Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-10-27

nODOuy KNOWS DOWf AlhSl Sucn cases are
OF too frequent occurrence TO be rare items
in any mans experience; and they arise
from one cause--drunkenness that fierce
rage for the Slow sure poison tha, oyersteps
every Other consideration: that casts aside
wife, children, friends, hnppinessnnd station
and hurries its victims madly on TO degrade.
lion and death. Ell tsf
Some of these men have been impelled
by misfortune and misery to the vice that
has degraded them. The ruin Of worldly
Expectations, the death Of those they loved,
the sorrow that slowly consumes but will
not break the heart, has driven them wild
and they present the hideous spectacle Of
madmen slowly dying by their own hands
But by far the greatest part have wilfully
and with open eyes plunged into the gulf
from whicht the man who first enters il nev-
er rises more, but into which he sinks
deeper and deeper down, until recovery is
hopeless. s7a msa n
Such man as this once stood by the bed
side Of his dying wife, while his children
knelt around aud ming led low bursts of
grief with their innocen, prayers The
room was scan,ily and meanly furnished -
and il needed but glance at the pale form
from which the light lilewas passing away.
to know that grief and want and anxious
care had been busy at the heart for many
weary year. An elderly female with her
face balhed in tears was supporting the head
lof the dying woman-her doughter--on
her arm. But il was not towards that the
wan face was turned it was not her hand
that trembling finger clasped they pressed
husbands arms so soon TO be closed in death,
rested on his face: and the man shook be-
meath their gaze. His dwss was slovenly
and disordered, his face inflaned, his eyes
blood-sho, and heavy. He had been summon.
ed from one scene of debauch TO the bed OF
sorrow and death. 4a
A shaded lamp by the bedside cast dim
light on the figures around, and left the ie-
mainder OF the room in the thick, deep
shadow The silence Of the night prevailed
, without the house. and The stiffness Of death
was 10 the chamber. A watch hung over
: the mantle shelf: its low ticking was the
!. but il was solemn one Tor well knew
they who heard it, that before il had recorded
the passing OF another hour il would bea
the knel of departed spirit
1t is a dreadful thing TO wal, and watcl
for the approach OF death; to know tina
y nope is gone, and recovery impossible; ant
to sit and coun, the dreary hours. through
long, long nights--.such nights as onl,
o watchers by the bed OF sickness know
f. Ii chills the blood TO hear the dearest secrets
l. secrets Of the heart, the pent up secrets o
n many years poured forth by the unconscious
l. helpless being before You; and 10 think hov
a little the reserve and cunning OF a who'll
n life will avail when fever and delrium cas-
Q of the mask at least Strange tales hav
a been told in the wanderings OF dying men
u tales so full OF guilt and crime that thos
Of who stood by the sick persons couch ha
n fed in horror and alright, lest they shoul
D be scared to madness by what they hear
~ and saw; and many wretch has died Z
htf lone, raving OF deeds. the very name {
c. whic h has driven the boldest man away.
n But no such rawlings were to be heard {
e, the bedside by which the children knel
= their half stifled sobs and mornings alon
IL broke the silence of the lonely chamber
ne And when at last the mothers grasp II
n, Taxed, and, turning one look from the chi
oil dren to speak, and fell backward on the pi
rs low, all was so calm and tranquil that sl
seemed TO sink to sleep. They leant owe
w her; tncV chiieu upon neF name sunny
p first and then in the loud and piercing ion'
"a of desperation. They listened for h
} breath, but no sound came They felt {
BY the palpitation of the heart but no faint thre
Is responded TO the touch The heart WI
Sc broken and she was dead.
n, The husband sunk into chair at the be
g. side, and elasped his hands upon his bur
on ing forehead. He guzed from child 10 chill
rs but when weeping eye met his, he quailt
rs. beneath its look No word of comfort WI
i'm whispered in his ear. no look Of klndpe
To- lighted on his face. All shrunk from al
lel avoided him and when at last he stagge
m ed from the loom, no one sought TO folio
mt or console the widower.
The time had been when many frier
a. would have crowded round him IN his {
1irtion, and condoed with him in his gri'
Where we're they now2 One. by on
friends and relations. the commonest a
onaintance even had fallen of from and d
-. serted the drunkard. His wife alone HI
10 chung to him in good and evil. in sickne
Il. and poverty. and how had be rewarded he
m, He had recl,d from the tavern to her be
rs side, in lime 10 see her die.
he. He rushed from the house, and walk
zee swiftly through the streets. Remorse, le'
nv shame, all crowded on his mind. Stupi6
ed with drink, aud bewidered with the see
de- he had just witnessed, he rerentered .
an, tavern he had quilted shorty before. CHA
If. succeeded glass His blood mounted, al
Is his brain whirlcd round Death eve