The Convert / Deep Waters, Part 5.

A comic short story follows Mr. Billing, a rough but good-natured man who is persuaded by earnest neighbors to give up fighting, swearing, and excessive drinking and to live a more brotherly life. He adopts small domestic improvements and sincere forbearance, then encounters immediate practical resistance: his wife is skeptical, the pub refuses him service, and a rival treats his new principles as an invitation to strike. The tale contrasts earnest moral aspiration with the blunt realities of neighborhood life, using ironic incidents to examine reform, masculinity, and the gap between ideals and everyday behavior.