"Catch him behind, Tim," commanded the officer. "He's a poacher and I'm arrestin' him. And it's ten years for tryin' to shoot me. Grab him, Tim."

From the tail of his dull eye Murdock saw the man edging behind to seize him.

"The world is ag'in me-you're all ag'in me," he screamed. "I'll show ye! I ain't goin' to be abused by the whole world."

Driven to fury by the onset of the two upon one, with a violent twist he forced the butt of the rifle suddenly upward and rushed the officer back into a corner of the

room.

The man stumbled over a bench and they fell, Murdock above. At the same instant the rifle, clutched in the hands of both, barked, and the officer shrieked like a

woman.

Tim o' the Carry pulled Murdock away by the heels. The other lay moaning, his shirt smoldering just above his groin.

"You've killed that man! the landlord.

You've shot him!" gulped

For a little while Murdock stood in the middle of the floor, teetering back and forth, scrubbing his rough hand across his eyes. He seemed to be awaking slowly. The man on the floor writhed and was silent.

"He's a dead one!" squealed Tim. "You're drunk. You've done a killin'."

Murdock, holding his head aside like one who is afraid to look on a grisly spectacle, groped for his rifle, seized it, and rushed out of doors. He began to weep with the loud blubberings of a half-grown boy, wailing over and

over:

"I didn't mean to-I didn't mean to!"

Don't You Believe It

The devil is dead, some people have said,
With a very self-satisfied smile;

But I meekly replied, Who then since he died
Is doing his work all the while?

-The Ram's Horn.

The Cause of Temperance.

BY J. B. GOUGH.

Our cause is a progressive one. I have read the first constitution of the first temperance society formed in the State of New York in 1809, and one of the by-laws stated: "Any member of this association who shall be convicted of intoxication shall be fined a quarter of a dollar, except such act of intoxication shall take place on the Fourth of July, or any other regularly appointed military muster." We laugh at that now; but it was a serious matter in those days; it was in advance of the public sentiment of the age. The very men who adopted that principle were persecuted. They were hooted and pelted through the streets, the doors of their houses were blackened, their cattle mutilated. The fire of persecution scorched some men so that they left the work. Others worked on, and God blessed them. They worked hard. They lifted the first turf-prepared the bed in which to lay the corner-stone. They laid it, amid persecution and storm. They worked under the surface; and men almost forgot that there were busy hands laying the solid foundation far down beneath.

By and by they got the foundation above the surface, and then began another storm of persecution. Now we see the superstructure-pillar after pillar, tower after tower, column after column, with the capitals emblazoned with "Love, truth, sympathy and goodwill to men." We do not see its beauty yet; we do not see the magnificence of its superstructure yet, because it is in course of erection. Scaffolding, ropes, ladders, workmen ascending and descending, mar the beauty of the building; but, by and by, when the hosts who have labored shall come up over a thousand battlefields waving with bright grain never again to be crushed in the distillery-through vineyards, under trellised vines, with grapes hanging in all their purple glory, never again to be pressed into that which can debase and degrade mankind-when they shall come through orchards, under trees hanging thick with golden, pulpy fruit, never to be turned into that which can injure and debase-when they shall come up to the

last distillery and destroy it; to the last stream of liquid death and dry it up; to the last weeping wife and wipe her tears gently away; to the last child and lift him up to stand where God meant that child and man should stand; to the last drunkard and nerve him to burst the burning fetters and make a glorious accompaniment to the song of freedom by the clanking of his broken chains -then, ah! then will the copestone be set upon it, the scaffolding will fall with a crash, and the building will stand in its wondrous beauty before an astonished world. Loud shouts of rejoicing shall then be heard, and there will be joy in heaven, when the triumphs of a great enterprise usher in the day of the triumphs of the cross of Christ.

The Cause of Woe

At first all drunkards were moderate drinkers. Old men are drunkards, because young men drink. While the saloon door is open, every home is in danger. When the saloon dies, the devil will put on deep mourning.

It is not the last drink that makes the drunkard, but the first.

The devil makes every string pull toward the saloon, from hunger to politics.

The devil don't care how much we pray against the saloon, if we stop at that.

The liquor traffic can be improved when the devil can be made ashamed of himself.

One of the men of whom the devil is surest is the moderate drinker who thinks he is safe.

There are people who repeat the Lord's Prayer every day who have never thrown an ounce of their weight against the liquor traffic.

Make it right to sell whiskey, and it can not be proven that anything else is wrong.

-The Ram's Horn.

Mitigating Circumstances

BY J. G. HOLLAND

Among the various reasons assigned by those interested in procuring the commutation of the sentence pronounced upon a convicted murderer in this city, for demanding the executive clemency, we did not see one which was really stronger than any other. It is strange that this was overlooked by both the parties opposing each other in this movement. In a letter to the Governor we find the statement that the murderer was drunk when he inflicted the fatal blow upon his victim. Granting that this was the case, the question arises as to the responsibility for this man's drunkenness. To a great and criminal extent the responsibility undoubtedly rested upon him; but has it occurred to the community which so loudly calls for protection against murderous ruffianism, that it has consented to the existence of those conditions which all history has proved make murderous ruffianism certain? There is no reasonable doubt that every murderer now confined committed his crime under the direct or indirect influence of alcoholic drinks. Either under the immediate spur of the maddening poison, or through the brutality engendered by its habitual use, the murderous impulse was born. It is reasonably doubtful whether one of these criminals would have become a criminal if whiskey had been beyond his reach.

Now, who is to blame for establishing and maintaining all the conditions of danger to human life through murder? Why, the very community that complains of the danger, and calls for the execution of the murderers. So long as rum is sold at every street corner, with the license of the popular vote, men will drink themselves into brutality, and a percentage of those thus debasing themselves will commit murder. The sun is not more certain to rise in the morning than this event is to take place under these conditions. Fatal appetites are bred under this license. Diseased stomachs and brains are produced under it by the thousand. Wills are broken down and become useless for all purposes of self-restraint. And all this is done, let it be remembered, with the consent of the community, for a certain price in money, which the community appropriates as a revenue.

Then, when this license produces its legitimate resultsresults that always attend such license, and could have been distinctly foreseen in the light of experience-the community lifts its hands in holy horror, and clamors for the blood of the murderer in order to secure its own safety. It never thinks of drying up the fountain. It is easier to hang a man than shut up a grog-shop. It is easier to dry up a life than a revenue. It is easier to choke a prisoner than a politician.

We are not pleading for any murderer's life; but we have this to say: that so long as the sources of drunkenness are kept open, the killing of a murderer will have very little effect in staying the hand of murder, and securing the safety of human life. If this is what we are after in seeking the execution of the extreme penalty of the law, our object will be reached. We have this further to say, that a community knowing that the traffic in alcoholic liquors is sure to produce murders, and to render society unsafe, becomes virtually an accomplice before the fact of murder, and, therefore, responsible for all the dangers to itself that lie in the murderous impulse.

About the Saloon

You may think your head is level
But no matter what you think,
You are voting for the devil

When you vote to license drink.

The devil and the saloonkeeper are always pulling on the same rope.

The man who drinks a little drinks too much.

The man who makes a business of drinking will soon drink for a business.

The devil has both arms around the man who feels confident that moderate drinking won't hurt him.

-The Ram's Horn.