloon. In short, 
 Simkins, we propose to prove by you, to the 
 satisfaction of the public, if not that of the law,
 
 112 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 at whose door lies not only tlie killing of Frank 
 Steele, but the ruin of Wardsworth as well. 
 Since you will not allow yourself to be retained 
 as counsel, we shall take advantage of your 
 presence and you as a witness. Be sure and be 
 present, Simkins, for we shall need you;" and 
 taking his hat, Sherwood departed. 
 
 "I fancy that has settled the question so far 
 as Simkins is concerned," said Sherwood to 
 himself, as he walked away. "If my suspicions 
 are correct, the state's attorney will have to 
 look elsewhere for assistance than to Hon. Hez- 
 ekiah Simkins. That shot told. If I thought 
 there was the slightest prospect of his swearing 
 to the truth, I would summons him, but he is 
 such a rascal to begin with, and is so much un 
 der the power of Slocum, that I will not run the 
 risk of making him perjure himself. If I can 
 frighten him sufficiently to make him keep out 
 of the way, that is sufficient." 
 
 Simkins was taken all aback. "This is a 
 pretty medley," said he to himself. "A nice 
 mess truly. On the one hand there is that five 
 hundred dollars old Slocum promised me if I 
 could convict Wardsworth, so as to get him out 
 of the way, but on the other, I run the risk of 
 convicting both myself and Slocum. I'm blessed 
 if I haven't a mind to give the whole thing 
 away. Wonder if Sherwood would not give a 
 bigger fee to have me defend Wardsworth than 
 old Slocum gives to convict him. The old
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 113 
 
 scoundrel! I don't wonder he wants to get 
 poor Wardswortli out of sight. Hah! I have it. 
 I'll go to Slocum and tell him all that Sherwood 
 has said. That he is going to put me on the 
 stand and prove the whole transaction relative 
 to the getting of Wardsworth's property. If I 
 don't frighten him out of another five hundred 
 then my name is not Hezekiah Simkiiis;" and 
 seizing his hat he started for Slocum's office. 
 
 'I say, Slocum, what the mischief do you 
 think is to pay now?" 
 
 "Why, what? Nothing bad, I hope;" and 
 Slocum started up and turned pale. 
 
 "Only this, that the whole business of getting 
 Wardsworth's property is out, and is all to be 
 laid before the court at his trial." 
 
 "It can't be possible. Why, how could it? 
 Who told you?" 
 
 'Sherwood, the wholesale merchant. He has 
 just left my office. He says he knows all about 
 it. I strongly suspect that that rascal, Brad- 
 shaw, has squealed. At all events he says he 
 is going to put me on the stand and prove the 
 whole transaction." 
 
 "But you won't swear to it, will you?" said 
 Slocum, almost imploringly. The wily lawyer 
 saw his advantage, and hastened to follow it 
 up. 
 
 "Look here, Slocum," he said, "suppose 
 Bradshaw has gone back on us, and he goes be 
 fore the court and swears that you got that
 
 114 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 mortgage, and that last five hundred, dollars on 
 the night of the murder, by well, as you did 
 get them, and suppose it should come out that 
 I have not only aided you, but been guilty of 
 perjury, will it help you any?" 
 
 "No, I suppose not. But what can we 
 do?" 
 
 "Sherwood has been to me, also, and offered 
 me a very large fee to defend the prisoner. 
 He said he knew if I defended Wards worth, he 
 would be cleared ; and then they should enter 
 an action against you for fraud." 
 
 "How much did he offer you? Did you not 
 tell him you were retained by the prosecu 
 tion?" 
 
 "I certainly did, and he said that is just what 
 he wanted, for he should put me on the stand. 
 The fact is, Slocum, there is only one of two 
 things can be done. I must either take the 
 case for the prisoner, or you must make it 
 worth my while to keep out of the way. For 
 tunately, I have not yet received a summons, 
 and probably will not for awhile, as they ex 
 pect me to be there." 
 
 The result of the above conversation was, that 
 a few days before the expected trial, the state's 
 attorney received the following note from 
 Sim kins: 
 
 CEDARVILLE, - , 18 . 
 
 Dear Sir: I very much regret that important 
 business calls me to a distant part of the State,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 115 
 
 and that, in consequence, I shall be unable to 
 assist you in the approaching trial of The 
 People against Henry Wardsworth. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 HON. HEZEKIAH SIMKINS. 
 
 The writer of the above letter, with one 
 thousand dollars of Slocum's money safely 
 stowed away in his pocket, was conveniently 
 absent from the trial. 
 
 A few days after the events narrated above, 
 a number of Wardsworth's friends were together 
 in Sherwood's counting-room. They were there 
 by appointment to make definite arrangements 
 for his defense. 
 
 'I say, Sherwood," asked Dr. Thornton, "what 
 was the result of your visit to Simkins." 
 
 "It was so far satisfactory, that we may rely 
 upon it, if Simkins is associated with the state's 
 attorney in the case, our suspicions are not well 
 founded. On the other hand, if they are correct r 
 and I verily believe they are, Simkins and 
 Slocum will both be afraid to face the fear of 
 the consequences, and will be absent; and who 
 ever argues the case can, in their absence, make 
 a powerful argument in addressing the jury. I 
 believe we have thrown a bomb-shell in the 
 enemy's camp. At all events we have done a 
 wise tiling, and in any event a safe one. And 
 now, gentlemen, whom shall we employ to 
 defend the prisoner? I have a note here from
 
 116 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 one of my travelling salesmen, written from 
 
 L , some two hundred miles south, which I 
 
 will read to you. 
 
 Li , , lo . 
 
 THOMAS SHERWOOD, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have made the acquaintance of 
 a lawyer here who volunteers to undertake the 
 defense of Harry Wardsworth. I have taken 
 pains to inquire into his standing, and find that 
 he ranks very high in his profession. Moreover, 
 he also has known the sad consequences of rum 
 drinking, but he has been rescued, and is now a 
 most earnest temperance worker. He only asks 
 that his name be kept secret, in connection 
 with the defense, especially from Wardsworth. 
 The fee is of no consequence. I think he is 
 just the man for you. Truly yours, 
 
 W. J. HAKVEY. 
 
 The result of the above letter was, that the 
 next train bore Sherwood to L , the conse 
 quence of whose visit will be seen at the trial. 
 
 At last the expected day arrived. So great 
 was the excitement and interest in the case, that 
 long before the hour for opening the court, the 
 room was filled to its utmost capacity, and 
 hundreds were unable to gain admittance. 
 Public opinion was somewhat divided as to the 
 merits of the case. Some, and they were of the 
 class who generally followed the lead of such 
 men as Slocum, regarded it as nothing less than
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 117 
 
 cold-blooded murder, and insisted that nothing 
 short of imprisonment for life would satisfy the 
 claims of outraged law. Others, taking a more 
 lenient view, argued that the death of Steele 
 was not the result of the blow, but the fall; 
 and as Wards worth had no intention to murder, 
 the most that could be made out of it would 
 be manslaughter. Still a third class, and these 
 the most intelligent of all, looked upon both 
 Steele and Wardsworth as but the victims, the 
 former of legalized murder, perpetrated by the 
 liquor traffic under the protection of law. 
 
 At the appointed hour the Judge took his 
 seat, the court was opened, and the first case 
 on the docket was found to be "The State against 
 Henry Wardsworth, who stands charged with 
 the murder of Frank Steele." 
 
 "Sheriff, bring up the prisoner;" and Wards- 
 worth was placed in the criminal's box. 
 
 "Is the prisoner represented by legal coun 
 sel?" asked the Judge. At that moment there 
 was a movement in the audience, and a gentle 
 man came forward, and taking his place at the 
 table, said with a smile: "May it please the 
 court, I believe I am to represent the prisoner." 
 
 Instantly every voice was hushed and all eyes 
 were bent upon the strange lawyer. He was 
 an entire stranger, never having been seen in 
 Cedarville before. As he stood there in the 
 consciousness of intellectual power, he was not 
 a- man easily forgotten. He stood at least six
 
 118 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 feet high, and well proportioned. His com 
 plexion was dark and his face was covered with 
 a full, black beard. His eyes were jet black, 
 set far back in his head, and his hair, which 
 was also black, was thrown back from his brow, 
 revealing a massive forehead. 
 
 Although he did not look at the prisoner, his 
 presence affected Wardsworth strangely. He 
 leaned forward and bent on him a long, earnest 
 gaze, like one fascinated. Presently, he seemed 
 to recognize him, for falling back on his seat 
 he buried his face in his hands and remained 
 for a long time as if lost in deep thought. 
 
 The greater part of the first day was spent in 
 selecting a jury. The counsel for the defense 
 challenged but few. So long as they bore the 
 evidences of intelligence and respectability, he 
 seemed content to let them pass. The state's 
 attorney, on the contrary, was evidently deter 
 mined to reject every juror who he thought 
 was not prejudiced against the prisoner. For 
 this reason he questioned every juror 
 called, and put every question allowed by 
 law. Thus the first day was so nearly con 
 sumed that the Judge decided to adjourn the 
 court and commence the examination of 
 witnesses in the morning. 
 
 The court room was filled the next morning 
 even earlier than the morning before. At the 
 usual hour the prisoner was again placed in the 
 dock and the trial commenced. We have not
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 119 
 
 space to give the report in full, and therefore 
 content ourselves with a short summary, which 
 is all that is necessary to our } nirpose. 
 
 The principal witness was Sweeney, the 
 saloon keeper. He testified that Wards worth 
 came to his saloon about one o'clock A.M. on 
 the night in question, and was intoxicated when 
 he came. Several others were there, among 
 whom was young Steele. They drank several 
 times, Wards worth paying for the liquor. 
 About two o'clock Steele called for liquor, and 
 he and Wardsworth, with one or two others, 
 drank. Steele refused to pay for it, and, after 
 disputing for a while, Wardsworth paid for it, 
 but remarked, "Steele is a mean scoundrel, and 
 I will never drikn with him again." At that 
 Steele challenged Wardsworth to fight; which 
 the latter refused to do, and started for the 
 street, saying he was going home. By this time 
 he was quite drunk. Steele followed him and 
 threatened to strike htm, saying, "I'll cut your 
 heart out," or words to that effect, and made a 
 rush at Wardsworth, who, as he came up, dealt 
 him a blow in the face, knocking him down. 
 As he fell he struck the back of his head on the 
 corner of the curb stone, and lay there appar 
 ently insensible. When picked up he was 
 speechless. Witness also testified to finding an 
 open knife on the ground where Steele lay, 
 which was recognized as belonging to deceased. 
 
 Dr. Edward Garrison testified that he was
 
 120 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHfNE. 
 
 called to see deceased about three A. M. Found 
 him in a state of profound coma, in which he 
 continued till his death, about five A. M. Found 
 blood oozing from a wound in the back of the 
 head, about three inches long. The occipital 
 bone was crushed in and rested on the base of 
 the brain, which was ruptured, and was also ooz 
 ing out through the wound. Evidently death was 
 caused by the -wound in the occiput. Found, 
 also, a lump, as from a blow, on the left temple. 
 
 To prisoner's counsel: A fall with the back of 
 the head striking on the curb stone would make 
 such a wound as that found upon deceased. 
 The blow on the temple was evidently not suffi 
 cient to cause death. 
 
 The prosecution called, also, a number of 
 witnesses to prove that Wards worth was of a 
 quarrelsome disposition, and that he really be 
 gan the quarrel with Steele; but in this they 
 failed. At this point the prosecution rested 
 their case, and the counsel for the prisoner 
 addressed the court. 
 
 "May it please the court, there are two 
 courses open forme in this case, and I am in some 
 doubt which is the wiser one to pursue. To 
 pursue the one would no doubt be best for my 
 client; to pursue the other, I have strong hope 
 would be better for our cause. I am persuaded 
 were I to move that the prosecution has failed 
 to make out a case, and that there is nothing 
 to go to the jury, you would rule in my favor,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 121 
 
 110 doubt agreeing with me, that the prisoner 
 acted solely in self-defense. Indeed, I must ex 
 press my astonishment that, with the facts as 
 presented before thip court, there could be 
 found a grand jury in the country who could 
 be induced to find a bill. I am convinced that 
 the prisoner is the victim of a foul conspiracy, 
 which has seized upon this unfortunate circum 
 stance to rob him of his freedom or his life. 
 It is barely possible that we may be able to 
 unearth some of this conspiracy before we get 
 through, and I will, with your permission, allow 
 the case to proceed, and accept the verdict of 
 the jury." 
 
 The Judge nodded approval, and the counsel 
 called as hi s first witness, Hon. Hezekiah Simkins. 
 "Hezekiah Simkins! Hezekiah Simkins!" shouted 
 the crier. 'He fails to respond," answered that 
 official. 
 
 "This is somewhat strange," said the counsel. 
 "We did not think it necessary to summons the 
 Honorable gentleman, because we were informed 
 that he was certainly to be here. In fact, that he 
 was associated with the state's attorney against 
 the prisoner. May I ask the attorney if that is 
 correct?" 
 
 "You certainly may ask it," he replied, "but 
 I am not certain that I am required to 
 answer." 
 
 "Oh! as you choose about it. I will not press 
 the question, as I think I can satisfy the jury
 
 122 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 of the correctness of my statement through 
 other means. For the present I will call Solo 
 mon Slocum. "Solomon Slocum! Solomon Slo- 
 cum !" shouted the crier. 
 
 "He, too, appears to be non 0sg," remarked the 
 Judge. 
 
 "May it please the court," replied the counsel, 
 "I confess this is passing strange. I am in 
 formed that both of those gentlemen have been 
 the principal movers in pressing this case 
 against the prisoner. That Mr. Slocum was the 
 foreman of the grand jury who found the bill 
 against him, and Simkins was retained to assist 
 in the prosecution." 
 
 "May I ask the counsel," remarked the Judge, 
 "what he expects to prove by those witnesses ? 
 If it is relevant, we can adjourn the case until 
 they can be summoned." 
 
 "I presume," answered the counsel smiling, 
 "the relevancy of the testimony would be a 
 question for your decision. In answer to your 
 question: We expected to prove just where the 
 prisoner was and who were with him 011 the 
 night of the killing, previous to his arrival at 
 Sweeney's saloon. We proposed to show what 
 influences were used to get him in that condition, 
 and the motives for so doing. In short, we 
 proposed to prove to the satisfaction of the jury 
 that the visit to Sweeney's, the drinking there, 
 and the death of poor Steele, were but the con 
 sequences of other crimes committed by other
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 123 
 
 parties, and that the direct responsibility of 
 this death passes over beyond the prisoner, and 
 rests on those other parties, just as the fall was 
 the result of the blow. But as there is no one 
 on trial for this crime but the prisoner though 
 it is my firm conviction there should be, and 
 as those witnesses are not absolutely necessary to 
 the perfect vindication of the prisoner, with 
 your permission I will waive the motion for an 
 adjournment and allow the case to go to the 
 jury, making my argument solely on the testi 
 mony as presented by the prosecution." 
 
 To this also the Judge nodded assent, the 
 audience, by their movements, signified their 
 approval, and the jury settled themselves to 
 hear the war of words between the two legal 
 champions. 
 
 The state's attorney opened the argument. 
 He began by stating to the jury how painful to 
 him was the duty he felt called upon to dis 
 charge. A duty so painful that nothing short 
 of the deepest sense of obligation could induce 
 him to undertake it. The task was all the 
 more painful, because the criminal was himself 
 a brother of the law. He referred to what the 
 prisoner once was. He began at the time of 
 Harry Wardsworth's popularity as a lawyer and 
 traced the history of his fall. Unfortunately 
 he had given himself up to vicious habits. 
 Lower and lower he had fallen in the scale of 
 human degredation, until he had become
 
 124 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 an outcast and a reproach to the society in 
 which he had once moved; a companion only 
 of the lowest and vilest. At last he had 
 reached the climax of his shame and brutality, 
 when without provocation, he had with one 
 blow felled to the earth an inoffensive young 
 man and thereby caused his death. ''Gentlemen 
 of the jury," said he, "the dignity of violated 
 law demands that the murderer be punished. 
 Such a man is not safe to run at large. The safety, 
 the well-being of society demands that such mon 
 sters in human shape be held strictly account 
 able for their fiendish acts. Let the law take 
 its course; let society be protected, even if it 
 requires the law to rid the earth of one who 
 has so far thrown away his manhood as to afford 
 no hope of his ever again rising above the level 
 of the beast. I leave the case with you, satis 
 fied that the prisoner will receive justice at the 
 hands of outraged law and an intelligent 
 jury of his countrymen." The attorney closed 
 his argument, having occupied one hour and 
 forty minutes. 
 
 The state's attorney was one of the most suc 
 cessful pleaders in the State; and his address 
 made a strong impression, alike on the jury and 
 the audience. A close observer could have seen 
 that Wardsworth felt his remarks very keenly 
 indeed. 
 
 The counsel for the defense arose amidst the 
 deepest stillness of the vast audience. He cast
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 125 
 
 a hasty glance over the assembly, and it seemed 
 to thrill them like an electric shock. Bowing 
 to the court, and then looking steadily into the 
 faces of the jury, he began his address. His 
 voice, though low, was so modulated that it was 
 heard distinctly in every part of the large room. 
 
 "May it please the court and gentlemen of 
 the jury. In the course of a somewhat ex 
 tended practice, it has never before been my 
 lot to be placed in a precisely similar situation 
 to that which I occupy to-day. Before us 
 stands a man who is on trial for the terrible 
 crime of murder. I stand up in your presence 
 to argue " the case for the prisoner, without 
 calling a single witness for the defense. I 
 trust that you will regard the fact that I do 
 this, as sufficient evidence of two things. First 
 of my unbounded confidence in the justice of 
 our cause; and second, as the highest possible 
 assurance I can give you, of my perfect confi 
 dence in the righteousness of American law. 
 This is the reason why I have declined to act on 
 the very kind suggestion of the court, to move 
 for an adjournment of the case, but the rather, 
 to refer it directly to the wisdom and justice of 
 an intelligent American jury. 
 
 'In arguing this case, gentlemen, let us see 
 wherein the counsel for the people and that for 
 the defense agree. We agree in the fact that a 
 murder has been committed. Of that there can 
 be no dispute. It needed not the evidence of
 
 126 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Sweeney, nor the ghastly story of the surgeon, 
 to prove it. Its proof is seen in that silent 
 mound of earth that now rises in Rosebloom 
 cemetery. In the silence that alone answers 
 when is called the name of Francis Steele. In 
 the desolation of that home where weeps the 
 broken-hearted mother. Ah! yes. we admit the 
 fact that another murder has been committed, 
 and another is added to the long catalogue of 
 crimes whose very heinousness might well 
 cause the angels to blush for the fallen sons of 
 men. But, gentlemen of the jury, I deny that 
 the guilt of that crime, the blood of . the mur 
 dered Frank Steele, rests upon the prisoner at 
 the bar. It is but another added to the long 
 list of murders committed by the same monster, 
 whose bloody hand has already robbed Harry 
 Wardsworth of his home, shorn his manhood of 
 its strength, broken the heart of his wife and 
 made her a childless mother, and has now 
 placed him in a criminal's dock to answer to a 
 charge of murder which that monster's own 
 hand committed. I repeat, gentlemen, I deny, 
 and that on the very evidence offered by the 
 prosecution, that the prisoner is guilty of the 
 crime laid to his charge. The indictment 
 charges the prisoner with having wilfully and 
 maliciously, and with malice aforethought, taken 
 the life of Frank Steele. On this point let us 
 review the evidence. And please bear in mind 
 gentlemen, that all our evidence is adverse; we
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 127 
 
 have none save what has been presented by the 
 prosecution. According to their testimony, 
 the prisoner came to Sweeney's about one 
 o'clock, A. M., and he was then intoxicated. 
 Gentlemen, I want you to notice this fact. The 
 prosecution made no effort to enlighten you as 
 to where he came from, or by what influences 
 he had been surrounded. Had the gentlemen, 
 whose names I called been present, I believe 
 we could have satisfied you on that point, but, 
 luckily for themselves they are conveniently 
 absent. Could we but have the privilege of 
 putting them in the box, we believe we could 
 bring to light a conspiracy against Harry 
 Wardsworth, that would put to blush the 
 Arch-fiend himself. 
 
 The prisoner comes to Sweeney's saloon at 
 one o'clock, A. M. and finds it open and the pro 
 prietor doing business. Why is that business 
 establishment open at that hour of the night? 
 Were there any other business establishments 
 open at that hour? Were there any stores 
 open, with the proprietors behind their counter? 
 Were there any of our mechanics' shops, our 
 blacksmiths, our coopers, our shoe or wagon- 
 makers in their shops at that hour? No! 
 gentlemen. Persons engaged in a respectable 
 calling had long since closed their places of 
 business and were wrapped in the slumbers of 
 honest men. It was the hour and the business of 
 darkness. The prisoner comes to the saloon and
 
 128 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 finds others there drinking. He was already 
 intoxicated, but this particular business estab 
 lishment was open and the proprietor behind 
 his bar ready to wait upon his customers. His 
 wares were temptingly arranged upon his shelves 
 and hanging upon the wall, was the regular 
 legal authority by which he did his business. 
 The demon that was within Wardswortlrs 
 breast, the appetite that had been created by 
 authority of law, craved for more drink. As I 
 said, hanging there on the wall of Sweeney's 
 saloon, was the printed document, bearing the 
 seal of authority, which bore testimony to the 
 fact that on the payment of one thousand dol 
 lars, he was duly and legally authorized to sell 
 that which the prisoner craved. The demand 
 for the commodity was therefore a legal demand; 
 a demand created by the authority of law. The 
 sale which Sweeney made to supply that demand 
 was a legal sale, a sale made by the authority 
 of law. The purchase which the prisoner made 
 was a legal purchase. The result of that legal 
 purchase on the one hand, and the legal sale on 
 the other to supply a legally created demand, 
 was that the prisoner became so much intoxi 
 cated legally intoxicated, mind you, intoxicated 
 according to law that he became unconcious 
 of his acts, and was therefore not responsible. 
 Up to this point then, every step that we have 
 traced, as presented by the prosecution has 
 been legal, and Harry Wardsworth is in a state
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 129 
 
 or irresponsibility, made so by the authority of 
 law. 
 
 "We will now proceed another step. In this 
 condition Steele asked him to drink yet once 
 again. Again there was a legal sale on the one 
 hand and a legal purchase on the other. And 
 right here gentlemen, we have the evidence that 
 stamps as unjust and untrue the statement of 
 the counsel for the prosecution, that the pris 
 oner had thrown away his manhood. For this 
 liquor, purchased by Steele, not by Wardsworth, 
 the former refused to pay. Now, what did the 
 prisoner do ? Did he, too, refuse, as he might 
 have done ? No. On the contrary, he paid for 
 it himself, merely remarking that Steele was a 
 mean scoundrel, and he would have nothing 
 more to do with him, a remark that was cer 
 tainly justified by the facts. Does this justify 
 the counsel's statement that the prisoner had 
 thrown away his manhood ? No, gentlemen. 
 Had the counsel' been half as anxious to deal 
 out simple and impartial justice, as to convict 
 the prisoner, he himself would have seen the 
 evidence that contradicts his statement. Even 
 in his besotted condition, his God-given manhood 
 rose superior to the degradation and asserted 
 its dignity. We admit that a moral crime, 
 sanctioned by law, had robbed his manhood of 
 its strength, but the manhood itself was not 
 lost then, and is not lost now, and it depends 
 upon you, gentlemen, whether or not the pris-
 
 130 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 oner, by a life of earnest, noble effort, shall 
 have the privilege of contradicting the slander 
 of the counsel, that Harry Wards worth has 
 thrown away his manhood. 
 
 "The next step is, the prisoner is challenged 
 by the deceased to fight. Did the prisoner ac 
 cept the challenge ? Bid he manifest the least 
 evidence of a quarrelsome disposition ? No. 
 Not one tittle of evidence has been produced 
 by the prosecution to prove that Harry Wards- 
 worth ever began a quarrel in his life. On the 
 contrary, he started immediately for his home. 
 Would to God, gentlemen, that he had not left 
 it on that fatal night. Would that the smiles 
 and songs of his wife, the childish prattle of 
 his now dead boy, had possessed sufficient 
 power to break the chain, that a cruel, design 
 ing foe had thrown around him. 
 
 "The deceased followed him into the street, 
 and there, drawing a knife, threatened his life. 
 Then it was that the fatal blow was struck. 
 Another evidence that the prisoner had not 
 thrown away his manhood. The same inherent 
 manhood that prompted him to pay for the 
 liquor that he had not ordered, prevented him 
 from running away, like a coward from the man, 
 who in his drunken frenzy would rob him of his 
 life. In pure self-defense, without any malice 
 toward, or any desire to do bodily harm to the 
 deceased, he struck the blow which felled him 
 to the earth, where, striking on the corner of
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 131 
 
 the curb-stone he received the wound which 
 caused his death. 
 
 "Here then, gentlemen of the jury, is the 
 ground on which we base our plea of not 
 guilty. It was an act of self-defense, warranted 
 alike by every principle of manhood, and the 
 laws of our country. The prisoner did just what 
 you or I would have done were we perfectly sober. 
 The only difference there is, he did it as an act 
 of instinct, himself being unconscious and not 
 responsible, we would have done it as an act of 
 reason and have held ourselves ready to answer 
 for the responsibility. Hence, gentlemen, you 
 cannot find a particle of authority in the law, 
 nor justification in your own consciences for the 
 conviction of the prisoner of the crime of 
 murder. 
 
 "Here, may it please the court and gentlemen 
 of the jury, we might, with the most perfect 
 confidence, rest our case, certain of the acquittal 
 of the prisoner; but we have not yet accom 
 plished all that we have desired. We have 
 admitted that a murder has been committed, 
 but we believe we have satisfied you, that for 
 that murder the prisoner at the bar is not 
 guilty. 
 
 "The question then arises, who is guilty? In 
 a legal sense we are not bound to answer that 
 question, but I trust the court will give us a 
 little latitude. On whose skirts shall we look 
 for the blood of poor, murdered Frank Steele?
 
 132 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Nay, more than this. We not only admit the 
 murder of Steele, but we say there have been 
 two murders. In that same cemetery are two 
 new made graves. The one is that of the 
 deceased, Steele; the other is a shorter grave, 
 and holds the dead form of the prisoner's boy. 
 It is that of his only child. The dear, darling- 
 boy; the one tie that bound the parents yet to 
 life and hope. We charge the murder of these 
 two victims upon the legalized liquor traffic 
 of the country. We charge it with robbing the 
 prisoner of his home. We charge it with rob 
 bing his manhood of its strength. We charge 
 it with the living torture and slow, cruel mur 
 der of his wife. We arraign it before a right 
 eous God, and charge it with being the arch 
 fiend of murder. We point to seventy thousand 
 dishonored graves, all made in the last year, 
 and charge it with first the degradation, and 
 then the murder of every occupant of those 
 graves. We point to seventy thousand more 
 victims and say, before the end of the year it 
 will have murdered all these. We point to 
 seventy thousand homes now wearing the hab 
 iliments of a great sorrow, and charge it with 
 having sound its slimy folds within the sacred 
 precincts of those homes, and laid its murder 
 ous hand upon some of its loved inmates. We 
 arraign the legalized liquor traffic before the 
 bar of consistency and demand its condemna 
 tion by every principle of moral right and
 
 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 133 
 
 common intelligence. We bring as our witnesses, 
 first, tlie statutes themselves. What say they? 
 They testify that the liquor traffic is a legal, 
 lawful business. That it is recognized as such 
 by every statute for its regulation and protec 
 tion. Here is a man authorized by law to sell a 
 certain article. When the customer buys it, he 
 makes a legal purchase; as much so as though it 
 were,instead of the slow, deadly poison it is, a sack 
 of flour, or a barrel of beef. Moreover, he buys 
 that liquor to drink. The law expects him to 
 drink it. The man who sells it is authorized to 
 sell it for that very purpose. The man drinks 
 it and it makes him a maniac. It robs him of 
 his reason and destroys his responsibility as a 
 citizen. In this condition, a condition made 
 such by law, he commits a crime; a crime of 
 which he is no more conscious than the maniac 
 in an asylum, and then the law takes him and 
 hangs him, or sends him to prison for life, 
 which is equally as bad, if not worse. 
 
 Gentlemen of the jury, do I put this too 
 strongly ? Let the case of poor Cook be the 
 answer. You all knew that man. He lived in 
 your midst ; he was your neighbor ; known and 
 respected until his manhood was lost through 
 the influence of the legalized liquor traffic. 
 First, it robbed him of his eyesight, and he be 
 came so nearly blind that he could not work. 
 You all knew his disposition. When sober, he 
 was a lamb, but when drunk, he was a demon.
 
 134 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 When sober, there could be no more loving hus 
 band, no kinder father. When himself, he was 
 as innocent and harmless as a child. The 
 liquor traffic was his sworn and bitter enemy. 
 It had already robbed him of every 
 thing but life itself. Now, what ought the 
 law to have said and done in that case ? It 
 should have thrown around that poor man the 
 shield of its protection. It should have risen up 
 in the dignity of its might and said, I will pro 
 tect this man from the further attacks of his 
 most deadly foe. But did it do that ? No, gen 
 tlemen. Instead of this, it joined hands with 
 the man's enemy. He came one day to the city, 
 and what did he find ? He found over twenty 
 business houses, in every one of which there 
 hung a printed certificate bearing the official 
 seal, stating that the keeper thereof was duly 
 authorized by law to sell him that very thing 
 that had already proved his ruin. Authorized 
 by law, there was a bargain and sale. He made 
 a legal purchase and the business man made a 
 legal sale, as he was legally authorized to do. 
 True, the supporters of this foulest blot upon 
 the fair fame of our beautiful and beloved 
 country, stand ready to question this statement, 
 and to answer "Does not the law provide that 
 the saloon keeper shall not sell to an habitual 
 drunkard?" Admitted but does it not con 
 tinue to issue its legal authority to sell this 
 liquid death, just as it has done for a hundred
 
 THIIOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 135 
 
 years, well knowing that their only customers 
 are those who are more or less drunkards? 
 That if they do not sell to that class, 
 every last man of them must either starve, or 
 be driven to some decent employment? You re 
 member when Mrs. Mr Donal,alady of refinement 
 and culture, went to those same twenty saloon 
 keepers, and on her knees * implored them not 
 to sell liquor to her husband, who was a drunk 
 ard, nineteen out of the twenty, pointed to their 
 license as their authority and answered, that 
 they paid for the privilege, and that was the 
 way they made their living. The statement, 
 therefore, that the law, in this respect, protects 
 the drunkard, is the basest of falsehoods. 
 
 Cook drank the liquor and it robbed him of 
 his reason. He became a maniac; as much so 
 as any member of an insane asylum in the land, 
 and no more responsible for his acts than they. 
 He went home. His wife came to meet him at 
 the gate. Like most other insane people, he 
 imagined his best friend to be his worst enemy. 
 
 Seizing a sled stake he struck his w^ife a blow 
 which felled her to the earth and laid her dead 
 at his feet. The wife of his youth lay dead, 
 and he knew nothing of it till he came to him 
 self the next day in the jail. Here, then, was 
 one murder committed by the traffic which 
 
 *This lady, and the incident referred to, were alike 
 known to the author.
 
 136 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 the law sanctioned and protected. Then 
 what did the law do? Was it satisfied, now 
 that one victim was legally murdered? No. On 
 the contrary, side by side with the law that au 
 thorized this legal purchase and sale, which re 
 sulted in the murder of Mrs. Cook, appeared 
 .another law, and again we find the statutes 
 joining hands against the poor victim of the 
 rum traffic. Now comes this second law, and 
 grasping the poor maniac by the throat, it said: 
 "You are a murderer and you must die." It robes 
 itself in its judicial vestments, and taking its 
 seat on the bench of justice, goes through the 
 form of trial. It pronounces the victim guilty, 
 with the sentence that on a certain day he shall 
 be taken to the place of execution and hung 
 by the neck until he is dead, and may God 
 have mercy on his soul ! Oh ! solemn mockery! 
 Not satisfied with one legalized murder, the law 
 must have two. The day cf execution arrives. 
 The gallows is erected. The victim is placed upon 
 it, and the last words he uttered on earth were his 
 dying protest that he had not the slightest 
 knowledge or remembrance of what he had 
 done from the time he left the city till he found 
 himself in jail the next day. Still that makes 
 no difference in the estimation of the law. The 
 word is given, the bolt is withdrawn, the drop 
 falls and Cook's body rolls one way and his head 
 another. The dignity of the law is satisfied, 
 but instead of one, two more murders are
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 137 
 
 registered in Heaven's court against the legal 
 ized liquor traffic.* 
 
 "Here, then, is a case, and hundreds more 
 might be cited, illustrating the inconsistency, 
 yea, the heinousiiessof the liquor traffic, and the 
 laws regulating the same. To that already long 
 list of murders have now been added those of 
 Frank Steele and poor little innocent Harry 
 Wardsworth. For ask Dr. Thornton, and he 
 will tell you that the death of that boy was the 
 result of a cold, caused by moving into the cot 
 tage so soon /kfter repairing and plastering. 
 Who robbed them of the beautiful home they had, 
 and made moving necessary? I need not answer 
 the question, for the facts are too painfully evi 
 dent before you. And are not two deaths 
 enough? Must there be added still a third? 
 The answer to these questions will be given by 
 the verdict you will this day render. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury, I have done. In clos 
 ing permit me to remind you that you occupy 
 tliose seats as the representatives, the agents of 
 the law. The law in this case can act only 
 through you. It pronounces its utterances 
 through your lips. If it condemns the prisoner 
 and confines him to a felon's cell or a dishonored 
 grave, making him another victim, it is only be 
 cause you say it shall so be ordered. If it says to 
 
 *The above is given just as it occurred, without chang 
 ing the name.
 
 138 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 this victim, 'Thus far shall thine enemy come, 
 but no farther,' if it utters the language of mercy 
 and says, 'Go and henceforth show how noble is 
 the manhood I have saved,' if it turns to that 
 heart broken wife and says, 'Here, I give you 
 back the husband I have rescued,' it will be be 
 cause mercy, and wisdom, and justice dwelt in 
 the heart of the twelve men who sat as its rep 
 resentatives. Can you look into the face of the 
 prisoner at the bar, on whose hands and in 
 whose heart there is found no stain of blood, and 
 say, 'You are a murderer?' Can you look into 
 the face of that pale, heart-broken, childless 
 mother and say, 'Your husband is a murderer?' 
 Can you stand beside the grave of that darling 
 boy, and looking down upon that silent mound, 
 say, 'Here lies the child of a murderer?' Can 
 you hold in your hands that most sacred of all 
 sacred trusts, committed to you as citizens, the 
 ballot of an American voter, know ing that there 
 rests upon you a common responsibility, as those 
 who stand behind our laws and give them 
 force and power, and yet as the representatives 
 of those laws, say Harry Wardsworth is a mur 
 derer? No, gentlemen, I have no such fear. I 
 have endeavored to do my duty, not only to my 
 client, but to my country as well, and now leave 
 the fate of the prisoner in the hands of an en 
 lightened jury of his countrymen." 
 
 The counsel sat down amidst breathless silence, 
 having held the audience, ns if spell-bound, for
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 189 
 
 over two hours. The state's attorney waived 
 his right to sum up, pref ering to let the case go 
 to the jury. 
 
 The Judge charged the jury, dwelling at 
 length on the aggressive attitude of the deceas 
 ed, and somewhat strongly justifying the plea 
 of self -defense. After reviewing the evidence 
 he closed as follows: 
 
 "There can be no question, gentlemen, as to 
 the truth of all that has been advanced by the 
 prisoner's counsel. Indeed the half has not yet 
 been, and never will be told. I have never yet 
 sat through a term of court that I have not felt 
 myself humiliated, as I have been called to 
 administer the penalty of the law for the very 
 crimes which are the legitimate fruits of itself.* 
 There are on our statute books to-day, no laws 
 so inconsistent, so cruel, as the laws that regu 
 late and uphold the liquor traffic. There is no 
 source of crime more bountiful. There is no 
 such swift road to poverty. It is filling our 
 poor houses with paupers, our prisons with 
 criminals, our asylums with insane. It is filling 
 our cemeteries with the graves of its murdered 
 dead. What the terrible end will be, unless 
 the people recognize the evil and meet it, where 
 it can only be successfully met, at the ballot- 
 box, I dare not anticipate. 
 
 "I shall not detain you further, gentlemen, 
 
 *Thc precise words of the learned Judge Wilson in 1868.
 
 140 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 but allow you to retire and consider your ver 
 dict." 
 
 The jury retired, and though it was 10 o'clock 
 p. M., not a person left the court room. It was 
 evident to all that they would be but a short 
 time making up their verdict. The Judge re 
 mained on the bench and the counsel retained 
 their seats at the table. The prisoner sat up 
 right, apparently unmoved, but a close observer 
 could have detected evidences of deep, but 
 suppressed emotion. His wife sat just where 
 she had done all through the trial, with Mrs. 
 Sherwood on one side and Mrs. Thornton on 
 the other. During the whole course of the 
 trial she had not wept, save when the counsel 
 had referred to the death of her boy. She had 
 already drained the bitter cup to the very 
 dregs, and would no longer shrink, whatever 
 might betide. 
 
 Fifteen, twenty minutes a half hour passed, 
 and yet the jury tarried. Scarcely a sound was 
 heard, and the silence became painfully op 
 pressive. Presently the door was opened, and 
 the word was passed, "Make way for the jury;" 
 and the twelve representatives of the law filed 
 in and took their seats on the jurors' chairs. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury," said the clerk, 
 "have you agreed upon your verdict?" 
 
 "We have," answered the foreman. 
 
 "What say you, gentlemen of the jury? Is 
 the prisoner at the bar guilty or not guilty?"
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 141 
 
 Clear and distinct was heard the answer in 
 every part of the room, "NoT GUILTY." 
 
 Instantly, in spite of every effort to prevent 
 it, there was a scene of wild confusion. The 
 clapping of hands, the waving of handkerchiefs, 
 and even hearty cheers were heard and seen all 
 through the court room. It was some minutes 
 before order could be restored. During the ex 
 citement the prisoner's counsel sat with his 
 face buried in his hands. When order was re 
 stored, and he arose in his place at the table, it 
 was noticed that his face was as pale as that of 
 the dead. 
 
 "May it please the court," he said, in a voice 
 tremulous with the deepest emotion, "I move 
 for the release of the prisoner." 
 
 "The sheriff will release the prisoner," said 
 the Judge; and Harry Wardsworth walked 
 forth a free man. 
 
 Mrs. Wardsworth was the first to meet him 
 as he stepped down from the dock. She did 
 not faint or go into ecstacies; but, drawing his 
 head down, she pressed on his cheek a kiss 
 that told alike the devotion and joy of her 
 heart. Presently, releasing himself from the 
 embrace of his wife, Wardsworth hastened to 
 where his counsel was standing watching the 
 scene, and throwing his arms around him, he 
 leaned his head on his shoulder and wept tears 
 of penitence and gratitude. Thus did he meet 
 his old friend and classmate, Harry Ferguson.
 
 142 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Friends now crowded around him, and for a 
 time he was almost overwhelmed with the con 
 gratulations of. those who had so long borne 
 the burden of anxiety. 
 
 We will not dwell on the going home. How 
 Sherwood and Thornton, with their wives, and 
 Ferguson, made up a party that lasted till be 
 yond the wee small hours. How the wife stole 
 away to her little sanctuary, with a heart over 
 flowing with gratitude, to lay her thank offering 
 on the altar of her God. How the two lawyers 
 sat and talked, reviewing their old acquaintance; 
 Ferguson explaining how he came to hear of the 
 case, and volunteer for the defense. It was a scene 
 never forgotten in the lives of the two lawyers. 
 
 The early morning train was to bear Ferguson 
 back to his home ; and when he and Wards- 
 worth reached the depot they found a number 
 of the latter's friends awaiting them, among 
 whom were Sherwood and Thornton. The for 
 mer calling Ferguson aside asked for his bill, 
 adding, u Don't hesitate to name your price, we 
 have the money for you." 
 
 "Simply my expenses," replied the, lawyer, 
 the balance you can place to the credit of my 
 vow, to strike the liquor traffic a blow whenever 
 I have an opportunity." 
 
 The train at this moment drew in, the hands 
 of friendship were again grasped, and Harry 
 Ferguson was away, bearing with him the grati 
 tude of happy hearts.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE MORNING DAWNETH. 
 
 The trial of Wardswortli had one very bene 
 ficial effect. It aroused the temperance element 
 in the community as it had never been aroused 
 before. The public mind had received new 
 light on the qeustion. of the liquor traffic. 
 The address of Ferguson and of the Judge, 
 at the trial, had opened their eyes to the 
 glaring inconsistencies of the laws regulating 
 the sale of that which produced such dread re 
 sults. 
 
 The individual responsibility of the voter 
 never had been presented as the counsel pre 
 sented it, and nov^r had so deeply impressed 
 them. The people not only comprehended the 
 truth, but felt its power. The result was, men 
 of all shades of belief, both political and relig 
 ious, came together and resolved that all other 
 questions should be considered secondary to the 
 one great question of saving the people from its 
 degrading and destroying influences. The va 
 rious existing temperance organizations received 
 fresh impetus and all worked together for one 
 common purpose. The ladies met and organi zed 
 themselves into a Women's Christian Temper- 
 Union, which speedily became a power for
 
 144 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 good. The ministers of the various churches 
 arranged to preach a series of sermons against 
 the evil. A column was secured in each of the 
 city papers, to be devoted exclusively to tem 
 perance agitation. A course of lectures was pro 
 vided for and the ablest speakers possible secur 
 ed to deliver them. 
 
 The whisky men saw the storm gathering 
 and at once set themselves to avert it. As 
 usual, the first thing they did was to call a con 
 vention. Sweeping resolutions were passed, de 
 nouncing the tyranny and fanaticism of the 
 temperance party. They pledged themselves, 
 their time and money to the task of defeating 
 the temperance work in every shape and form. 
 Religion did not trouble them, for generally, 
 they had none; but their political opinions were 
 by solemn resolution laid completely aside for 
 the time being, until this great temperance 
 fight was finished, No political candidate for 
 any office, it was resolved, should have their 
 vote unless his sympathies were with their in 
 terests and he would pledge himself to vote in 
 their favor. Thus the fight went on, with each 
 succeeding week growing more and more de 
 termined. Never was a there a more deadly 
 struggle, never did right and wrong, good and 
 evil, meet in more terrible strife. Which shall 
 triumph? 
 
 Three months had now passed, and during 
 this time Wardsworth had remained perfectly
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 145 
 
 sober. His condition, however, gave the great 
 est apprehension. He seemed to have lost 
 almost all his interest in life. The dormant 
 energies of his mind seemed to defy every effort 
 to arouse them. His ambition was gone, his 
 spirit broken. For hours he would sit looking 
 apparently at nothing, or wander aimlessly 
 from room to room, when at home, and when 
 absent therefrom appeared as if in constant fear. 
 His health, too, had become very much impaired. 
 The long season of confinement, the severe 
 mental struggle through which he had passed, 
 the terrible grief over the loss of his child, all 
 combined had told heavily on his constitution 
 and robbed him of his vitality. A sort of settled 
 melancholy fastened itself upon him that caused 
 his friends, sometimes, to fear the direst conse 
 quences. 
 
 Still, they never for a moment forsook him; 
 but, on the contrary, the greater the cause for 
 alarm, the more resolutely they labored. They 
 sought business for him, but he performed his 
 duties only in a mechanical sort of way, and 
 often made mistakes, showing plainly that his 
 heart was not in his work. Once when Sher 
 wood, thinking to rally him, said pleasantly, 
 "Wardsworth. what has become of your 
 thoughts?" he rebuked him by answering, sadly, 
 "They are with my hopes, in the grave of my 
 dead boy." 
 
 The mental strain upon his wife was terrible
 
 146 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 in the extreme. She lived continually in a state 
 of mingled hope and fear. Her cheeks grew 
 paler and her step more languid. Still, by 
 constant watchfulness, she was able always to 
 meet him with the same sweet smile, appearing 
 always cheerful, even though her heart was 
 filled with sadness. There was with her now 
 but one thought, and that was the complete re 
 claiming of her husband. For this she labored 
 and prayed with an earnestness that, it seemed, 
 must prevail. Her home was made just as 
 pleasant as it was possible to make it. She 
 studied her husband's every wish, anticipated 
 his every want, adapted herself to his various 
 moods, and in every way possible, strove to lead 
 him out of himself and into a more healthy 
 mental atmosphere. 
 
 One fact gave her hope. He evidently rec 
 ognized himself as being safer in her presence 
 and influence. He clung to her like a timid 
 child. Whenever called out, he w^ould go with 
 her to the gate, and be there to meet her when 
 she returned. Sherwood had fitted him up an 
 office, and he would invite his wife to walk to it 
 with him, and come to walk home with him. 
 She looked upon this as evidence that he real 
 ized his weakness and was determined to con 
 tinue the struggle, and was so far encouraged. 
 But his pride, his nobility was gone. Ambition 
 seemed dead. Could she but see those reassert 
 themselves, could she but lift from him that
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 147 
 
 dark shadow, which like a funeral pall, hung 
 over him, she would have strong hope; but as 
 day after day, and week after week passed , and no 
 change, hope began to die out in her heart and 
 despair to take its place. The time was pass 
 ing; most of the lectures, from which she had 
 hoped so much, had been given. At first he 
 had accompanied her to those meetings, but 
 latterly had preferred to remain at home. She 
 had attended whenever he had appeared per 
 fectly willing for her to go. Especially had 
 she made it a point to attend the meetings of 
 the Women's Christian Society. Here her own 
 over burdened heart had found relief in sympa 
 thy and prayer. Often, as she listened to the 
 prayers of those earnest Christian women, and 
 knew that their prayers and their efforts went 
 hand in hand, she felt her faith encouraged 
 and resolved never to give up the struggle. 
 
 About this time Wardsworth received a 
 letter from his friend and late counsel, Fer 
 guson. It was as follows: 
 
 Ll , , lo . 
 
 "Mr DEAR WARDSWORTH: When last I saw 
 you at Cedarville, you requested me to write you 
 giving you some of my experience relative to 
 my recovery from the vice and habit of intem 
 perance. I am most thankful to comply with 
 your request because of the old, tried friend 
 ship that existed between us in those happy
 
 148 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 college days at old Yale, and because I most 
 earnestly desire that you, too, my dear friend, 
 may be able to rise up and reassume the proud 
 position, which by nature and education you 
 are so well calculated to fill. 
 
 "Do you remember, Wardsworth, those old 
 days when we used to sit in the corner room,, 
 at our old boarding place, and build castles in 
 the air ? When all the bright and happy fu 
 ture of our manhood, seemed to be beckoning 
 us on, like some beautiful pathway, radiant 
 with the flowers of spring. You remember 
 what high hopes we then had ? How bright 
 the future active, useful life seemed to appear. 
 And yet when I think of how near I came to 
 being wrecked and all those bright hopes for 
 ever blasted, my heart goes up in devout grati 
 tude to him who in his infinite mercy, listened 
 to my deep imploring cry for help, and stretched 
 out his mighty hand to save. 
 
 "I am convinced, Wardsworth, that happy 
 and full of hope as were those days, it was 
 there that we made our saddest mistake. It 
 was there that we laid the foundation of all 
 the deep, sore trouble which our later manhood 
 has brought us. You remember how we used 
 to laugh at what we were disposed to call the 
 Aveakness of those students who absolutely re 
 fused to taste wine. I used to think and I have 
 no doubt you did, that it indicated a sense of 
 weakness, a want of self control on their part.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 149 
 
 That they were afraid to trust themselves, lest 
 they should be overcome with wine. I used, 
 from my heart, to pity them; but oh! all too 
 sadly have I learned that they were right and I 
 was wrong. While I devoutly thank (rod that 
 I have been reclaimed, and now feel my feet 
 firmly planted on the Rock of Ages, I cannot 
 forget the dark way along which I have travel 
 ed, nor put away the scars I have received in 
 my terrible struggle with the deadly foe I then 
 received as a friend. 
 
 "You remember there was a band of total 
 abstainers, as they called themselves, in the 
 college. Well, so far as I can learn, there is 
 not one of those but now occupies a position of 
 proud eminence, while of all those who there 
 learned to 'look tipon the wine when it is red,' 
 scarcely one but what has been stranded upon 
 .the dark rocks of intemperance. As I go over 
 all the list of those once bright, promising 
 students, and then remember all the blighted 
 hopes, the crushed and bleeding hearts, and 
 the dishonored graves, I think to myself : Oh ! 
 could my voice be heard by every student in 
 the land, I would say, shun the wine cup; for 
 however fair and sparkling it may appear, 'at 
 the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth 
 like an adder.' 
 
 "You remember I wrote you from S., when I 
 settled there, where I remained till four years 
 ago, when I came to L. I soon worked up a
 
 150 THROUGH SHAPOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 good practice in S. I had hosts of friends who 
 were willing to aid me in my efforts at advance 
 ment. No man of my age had a fairer prospect 
 of success. Alas! but few have more sadly dis 
 appointed their friends. 
 
 "Unfortunately, my habit of drinking in 
 creased. The appetite grew stronger and more 
 uncompromising in its demands. Still, like thou 
 sands of others, I refused to believe there was 
 any danger. I laughed when my best friends 
 warned me, and became indignant when they 
 hinted the necessity of reforming. Strange as 
 it may seem, with all the sad evidences to the 
 contrary, I clung to the fatal delusion which 
 has been the ruin of so many thousands, that a 
 man may indulge the habit of drinking and yet 
 hold his appetite under control. 
 
 "At last there came an awakening, and the 
 terrible reality forced itself upon me, that I was 
 a drunkard. Then began the struggle for my' 
 deliverance. But why need I recount to you, 
 my friend, all the dark, bitter experience? Suf 
 fice it say, then only, did I learn how weak a 
 man is, when once he has fallen beneath the 
 power of rum. How weak I was, how powerful 
 was the foe with which I contended. All my 
 promises, all my resolutions were as nothing 
 compared with the appetite that was consuming 
 me. I saw my danger but had no power to 
 avert it; I felt that the turning point had been 
 reached; I felt that I must be rescued now,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 151 
 
 or pass beyond the limit of all earthly hope. 
 
 "In this condition I shut myself up in my 
 room, resolved carefully and earnestly to review 
 the past for the purpose of finding out where I 
 had made the mistake, and of deciding on some 
 plan for my deliverance. I soon found where 
 I had made one fatal mistake, and resolved to 
 rectify it at once. I had so far proceeded on 
 the supposition that I could take one glass and 
 then stop. This had been a sad, a terrible fail 
 ure. If saved from a drunkard's fate, there 
 was, I became convinced, but one course, and 
 that was to abstain from even tasting or in any 
 way associating with the fatal cup. This I re 
 solved to do as the first step. Then and there I 
 resolved, with the help of Heaven, never to 
 taste another drop of liquor. 
 
 "Another thing commended itself, in fact ap 
 peared necessary; that was to connect myself 
 with some good temperance organization and 
 become an active worker in the cause. This, I 
 reasoned, will put me in sympathy with the 
 temperance element and I will have its encourage 
 ment and aid. It will also be a public declara 
 tion of my principles. So long as I am not 
 pledged to temperance, my friends think them 
 selves at liberty, and in some cases required to 
 invite me to drink. But so soon as they learn 
 that I have publicly pledged myself, no man 
 who is my friend, and no honest man who is not 
 my friend, will ask me to drink, and thus sacri-
 
 152 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 fice my honor by violating a solemn obligation. 
 And let me assure you, my dear friend, in this I 
 have not been disappointed. I had no idea that 
 the simple act of signing a pledge and becoming 
 a member of a temperance society, could be of 
 such real value to a man who does earnestly de 
 sire to break off from the drinking habit. It 
 has saved me from a thousand temptations and 
 done much toward planting my feet upon the 
 solid rock, on which, I humbly trust, I am now 
 standing. 
 
 "But this, I felt, was not enough. Though up 
 to this hour I had never been, in the strict sense 
 of the term, a religious man, yet I had been a 
 believer in the bible, and in a vague sort of a 
 way, in the power and benefit of prayer. But 
 in that hour of my weakness, I felt its necessity 
 more than ever before. Then it was that I re 
 membered the lessons I learned at my mother's 
 knee. They came with a vividness and force 
 never possessed before. Floating over the van 
 ished years, there seemed to come the sound of 
 my mother's voice. I heard again the prayers 
 she used to offer that God would bless and keep 
 her boy. I resolved to test, in my own case, 
 the power of prayer, which had ever been her 
 refuge. Alone with God, I plead a 6 * only that 
 man pleads who sees his terrible danger and 
 feels that he himself is helpless. I tell you, 
 Wardsworth, that was the holiest and most 
 deeply solemn hour of my whole life. It was
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 153 
 
 there I gained the victory over myself and my 
 debasing appetite. I came forth from that sol 
 itary struggle with a strength and courage to 
 meet my enemy, to which before I had been a 
 stranger. 
 
 "As I look back upon it now, and am able to 
 take a more philosophic view of my case, two 
 facts are sufficient to solve the problem of my 
 redemption. These are, first: I had reached 
 the high ground of total abstinence, and a pub 
 lic profession of those principles before the 
 world. I was thus in a position to meet my 
 enemy at a point where I had all my powers, 
 and faculties at my command. I was no longer 
 at so great a disadvantage. Heretofore I had 
 to meet him after I had taken a glass or two, 
 which only served to arouse the morbid appe 
 tite the more. Second : Hitherto I had relied 
 solely on my own strength. I now came with 
 a deep sense of my own weakness to look to 
 that higher power, whose strength is made per 
 fect in human weakness and is able to keep us 
 from falling. 
 
 "The next evening there was to be a public 
 temperance meeting. I went home a little 
 earlier than usual and frankly told my wife 
 what had been the burden of my thoughts, and 
 that I had resolved to sign the pledge and once 
 more be a free man. Oh, Wardsworth ! could 
 you have seen the sunshine which that assur 
 ance brought to the dear heart that had so long
 
 154 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 trusted and hoped. The joy of that one hour 
 has amply compensated for all the sacrifices I 
 have had to make in order to keep inviolate 
 my obligation. 
 
 "There remains but little more for me to tell 
 you. I fully believe I am a saved man ; and 
 oh ! the gratitude of my heart at the thought 
 of this is beyond expression. I believe I am 
 safe because I ^arn relying, not on my own 
 strength, but on the strength that God gives to 
 those who ask him. I am also actively working 
 for the temperance reform. This keeps alive 
 my interest, not only in others, but in myself 
 and my own safety. If I may be the means of 
 rescuing but one of my fallen brothers, it will 
 be enough for a lifetime of toil. 
 
 "And now, my dear friend, I find I have 
 written a much longer letter than I intended; 
 but I trust it may prove interesting to you, and 
 perhaps be a source of some little encourage 
 ment in the terrible struggle you are now car 
 rying on with the enemy. If aught in my ex 
 perience can afford you instruction and hope, 
 then let God be praised. I fain would aid you, 
 if it were in my power. That you may have 
 strength from on high, and yet come up from 
 the deep darkness into the clearer, purer light, 
 and to that grand and noble life of which I 
 know you to be so capable, is my earnest pray 
 er. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Wards - 
 worth and those other kind friends whose
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 155 
 
 acquaintances I formed, and if at any time I 
 can serve you, don't fail to command me. 
 "Your old friend and classmate, 
 
 " HARRY FERGUSON." 
 
 To say that Wardsworth read the above letter, 
 would but poorly express the truth. He studied 
 it point by point, and paragraph by paragraph, 
 as he would some important legal document, on 
 which hung great issues. Its effect upon him 
 may be inferred from the following note, written 
 in reply, a few days after: 
 
 "CEDARVILLE, , 18 . 
 
 "DEAR FERGUSON, Your kind letter is to hand. 
 I have read it and re-read it; and though my 
 heart is too full to write much now, I cannot 
 refrain from saying, it has done me more good 
 than any other letter I ever received in my life. 
 May God bless you, my more than friend. 
 
 "HARRY WARDSWORTH." 
 
 The same evening Mrs. Wardsworth had put 
 on her wraps and got as far as the gate, intend 
 ing to go to the office to meet her husband, when 
 she saw him coming up the street. Something 
 in his walk and appearance caused her to stop, 
 and her heart to almost cease beating. There 
 was something peculiar in his walk. Could it 
 be the excitement of wine? or what was it that 
 made his step so elastic ? For a few moments
 
 156 THBOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 her heart was filled with sad foreboding. She 
 had been so often disappointed and cast down ; 
 so often had her hopes been crushed, just when 
 she thought they were on the point of blossom 
 ing into full fruition, that it was no wonder if, 
 on the slightest appearance of danger, her heart 
 gave a great cry of sorrow. A second look, 
 however, as he came nearer, caused her fear to 
 give place to a glad hope. It could not be the 
 effect of wine drinking. Somehow the look, the 
 step, and especially the smile, carried her away 
 back over the years of deep, dark sorrow, and 
 all unconscious of the sudden transition, set her 
 down in the midst of her departed joys. She 
 was conscious of but two things; her husband 
 was perfectly sober and everything about him 
 was changed for the better. And when he 
 came and stood by her side, and stooping down 
 imprinted on her forehead a husband's pure 
 kiss, just as he used to do in those long ago 
 happy days, she was gladder and happier than 
 she had been for long years. It was the first 
 bright beams of the morning, that heralded the 
 coming day. 
 
 "You were intending to go out this evening, 
 were you not," he remarked to his wife, as they 
 sat that evening at the tea-table. 
 
 "Yes, Harry, if you are perfectly willing. 
 You know this is the last meeting of our lecture 
 course" and the voice grew slightly tremulous 
 "and the woman's society has arranged for a
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 157 
 
 half -hour prayer meeting in the vestry, previous 
 to the lecture. But I will stay with you or go 
 out with you anywhere else, if you wish it," she 
 added pleasantly. 
 
 "I would rather you would go" he replied, 
 after a moment's thought. "Where did you say 
 the meeting is to be held?" 
 
 "In the Presbyterian church;" she answered, 
 and oh, such a longing filled her heart to have 
 him accompany her! But he had so often ex 
 cused himself that she deemed it the wiser 
 course not to press the matter to-night. 
 
 Seven o'clock struck and putting on her wraps 
 and kissing her husband good bye, the brave, pa 
 tient wife set out to meet her sisters in the good 
 work of encouraging the suffering of their own 
 sex, and so far as able, of rescuing the fallen of 
 either sex. The prayer meeting that evening 
 was one of the most interesting of the series. As 
 Mrs. Wardsworth looked over the little audience 
 and noticed how many wives were there whose 
 husbands had been rescued from the destroyer, 
 as she listened to the expressions of heart-felt 
 gratitude to God, for the great blessing that had 
 come to their homes, she felt that even if the 
 efforts in behalf of her own husband were not 
 successful, she could rejoice for what had been 
 done. She would not be selfish in her desire 
 or prayers. She would "rejoice with them that 
 do rejoice," and leave the whole of her own and 
 husband's future in God's hands. There came
 
 158 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 over her a feeling of calm peace, and resignation 
 and trust. An assurance that her Heavenly 
 Father would do all things well, and that in his 
 own good time and way, he would come to her 
 deliverance. Never before had she felt such 
 perfect resignation to his will, never such per 
 fect confidence in his power and mercy. 
 
 The meeting closed and the ladies repaired to 
 the audience room, which was already well filled. 
 Seats had been reserved for them in the body of 
 of the church in front of the speaker's platform. 
 So soon as they were seated the president called 
 the meeting to order and introduced the lecturer 
 of the evening. As he came forward a feeling 
 of disappointment was evidently apparent 
 throughout the audience. He was an entire 
 stranger, never having been seen in Cedarville 
 before. His appearance was unprepossessing. 
 His head was large and covered with a thick 
 growth of sandy hair, just beginning to turn 
 gray. His age appeared to be about fifty. His 
 dress was plain in the extreme. After for a 
 moment, surveying the audience, he began his 
 address. His voice was low and solemn, scarce 
 ly being heard at the farther end of room, but 
 instantly every voice was hushed, and in trem 
 ulous tones he proceeded. 
 
 *"My friends, did you ever see a beautiful 
 
 *For much that is contained in this address, the author is 
 indebted to a little volume, read when he was a boy, 
 entitled : ''Why am I a Temperance Man."
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHIIS^E. 159 
 
 ship leaving her port for some foreign shore, 
 with every stitch of canvas set, her flag waving 
 at the mast-head, her beautiful streamers float 
 ing out on the breeze '{ Sailing away with the 
 bright sunbeams playing around her, amid the 
 waiving of handkershiefs and the joyous good 
 byes of those who remain on the shore ? Sail 
 ing away upon the ocean freighted with the 
 hopes and joys of years to come? Even so, 
 years long gone, was my barque launched upon 
 the sea of life, and with high hopes and bright 
 prospects I commenced that voyage which all 
 must take, and which none may take but once. 
 Have you seen that same proud ship come back, 
 scarcely entering the harbor, her banners gone, 
 her streamers carried away, with torn sails and 
 dismantled rigging, almost a wreck, yet saved 
 at last ? Even so you see before you, one who 
 has passed through the storms, and though at 
 last has found a refuge of safety, will carry 
 with him to the tomb the sad evidence of the 
 conflict with the storm." 
 
 He paused, and there was the silence of 
 death. In those few words he had won every 
 heart. Again he spoke, and his voice fell in 
 soft cadence on every ear of the vast audience. 
 
 "I have come to-night to tell you something 
 of my past experience, in the hope that it may 
 either warn some of my fellow voyagers of the 
 rocks 011 which I so nearly stranded, or en 
 courage others in the hour of their danger, to
 
 160 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 turn their eye to the star of Bethlehem, whose 
 light at last guided me to the port of peace." 
 
 Then for more than an hour he held his au 
 dience x spell-bound, often moving them to tears, 
 as he told of his early hopes, his bright prospects 
 for usefulnes?, of his marriage and happy joy 
 ous home, of his fall through the influence of 
 drink, his degredation, and how, at last, when 
 all hope seemed gone, when all had forsaken 
 him but his faithful, devoted wife, her faithful 
 ness was rewarded and her prayers answered. 
 "If," he continued, "there is one blessing for 
 for which, more than another, I feel thankful, 
 it is that I am saved from the power of rum. 
 Next to this is* the blessing that my deliverance 
 was effected before the dear, devoted wife was 
 called to cross the river of death. She lived to 
 see me reclaimed. She heard my voice lifted in 
 warning accents to those who were yet battling 
 with the storm. When death came and laid on 
 her his cold hand, with a sweet smile of resig 
 nation, she laid her head upon my heart and 
 winding her cold arm around my neck said: 
 'Now let death come, I am ready.' The one pur 
 pose for which, for years, she had lived, was 
 accomplished. We laid her away in the blessed 
 sleep of the righteous, and over her new made 
 grave I planted the flowers and renewed my vows 
 of consecration to my life work, saving my fellow 
 men. Wherever I go I seem to feel around me 
 the gentle, holy influence of her presence. And
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 161 
 
 oil! if to-night her spirit is permitted to look 
 down from her bright and beautiful home on 
 high, among all the scenes of earth on 
 which her eye can rest, there is none that makes 
 her Heaven so joyful as that of her husband 
 seeking to save those who, like himself, has fall 
 en beneath the power of the tempter. And why 
 may we not believe it is so?' Is there not 'joy 
 among the angels of God over one sinner that 
 repentethf 
 
 "Let me appeal especially to those who 
 fear they have passed beyond the power of re 
 demption. There are none here to-night, there 
 can possibly be none, who have fallen lower 
 than I had, or whose concKtion. appears more 
 hopeless. The same Divine hand that reached 
 down to my wretchedness and lifted me up, is 
 to-night outstretched to you. Do not depend on 
 your own streiigrh for your deliverance, but on 
 that of Him who came to seek and to save the 
 lost. Do not, however, let me undervalue the 
 greatness of your own strength. There is a 
 mighty power even in a determined human 
 effort; but a determined human effort made in 
 the strength of God, becomes invincible. 
 There is a mighty power in a solemn pledge. 
 Here, perhaps, is where some of you have made 
 a mistake. It is one of the rocks on which I 
 so nearly stranded. I fancied I could as well 
 keep from drinking without signing a pledge as 
 with it. How sadly I was mistaken, my long
 
 162 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 years of shame and sorrow sadly testify. So 
 long as I refused to sign a pledge and connect 
 myself with a temperance society, so long I 
 was the victim of every one who choose to 
 tempt me. But when I signed and was solemn 
 ly pledged to total abstinence, then no honor 
 able man would ask me to break my pledge. 
 This, my friends, .was the first step in my 
 reformation. But it was not until I cast my 
 poor, helpless broken spirit on God, that I felt 
 I was saved. I am here to-night, saved from 
 the sad fate of a drunkard, because I signed a 
 pledge never to taste another drop of liquor, 
 and because I am constantly depending in 
 humble reliance on, Divine power for strength 
 to keep that pledge. If there be here to-night, 
 a poor inebriate who would fain break the 
 tempter's chain, to you I extend my hand and 
 say, l come thou and do likewise.' r 
 
 He closed his address and the pledge was 
 produced. One after another came forward 
 and wrote their names, until about thirty had 
 affixed their signatures. Presently a murmur 
 ran through the audience. It grew louder, as 
 a manly form was seen to pass up the aisle and 
 take his place by the table. Sherwood saw 
 him, and with and audible ''Thank God," 
 bowed his head in silent prayer. Mrs. Wards- 
 worth was sitting with her head resting on the 
 back of the seat, with throbbing heart pleading 
 with God. Mrs. Thornton, who was sitting by
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHHSTE. 163 
 
 her side, called her attention, and quickly 
 drying her eyes she looked up. Her husband 
 was standing at the table. Taking up the pen, 
 he slowly and deliberately dipped it in the ink, 
 and in a clear, bold hand traced the name of 
 "Harry Wardsworth." The audience was 
 hushed to silence. A solemn awe pervaded the 
 entire assembly. The pastor of the church 
 was the first to recover himself, and rising, he 
 said, "Let us pray," and with a voice which 
 betrayed the deep emotion of his soul, he 
 prayed that God would impart strength to 
 carry out every resolution and to keep sacred 
 every vow. A few more came forward and 
 affixed their signatures to the pledge, the 
 audience joined in singing "Praise God from 
 whom all blessings flow," the benediction was 
 pronounced and the audience dispersed. Sev 
 eral came forward and warmly grasping 
 Wardsworth's hand, wished him God speed, 
 but for himself, his emotions were too deep for 
 utterance. To his wife, the whole scene 
 appeared like a pleasant dream. She could 
 hardly believe the evidence of her own senses. So 
 seldom is it that we are prepared to receive the 
 blessing when it comes, or to recognize the 
 answer to our prayers. 
 
 But few words were spoken during the walk 
 home. It was not until the wife had gained the 
 privacy of her own room that she felt free to 
 let the deep fountains of her gratitude overflow
 
 164 THKOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 and offer the burden of her thanks. There she 
 knelt, and in that moment of communion, all the 
 past, with its hours, its weeks, nay, its years of 
 darkness and sorrow was forgotten. The bur 
 den that for years had been crushing her to the 
 earth, rolled off and fell into that sepulchre 
 where was already buried the grief of the past. 
 The long dark night with its darkness arid its 
 gloom was ended. The morning of hope and 
 joy had at last dawned. Slowly all this great 
 truth came to her. Out of the dead past she 
 stepped into the living present ! The shadows 
 were departing. Afar off she could trace them, 
 but swifter and swifter were they receding 
 before the advancing morning All the pain 
 of the past was forgotten in the bliss of the 
 present. Oh! the joy of that moment. There 
 was but one thought and that filled all her soul. 
 Her prayers were answered and her husband 
 was reclaimed. 
 
 Not for one moment did she doubt either his 
 determination or strength to keep inviolate his 
 pledge. He had at last reached the high 
 ground to which she had so long turned her 
 tearful eyes. God had heard her prayer, and 
 granted her that much, and she received it as 
 but the assurance that the same Divine power 
 would aid in accomplishing the rest. 
 
 Great, however, as was her surprise and joy, 
 a still greater awaited, her. She returned to 
 the sitting room to meet her husband, but he
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 165 
 
 was not there. She repaired to the chamber, 
 and there, in the room, lightened only by the 
 beams of the bright, full moon, as it shone 
 through the window, she found him. In low, 
 tremulous tones, he was pleading for Divine 
 help to keep inviolate the pledge he had taken. 
 But what pen shall describe that struggle ? It 
 was the turning point in Harry Wardsworth's 
 life, and he well knew it. He must conquer 
 now or go down into the deep, dark current, 
 whose dismal waters are ever dashing upon the 
 shore where there is no hope. It was the last 
 desperate struggle of the strong man for his 
 life, the last desperate struggle of the monster 
 for his victim. It was a moment of awful sub 
 limity. As his wife, with streaming eyes and 
 throbbing heart, watched the struggle, she 
 could only cry from the depths of her spirit. 
 u Lord hear and save." Kneeling by his side 
 she united her prayers with his, and together 
 their petitions ascended to the throne of the 
 Eternal. 
 
 Presently his voice grew strangely calm. A 
 hand Divine was outstretched, and by faith he 
 grasped it. His prayer had been heard, and 
 the voice that re-echoed over the stormy waves 
 of Geneseret's lake had whispered to the raging 
 tempest of his soul, "Peace ! be still." The 
 Divine spirit came down and sealed the forgive 
 ness upon his heart, arid a Father's loving arms 
 enfolded the returning prodigal.
 
 166 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 When he arose and came forth from that 
 chamber, his face wore a look that never rested 
 there before. It was a look of calm, holy peace 
 and trust. It spoke, as plainly as words could 
 utter it, "He has found the refuge, henceforth 
 he is safe." He went into the chamber an 
 earnest, supplicating penitent; he came out a 
 forgiven child, a saved man. 
 
 Together they repaired to the sitting room, 
 and there we will leave them. That hour of 
 sacred, holy communion with themselves and 
 God is too sacred for curious eyes to look upon. 
 Enough to say, the Comforter wae there, and the 
 angel of peace spread his pinons over and 
 around them, and "There was joy in the pres 
 ence of the angels over another sinner who had 
 repeuted."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " IT COMETH AS A WHIRLWIND. " 
 
 Many, indeed, were the opinons expressed in 
 regard to Harry Wards worth signing the pledge, 
 and the prospect of his complete recovery from 
 the vice of drunkenness. As usual, th oee opini ons 
 were as varied as were the numbers that held 
 them, and their expression served to illustrate 
 their good or ill will toward Wardsworth him 
 self. 
 
 Some, but unfortunately they were in the 
 minority, saw in the act the assurance of hope, 
 and resolved to aid to the extent of their ability. 
 Others hoped the reformation might be perma 
 nent, but greatly feared the result, knowing 
 well the fearful hold which the destroyer had 
 taken of his victim. Others still, not only re 
 fused to believe in the genuineness of his 
 reformation, but showed too plainly, that in 
 their case, the wish was father to the thought. 
 Among the latter were Simkins and Slocum. 
 The former of those gentlemen remembered but 
 too vividly for his own pleasure, the influence 
 which Wardsworth had possessed in the days 
 of his strength, and the part he (Simkins) had
 
 168 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUXSHTNE. 
 
 taken in his ruin, and very much feared that 
 possibly retribution might at some time be visit 
 ed upon his own head. 
 
 " The trouble with that class of men," said 
 the Hoii (?) gentleman, "is, their honor is gone. 
 They have 110 principle of honor. There is 
 nothing to build on. I have no doubt but 
 Wardsworth means well, and at times would 
 like to become a sober man ; but the trouble is, 
 he has given up his manhood, thrown away his 
 honor, and what are you going to do in such a 
 ease ? " Another illustration of " Satin rebuk 
 ing sin. " 
 
 Walter Pitman, the very respectable saloon 
 keeper, to whom the reader has already been 
 introduced, gave his opinion without any hesi 
 tation, and openly boasted of his determination 
 to entrap Wardsworth and induce him to violate 
 his pledge. 
 
 "I tell you what it is, gentleman," he remark 
 ed to a number of his customers, "I have seen 
 just such things before. Hank Wardsworth 
 won't keep his pledge three months, or my 
 name ain't Walt Pitman. " 
 
 "What makes you think that?" asked one of 
 his listeners. 
 
 " O, let Walt alone for that, " was the answer, 
 as he gave a knowing wink. "Wait till I get 
 hold of him. If I don't get him to drink the 
 first time I get a chance, then I'll treat all hands 
 I have seen lots of such cases, and I neverfailed
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 169 
 
 yet in getting them to drink when I once went 
 about it. " 
 
 In this case, however, the crafty saloon keeper 
 did more than he intended. Among the 
 listeners present was Joe Bliss, a man who had 
 once been comparatively wealthy and respected, 
 but who had reached almost the lowest level of 
 drunkenness. 
 
 The coo 1 , deliberate manner in which Pitman 
 boasted of his plans for Wardsworth's more 
 complete ruin, affected him strangely. Spring 
 ing from his seat, he walked up to the bar, 
 behind which Pitman was standing, and looking 
 the saloon keeper in the face, asked : 
 
 "Do you mean to say, Pitman, that if you 
 could, you would get Wardsworth to break hi* 
 pledge ? " 
 
 " Certainly, I mean to say so. It is my busi 
 ness to sell liquor ; that is what I pay the license 
 for. Don't I pay the government a good big 
 price for the privilege of selling liquor, and do 
 you think I am such a fool as to let everybody 
 sign the pledge and become sober, and thus break 
 up my own business, if I can help it ? What do 
 you say to that, old man ? " 
 
 "I say it is the most infernal business ever a 
 man engaged in ; and anybody who will try to 
 get Harry Wardsworth to violate a solemn 
 pledge, and lead him again to drunkenness, is 
 worse than a thief, I do not care how great a 
 claim he lays to respectability. That's my
 
 170 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 opinion, Walter Pitman." 
 
 The wiley saloonist saw his mistake and at 
 once tried to correct it. Looking at Bliss with 
 one of his most winning smiles, he answered : 
 
 " I know what is wrong with you, Joe ; you 
 have not had your bitters this morning ! " and 
 turning to where the liquors'were kept, he added 
 "come, what 1 !! you take?" 
 
 " Nothing! " thundered Joe. 
 
 "What! nothing?" 
 
 "No ; nothing from you," and looking stead- 
 ly into the face of the saloon keeper, he contin 
 ued : 
 
 " Say, Pitman, did you ever know Joe Bliss to 
 do a mean thing ? " 
 
 " No, Joe, " was the reply, " I never knew you 
 to do a mean thing in your life. " 
 
 "No; I thought not; and you might have 
 added, that you never knew me to do a good 
 one. But now I am going to do one, yes, two* 
 good acts. First, I am going directly to Harry 
 Wardsworth and warn him that you have delib 
 erately planned to induce him to break his 
 pledge ; and second, I am going to sign the 
 same pledge that Wardsworth has, and if there 
 is any honor left in Joe Bliss, I am going to 
 keep it ; " and he walked out leaving the saloon 
 keeper the most disconcerted man in Cedarville. 
 For once the Devil had reckoned without his 
 host, as that was the last time ever Joe Bliss 
 visited a whisky saloon.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 171 
 
 As for Solomon Slocum, Esquire, there was 
 but one thing that troubled him. That was not 
 his conscience, for he had got a long way be 
 yond any trouble from that direction. 
 
 As we have seen, Mrs. Wardsworth had never 
 signed the deed he had so fraudulently obtained 
 from her husband; and in the absence of her 
 signature, a cloud rested on his title to the 
 property. He had fully believed that Wards- 
 worth would be either hung or imprisoned, in 
 which case he hoped to take advantage of her 
 circumstances and induce her for a few dollars, 
 to sign the deed. But the acquittal of her hus 
 band, and especially his reformation had sadly 
 interfered with his plans, and he began to fear, 
 not only that he would fail to perfect his title, 
 but that he might be made to suffer the penalty 
 of his crimes. 
 
 It is not then surprising that his first act on 
 hearing that Wardsworth had signed the pledge, 
 was to call on his bosom friend and counsellor, 
 Hon. Hezekiah Simkins. 
 
 "I say, Simkins," he remarked, "what is to 
 be done about my title to that property I got 
 of Wardsworth ? " 
 
 " What do you mean, Slocum? " answered the 
 lawyer ; " have you not got your deed, regular 
 ly executed by Wardsworth ? Has he not given 
 you possession, and you are now living in the 
 house? What more do you want ?" 
 
 "True, but you are aware that his wife never.
 
 172 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 signed the deed. That is what troubles me 
 now." 
 
 "Very true; I thought you were foolish in 
 not making an effort to secure her signature 
 while her husband was in prison." 
 
 "I see it now, and only wish I had taken your 
 advice; but I was sure Wardsworth would 
 either be hung or sent to prison, in which case 
 poverty would have come to my aid. There is 
 nothing like starvation, you know, to bring 
 proud people to terms." 
 
 "But you see he was neither hung nor sent 
 to prison, and from present appearances, I do 
 not see much prospect of either one happening. 
 However, I do not believe there is any danger 
 of Wardsworth giving you any trouble. If he 
 does, I have helped you out of some very tough 
 scrapes, as you know, and I guess I can see you 
 through this." 
 
 "Oh, I don't fear on his account. Old Slocum 
 was too cunning to set a trap for himself; 
 besides, he wont care to go back and dig up his 
 own degradation, and he knows that the tran 
 saction was legal, if it was not just as one would 
 wish to be done by ; but what I no \v want is to work 
 some way to secure her signature to the deed." 
 
 "Well, Slocum, there is but one course open 
 to you, so far as I can see, and that is to come 
 down handsomely and make an offer that will 
 be worth her while to accept." 
 
 The result of the above conversation was,
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 173 
 
 that a few days after, Wardsworth received 
 from Simkins the following note: 
 
 CEDARVILLE, - , 18 . 
 HARRY WARDSWORTH, Esq.: 
 
 Dear Sir: You are no doubt aware that the 
 signature of Mrs. Wardsworth has never yet 
 been obtained to the deed you gave to Solomon 
 Slocum, of the property on Maple avenue. I 
 am instructed by Mr. S. to say he would like her 
 signature to complete his title, and, if she 
 insists on it, is willing to pay any reasonable 
 amount for the trouble it may cause her. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 H. SIMKINS. 
 
 To this note, the lawyer received the follow 
 ing reply: 
 
 CEDARVILLR, , 18 . 
 
 H. SIMKINS, Esq.: 
 
 Dear Sir: My wife instructs me to say to 
 you that she declines to become a party to the 
 deed referred to, ) referring not to be associ 
 ated in any way with the transaction. 
 
 I add for myself, you may assure your client, 
 that personally, I shall give him no trouble, 
 preferring to let that matter sleep, with other 
 similar transactions, in the grave of the buried 
 past. Truly yours, 
 
 H. WARDSWORTH. 
 
 And thus the matter of the home was settled
 
 174 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 and Slocum's avarice in a measure was satisfied. 
 
 Three months went by, during which Wards- 
 worth faithfully kept his pledge, and constantly 
 implored Divine aid in carrying out his resolu 
 tions. And when, at the end of that time, he 
 knelt at the altar and received from the minis 
 ter of Christ, the sacred emblems of a Savior's 
 death, and was publicly admitted to the fellow 
 ship and communion of Christ's church, it was 
 generally admitted that he had indeed entered 
 on a higher plane of life, and that his reforma 
 tion was complete. 
 
 To himself that day was destined to be one 
 of the most eventful in his life. In company 
 with his wife, he had twice attended church, and 
 at the close of the evening service had walked 
 with his friend Thornton to the residence of 
 that gentleman, where were spent a couple of 
 hours in earnest conversation. The past was 
 calmly reviewed, and the future looked to with 
 hope. Suddenly, as they conversed, the room 
 grew lighter. A moment more and there was 
 heard the cry of fire, and, at the same instant, 
 there rang out the clear, warning notes of the 
 fire bell, calling the brave firemen to their 
 terrible conflict with the angry element. 
 
 "Where is the fire?" asked Thornton, as in 
 company with Wardsworth he gained the 
 street. 
 
 "Slocum's distillery," was the answer, and a 
 hundred voices seemed to take up the answer
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 175 
 
 and echo it "Slocum's distillery." Then there 
 was a hurrying of feet in wild confusion, and 
 soon a hundred willing men, foremost among 
 whom was the man Slocum had so deeply 
 wronged, were ready to battle with the- devour 
 ing foe. 
 
 The building, which was wholly of wood, 
 was soon enveloped in flames, and before the 
 fire engines arrived all hope of saving it was 
 gone. Still fiercer raged the fire the flames 
 sending forth their long, forked tongues, hissing 
 and roaring as though a thousand angry demons 
 were holding high carnival. They burst from 
 the windows, they wrapped themselves around 
 the external walls, they darted high up into 
 the midnight darkness, they reached far out 
 like the arm of some avenging foe, outstretched 
 to grasp his victim. 
 
 Nobly indeed did both firemen and citizens 
 do their duty. The most gigantic efforts were 
 put forth, but all to no purpose; the building 
 and its contents were all alike doomed, and the 
 hour of its destruction had come. 
 
 Presently a confused murmur, at first vague 
 and undefined, ran through the crowd. Soon 
 it took form and was passed from one to another, 
 every countenance turning pale as the words 
 fell on the ear "Slocum's two sons are in the 
 building." On inquiry, it was learned that in 
 company with one or two others, they had spent 
 the evening in the office playing cards. The
 
 176 THROUGH SHADOYv T TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 office was in the second story, near where the 
 fire had first been discovered. They were in 
 toxicated and refused to go home, saying they 
 would sleep in the office. This was all that 
 could be learned. 
 
 At that moment, in another part of the build 
 ing, a window w r as suddenly broken from the 
 inside, and the ghastly face of one was seen in 
 the very midst of the flames preparing to 
 jump to the ground. But before he could 
 accomplish his purpose a sheet of flame came 
 down with a whirl and a roar, and striking him 
 full in the face, literally hurled him back into 
 the burning building. The next moment the 
 roof fell with a terrible crash, and the sons were 
 engulfed in the sea of fire, while higher and 
 fiercer mounted the flames, as if in mad revelry 
 over the fearful triumph they had achieved. 
 
 Suddenly, in the midst of the commotion, the 
 form of Slocum w r as seen approaching with all 
 the speed he could command, his countenance 
 distorted with rage and excitement, and giving 
 vent to the most blasphemous curses. His eyes 
 possessed that peculiarly wild look sometimes 
 seen in sudden and violent insanity. The 
 foam lay out on the corners of his mouth, and 
 his full face seemed fuller and had assumed the 
 color of dark purple. By the time he had 
 reached the scene of destruction he was over 
 come, and with one terrible curse he fell to the 
 ground in a state of entire insensibility. They
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 177 
 
 ran and raised him up, while two or three 
 physicians who were present went to his aid; 
 but a speedy examination revealed the hope 
 lessness of the case, and instructions were 
 immediately given for his removal to his home. 
 They conveyed him back to his house and did 
 all that science and skill could accomplish to 
 avert the impending fate ; but it was evident to 
 all that the day of his retribution had come, and 
 as the flickering flames died out from the ruins 
 of the doomed manufactory of death, the spirit 
 of its owner went up^ to its account before the 
 God against whom he had so long and so griev 
 ously sinned. 
 
 When the ruins had sufficiently cooled to 
 permit it, they gathered all that was left of the 
 bones of the dead sons, and, with the form of 
 the dead father, they were laid iri one grave in 
 Rosebloom cemetery. The career of Solomon 
 Slocum had closed in the darkness of death, and 
 few indeed were the mourners who wept. 
 
 But alas for the wife and mother, who had 
 always possessed a refined and sensitive nature, 
 all too much so for her own happiness, as the 
 wife of such a man as Slocum. On her the 
 calamity of his death and that of the sons, fell 
 with crushing force, from the effect of which 
 she never rallied. As some sensitive flower, 
 touched by the sudden and early frost perishes, 
 so she drooped, and at the end of two months 
 the messenger came and folded her to rest.
 
 178 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 Another procession was formed, another grave 
 was opened, and Rosebloom cemetery received 
 yet another victim of the rum traffic. Again 
 had the innocent been made to suffer for the 
 sins of the guilty, but over against the whole 
 was written, "The judgments of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether." 
 
 CHAPTER .XIII. 
 
 SUNSHINE. 
 
 Time in its ever restless march has swiftly pass 
 ed, heedless alike of the joys and sorrows, the 
 happy spirits and broken hearts which it has 
 passed in its swift course. Three years more 
 have elapsed, and once more, and for the last 
 time, we visit the beautiful city of Cedarville. 
 
 To the city, as well as to many of its inhab 
 itants, those three years have brought many 
 changes. O] d familiar forms have vanished, and 
 in their stead appear new faces. There is the 
 same restless activity that characterizes all our 
 growing western cities, but Cedarville appears 
 different from what it did when we last visited 
 it. Then it wore an appearance of neglect. Its 
 streets were uncared for and many of its build 
 ings were more or less dilapidated. Now 
 everything seemed changed for the better. The
 
 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 179 
 
 streets are neatly cleaned, many of the old 
 buildings replaced with new and more im 
 posing structures, and the whole city shows 
 evidence of being on the high road to prosperity. 
 
 One class of buildings we miss, and at once 
 our interest is aroused. The corner saloon is 
 gone. The low, dirty looking buildings, with 
 red curtains at the windows and green painted 
 screens just within the door, are conspicuous by 
 their absence. At once we define the cause of 
 the change, and as we think of those whom we 
 knew so well, and remember their bitter struggles 
 or their terrible retribution, we pause, overcome 
 by a flood of painful emotion. 
 
 Instinctively we turn toward the place where 
 once stood Slocum's distillery, and where we last 
 saw the lurid flames enwrap the doomed build 
 ing. Approaching the spot we see a large and 
 costly brick stucture. From its tall chimney 
 the black smoke is issuing, while from two or 
 three exhaust pipes the white steam belches 
 forth as if conscious of its power and usefulness. 
 On a large, wide sign board, running the whole 
 length of the roof, we read, "CEDARVILLE AGRI 
 CULTURAL WORKS." It is the hour of noon. The 
 whistle sounds, and forthwith there comes from 
 within its walls a hundred sturdy men, their 
 strong, sinewy arms bare to the elbows, their 
 faces covered with the dust of honest toil, and, 
 with quick, firm step each one goes his way to 
 the home where cheerful faces wait to greet him.
 
 180 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 There is no longer any doubt as to the cause 
 of the changed appearance of the city. The 
 absence of the distillery and saloon, the presence 
 of so large a factory where honest toil can pur 
 sue its course unhindered by the debasing and 
 destroying influence of rum, is sufficient expla 
 nation for all the changes so noticeable in 
 Cedarville. 
 
 One building especially attracts our attention. 
 It is a handsome and imposing structure stand 
 ing directly on the corner, where, three years 
 ago stood Sweney's saloon. 
 
 It is a large, new wholesale store, built a year 
 ago by Mr. Sherwood; and from one of the 
 windows of the second story there hangs out a 
 beautiful and attractive sign bearing the names 
 of "Ferguson & Wardsworth, attorneys at 
 law." 
 
 Two years previously the lovers of law and 
 order had made another vigorous effort to secure 
 the passage of a prohibitory liquor law for the 
 city, and had succeeded even beyond their own 
 expectations. The no license ticket had been 
 carried in Cedarville by such an overwhelming 
 majority that the saloon keepers and their 
 friends saw how hopeless it would be longer to 
 continue the fight, most of them either gave up 
 the business or removed to other and more con 
 genial communities. Some few remained, re 
 solved to defy the law, but the sentiment of the 
 people was against them, and after one or two
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 181 
 
 fines and imprisonments, they too gave up 
 the unequal strife and departed for a different 
 moral atmosphere. 
 
 At the request of Wardsworth and others, 
 Ferguson had visited the city and spent a week 
 in aiding the temperance party in their agita 
 tion ; and when the battle was ended and the 
 victory won, he was induced to join Wards- 
 worth, who had already regained the greater 
 part of his popularity and practice, in prosecut 
 ing a more extensive business. 
 
 The names of Ferguson & Wardsworth had 
 already become a tower of strength. The 
 suffering and oppressed ever found in them 
 safe counsellors and friends. A year had not 
 passed since their union in business till they 
 become the acknowledged leaders at the bar of 
 the State. Remembering all the past, they 
 lived and labored together, not merely for what 
 money they could make, but for the good they 
 were enabled to do.- 
 
 To Wardsworth and his home those years 
 have brought sunshine in more ways than one. 
 After the death of Slocum, his property passed 
 into the hands of his creditors, and in due 
 course was offered for sale. On investigation it 
 was found that the assets were more than 
 sufficient to pay all the claims against the estate, 
 with the cost of administration, without the 
 necessity of the creditors bidding in any of the 
 property. And so it happened when the resi-
 
 182 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 dence on Maple avenue was offered, the public 
 remembering pretty well how Slocum became 
 possessed of it, and knowing that a cloud still 
 rested on the title, were either too generous to 
 take it from the rightful owner, or too timid to 
 risk their money on uncertainty; and when it 
 was "knocked down," for three thousand dollars, 
 it was found that Thos. Sherwood, acting oil 
 behalf of Harry Wardsworth, had become the 
 purchaser. 
 
 To have the deed made in Wardsworth's 
 name, and to put him in possession, was but the 
 work of a few days, and so to the devoted wife 
 the sunshine grew brighter and brighter, and 
 once more her cheerful songs awoke the echoes 
 within the walls of the home that had been 
 alike the witness of her greatest joy and 
 deepest sorrow. 
 
 The sun still lingers in the west, as if loth to 
 leave a scene of such hallowed peace and beauty, 
 as we stroll along Maple avenue to take one 
 lingering look at the home of the Wardsworths. 
 The home and grounds are but little changed, 
 but what change there is, is for the better. All 
 the wood work has been newly painted and 
 grounds nicely laid off, while the fragrance of 
 early blooming flowers greet us as we approach, 
 and seemingly invite us to enter. 
 
 Seated on the veranda is a man of apparently 
 middle age, who, though changed since last we 
 met him, we recognize as Harry Wardsworth.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 183 
 
 His countenance wears a look of thoughtful 
 cheerfulness, and ever and anon lights up with 
 a smile at some pleasant remark from his wife, 
 who sits just within the opened window, where 
 she can carry on the conversation with 
 her husband, and at the sam* time, keep her 
 eye on a second "Little Harry," who has come 
 to add his quota of blessing to the already happy 
 parents. From the husband's brow the dark 
 locks are thrown back, revealing here and there 
 a few threads of silver, which speak more of life 
 struggles than of age. 
 
 . The reader need not be told that Wards- 
 worth has faithfully kept his pledge. With his 
 feet planted upon the rock of Eternal strength, 
 he has been enabled to hurl defiance at his foe, 
 and has come off conqueror. 
 
 With his wife the change is more marked 
 than with himself. We can hardly believe her 
 to be the same pale, care-worn woman of three 
 years ago. The old smile has returned, and 
 though the traces of the fires through which 
 she has passed yet remain, it is evident they 
 have but consumed the dross, while the pure 
 gold has come forth from the furnace refined 
 and purified. 
 
 In her hand she holds a letter which she has 
 been reading to her husband. Using an au 
 thor's pivilege, we glance at the neatly traced 
 page, and read as follows:
 
 184 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 CEDARVILLE, ,18 . 
 
 Dear Sister Kate, Although it is not long 
 since I wrote you, I am impelled by the fill] ness 
 of my heart to address you once again. I write 
 not only for my own sake, but on Harry's behalf 
 as well. 
 
 I am forcibly reminded of that sad letter I 
 penned to you, now nearly four years ago, and 
 as I remember the past and realize the present, 
 it all seems like some dream, and I can hardly 
 believe I have passed through sorrow's dark 
 night, so bright and beautiful appears the 
 morning. 
 
 I have told you, in a former letter, how we 
 became re-possessed of our beautiful home. I 
 must tell you now that Harry has paid the last 
 dollar of claim, and this dear home is ours once 
 more. Harry has explained all about that hun 
 dred and fifty dollars, and I know whence it 
 came, and while my heart goes out in loving 
 gratitude to you, my dear sister, both for my 
 sake and husband's please accept the inclosed 
 draft in payment of principal and interest. 
 
 Now, dear sister, pemit me to ask once more, 
 can you not come and visit me. Harry says if 
 you will, I may go back home with you, and I 
 will. I long to see you all, but first I want 
 you to come and share my joy. 
 
 As I think of all the way "a Father's hand 
 has led me," I am ready to exclaim with Israel's 
 psalmist of old, "Thou annointst my head with
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 185 
 
 oil, my cup runneth over." I am convinced 
 that one reason why so many wives fail in their 
 efforts to reclaim their husbands, is because, 
 either they do riot let their prayers and efforts 
 go hand in hand, or else their faith fails them 
 and they too quickly yield in the struggle. Be 
 this as it may; for me, I will ever render the 
 tribute of my gratitude, that though we have 
 passed through the shadows, we have reached 
 the sunshine at last. SISTER BELLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus ends our simple story. We trust that 
 our readers have not only been interested, but 
 that they have been instructed and benefiitted 
 as well, by thus getting a clearer insight into 
 the workings of the liquor traffic this most 
 deadly foe to all that is good and pure in the 
 home circle. Would, dear reader, that this 
 were merely a story of fiction that the scenes 
 here pictured, existed only in our imagination. 
 But, unfortunately, this is not so. In many of 
 those scenes the author has, either as a physi 
 cian or a minister, been called to bear a painful 
 part. He can bear testimony, not only that 
 they are true, but that one-half the sad truth 
 has not been written. It is a story of tempta-
 
 186 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 tion and trial of sinning and suffering of 
 disappointment and despair of ruin and re 
 morse such as finds its counterpart in thou 
 sands of American homes at the present day. 
 No pen of fiction can write the lines, no pencil 
 of artist can drape the scenes, in a manner to 
 do the subject justice. 
 
 Doubtless many, whose eyes may trace these 
 pages, will, themselves perhaps all too sadly 
 recognize the pictures we have drawn, the 
 histories we have written. We ask, are they 
 not, alas ! too true to life ? Is not the whole 
 history of the liquor traffic a history of broken 
 hearts, of blasted hopes, of blighted prospects, 
 of physical and -mental wrecks ? Is not its re 
 cord a record of crimes committed, of fortunes 
 wasted, of health and happiness destroyed, and 
 paupers and criminals multiplied? Has it not 
 written its history with the blood of the millions 
 it has slain, and paved its pathway with the 
 dead bodies of its murdered victims? 
 
 Sanctioned and protected by legal enact 
 ments, with whom it has joined hands in its 
 cruel warfare against the weak and defenseless, 
 and courted by political parties for its power 
 in elections, has it not gone on, filling our poor 
 houses with its paupers, our asylums with its 
 lunatics, our prisons with its criminals, our 
 cemeteries with its dead, and the whole land 
 with bitter lamentation and woe ? 
 
 Alas ! that in our otherwise free and enlight-
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 187 
 
 ened America such things should be ! That in 
 ten thousand cities, towns and villages, through 
 out this country, claiming to be a Christian 
 land, there are written daily, just such sad life 
 histories, as the result of the legalized liquor 
 traffic. That in this Christian land, from sev 
 enty to a hundred thousand citizens are slain 
 every year, and this wholesale destruction of 
 human life, is sanctioned by the people for a 
 money consideration. 
 
 Disguise the truth as we may, or seek to evade 
 its force, the awful fact stares us in the face, 
 that, besides the untold misery and anguish it 
 produces, the paupers, idiots, lunatics and crim 
 inals it sends forth, the American people are, 
 through this traffic, sanctioning the annual 
 murder of from seventy to a hundred thousand 
 of our citizens evey year for a money consid 
 eration. 
 
 Does the reader reply, "This is a strong 
 statement?" We admit it, and sorrow because, 
 that strong as it is, it is more than justified by 
 the facts. Does not the saloon-keeper engage 
 in this unrighteous business, well knowing its 
 death-dealing influences, because of the large 
 profits derived from his sales ? A profit said to 
 exceed eighty per cent. Do not the city 
 councils license the saloon-keeper, because of 
 the money it puts into the treasury? Do not 
 the people sanction the granting of those 
 licenses, because the fund thus raised, lightens
 
 188 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 their financial burdens and lessens the amount 
 of their taxes ? Does not the general govern 
 ment permit the manufacture of the liquor 
 because of the revenue derived therefrom ? Do 
 not the people support the government in thus 
 permitting its manufacture, for a money con 
 sideration, because the revenue thus derived 
 lessens direct taxation ? Is not every argument 
 against the manufacture and sale of this 
 destructive agency, met with the counter argu 
 ment, that the country needs and must have 
 this revenue ? Is it claimed that the American 
 people delight in this human misery and suffer 
 ing, and continue that which produces them, 
 simply for the pleasure which the suffering 
 affords them ? In short, would all this whole 
 sale destruction of fortune and reason and 
 happiness and human life, be continued for a 
 single day, were it not for the financial benefit, 
 it is claimed the country derives from the man 
 ufacture and sale of that which destroys? We 
 submit that the most charitable view which we 
 can reasonably take of this subject, is the view 
 we have here taken ; and that 110 statement or 
 fact can be more clearly proven, than that the 
 American people are sanctioning this whole 
 sale destruction of human life, for a money 
 consideration.* 
 
 *In this statement the author would censure himself equal 
 ly with others. So strong have been his party affiliations., 
 that it has taken him a lifetime to learn the lesson of duty.
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 And what of its future ? This is the one 
 great question of the day ; before which all 
 other questions of state policy sink into insig 
 nificance. A question that will be neither 
 thrust aside, nor satisfied with an evasive 
 answer. A question that it is neither wise, 
 nor just now humane, for any party or state 
 longer to evade. A question that must be set 
 tled, and that can only be permanently settled 
 in one way and this in a way to meet the 
 approval of an enlightened human conscience, 
 and the dictates of justice and humanity. 
 
 It remains for the American people to say 
 because the will of the people is law whether 
 this mighty torrent of human degradation and 
 death shall be permitted to flow on, or whether 
 they will arise in the strength of their might 
 and arrest it. If it continues in the future, as 
 in the past, annually to bear this great army of 
 ruined, murdered victims, on its dark and dis 
 mal current, out to a darker and more dismal 
 eternity beyond, it will be because either the 
 people so decree it, or remain indifferent specta 
 tors of the scene, while the work of destruction 
 goes on. 
 
 Let one fact be remembered, and act as a 
 stimulant in this great conflict. Not a single 
 home is safe. Not a single family can claim 
 positive exemption. Your own dear boy, the 
 pride of your life, may yet be overtaken by the 
 destroyer and slain, or your own dear girl, the
 
 190 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 idol of your heart, and the sunlight of your 
 home, may yet sit with weeping eyes and break 
 ing heart, amid the desolations, caused by the 
 traffic which your influence has sustained. 
 Amid such a sorrow, of what significance will 
 be the question of the tariif , or any other of the 
 hundred questions, designing politicians would 
 lead us to believe must be settled, before we can 
 stop to save the husbands, brothers, sons and 
 neighbors of our land from the terrible destruc 
 tion everywhere overtaking them? 
 
 What say you, reader, holding in your hand 
 that mightiest of all civil forces, the ballot of 
 an American voter? What say you, desolate 
 father, standing over the grave of your first bom, 
 ruined and murdered by rum, that your neigh 
 bor might save a few dollars in his school taxes '( 
 What say you, heart-broken mother, looking out 
 into the midnight darkness, for the coming of 
 your boy, whose feet have already been "lured 
 by the law" into the way of death ? What say 
 you, stricken wife, as you turn from the grave of 
 the father of your children, slain by the legal 
 ized liquor traffic, and the price of whose blood 
 has been paid into the treasury ? What say 
 you, oh Christian, who, for a few paltry pence, 
 saved in your school taxes, would thus put de 
 struction in your brother's path? What say 
 you, one and all ? Shall we who boast of being 
 a free people, remain longer in bondage to such 
 a tyrant ? Or shall we rise, and, in the name
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 191 
 
 of God and humanity, hurl the monster from 
 our shores, and resolve to protect our country 
 and our homes ? 
 
 Hark ! ! The answer comes back to us. It is 
 heard in that wail of anguish that comes 
 from those seventy thousand desolate homes. 
 It comes borne upon the breeze as it sighs a low 
 sad requiem over those seventy thousand dis 
 honored graves. It is heard in that unmistak 
 able murmur of indignation and resolve that is 
 heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from 
 Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. We read the 
 answer in the marshaling of the mighty host, 
 clad in the panoply of truth, and resolved in 
 God's name to conquer. They have heard the 
 clarion note, calling them to battle, arid, gird 
 ing on their armor, are rallying to the watch 
 word PROHIBITION. From Northern vales and 
 Southern glades; from Eastern hills and 
 Western plains they come. Led on by a thou 
 sand societies, who for years'have laid broad and 
 deep the foundation of those principles, for the 
 establishment of which the battle rages. In the 
 front ranks, behold a great array of nohle women, 
 who have gathered for the conflict, and on whose 
 banners is inscribed in letters of living light, 
 'For God and Home and Native Land." From 
 a hundred thousand homes, in which hope 
 again succeeds to blank espai , is heard the 
 pleading prayer, "God bless and speed them on 
 their mission." State after state has already
 
 192 THEOUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 
 
 caught the inspiration of a great principle, and 
 their camp fires are brightly burning to cheer 
 their comrades, as they rally for the coming 
 conflict. 
 
 And what shall be the answer of our state? 
 of all the states ? What shall be the answer 
 of our country of my country ? The country 
 of my adoption, the country of my home. To 
 me fairer than my own native land than any 
 other land under the sun. With a history more 
 precious, and a future more promising than any 
 other nation on the globe. Would to God, that 
 America might lead the van in this grand for 
 ward movement, and set an example for the rest 
 of the nations to follow. 
 
 Let every Christian but act, in this matter, 
 from the standpoint of true religion. Let every 
 citizen be governed by the truest principles of 
 patriotism. Lf't all the people unite to carry 
 out the noblest principles of political economy. 
 Let this be done, and half a decade will not pass, 
 till our country shall come up, out of the deep 
 dark shadows, that have so long enshrouded her, 
 into the bright and beautiful sunshine of that 
 day, foretold by the prophetic bard, ages ago, 
 when "The voice of weeping shall be no more 
 heard in the land, nor the voice of cursing. 
 There shall no more be thence an infant of days, 
 nor an old man who has not filled his days, for 
 the child shall die an hundred years old. They 
 shall build houses and inhabit them. They
 
 THROUGH SHADOW TO SUNSHINE. 193 
 
 shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. 
 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they 
 shall not plant and another eat the fruit thereof, 
 for as the days of a tree shall be the days of 
 my people." 
 
 THE END.
 
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