"You needn't order any liquors from Snyder."
"Why not?" Mr. Eldridge looked at his wife with some surprise.
"I'm going to have coffee, instead of wine, and brandy," said Mrs.
Eldridge, speaking firmly.
"Nonsense! You're jesting."
"No, I'm in earnest. These liquors are not only expensive, but
dangerous things to offer freely in mixed companies. Many boys get
their first taste for drink at fashionable parties, and many
reformed men have the old fiery thirst revived by a glass of wine
poured out for them in social hospitality. I am afraid to have my
conscience burdened with the responsibility which this involves."
"There is no question as to the injury that is done by this free
pouring out of liquors at our fashionable entertainments. I've long
enough seen that," said Mr. Eldridge; "but she will be a bold lady
who ventures to offer a cup of coffee in place of a glass of wine.
You had better think twice on this subject before you act once."
"I've done little else I but think about it for the last two hours,
and the more I think about it the more settled my purpose becomes."
"But what put this thing into your head?" inquired Mr. Eldridge.
"You were in full sail for party this morning, liquor and all; this
sudden tacking for a new course is a little surprising. I'm
puzzled."
"Your son put it into my head," replied Mrs. Eldridge.
"Henry? Well, that boy does beat all!" Mr. Eldridge did not speak
with disapprobation, but with a tone of pleasure in his voice. "And
so he proposed that we should have coffee instead of wine and
brandy?"
"Yes."
"Bravo for Henry! I like that. But what will people say, my dear? I
don't want to become a laughing stock."
"I'd rather have other people laugh at me for doing right," said
Mrs. Eldridge, "than to have my conscience blame me for doing
wrong."
"Must we give the party?" asked Mr. Eldridge, who did not feel much
inclined to brave public opinion.
"I don't see that we can well avoid doing so. Parties will be given,
and as Fanny is our niece, it will look like a slight towards her if
we hold back. No, she must have a party; and as I am resolved to
exclude liquor, we must come in first. Who knows but all the rest
may follow our example."
"Don't flatter yourself on any such result. We shall stand alone,
you may depend upon it."
The evening of the party came and a large company assembled at the
house of Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge. At eleven o'clock they passed to the
supper-room. On this time the thoughts of the host and hostess had
passed, ever and anon, during the whole evening, and not without
many misgivings as to the effect their entertainment would produce
on the minds of the company. Mr. Eldridge was particularly nervous
on the subject. There were several gentlemen present whom he knew to
be lovers of good wine; gentlemen at whose houses he had often been
entertained, and never without the exhilarating glass. How would
they feel? What would they think? What would they say? These
questions fairly haunted him; and he regretted, over and over again,
that he had yielded to his wife and excluded the liquors.
But there was no holding back now; the die was cast, and they must
stand to the issue. Mr. Eldridge tried to speak pleasantly to the
lady on his arm, as he ascended to the supper-room; but the words
came heavily from his tongue, for his heart was dying in him. Soon
the company were around the table, and eyes, critical in such
matters, taking hurried inventories of what it contained. Setting
aside the wine and brandy, the entertainment was of the most liberal
character, and the whole arrangement extremely elegant. At each end
of the table stood a large coffee-urn, surrounded with cups, the
meaning of which was not long a mystery to the company. After the
terrapin, oysters, salad, and their accompaniments, Mr. Eldridge
said to a lady, in a half-hesitating voice, as if he were almost
ashamed to ask the question,--
"Will you have a cup of coffee?"
"If you please," was the smiling answer. "Nothing would suit me
better."
"Delicious!" Mr. Eldridge heard one of the gentlemen, of whom he
stood most in dread, say. "This is indeed a treat. I wouldn't give
such a cup of coffee for the best glass of wine you could bring me."
"I am glad you are pleased," Mr. Eldridge could not help remarking,
as he turned to the gentleman.
"You couldn't have pleased me better," was replied.
Soon the cups were circling through the room, and every one seemed
to enjoy the rich beverage. It was not the ghost of coffee, nor
coffee robbed of its delicate aroma; but clear, strong, fragrant,
and mellowed by the most delicious cream. Having elected to serve
coffee, Mrs. Eldridge was careful that her entertainment should not
prove a failure through any lack of excellence in this article. And
it was very far from proving a failure. The first surprise being
over, one and another began to express an opinion on the subject to
the host and hostess.
"Let me thank you," said a lady, taking the hand of Mrs. Eldridge,
and speaking very warmly, "for your courage in making this
innovation upon a custom of doubtful prudence. I thank you, as a
mother, who has two sons here to-night."
She said no more, but Mrs. Eldridge understood well her whole
meaning.
"You are a brave man, and I honor you," was the remark of a
gentleman to Mr. Eldridge. "There will be many, I think, to follow
your good example. I should never have had the courage to lead, but
I think I shall be brave enough to follow, when it comes my turn to
entertain my friends."
Henry was standing by his father when this was said listening with
respectful, but deeply gratified attention.
"My son, sir," said Mr. Eldridge.
The gentleman took the boy by the hand, and while he held it, the
father added,--
"I must let the honor go to where it really is due. The suggestion
came from him. He is a Cadet of Temperance, and when the party was
talked of, he pleaded so earnestly for the substitution of coffee
for wine and brandy, and used such good reason for the change, that
we saw only one right course before us, and that we have adopted."
The gentleman, on hearing this, shook the lad's hand warmly, and
said,--
"Your father has reason to be proud of you, my brave boy! There is
no telling what good may grew out of this thing. Others will follow
your father's example, and hundreds of young men be saved from the
enticements of the wine cup."
With what strong throbs of pleasure did the boy's heart beat when
these words came to his ears! He had scarcely hoped for success when
he pleaded briefly, but earnestly, with his mother. Yet he felt that
he must speak, for to his mind, what she proposed doing was a great
evil. Since it had been resolved to banish liquor from the
entertainment, he had heard his father and mother speak several
times doubtfully as to the result; and more than once his father
expressed result that any such "foolish" attempt to run in the face
of people's prejudices had been thought of. Naturally, he had felt
anxious about the result; but now that the affair had gone off so
triumphantly, his heart was outgushing with pleasure.
The result was as had been predicted. Four parties were given to the
bride, and in each case the good example of Mrs. Eldridge was
followed. Coffee took the place of wine and brandy, and it was the
remark of nearly all, that there had been no pleasant parties during
the season.
So much for what a boy may do, by only a few right words spoken at
the right time, and in the right manner. Henry Eldridge was
thoughtful, modest, and earnest-minded. His attachment to the cause
of temperance was not a mere boyish enthusiasm, but the result of a
conviction that intemperance was a vice destructive, to both soul
and body, and one that lay like a curse and a plague-spot on
society, He could understand how, if the boys rejected, entirely,
the cup of confusion, the next, generation of men would be sober;
and this had led him to join the Cadets, and do all in his power to
get other lads to join also. In drawing other lads into the order,
he had been very successful; and now, in a few respectfully uttered,
but earnest words, he had checked the progress of intemperance in a
circle far beyond the ordinary reach of his influence.
Henry Eldridge was a happy boy that night.