Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-06-04

match for men-men of the Workbench OF ex'
perience Pshaw! wife is a mere p'aythins
%
s'A victim,' sighed my poor wife, But
what do you charge me WITH
80 Your fortune is gone said |.
"sWho was it wasted il for mel
"'Your beauty is turned TO deformi'!; you
have grown as ugly as the -
"sWho spoiled by robbing me oil rest by
night, OF happines by day'
"'Your are no longer the gay, sprlghuS,
animated. witty thing that won my heart
"'Your hear,' replied she, scornfHl!y; but
who was it,hat robbed me OF my ea'ety; that
wrecked my heart, and turned my bra'"! 10
you know the man, the monster would say!
Her eyes now flashed FIRE as she continued DO
you know the monster, say? he who deceived
my youth; wasted my fortune; destroyed my
happiness; degraded The modesty OF SIX and
station; poured liquid FIRE down my throat, and
heaped Goals Of fire on the heads OF my chill
drena Who rendered the pas, recollection Of
! horror; the present yet worse; the future u
my God?'
"'I, whom you promised tn love and obey
all your life. Come, give me an example OF
obedience cried l. pouring out glass oil hrhy
liquor; come, one bumper more. swear you
shall drink one bumper more to this happy
dav-comen
eel will not; am already more than hall a
beas,!
"And half a fool mu,trred I, rising and
staggering to the other side OF the Table, where
she was sitting; swear by hell you shall drink
| it
"'I swear by Heaven will no,!'
| "Who shall answer for the actions OF man
mad with drink! Not himself, for he is beast
without soul; NOT his Maker. for he has aban-
doned him. A struggle now ensued, during
which l gradually became irritated into fury
The children clung affrighted about US, but
kicked them away. My poor Amelia a, length
struck The glass out Of my hand; became fu-
nous as demon, and threw her from me wi h
diabolical force, against the corner Of the fire
place. She fell, raised herself half up, gave
her children one look, and sank down again.
She was dead.
81 am now the sober tenant of a madhouse
The Jury that tried me, would not believe a
man who acted such scenes as were proved up
on me could be in his senses. They acquitted
me on the score of insanity. My rela ives pla-
ced me here TO pass the rest of nv DAYS, and
recover my senses il can. Blu, am no. mad
the justice Of heaven has ordained that shall
past wickedness. | know not wha' is become
of my chlldrrn. for no one will answer my in
quiries-Do one will tell me where they are
whether they are dead or alive. All ! can
u terstard is, that / shall never see item
more. My constant companion day and night
waking and dreaming, is my murdered wife
Every moment Of nv life is spent in recalling
to my mind, the history Of that Ill fated girl
in the summing up Of wha, have 10 answer
for 10 her, her friends and her offs nrin9---Os-
nv strength is gone; my body shrunk and shri
yelled almost u skeleton, and my limb, quake
with The least exrr'ion. Guilt grins me in the
face; infamy barks at my heels; scorn points
her ii ger al me-; disease is gnawing in my Vi.
tails; de ,th already touches me with his icy fin
gers, and e:erni y waits TO swallow me up.
am going 10 meet Amelia!
The man 10 whose charge am committed
has furnished me with the means Of fulf ling
this my lasttask, and making the only atone
ment in my power for what have DONE
IL there he any one who shall read tbs, 10
whom temptation may brokon afar off, az a
distance which disguis. its deformi'y, let hin,
contemplate me as en- cred on the stage Of life;
as pursued my career forward; as closed or
! am about to close i, forever Let him not
cheat his ,oul, let him not for moment be-
ieFe, Wat IL IS imPHssinle 1or MN 10 become
as bad, nay worse han have been. IL We
look only az the beginning and the end of ca
reer OF iriamy and wickedness The space ap-
pears gull which the delinquent has oserlea pit
al single bound. Blu if We fx mine into the
particulars Of his life and progress, we shall
seldom fail to find that the interval has beer
passed, and the goal attained, step by step, lit
tl- and little; from gooa 10 bad, from had 10
worse. he PRIDE of human reason. may wits.
per in our ears thai zee Can never become like
| the wretch whose career we have just been
tracing. BIT as poor Oph lia says, GIVE
know what we are, but we know MOI what we
may be- II is only TO begin as began; to
sow the seeds, ard he sure 'ha, in good time
you will reap hs same fruits; drink the same
gall and bitterness here, the same iery draught
| hereafter" y. 1883.