At last he got a job of carrying bricks up a ladder in a hod, and was a grateful man in consequence;
but after that nobody knew him or cared anything about him.
He was not able to keep up his dues (会费) in the various moral organizations to which he belonged,
and had to endure the sharp pain of seeing himself brought under the disgrace of suspension. {1}
But the faster Edward died out of public knowledge and interest, the faster George rose in them.
He was found lying, ragged and drunk, in the gutter (排水沟) one morning.
A member of the Ladies' Temperance Refuge fished him out, took him in hand, got up a subscription for him, kept him sober (清醒的) a whole week, then got a situation (职位) for him.
An account of it was published.
General attention was thus drawn to the poor fellow, and a great many people came forward and helped him toward reform with their countenance and encouragement.
He did not drink a drop for two months, and meantime was the pet of the good.
Then he fell -- in the gutter; and there was general sorrow and lamentation (悲叹).
But the noble sisterhood rescued him again.
They cleaned him up, they fed him, they listened to the mournful music of his repentances (悔改), they got him his situation again.
An account of this, also, was published, and the town was drowned in happy tears over the re-restoration of the poor beast and struggling victim of the fatal bowl.
A grand temperance revival was got up, and after some rousing speeches had been made the chairman said, impressively:
"We are not about to call for signers; and I think there is a spectacle in store for you which not many in this house will be able to view with dry eyes."
There was an eloquent pause, and then George Benton, escorted by a red-sashed detachment of the Ladies of the Refuge, stepped forward upon the platform and signed the pledge (誓约).
The air was rent with applause, and everybody cried for joy.
Everybody wrung the hand of the new convert (皈依者) when the meeting was over; his salary was enlarged next day; he was the talk of the town, and its hero.
An account of it was published.
George Benton fell, regularly, every three months, but was faithfully rescued and wrought with, every time, and good situations were found for him.
Finally, he was taken around the country lecturing, as a reformed drunkard, and he had great houses and did an immense amount of good.
He was so popular at home, and so trusted -- during his sober intervals -- that he was enabled to use the name of a principal citizen, and get a large sum of money at the bank.
A mighty pressure was brought to bear to save him from the consequences of his forgery (假冒), and it was partially successful -- he was "sent up" for only two years.
When, at the end of a year, the tireless efforts of the benevolent (善心的) were crowned with success, and he emerged from the penitentiary with a pardon in his pocket,
the Prisoner's Friend Society met him at the door with a situation and a comfortable salary, and all the other benevolent people came forward and gave him advice, encouragement and help.
Edward Mills had once applied to the Prisoner's Friend Society for a situation (职务), when in dire need, but the question, "Have you been a prisoner?" made brief work of his case.
While all these things were going on, Edward Mills had been quietly making head against adversity (不幸).
He was still poor, but was in receipt of a steady and sufficient salary, as the respected and trusted cashier (出纳员) of a bank.
George Benton never came near him, and was never heard to inquire about him.
George got to indulging in long absences from the town; there were ill reports about him, but nothing definite.
One winter's night some masked burglars forced their way into the bank, and found Edward Mills there alone.
They commanded him to reveal the "combination (暗码)," so that they could get into the safe. He refused.
They threatened his life. He said his employers trusted him, and he could not be traitor (背叛者) to that trust.
He could die, if he must, but while he lived he would be faithful; he would not yield up the "combination."
The burglars killed him.
The detectives (侦探) hunted down the criminals; the chief one proved to be George Benton.
A wide sympathy was felt for the widow and orphans of the dead man,
and all the newspapers in the land begged that all the banks in the land would testify their appreciation of the fidelity and heroism of the murdered cashier by coming forward with a generous contribution of money in aid of his family, now bereft of support. {2}
The result was a mass of solid cash amounting to upward of five hundred dollars -- an average of nearly three eights of a cent for each bank in the Union.
The cashier's own bank testified its gratitude by endeavoring to show (but humiliatingly failed in it) that the peerless servant's accounts were not square,
and that he himself had knocked his brains out with a bludgeon (棍棒) to escape detection and punishment. {3}
George Benton was arraigned (控告) for trial.
Then everybody seemed to forget the widow and orphans in their solicitude (担心) for poor George.
Everything that money and influence could do was done to save him, but it all failed; he was sentenced to death.
Straightway the Governor was besieged (围住) with petitions for commutation (减刑) or pardon;
they were brought by tearful young girls; by sorrowful old maids; by deputations of pathetic widows; by shoals of impressive orphans.
But no, the Governor -- for once -- would not yield.
Now George Benton experienced religion. The glad news flew all around.
From that time forth his cell was always full of girls and women and fresh flowers;
all the day long there was prayer, and hymn-singing, and thanksgiving, and homilies, and tears, with never an interruption, except an occasional five-minute intermission (中断) for refreshments (茶点).
This sort of thing continued up to the very gallows, and George Benton went proudly home, in the black cap, before a wailing audience of the sweetest and best that the region could produce.
His grave had fresh flowers on it every day, for a while, and the head-stone (墓石) bore these words, under a hand pointing aloft: "He has fought the good fight."
The brave cashier's head-stone has this inscription: "Be pure, honest, sober, industrious, considerate, and you will never --"
Nobody knows who gave the order to leave it that way, but it was so given.
The cashier's family are in stringent (短缺的) circumstances, now, it is said;
but no matter; a lot of appreciative people, who were not willing that an act so brave and true as his should go unrewarded,
have collected forty-two thousand dollars -- and built a Memorial Church with it.
