“Yes,” said the oldest tree of all, “the day and the night know all languages.”
“We must have a Missionary Day and a Temperance Day,” said the wise old fish.
“What is a Temperance Day?” asked a young squirrel, who was not yet very well acquainted with the questions of the day.
“My dear,” said his mother, “there are some bad people in the world who make vile stuff and give it to people to drink, and it makes them sick and cross; then they do not please God, and there are some good people who are trying to keep the bad people from making it, and the others from drinking it; they are called Temperance.”
“Oh!” said the squirrel, “but why do the folks drink it? I should think they’d know better.”
“So should I, but they don’t. Why, my dear, I must tell you of something that happened to me once. I lived in a tree at a summer resort, that year, and just under my bough was a window; a young man roomed there for a few days, and every morning he would come to the window with a black bottle in his hand, and pour out some dark stuff and mix sugar and water with it, and drink it as if he thought it was very good. I watched him for several mornings, and one morning the bell rang while he was drinking, and he left the glass on the window-sill, and went to breakfast. I hopped down to see what it was, and it smelled good, so I tasted it. I liked the taste pretty well, so I drank all there was left. Then I started home, but, will you believe it? I could not walk straight, and very soon I could hardly stand up. I tried to climb up a tree, but fell off the first bough, and there I lay for a long, long time. When I awoke I had such a terrible pain in my head! All that day I suffered, and didn’t get over my bad feelings for several days. I tell this as a warning to you, that you may never be tempted to touch anything to drink but water, my dear.”
“You must tell that story, Mrs. Squirrel,” said Bachelor. “And we will call it a story of intemperance, by one of its victims.”
“I will, with all my heart, if it will do any one any good,” she responded.