Jarvis took the pen in his hand, that trembled so he. could scarcely make a straight mark on paper, and enrolled his name among the hundreds of those, who, like him, had resolved to be men once more. This done, he laid down the quarter of a dollar which he had obtained from his wife, the admission fee required of all who joined the society. As he turned from the tradesman's store, his step was firmer and his head more erect, than, in a sober state, he had carried it for many a day.
From thence he proceeded to a hatter's-shop.
"Well, Jarvis," was uttered in rather a cool, repulsive tone, as he entered.
"Are you not in want of a journeyman, Mr. Warren?"
"I don't want you, Jarvis."
"If you will give me work, I'll never get drunk again, Mr. Warren."
"You've said that too many times, Jarvis. The last time you went off when I was hurried with work, and caused me to disappoint a customer, I determined never to have any thing more to do with you."
"But I'll never disappoint you again," urged the poor man earnestly.
"It's no use for you to talk to me, Jarvis. You and I are done with each other. I have made up my mind never again to have a man in my shop who drinks rum."
"But I've joined the temperance society, Mr. Warren."
"I don't care if you have: in two weeks you'll be lying in the gutter."
"I'll never drink liquor again if I die!" said Jarvis, solemnly.
"Look here, you drunken vagabond!" returned the master hatter in angry tones, coming from behind the counter, and standing in front of the individual he was addressing"if you are not out of this shop in two minutes by the watch, I'll kick you into the street! So there nowtake your choice to go out, or be kicked out."
Jarvis turned sadly away without a reply, and passed out of the door through which he had entered with a heart full of hope, now pained, and almost ready to recede from his earnest resolution and pledge to become a sober man and a better husband and father. He felt utterly discouraged. As he walked slowly along the street, the fumes of a coffee-house which he was passing, unconsciously, struck upon his sense, and immediately came an almost overpowering desire for his accustomed potation. He paused
"Now that I try to reform, they turn against me," he sighed bitterly. "It is no use; I am gone past hope!"
One step was taken towards the tavern-door, when it seemed as if a strong hand held him back.
"Nono!" he murmured, "I have taken the pledge, and I will stand by it, if I die!" Then moving resolutely onward, he soon found himself near the door of another hatter's-shop. Hope again kindled up in his bosom, and he entered.
"Don't you want a hand, Mr. Mason?" he asked, in a hesitating tone.
"Not a drunken one, Jarvis," was the repulsive answer.
"But I've reformed, Mr. Mason."
"So I should think from your looks."
"But, indeed, Mr. Mason I have quit drinking, and taken the pledge."
"To break it in three days. Perhaps three hours."
"Won't you give me work, Mr. Mason, if I promise to be sober?"
"No! For I would not give a copper for your promises."
Poor Jarvis, turned away. When he had placed his hand to the pledge, he dreamed not of these repulses and difficulties. He was a good workman, and he thought that any one of his old employers would be glad to get him back again, so soon as they learned of his having signed the total-abstinence pledge. But he had so often promised amendment, and so often broken his promise and disappointed them, that they had lost all confidence in him; at least, the two to whom he had, thus far, made application.
After leaving the shop of Mr. Mason, Jarvis seemed altogether irresolute. He would walk on a few steps, and then pause to commune with his troubled and bewildered thoughts.
"I will try Lankford," said he, at length, half-aloud; "he will give me work, surely."
A brisk walk of some ten minutes brought him to the door of a small hatter's-shop in a retired street. Behind the counter of this shop stood an old man, busily employed in ironing a hat. There was something benevolent in his countenance and manner. As Jarvis entered, he looked up, and a shade passed quickly over his face.
"Good morning, Mr. Lankford," said Jarvis, bowing, with something like timidity and shame in his manner.
"Are you not afraid to come here, John?" replied the old man, sternly.
"I am ashamed to come, but not afraid. You will not harm me, I know."
"Don't trust to that, John. Did you not steal, ay, that is the worddid you not steal from me the last time I employed you?" The old man was stern and energetic in his manner.
"I was so wicked as to take a couple of skins, Mr. Lankford, but I did very wrong, and am willing to repay you for them, if you will give me work. I was in liquor when I did it, and, when in liquor, I have no distinct consciousness of the evil of any action."
"Give you work, indeed! O, no! John; I cannot give you another chance to rob me."
"But I will not get drunk any more. And you know, Mr. Lankford, that while I was a sober man, and worked for you, I never wronged you out of a sixpence worth."
"Won't get drunk any more! Ah! John, I have lived too long in. the world, and have seen too much, to heed such promises."
"But I am in earnest, Mr. Lankford. I signed the pledge this morning."
"You!" in a tone of surprise.
"Yes, I signed it."
"Ah, John," after a pause, and shaking his head. incredulously, "I cannot credit your word, and I am sorry for it."
"If I have signed the pledge, and if I am really determined to be a reformed man, will you give me work, Mr. Lankford!"
The old man thought for a few moments, and then said, half-sorrowfully
"I am afraid of you, John. You are such an old offender on the score of drunkenness, that I have no confidence in your power to keep the pledge."
"Then what shall I do!" the poor wretch exclaimed, in tones that made the heart of the old man thrillfor nature and pathos were in them. "Now that I am trying in earnest to do better, no one will give me a word of encouragement, nor a helping hand. Heaven help me!for I am forsaken of man."
Mr. Lankford stood thoughtful and irresolute for some moments. At length, he said
"John, if you will bring me a certificate from Mr. R, that you have signed the total-abstinence pledge, I will give you another trial. But if you disappoint me again, you and I are done for ever."
The countenance of Jarvis brightened up instantly. He turned quickly away, without reply, and hurried off to the store of Mr. R, the secretary of the society he had joined. The certificate was, of course, obtained.
"And you have joined, sure enough, John," Mr. Lankford said, in a changed tone, as he glanced over the certificate.
"Indeed I have, Mr. Lankford."
"And you seem in earnest."
"If I was ever in earnest about any thing in my life, I am in earnest now."
"Keep to your pledge, then, John, and all will be well. While you were a sober man, I preferred you to any journeyman in my shop. Keep sober, and you shall never want a day's work while I am in business."
The poor man was now shown his place in the shop, and once again he resumed his work, though under a far different impulse than had, for years, nerved him to action.
Two hours brought his regular dinner-time, when Jarvis, who began to feel the want of food, returned home, with new and strange feelings about his heart. One impulse was to tell his wife what he had done, and what he was doing. But then he remembered how often he had mocked her new springing hopeshow often he had promised amendment, and once even joined a temperance society, only to relapse into a lower and more degraded condition.