Contrast this with the definition given in the last edition of Webster's Dictionary:--
"A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing something; especially a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or other liquor; as to sign the pledge."
No doubt, when Dr. Murray reaches the letter "P," we shall have a definition even still more illuminating. The New English Dictionary viewed from a temperance standpoint would make a delightful study. Take, for instance, volume one, in which "Alcohol" has more than a column to itself, while "Ale" has two columns, "Beer" two and a half columns, and "Abstain," "Abstainer," and "Abstaining" are treated with a wealth of illustration and meaning derived from such authorities as Wyclif in 1382 down to J. W. Bardsley (the present Bishop of Carlisle) in 1867, who is pressed into the service in this form:--
"ABSTAINING.--Practising abstinence (from alcoholic beverages) 1867. J. W. BARDSLEY in 'Clerical Testimony to Total Abstinence' 30: 'The bride was the daughter of an abstaining clergyman.'"
[Illustration: MADAME ANTOINETTE STERLING.
(_Photo: Walery, Ltd., Regent Street, W._)]
Now we will leave it to our fair readers to puzzle over until next month as to who the blushing bride was who is thus assured of immortality in the greatest Dictionary the world has ever seen.
"Example is better than precept," says the old adage, and there can be no doubt that the example of Madame Antoinette Sterling and Mrs. Mary Davies in the matter of total abstinence has been of the utmost value. It was at a reception given by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Sherlock at Hackney, in 1892, to the Archbishop of Canterbury (then Bishop of London), that Madame Sterling, to the surprise of a delighted audience, volunteered "a few words." The gifted singer remarked that "she had been nearly all her life a total abstainer. When on long tours with members of her profession, it had been rather an aggravation to them to see, when they were pretty well prostrated, that she was almost or quite as fresh at the end of the journey as at the beginning. They also complained of the quality of the wine furnished to them, as well as of water. She took milk and cocoa, and also water, of which she did not complain, and scarcely missed one engagement in the seventeen years during which she had been before the public. She had never had a day's bad health, and had not suffered from those aches and pains of which she had heard other people complaining continually." Like Madame Sterling, Mrs. Mary Davies has upon many occasions shown a deep and practical interest in philanthropic work.