Then, of a sudden, she eyed Dick and his chums bravely.
"Boys," she said, "I hope the time will never come when you'll feel that it's manly to go out with the crowd and spend the evening in drinking." "The way we feel about it now," spoke Dick, sympathetically, "we'd rather be dead than facing any degradation of the sort." They were only boys, and they were strangers to the woman.

Moreover, little Mollie was looking pleadingly towards Dick, as if loath to let him go.

In her misery the young wife poured out her story to her sympathetic listeners.

Her husband had been a fine young fellow---was still young.

His drinking had begun only three months before.
"We have our own home, more than half paid for," added the woman, pointing to a pretty little cottage.