Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-04-21

tion Of an Over-ruling Providence, has
produced its legitimate effect whenever
the pride Of the human heart is humbled
underline mighty hand of offended heaven,
there will be no hesitation in stating the
causes which led to infamy and ruin.
While could wish to spare the feel
ings ofthe connexions ofmy family for
myself should be willing that the story
Of one, whose earthly hopes intemper-
ance had blasted, should be written upon
the walls of the city, and find its way to
every tap room in the nation. find my sell
surrounded with more than five hundred
beings, in the same condition with myself.
The atmosphere | breathe is agitated
with sighs and groans and my individ-
ual calamity seems lost in the wretch
edness that surrounds me. Where shall
we look for the source of all this misery
Let the keepers docket tell. Theft,
forgery, burglary, murder every spe-
cies of crime, at the name of which the
soul recoils, appear in the black cata-
loguc. These are specific actions, upon
the perpetrators ofwhich the law can fix
its hold. But the vice which leads to
every other, eludes the grasp of the law.
lnhamcd eyes, bloatcd visagc, palsicd
limbs, sickness, poverty, or even death,
are not the things which give to this vice
its most appalling aspect. 1t unnervcs
the soul more fearfully than it does the
body. 1t gradually destroys the moral
sensibiIitics Of the heart, and rouses the
violent passions Of our depravcd nature.
1t mars the soft and refined emotions of
the soul, like the hdcous trail Of the SER
pent over the brightest blossoms of Eden.
If the pillow be sometimes the place of
serious thought, the libation the morn
ing obiteratcs the saluiary lesson.-
One draught calls for second, the sec
ond still more loudly for the third, anoth-
er for another, utill every other sentiment
and feeling is lost in the Unsuitable cry
"gire, gire". Such was once my con-
dition. | saw indeed that destruction was
before me, and still approached, with ac-
celebrated pace, the horrid gulf. When
Il child, | once saw bird charmed by
the sparkling eyes of serpent, and APP
proaching near the reptile which Iurked
for its destruction When, from pity,
destroyed the enchanter, and set the
fluttering captive free, how little did |
think that should ever be enchanted
that the irightful pit of pcrdition should
yawn before me, and yet that l should
voluntarily rush with open eyes, toward
the abyss. An overruling Providence
interposcd, and my career of vice wa:
arrested by the arm of civil authority.
The destiny which denied me the ac.
customed stimulus, was, at the first, in
expressibly painful ) the separation from
the bottle seemed like the separation OF
the "joints and marrow" An artificial
and vitiated appetite had predominated
over every other feeling ; overpowered
the entreaties of friendship, the inductions
Of reason, the monitions of conscience.
No dissuasve from my vice was effect
ual, whether drawn from that which is
desirable in life, or from what is repug-
nant in the prospect Of vagabonding de-
gradation and premature death. Heav-
en- had not sufficient charms to allure me,
nor Hell sufficient terrors to deter. The
will was enchained to tyrant who never
said enough. But in Imprisonment, the
manacles which bound my body set my
spirits free. The unnatural cravings of
the stomach gradually subsidized with the
disuse Of spirit.
In the haunts of dissi patton, the mind
may be banished from itself; but in the
cell of n prison, who can avoid revolving
in the variety of causes which conspired
to rivet his fetters Who will not inquire
AT what period of life did l commence
the construction of the gloomy abode ?
When did lay the first foundation? On
what anvil did forge the bolts and bars
From what quarries did | obtain materi-
ais for the wall Through what means
did | provide and adapt the various mate
rials of the building, until, at length |
came forward with the last keystone to
the arch : Why am | doomed, like the
OK, to toll for another Was not "born
free as Caesar :" Why, then, have
"sold myself for nought Z" Alas while
can trace the source of my present
wretchedness and ruin to the infatuating
effects ofardent spirits, am constained to
add, that it has blasted the fairest hopes.
] entered upon the active scenes of life,
without friends, patrimony, or conney-
ions, at the age of sixtccn; and though
the four years Immediately preceding
were passed in active labor, yet works Of
literature and philosophy were my com
panions in the field and, at that early
period, ! anticipated literary career
When parental protection was removed
| exchanged the axe for the pen. My
first essays were published in an obscure
village paper, and l had the gratifica
ton of seeing them reprinted in popular
journals. At seventeen l removed tC