The Litchfield County post., 1826-08-08

duced her unfortunate father. She inten-
ded them as admOnitory cautions TO her
son |; nor was she aware Of the light in
which they appeared to him, till laying
aside the tickets for his lottery, he said !;
: I am sorry mother ;--but if you say am
born "a be gamester, / suppose must
be one.'-s Not surely my child, said the
alarmed mother 'unless you choose
e But YOU said | am to be one; and you
must know persisted Harry, for you of
ten say, that you teach us nothing but what
you know to be true.' Mrs. D., startled
and perplexed, paused a moment for an
answer; then finding none that would ex-
plain her meaning led him from the room.
in search of some amusement, that might
turn his thoughts into another channel !;
mentally praying, that if she had untlink-
ingly given her child false impression,
the evil might yet be averted. From this
time forward, the little games Of chance,
to which all BOYS are more or less addicted,
were suffered to pass unnoticed; the word
gamester never escaped her lips; tondly
hoping, that the vivid impression, ne had
evidently received of his destiny, might
be effaced from his mind.
After lapse of many years, Mrs. D.
found herself, in the autumn of her life !;
widow, and dependent on her son. Those
years had left legible traces of their course,
on her brow, and on hor decaying frame !;
but had expanded the form Of her bloom
ing Harry, into manly firmness, and beauty.
The circumstance, which had caused her
so much uneasiness in his boy-hood, had
gradually faded upon his mind no express
sions of her son, evinced the slightest re-
collection of it !; and the uniform rectltude
Of his principles and conduct, almost ban
ished from her heart, the anxieties OF a
parent. !.
She resided under his roof, surrounded
with all the comforts and many of the ele-
gancies of life }; and received to her heart,
with the softened feelings of mother, his
lovely child. His young wife was beauti-
full, amiable, and fondly attached to her
husband, and child, yet the experienced
eye of the mother, could detect in her
composition, latent germs of feelings, that
if INDUCED might create uneasiness, and
perhaps dissention. A mistaken course of
education, had so cherished the natural ro-
nance of her heart, that now, in the sec
ond year of her marriage, she was restless
and uneasy, without continued proofs, not
only of the most unboundcd devotion of
her husbands heart, but of the sacrifices of
time and of inclination, which his affection
could make to her wishes. Harry D.,
submitted for some time with very good
grace, to the little encroachments of fe-
male whims and caprice but, at the time
his mother became resident in his family,
he, was fully aware of the necessity Of
checking their further progress. He accor-
dinghy began, with absenting himself little
later than had been his custom, from the
domestic circle, frankly stating, when ques-
toned by his wife, where he had been, and
with whom.-One so unreasonably indul-
ged as she had hitherto been, could ill
brook the slightest anticipation of indiffer-
ence, or the least appearance of inatten-
ton. Questions soon assumed the form Of
reproaches, which though they severely
wounded the heart, that still tenderly loved
her, were met, with the most unruffled
calmness of manner and answered only by
protracted ABSENCE.
He returned home one evening, at an
unusually late hour, and seated himself by
tAAO AVS IA 0A 0PPdiNAHy POa PASASN "H~
musing mood. His wife, for this time sat
silent, and thoughtful, with no disposition
to question, or reproach him. His moth
err, wishing to break silence that became
oppressive, inquired where he had been,
and what mo. had heard sOn my way
home about an hour since, said he, / slept
into BIS Hotel, to see if the mail had arri-
we'd, and never was so beset, and may
add my dearest mother, never so tempted
too, to take the dice-box in my hand, as
within this very hour A confused, dis
turbed feeling, Of something like foreseen
evil about to be accomplished, arose in the
bosom Of Mrs. D., as she said to her son,
you are surely not serious what consider
alton could, for one moment, tempt hus-
band and father, to countenance that de-
structive vice.
] am convinced it is destructive vice.
replied he; I know it has been the ruin
Of thousands; and knew that with this
conviction. and this knowledge, the mo-
ment threw the dice, should incur
moral responsibility, that would make
man in his senses tremble.-Yet I know
not how it is 81 have now, and ever have
had, a secret, strange, and strong PRESENT.
ment that ann born to be a gamester.-
Whence it arises know not 81 have in
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