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MRS. B. Edwin, how can I get supper? There is only halt a loaf of bread in the house.

MR. B. Well, set it up; set it up. Must have somethin' to eat. Been out all night-ought to have somethin'. You are a fine woman, now aint you? I've come home and there's no supper ready.

FRANK (seated on his cot). Papa, there is nothing but a piece of bread. Mamma didn't eat anything at all this evening.

MR. B. Shut up, you whinin' pup. What are you talkin' about anyhow? I tell you, Mary, you lazy woman, I must have my supper. (Angrily.) Do you hear what I'm sayin'? MRS. B. (rising.) Yes, Edwin, I will get the bread for you. It is all we have.

MR. B. Why didn't you have somethin' more? Been sewin', haven't you? Why didn't you sell yer sewin' and buy some beef an' fried oysters?

MRS. B. I was working as fast as I could

MR. B. Shut up! You're a lazy, good-fur-nothin' old reprobate. I might as well kill you an' be done with it. (Seizes a chair and raises it.)

MRS. B. Oh, Edwin!

FRANK (running to his mother). Oh, papa, don't! Oh! oh! MR. B. (Sets chair down.) Git the supper then or I'll kill you right on the spot. I don't want no foolin'. You're nothin' but a lazy, whinin', good-fur-nuthin' woman. (Angrily.) Yes, curses on you, I'll kill you anyhow. (Raises chair to strike; Mrs. Barnwell and Frank scream. Enter hastily Dennis Mc Toozle; he grasps Mr. Barnwell and throws him down The chair falls on the floor.

DENNIS. Ye murdtherin' ould haythen, what w'ud yez be doin' onyhow? [Curtain.

ACT III.

SCENE.-A saloon. Shelf on which are bottles, and glasses, Ben Watson behind bar. Mark Harley and Dave Crafton, seated at a table, with empty glasses, etc.

MARK. Dave, I'll bet I can beat you singin'.

DAVE. I'll bet you can't.

BEN. Don't want no singin' here. You mustn't be so noisy. I keep a respectable saloon,

DAVE. Yes, you do. You're a purty square man and you keep a purty good house.

MARK. Yes, that's so. But I could sing kind of easy, you know-I think I can sing "Annie Rooney" 'bout as well as the nex' feller.

BEN. Wont have no singin' here. If you want to sing you can go out into the street.

MARK. Guess I wont go out. Come to think about it I guess I don't want to sing. It's all right, I wont sing; I'll pass "Annie Rooney." That is-I'll not warble any this evenin'.

Enter Mr. Barnwell in worn and ragged clothes.

DAVE (to Mark). There's Ed. Barnwell. Looks kind of ratty, doesn't he?

MARK (to Dave). I think he's going down hill purty fast. MR. B. (to Ben.) Give me a drink.

BEN. Got any money?

MR. B. No, but I'll make it all right.

BEN. You'll get no more drinks here till you pay up. You owe me somethin' over two dollars now.

MR. B. Oh, I'll make that all right. I want a drink now. I'm a'most wild.

BEN. Well you'll be a hanged sight wilder afore you get any more drinks from me unless you pay up.

MR. B.

Oh, come now, give me a drink! I tell you I'll settle up soon. I'm goin' to work to-morrow. Just want a drink to brace me up.

BEN. Get out of the house or I'll brace you up. Get out or I'll kick you out. I've had enough of your whinin' and beggin' around here. Get out, I say.

Enter Dennis McToozle. He stands at one side.

MR. B. (aroused.) Yes, I will get out, and let me say, Ben Watson, I'll never enter your saloon again.

DENNIS (aside). He's talkin' loike a gintleman now. MR. B. I've been a fool. The accursed appetite which was created here shall be subdued. I have a mind-I have a will, and I have taken the last drink of your soul destroying liquor. I am a degraded being, but you are one of the vilest of the devil's shop-keepers. You have no rum for me now,-no! But while I had money the drink flowed freely and you were willing that it should brace me up.

DENNIS (aside). Faith, an' aint he rainin' it down onto him? MR. B. Ben Watson, may the curse of God rest on you

and on all rumsellers. I have been your dupe. I have been a slave to my appetite. I have spent my money here while my family was starving. I have made a degraded, besotted being of myself but, by the help of God, it shall go on no longer.

DENNIS (aside). Now that makes me feel like hollerin'. Hurrah! Shure an' he's got some av the qualities av a gintleman about him yet.

MR. B. I am going to show you that I can be a man. I have entered your rum hole for the last time. Go on, Ben Watson in your infamous work; bring others down as you have brought me, and then, when their money is gone, turn them with curses from your door! Go on, Ben Watson, and you shall have your reward!

BEN. Ed. Barnwell, if you have commenced to turn over a new leaf, why don't you turn it over? You needn't stand there talking about it. I don't want you to tell me what you are going to do. I have heard that kind of prating before and I have heard enough from you (advancing from behind bar). There's the door. Go!

DENNIS (aside). Faith an' Oi'd loike to take a hand in that scrimmage. (To Ben.) Lay a finger jist on that gintleman and Oi'll knock yez into the middle av nixt week an' kick yez whin ye git there.

BEN. Who are you? How dare you interfere with my business?

DENNIS. Oi'm a Scotchman, be jabers, from the north av Ireland, an' faix Oi'm able to tache yez a lesson in good manners. Let this man go on wid his spache an' trate him respictfully. Oi want yez to und herstand that there sha'n't be ony more interruptions. Now d'ye moind that?

BEN. Here Mark, Dave, I want your help. These hounds must be pitched out.

[Exit.

MARK (aside). There's goin' to be a fight; I'll go. DAVE (aside). I aint no fighter and I don't want to git mixed up in no bar-room squabbles.

[Exit.

BEN (grabbing Mr. Barnwell). Get out, I say! Out of my house!

DENNIS (catching Ben and hurling him backwards upon the floor). Faith an' if yez git my dander up Oi'll clane the shop

[Curtain

ACT IV.

SCENE.-A room neatly furnished. Mrs. Barnwell and Frank sear ed; Mrs. Barnwell sewing; Frank reading.

FRANK. Mamma, we are just as happy now as we can be We have no troubles at all. I can go to school and we al ways have plenty to eat and a good fire to keep us warm. Oh, I am so glad that papa has stopped drinking. My clothes are good and I can go out now without feeling as if I didn't want people to see me. (Rises and walks about.) I think these are pretty nice pants. And, mamma, aren't these nice boots? I don't feel now like I used to when papa was drinking so much. I feel so glad about the way it has turned out that I thank God ever so much at night when I say my prayers. Oh, I think I'm just the gladdest boy in the world!

MRS. B. Yes, my child, we are happy now. We have had dark days but they are past and the sunlight breaks through the clouds.

FRANK. I wish papa would come. I want to speak my piece for him. I have it all learned now. Papa said he thought I could have it learned against this evening.

MR. B. (entering.) Very well, Frank, I will hear it now. (To Mrs. B.) I was detained a little while this evening. 1 had some extra work to do. As I came in I heard my little Frank say that he wanted to speak his piece for me. I am ready now to hear him, and we will have our supper afterwards. (Any recitation can be introduced here, or a song substituted; after which a knock at door, Mr. B. opening it.) Ah, my friend, come in.

DENNIS (entering). Shure an' Oi wull. Oi've been wantin' to call an' pay me respicts while Oi was in the village an' Oi thought Oi w'd do so this avenin'.

MR. B. I'm sure I am glad to see you. You have befriended me on two occasions at least, but you have always disappeared so suddenly that I have failed to ascertain your name. DENNIS. Me name, misther, is Dennis McToozle, an' Oi was born an' raised on the grane sod av ould Ireland.

MR. B. Mary, this gentleman has twice befriended me, once, as you know, when I, frenzied with liquor, was on the point of striking you down. The thought of it fills me with the deepest shame! Of course we all feel grateful for his

interference on that occasion. I present him as a man who has proved to be a friend in need and a friend indeed. And although so kind I have just learned his name is-Dennis McToozle.

MRS. B. (advancing and taking his hand.) Truly I thank you for what you have done.

DENNIS. Shure an' Oi always thry to do my duty to my fellow man. An' now Oi'll ixplain this matther. Some three years ago this man, your husband, did a kind act fur me. He gave me foive dollars whin Oi hadn't a penny to me name-an' Oi didn't ax him fur it aither. An' faith Oi hadn't had a bite to ate fur two days. Oi was on the hunt av work an' was axin' him about it jist, whin he tould me where he thought Oi could get it an' thin he gave me the foive dollars into the bargain. Wull, Oi kept sight av him fur Oi knowed he was a gintleman. Indade, it a'most broke me heart whin Oi saw how he was goin' down the hill by his dhrinkin' an' neglectin' his work! But, sure, it's all roight now. He's kept as straight as a clergyman fur seven months an' Oi fale sure he wull stand as firm as the rock av Gibralter.

MR. B. "By the grace of God I am what I am."

FRANK (coming forward and taking Dennis by the hand). Oh, mister, I will always like you. You have been a very good man and I want you to stay with us always.

DENNIS. Faith an' Oi'll kape an eye on yez onyhow. Oi niver forgit a man whin he does me a kindness.

Frank faces audience. Mr. and Mrs. Barnwell stand at one side of Frank, Dennis at the other.

FRANK. Our troubles are over and I am so glad. Papa's all right and I've got new pants and new boots. (Sets out one foot and looks at his boot.)

MR. B. Our darkest days are past

MRS. B. And sunshine comes at last.

DENNIS. And if any man here has a thirst for the vile, soul destroying liquor--and is in the power av the demon, let him send fur me jist an' Oi'll endeavor to git him out. That's all.

[Curtain.

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