Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN B. GOUGH.
and then I get out of my bed, and I go down on my knees,
and I don’t go back to my bed till the daylight comes, and
I keep saying: ‘God keep me—for I canua get drunk any
Her daughter said: “Aye, mon; IVe heerd my mither
in the dead of night, on the bare floor, crying, ‘God keep
me;’ and I’ve said,—‘Come to yer bed, mither, ye’ll be
cauld;’ and she’ll tell me, ‘No, no,—I canna get drunk
any mair.’ ”
I received a letter from the provost of the borough,
dated February, 1869, telling me that Mrs. Archer
(“Fire ”) had been faithful to her promise, was keeping a
small provision-store or shop; had taken a little orphan
boy out of the streets, and was bringing him up well, and
sending me her photograph. I had heard from various
sources she was doing well, and doing good. Soon after
she had signed the pledge, she obtained employment in
sewing coarse sacks, and earned about ten cents per day.
Some one gave her a Bible, and wet or dry, rain or shine,
she would go every Sabbath to the mission chapel. There
she became a Christian; and I was told that she employed
her spare time in endeavouring to reform others. I gave
her a pound-note when I saw her at the meeting, and
when I called, her daughter asked me to see what her
mother had bought with it. On the bed was a pair of
warm, woollen blankets, and she said: “Mither took the
pound, and bought the blankets for saxteen shillings, and
brought back the four to me. I am never afraid to trust
my mither now.”
What a rebuke to those who, when asked to give up
some indulgence, tell you,—“I can’t, I can’t.” This woman,
in the midst of poverty, surrounded by every temptation,
and a whole life-association with evil influences, deter¬
mining “I will,” and conquering her appetite, coming out