Little Wolf Part 16

"Yes Ned, she has."

Edward frowned slightly, but said nothing, for by that time, the doctor was hastening his sister away and his mother was gently calling him.

"Edward."

"Yes mother," and, entering her room, he threw himself carelessly into the seat which Louise had vacated.

For a few moments both were silent, and as the son looked into the mother's face, he plainly saw that she was filled with grief and anxiety; and his heart smote him for he really loved and revered his mother; but he resolved to appear as if he had observed nothing amiss, and, taking his hat to leave, he said quite cheerfully, "well mother what are your commands?"

"Edward I have a request to make of you," replied Mrs. Sherman with some feeling in her tone.

"Speak, mother dear," said he, falling pleasantly into his seat.

"It is my request, Edward, that you do not provide wine, or any other stimulant for our New Year's entertainment."

"What, not coffee, mother?" said Edward laughingly.

"You know very well what I mean," said Mrs. Sherman with a faint smile.

"Of course it shall be as you wish," said he more seriously, "but really, mother, I think you are too strict. I am afraid our friends will have a mean opinion of our hospitality."

"They will, of course, understand that we are principled against the use of intoxicating drinks.

"As a beverage," chimed in Edward with a touch of irony in his tone.

Mrs. Sherman looked hurt, and Edward repented again. "Mother," said he, "forgive me, I did not intend to wound you. Let us drop a subject upon which we cannot agree.

"But, Edward, I cannot bear that we should differ. I have always endeavored to instil correct principles into the minds of my children, and now, just as they are on the threshold of what might be a useful life, I find the tares which an enemy had sown beginning to spring up.

"But mother, you know I do not approve of indulging to excess any more than you do. It is only the total abstinence principles to which I object, and even Louise says she can see no harm in an occasional social gla.s.s."

"Does Miss DeWolf say the same," said Mrs. Sherman fixing her eyes on Edward.

"I do not know, I am sure," replied Edward nervously twirling his hat, "I have never had any conversation with her on the subject."

"Miss DeWolf is orthodox, I am prepared to testify," exclaimed Louise, tripping into the room, and, before any question could be put as to the cause of her sudden return, she gratuitously gave the information.

"A man had a fit or something," she said, "and I must forsooth, lose my ride, for the doctor's motto is business before pleasure; a very good motto when I am not concerned, but if the man could only have been taken an hour or two later, it would have been a great accommodation. However," and she glanced archly at her brother, "I should then have lost the opportunity of eavesdropping, and consequently of giving in my testimony in favor of my future sister-in-law."

"Thank you, I suppose you obtained your information of my future brother-in-law."

"No matter how I got it, but I'm fully prepared to prove that the young lady's principles are severely 'touch not, taste not, handle not.' We have a great work before us, Ned, for they will not easily be persuaded to our opinions I can a.s.sure you."

"I do not wish to influence my friends to think just as I do," said Edward, proudly.

"Well, somehow you have managed to make me think as you do, for you know I was once as strict as mother."

"I hope you have not changed your views on my account, Louise."

"No, not exactly, Ned, yet, I must confess, your arguments have had great weight with me."

"I would advise you to reconsider, and think independently," said Edward rather sharply.

Louise was silent, and Mrs. Sherman now seized the opportunity to change the topic to one more intimately connected with their future plans and prospects. In this the attention of the trio was absorbed until towards evening, when they were interrupted by the doctor's well known knock.

The doctor looked pale and worn, and, as he seated himself, Edward remarked, "you look tired doctor."

"Yes, I _am_ tired," replied the doctor, "I am tired of the world, or rather I am tired of the way we are living in it. I have had an aggravated case of delirium tremens on my hands this afternoon, and I wish every liquor seller in Pendleton could have looked in upon that distressed family. A young and interesting wife, and several small children were compelled to witness a scene of suffering, the horrors of which were truly appalling."

"It is strange," said Edward, "that men will make such beasts of themselves."

"It is strange," said the doctor, "that if men have no hearts of pity, that we can not have laws to prevent the sale of the poison."

"But, doctor, men are not compelled to buy it."

"But, Sherman, men _will_ buy it, and will drink it, the proof of which is before us every day we live. These temperance societies are no doubt most of them useful to society, but they do not deal the death-blow to the monster. Nothing but the law can do that. I know your opinion, Sherman, but in the name of humanity, what are we to do?"

"Why, doctor, we shall have to let men kill themselves if they will be so foolish. We cannot forbid the sale of pistols, because men often use them for purposes of committing suicide; and, even to suppose that a man is quite certain when he sells a deadly weapon to another, that he will use it for the purpose of self distruction, I hold that he has the legal right to sell it; that he has no moral right I readily admit."

"I do not understand law, Sherman; _perhaps_ our const.i.tution is so framed that the people have not the power to say whether or not, our nation shall become a nation of drunkards; perhaps the thousands of intelligent men, who, heart-sick as I am this day in view of the dreadful consequences accruing from the sale of intoxicating drinks, have ignorantly pet.i.tioned their state legislature for a prohibitory law, which they had no power to enact; perhaps those judges are correct who have said their state can not have a law that would restore peace and happiness to thousands of families, whose sorrow it is too harrowing to think upon. I say, _perhaps_, for, I cannot but hope that judges who are equally intelligent and who have told us differently may not be mistaken. One thing is certain, the hand of the liquor dealer must be stayed, or in every house there will be one dead."

"Public opinion might do much towards accomplishing the desired object," suggested Mrs. Sherman."

"True enough, Mrs. Sherman, said the doctor, "but public opinion must have its naps, and at best it is seldom half awake and it requires an immoderate amount of force to bring the sleepy thing to the right standpoint."

"Well, doctor, I am willing to use my little strength in the cause, although I regret to say that my efforts as far as my family are concerned have proved entirely fruitless."

The doctor turned a surprised look towards Louise, whose face was instantly suffused with blushes.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE NEW YEAR'S BALL--A CHECK TO FESTIVITY--THE MIDNIGHT RIDE--DEATH IN THE OLD BROWN HOUSE.

Holiday festivities and dancing parties were words synonymous in the early settlement of Minnesota, and, although Mrs. Sherman would have been shocked at the bare idea of her daughter attending a public ball in her native village, the influences of a new country so wrought upon her prejudices, that her scruples gradually yielded; and, when Louise rather doubtfully asked permission to attend a party of the kind to be given on New Year's Eve, she gained a reluctant consent.

"I could not consent on any account, Louise," said her mother with a view to excuse this apparant departure from her principles, "if I had not sometime ago had some conversation with the doctor on the subject.

I have great confidence in his judgment, and, I am sure he would not desire it, if it were not a proper place for you. However, I have my misgivings, for I never was allowed to go to such a place when I was young," and she sighed, "but as the Doctor says, there is no other amus.e.m.e.nt for the young in this new country," and she sighed again.

"Is Miss DeWolf going, Louise?"

"Yes, mother, Ned says he had hard work to persuade her to go. She don't like to leave her father. What a pity he is such a sot. I believe I should detest such a father. I don't see how she can be so good to him."

"She is a dutiful daughter, Louise, and a n.o.ble girl, and I hope nothing will ever happen to prevent her becoming Edward's wife."

"What can prevent it mother? I'm sure Ned is handsome, and talented and rich enough for anybody."