human
Don't let it distress you so, Margaret, said the former, trying to comfort his wife.
gpt
There's nothing to fear for Archie. Nobody ever heard of a man getting lost in a city snow-storm. If he'd been out on a prairie, the case would have been different, but in the streets of the city! The thing's preposterous, Margaret.
human
Oh, if he'd only gone away as he came, I wouldn't feel so awfully about it, returned Mrs. Birtwell.
gpt
That's what cuts me to the heart. To think that he came to my house sober and went away--
human
Nothing of the kind, Margaret, nothing of the kind, said her husband, quickly.
gpt
A little gay--that was all. Just what is seen at parties every night. Archie hasn't much head, and a single glass of champagne is enough to set it buzzing. But it's soon over. The effervescence goes off in a little while, and the head comes clear again.
human
If anything has happened to Archie, she said, after a long silence,
gpt
I shall never have a moment's peace as long as I live.
human
Nonsense, Margaret! Suppose something has happened to him? We are not responsible. It's his own fault if he took away more wine than he was able to carry.
gpt
If he hadn't found the wine here, he could not have carried it away,
human
How wildly you talk, Margaret!
gpt
We won't discuss the matter, said his wife.
human
It would be useless, agreement being, I fear, out of the question; but it is very certain that we cannot escape responsibility in this or anything else we may do, and so long as these words of Holy Writ stand, _'Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him and maketh him drunken'_, we may well have serious doubts in regard to the right and wrong of these fashionable entertainments, at which wine and spirits are made free to all of both sexes, young and old.
gpt
If _we_ had a son just coming to manhood--and I sometimes thank God that we have not--would you feel wholly at ease about him, wholly satisfied that he was in no danger in the houses of your friends? May not a young man as readily acquire a taste for liquors in a gentleman's dining-room as in a drinking-saloon--nay, more readily, if in the former the wine is free and bright eyes and laughing lips press him with invitations?
human
I saw things last night that troubled me, she went on.
gpt
There is no disguising the fact that most of the young men who come to these large parties spend a great deal too much time in the supper-room, and drink a great deal more than is good for them. Archie Voss was not the only one who did this last evening. I watched another young man very closely, and am sorry to say that he left our house in a condition in which no mother waiting at home could receive her son without sorrow and shame.
human
Who was that?
gpt
Ellis,
human
You must be mistaken about that,
gpt
I wish to Heaven that I were! But the fact was too apparent. Blanche saw it, and tried to get him out of the supper-room. He acted in the silliest kind of a way, and mortified her dreadfully, poor child!
human
Such things will happen sometimes, said Mr. Birtwell.
gpt
Young men like Ellis don't always know how much they can bear.
human
It happens too often with Ellis, replied his wife,
gpt
Has it happened before?
human
Yes; at Mrs. Gleason's, only last week. He was loud and boisterous in the supper-room--so much so that I heard a lady speak of his conduct as disgraceful.
gpt
That will never do, exclaimed Mr. Birtwell, betraying much excitement.
human
He will have to change all this or give up Blanche. I don't care what his family is if he isn't all right himself.
gpt
It is easier to get into trouble than out of it, was replied.
human
Things have gone too far between them.
gpt
I don't believe it. Blanche will never throw herself away on a man of bad habits.
human
No; I do not think she will. But there may be, in her view, a very great distance between an occasional glass of wine too much at an evening party and confirmed bad habits. We must not hope to make her see with our eyes, nor to take our judgment of a case in which her heart is concerned. Love is full of excuses and full of faith. If Ellis Whitford should, unhappily, be overcome by this accursed appetite for drink which is destroying so many of our most promising young men, there is trouble ahead for her and for us.
gpt
Something must be done about it. We cannot let this thing go on, said Mr. Birtwell, in a kind of helpless passion.
human
A drunkard is a beast. Our Blanche tied to a beast! Ugh! Ellis must be talked to. I shall see him myself. If he gets offended, I cannot help it. There's too much at stake--too much, too much!
gpt
Talking never does much in these cases, returned Mrs. Birtwell, gloomily.
human
Ellis would be hurt and offended.
gpt
So far so good. He'd be on guard at the next party.
human
Perhaps so. But what hope is there for a young man in any danger of acquiring a love of liquor as things now are in our best society? He cannot always be on guard. Wine is poured for him everywhere. He may go unharmed in his daily walks through the city though thousands of drinking-saloons crowd its busy streets. They may hold out their enticements for him in vain. But he is too weak to refuse the tempting glass when a fair hostess offers it, or when, in the midst of a gay company wine is in every hand and at every lip. One glass taken, and caution and restraint are too often forgotten. He drinks with this one and that one, until his clear head is gone and appetite, like a watchful spider, throws another cord of its fatal web around him.
gpt
I don't see what we are to do about it, said Mr. Birtwell.
human
If men can't control themselves--
gpt
We can at least refrain from putting temptation in their way,
human
How?
gpt
We can refuse to turn our houses into drinking-saloons,
human
Margaret, Margaret, you are losing yourself,
gpt
No; I speak the words of truth and soberness, she answered, her face rising in color and her eyes brightening.
human
What great difference is there between a drinking-saloon, where liquor is sold, and a gentleman's dining-room, where it is given away? The harm is great in both--greatest, I fear, in the latter, where the weak and unguarded are allured and their tastes corrupted. There is a ban on the drinking-saloon. Society warns young men not to enter its tempting doors. It is called the way of death and hell. What makes it accursed and our home saloon harmless? It is all wrong, Mr. Birtwell--all wrong, wrong, wrong! and to-day we are tasting some of the fruit, the bitterness of which, I fear, will be in our mouths so long as we both shall live.
gpt
I must go to Frances,
human
Not now, Margaret, interposed her husband.
gpt
Wait for a while. Archie is neither murdered nor frozen to death; you may take my word for that. Wait until the morning advances, and he has time to put in an appearance, as they say. Henry can go round after breakfast and make inquiry about him. If he is still absent, then you might call and see Mrs. Voss. At present the snow lies inches deep and unbroken on the street, and you cannot possibly go out.
human
Oh, if it hadn't happened in our house! she said.
gpt
If this awful thing didn't lie at our door!
human
Good Heavens, Margaret! why will you take on so? Any one hearing you talk might think us guilty of murder, or some other dreadful crime. Even if the worst fears are realized, no blame can lie with us. Parties are given every night, and young men, and old men too, go home from them with lighter heads than when they came. No one is compelled to drink more than is good for him. If he takes too much, the sin lies at his own door.
gpt
I know, replied Mr. Birtwell.
human
But I didn't choose to make myself a laughing-stock. If we are in society, we must do as society does. Individuals are not responsible for social usages. They take things as they find them, going with the current, and leaving society to settle for itself its code of laws and customs. If we don't like these laws and customs, we are free to drift out of the current. But to set ourselves against them is a weakness and a folly.
gpt
If society, answered his wife,
human
Is it not made up of individuals?
gpt
Of course.
human
And is not each of the individuals responsible, in his degree, for the conduct of society?
gpt
In a certain sense, yes.
human
Society, as a whole, cannot determine a question of right and wrong. Only individuals can do this. Certain of these, more independent than the rest, pass now and then from the beaten track of custom, and the great mass follow them. Because they do this or that, it is right or in good taste and becomes fashionable. The many are always led by the few. It is through the personal influence of the leaders in social life that society is now cursed by its drinking customs. Personal influence alone can change these customs, and therefore every individual becomes responsible, because he might if he would set his face against them, and any one brave enough to do this would find many weaker ones quick to come to his side and help him to form a better social sentiment and a better custom.
gpt
All very nicely said, replied Mr. Birtwell,
human
So would I. Though every lip but mine kept silence, there would be one to do him honor.
gpt
You would be alone, I fear,
human
When a man does a right and brave thing, all true men honor him in their hearts. All may not be brave enough to stand by his side, but a noble few will imitate the good example. Give the leader in any cause, right or wrong, and you will always find adherents of the cause. No, my husband, I would not be alone in doing that man honor. His praise would be on many lips and many hearts would bless him. I only wish you were that man! Spencer, if you will consent to take this lead, I will walk among our guests the queenliest woman, in heart at least, to be found in any drawing-room this season. I shall not be without my maids-of-honor, you may be sure, and they will come from the best families known in our city. Come! say yes, and I will be prouder of my husband than if he were the victorious general of a great army.
gpt
No, thank you, my dear, replied Mr. Birtwell, not in the least moved by his wife's enthusiasm.
human
I am not a social reformer, nor in the least inclined that way. As I find things I take them. It is no fault of mine that some people have no control of their appetites and passions. Men will abuse almost anything to their own hurt. I saw as many of our guests over-eat last night as over-drink, and there will be quite as many headaches to-day from excess of terrapin and oysters as from excess of wine. It's no use, Margaret. Intemperance is not to be cured in this way. Men who have a taste for wine will get it, if not in one place then in another; if not in a gentleman's dining-room, then in a drinking-saloon, or somewhere else.
gpt
One fact does not invalidate another. Because men who have acquired a taste for wine will have it whether we provide it for them or not, it is no reason why we should set it before the young whose appetites are yet unvitiated and lure them to excesses. It does not make a free indulgence in wine and brandy any the more excusable because men overeat themselves.
human
But, broke in Mr. Birtwell, with the manner of one who gave an unanswerable reason,
gpt
Oysters and terrapin, replied Mrs. Birtwell, in a voice out of which she could hardly keep the contempt she felt for her husband's weak rejoinder,
human
MR. VOSS,