“Did Ned thank you?” asked Hatty, smiling.
“No, he don’t want the cat!”
Fred then repeated the story which his teacher had related. The subject of temperance had come up in connection with the lesson, and Miss Darling wished to impress upon the minds of her class the evils of drunkenness. As you may like to hear the story, I will relate it in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DRUNKARD.
A MAN, living in the State of Arkansas, was in the habit of spending his evenings at a tavern, where he often became so drunk that he could scarcely reach home.
One night he stayed later than usual, so that when he left the tavern, honest people had long been in bed. The liquor he had taken so bewildered his senses that he knew not where he was going. At last, he staggered into an empty wagon-shed and fell on the ground.
For a long time he lay unconscious of everything about him, and would, no doubt, have frozen, as the night was very cold, had not he been cared for by others less insensible than himself.