"While we were sitting, I took the opportunity of saying something which was on my mind, before his wife should come.
"'Mr. Wood,' I said earnestly, 'you will forgive me for asking, but have you banished all intoxicating drinks from your table and house?'
"'Of course I have,' he answered, surprised.
"'Because,' I said, 'people are so forgetful; and I have heard of such sad cases of temptation and fall, from relatives selfishly continuing to take their moderate glass.'
"'You could not think me so cruel,' he said, looking sadly at me.
"'No, no; I only mentioned it.'
"'And now,' he said, 'tell me, what was your reason for abstaining, may I ask?'
"'Certainly,' I answered; 'it was just this. I was reading in my Bible one day, and this verse seemed to haunt me after I closed the book:
'"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."
"'I pondered it for a long time before I could make up my mind. It was to me a piece of dreadful self-denial not to offer it to my friends as a usual beverage; but when I remembered that thousands in our country had ruined homes and broken hearts through its use, I could hesitate no longer.'