GOLD KING. 23 that he did not advise it, when he first began to leave off spirit, for he feared his strength might fail him. “ But now,” said he, “ you have continued five months, without touching a drop, and it would be well for the cause, that you should sign the pledge.” “ Friend Johnson,” said my husband, “ when a year has gone safely by, I will sign the pledge. For five months, instead of the pledge, I have in every trial and temptation—and a drinking man knows well the force and meaning of those words—I have relied upon this gold ring, to renew my strength, and remind me of my duty to God, to my wife, to my children, and to society. Whenever the struggle of appetite has commenced, I have looked upon this ring: 1 have remembered that it was given, with the last words and dying counsels of an excellent mother, to my wife, who placed it there ; and, under the blessing of Almighty God, it has proved, thus far, the life-boat of a drowning man.” The year soon passed away ; and on the very Jay twelvemonth, on which 1 had put
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