THE PRICE OF A DRINK.

"Five cents a glass!" Does any one think That that is really the price of a drink?

"Five cents a glass," I hear you say.

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"Why, that isn't very much to pay."

Ah, no, indeed! 'tis a very small sum

You are passing over 'twixt finger and thumb;
And, if that were all that you gave away,
It wouldn't be very much to pay.

The price of a drink? Let him decide
Who has lost his courage and lost his pride,
And lies a groveling heap of clay,

Not far removed from a beast today.

The price of a drink? Let that one tell
Who sleeps to-night in a murderer's cell,
And feels within him the fires of hell.
Honor and virtue, love and truth,
All the glory and pride of youth,
Hopes of manhood, and wreath of fame,
High endeavor and noble aim-
These are the treasures thrown away
As the price of a drink from day to day.

The price of a drink! If you want to know
What some are willing to pay for it, go

Through the wretched tenement over there,
With dingy windows and broken stair,
Where foul disease like a vampire crawls
With outstretched wings o'er the moldy walls.
There poverty dwells with her hungry brood,
Wild-eyed as demons for lack of food;
There shame, in a corner, crouches low;
There violence deals its cruel blow;
And innocent ones are thus accurst
To pay the price of another's thirst.

"Five cents a glass!" Oh, if that were all,
The sacrifice would, indeed, be small!
But the money's worth is the least amount
We pay; and, whoever will keep account,
Will learn the terrible waste and blight
That follows the ruinous appetite.

"Five cents a glass!" Does any one think
That that is really the price of a drink?

Ralph-Good morning, Cousin Laura! I have a word

to say to you.

Laura-Only a word! It is yet half an hour until school time, and I can listen.

Ralph-I saw you yesterday speaking to that fellow Sterling-Frank Sterling.

Laura-Of course I spoke to Frank. What then? Is he too good to be spoken to?

Ralph-Far from it. You must give up his acquain

tance.

Laura-Indeed, Cousin Ralph! I must give up his acquaintance? On what compulsion must I.

Ralph-If you do not wish to be ignored by all the boys of the academy, you must ignore Frank.

Laura-Ignore! What do you mean by ignore?

Ralph-By ignore, I mean not recognizing an individual. When a boy who knows you, passes you without speaking or bowing, he ignores you.

Laura—I thank you for the explanation. And I am to understand that I must either give up the acquaintance of my friend Frank, or submit to the terrible mortification of being "ignored" by Mr. Ralph Burton and his companions!

Ralph-Certainly. Frank is a boy of no spirit-in short, a coward.

Laura-How has he shown it?

Ralph-Why, a dozen boys have dared him to fight, and he refuses to do it.

Laura-And is your test of courage a willingness to fight? If so, a bull-dog is the most courageous of gentle

men.

Ralph-I am serious, Laura; you must give him up. Why, the other day Tom Harding put a chip on a fellow's hat, and dared Frank Sterling to knock it off. But Sterling folded his arms and walked off, while we all groaned and hissed.

Laura-You did? You groaned and hissed? Oh, Ralph, I did not believe you had so little of the true gentleman about you!

Ralph-What do you mean? Come, now, I do not like

that.

Laura-Were you at the great fire last night?

Ralph-Yes; Tom Harding and I helped work one of the engines.

Laura-Did you see that boy go up the ladder?

Ralph-Yes; wouldn't I like to be in his shoes! They say the Humane Society are going to give him a medal; for he saved a baby's life and no mistake—at the risk of his own, too; everybody said so; for the ladder he went up was all charred and weakened, and it broke short off before he got to the ground.

Laura--What boy was it?

Ralph-Nobody could find out, but I suppose the morning paper will tell us all about it.

Laura-I have a copy. Here's the account: "Great fire; house tenanted by poor families; baby left in one of the upper rooms; ladder much charred; firemen too heavy to go up; boy came forward, ran up; seized an infant; descended safely; gave it into arms of frantic mother."

is?

Ralph-Is the boy's name mentioned?

Laura-Ay! Here it is! And who do you think he

Ralph-Do not keep me in suspense.

Laura—Well then, he's the boy who was so afraid of knocking a chip off your hat-Frank Sterling the coward, as you called him.

Ralph-No! Let me see the paper for myself. There's the name, sure enough, printed in capital letters.

Laura-But, cousin, how much more illustrious an achievement it would have been for him to have knocked a chip off your hat! Risking his life to save a chip of a baby was a small matter compared with that. Can the gratitude of a mother for saving her baby make amends for the ignominy of being ignored by Mr. Tom Harding and Mr. Ralph Burton?

Ralph-Don't laugh at me any more, Cousin Laura. I see I've been stupidly in the wrong. Frank Sterling is no coward. I'll ask his pardon this very day.