Show TOM BROWNS resolution AND AND CAME OF IT A CHRISTMAS STORY in iii the year of grace 1870 there lived in woolfe street liverpool a car penter or joiner who was generally known as tom brown he was a married man and had three children aged respectively eight five and three years tom had thus a family of five to provide for he was considered by his shipmates shop mates to be a remarkably steady man as indeed he was he was not a total abstainer from intoxicating drinks but no one had ever seen him under the influence ol of liquor and as a rule he reached home at a reasonable hour every night I 1 should have said reached his brooms tr rooms for tom was only a lodger it cannot be said that he was a model husband like too many of his class he kept his smiles for his companions and took his frowns home with h him in he seldom spoke a kindly word to his wife and she a very fine specimen of an english woman patiently resigned herself to her lot finding her chief joy in the love of her children upon whom she lavished a wealth aj of love and a world of care when tom came home he always found his family well cared for clean and tidy nolif now if he was proud of anything it was of his children he frequently took home candy in his pocket for them he would even play with them and allow them to climb upon his knees yet he was frequently so ill tempered and morose that they would instinctively avoid him and play by themselves in a corner As a conse quence of toms disposition his wife knew very little of his business affairs and seldom ventured to ask where he was going or where he had been had anybody dared to hint to tom that he was not a modeL husband he would indeed have b byn n insulted being a good and stealy steady workman he found constant employment his earnings amounted to thirty three shillings per week eight dollars and of this sum he regularly gave his wife twenty eight keeping five for pocket money and tobacco 11 tom always expected and even demanded good food his wife could therefore save nothing and they were living as the saying goes from hand to mouth in england there hasteen has been for the past thirty years a very large number of societies called tontines Ton tines and in 1870 the members almost in ina variably metin a large room attached to some public house or saloon into these societies working men pay a certain sum per week for fifty weeks with the understanding that at christmas there shall be an equal division among the members of all the money in the treasury certain amounts are paid during sickness and a few pounds in the case of death but as a rule all these allowances are met by levies and fines and generally it at christmas a society to the funds of which a working man has been contributing a shilling per week will hand over to each of its members from twelve to fourteen dollars the worst feature about these societies is that they are held at a public house and the temptation to drink is increased bythe by the fact that the landlord himself is nearly always the treasurer it is his duty therefore to pay over the money to the members tom was a member of two of these institutions his wife knew about one of them but tom carefully kept all knowledge of the second from her and to that end had selected a house a considerable distance from where he resided in the early part of the year he was constant in his attendance at the weekly meetings of the second society and had become very friendly with several of its members so much so indeed that he frequently reached home with an empty pocket all his money having been spent in drink this compelled him either to borrow or go without his tobacco now it so happened that on going to the mee tingas usual one evening he became involved involve a in a dispute with one of the mern members bers matters took such a fierce turn that the two men had to be separated in order to pre vent a fight it has already been stated that tom possessed a very hasty and passionate temper he had one good quality if he formed a resolution or made a promise nothing could induce him to break his word his determination was strong after leaving the clubroom club room he remarked to his companions that the cause of all this trouble was the drink having said which he paused and then with emphasis exclaimed ill not drink another drop for any man until christmas I 1 I 1 true to his resolution tom neither drank nor paid for drink As a result he found his five shillings amply sufficient to pay his tontine money and furnish him with all he needed slowly but surely the wheels of time rolled on until tom found himself going towards home on the evening of december talking to himself he said let me see I 1 have ca 2 las to get at tontine no i and ca 2 is at tontine no 2 and my wages are why that makes 6 ibs and tom fairly fan ly skipped along the street with joy this sum to be received all in one week and on one day seemed like untold wealth and for once he met his wife with a smile and gladdened his three little ones by giving them an extra large quantity of candy and treating them with unusual ki kindness edness supper being over he turned to his wife and said why sarah tomorrow is christmas eve and we are to be paid our wages at half past twelve see here sarah ill be home by two at the latest and well just have a cup of tea and then for once we will take the children out and get them some nice things for christmas so you had best have them all ready sarah was only too glad to promise and as for the children their delight knew no bounds the little ones were so full of anticipation and joy that they had difficulty in falling asleep they were up betimes in the morning and gave their mother no peace until she had dressed them and allowed them to go to the corner of the street to watch for their father tom in the meantime had finished his bis labor and had received his weekly wages from the foreman who also gave him a sovereign five dollars as a christmas gift from his employer he slapped the money from one hand to the other and exclaimed 7 ios whew he then whistled with delight quickening his steps he arrived at the public house where tontine no i was held the landlord was upstairs and therefore he had to wait a few minutes during this time he entered into conversation with several old acquaintances at the counter there had bad been some warm handshaking and 1 I wish you a merry christmas had gone from lip to lip presently the landlord appear appeared edland and seeing tom slow slowly ly counted out to him ca 2 las tom picked up the money put it into his pocket and turned towards the door bit as he was leaving one of his friends called out 1 I say tom you are not going in that way are you tom turned and replied why you know I 1 promised not to drink until christmas and I 1 never break my word oh yes said ha his i an fn friend i end 1 I know that very well but t this is christmas eve and tomorrow is christmas day and besides we have mouths well well replied tom christmas eve is christmas I 1 suppose what will you have his friends called for their favorite beverages and tom ordered a glass of strong ale there was the usual health drinking and some more merry and then tom took his departure chehad he had over a nile to go to tontine no 2 but the weather being cold he walked very quickly and soon reached his destination here he found a large number of workmen whom he knew and while the landlord was getting his money 42 2 is tom was freely standing treat to everybody he had plenty of cash and his resolution was now a thing of the past the first glass lie he drank had made him thirsty and so he called for a pint the room in which he and his friends were assembled seni bled was what is called the bar parlor it was handsomely furnished with polished mirrors and attractively ly cushioned seats feeling a little tired tom sat down in a cosy corner close to the fire which was burning brightly all at once a feeling of drowsiness ne came over him and in a few bai minutes he was fast asleep one by one his friends departed until he was left alone the landlord did not like him he had been a very poor LV tomer for some months past and so he was left severely alone all at 0 once he gave a start and sprang to his feet the first thing he noticed was as that daylight had departed and begas was lighted he turned to the clock the fingers of which pointed to half past five he had prom ased ed to be home by two at the latest and now it was nearly four hours beyond that time he put his hand in his pocket where he expected to find nearly ca 8 what was the matter he looked like one demented edana and one by one he searched every pocket only to discover to his un erable horror that he had been robbed and that he had not one cent it m the world three strangers were ln the room who had been curiously watching hina suddenly he turned 10 TO the man nearest him and with the er ceness es of a tiger accused him of having picked his pocket abely ely this individual happened to be of a very hasty temper tn less than five ate seconds blows succeeded words and began to flow tom was nuch much the stronger of the two and roundly adly abused the other man 1 l nothing could pacify tom so the landlord aled for the police two allbut abts officers Officer 4 were quickly y on the spot and to arrest tom when en he struck fiercely yin in the face and tore the coat of althe the other nearly off his back the aae officers however soon mastered mini and placing a pair of iron fix ty ets on hi his wrists lodged him la getti gettin gettine n d such 8 a thing as liberat berated 1606 situated as tom was wast abed on 0 bonat s is never thought of so thore he w oad bad to tore remain grain until christmas was over there wing no court held on that day let us leave tom a while and go back to woolf street where we left three sweet children impatiently watching for their father they expected him at two and he had never disappointed them but the clock struck two and three and still no father came the mental suffering and bitter disappointment of the little ones may be imagined when four struck their mother called them etem in put on her bonnet and went out for the purpose of ascertaining certa ining if some accident had befallen her husband she left the children sobbing as only children can quickly she found her husbands foreman to her inquiry as to accident he replied no he was paid before one Qc lock and left quite well she then went tp to tontine no i and was told he had been there and got his money but did not stay ten minutes she called at af all the hospitals in the neighborhood but could find no trace of her husband returning home and still not finding him she crossed the water to birkenhead where his mother lived thinking he might have gone there only however to be disappointed it was nearly midnight when she got back home and merri ly the christmas bells were ringing but there was no merry christmas for her in the morning some of the neighbors kindly invited mother and children to spend the day with them and several volunteered to assist in the search for tom no one knew of tontine na 2 and no one thought of seeking honest industrious sober tom in a jail christmas ispass is past and the shades of night are falling around the of december when a policeman is seen inquiring for mrs sarah brown having discovered her he informs her that tom has been sentenced to go to jail for a month for lying drunk fighting and assaulting the police the poor woman nearly fainted upon hearing the news but went indoors hurriedly and had a good cry what could she do she could not even see her husband he had been removed several miles away and even if she went to the jail she could not get aar near him english laws in this respect are ha harsh arsh and cruel she had no money and no food for her children who were dearer to her than life itself wl wit could she do on the morning of the word was brought to her that a lady had been stricken with typhoid fever and wanted a nurse she decided to offer her per services vices ani and wits was accepted a poor widow kindly offering to cares cam for the children during her absence after being at the house a few days she incautiously came out and met her children in the street they ran to meet her and she stooped and kissed them A few days afterwards she herself was stricken with the fever shortly afterwards the three children followed her to the liver pool workhouse hospital and in im ess than three weeks from the time tom had arranged with his wife too to make their children ready on christmas eve she and the two eldest children were dead and buried by the parish the month has gone and tom is released eagerly he rushes to woolfe st only to find another lodger in the apartments in which he left his family on the morning of christmas eve they are gone to the workhouse says a neighbor tom rushes to the workhouse stern stem and heartless as are the officials toms agony moves them sarah dead mary dead tom his favorite dead and only the baby struggling between life and death slowly his youngest recovered and in a few weeks was restored to his arms tom was an altered man for years he was hardly seen to smile the sight of drink nearly drove him mad there was no christmas in this resolution now fixed and firm he would neither touch taste nor handle again when time had in in some measure healed his wounds he would sit and relate his sad story and while tears would roll down the cheeks of his hearers he would entreat them never to taste even one drop of the accursed drink one glass of which had brought him so much sorrow and misery reader this is a true story it has never been published before but tom was well known to the writer who like him and like one of old would even at this festive season say beware of strong drink how true is the revelation of god in these theae last days inasmuch as any among you drink wine or strong drink behold it is not good S A 1 |