Litchfield enquirer., 1837-07-27


 ried. He and his bride formed the most beautiful couple in the village. And his to sustain his falling family is fresh before me. There was enough d. round him lo break the strongest spirit !; his father and uncle were often iu a state of intoxicatioD, and engaged for weeks and months in fierce contention. His mother had become stiifened under heavy pres sure she moved about her daily toll like a sullen machine, and when reminded of her promising son, she coldIy replied, He may be so other folks were so once i; no knowing life in this world is no great blessing.' His other uncle had returned from the,army, married, and was rearing up a family of children. He was of a superior cast, and gladly would his fellow-townsmen have bestowed any post of honor or profit upon him but the substratum of his char acter was broken. He brought from the army incorporate habits; his ways wero all wasteful, and his four sons, who grew up with Walter, were idle, dissipated, quar- relsome boys. Cigars and brandy. game cocks and horses, were their idols; and Walter early saw them come one after an- other, lamented by none, to an untimely end. He longed to be his own master, that he might find that happiness which seemed to come to every family but his in the vil- lage.
 Here were two large houses; piles of barns; large tracts of land: but broken fences and no crops; even the cattle seem- ed to partake of the sullenness that sur rounded this fallen family. His father and uncle, miserable wretches, had both been swallowed up in the gulf of intemperance, and Walter resolved to redeem his farm, and live worthy descendant of his nnces- tors. He knew the cause of all the evil, and he determined to shun the terrible whirlpool. But, alas those were not the days ofto,al abstinence. The hogshead of St. Croix rum was still rolled into the eel lar for the workmen; the demijohns of brandy were still kept in the closet; and every ncighbor and friend were invited to drink as they called. Walter was of weaker constitution than his father; his reason was more easily shrouded; the poi son ran quick in his veins. His wife would wonder why he should be so nasty, and speak so harshly surely she did not pro- yoke it. To his mother it was only con- tinuance of dran,- drinking and peevishness, to which she had always been accustomed and as the old tyrauts under whom she had long served in hard bondage had passed away, she was, with her darling son, in sort of elysium.
 As years rolled on, temptation nssaiIed Walter Hone at home aud abroad; he yielded and yielded, but always for this onco only; troubles harrassed him from every quarter with hogshead of rum and forty barrels of cider at command, his work men were drunken and quarrelsome, and many were the fights in the cellar kitchen every thing went rapidly to ruin, and the mortgages instead of being paid off. rapidly accumulated. Walter grew fierce and cru- el. His wife and mother began to fear and shun him; for often their lives were in danger; many time were they seen by the neiehbors rushing out ofthc house, and hiding in the fields. His wife, losing all hope of happiness, sunk into state of fear tul despondcncy. One friend after anoth- or forsook them, and many long and dreary year passed over that house. and no ono knew how they lived. Tho ncishbors only knew that he sold his scanty crops at a neighboring store to quench his insatiate thirst.
 But there is a winding up of all human scenes, which for the moment at least, rons- es the attention of the community. The children brought from school the story that
 Walter Hone's wifc was dying. Some of us went into the wrc,chcd dwelling. But
 o! what a scene was there revealcd.-
 The strong and tho rough turned away m
 shuddering. There lay on small bed "i
 straw, and almost on the bare ropes. that
 poor, forsaken, and wretched creature, the
 prev of consuming despair; her complex ion which was once fresh and fair, was now
 like the hard moss-covered stones; that
 once beautiful hair was solid mat 1; her
 tattered clothes were SO defaced that it was difficult to tell what color they had been 1; her husband was on the floor, scarcely re
 sembIing human being the poor mother was sitting in the corner, quak'ng with ague, looking on to see the end the ligln of her eye relieving the dark brown in which she was enveloped, as ,hough she had been mouldering back to dust while life vet fingered. Walter 7 said tho dy- ing woman, forsake your eUiI V0ys, or yOH ,oiH soon De rherc 4 Gm !; and, (with an awful tone, breathing her last.) Walter. vou yiX not scont 10 come There was not an article of furniture in the room except ing the old bedstead and broken chair which the poor mother sat in; the boards had been all torn up for fuel. and as there was no cellar under that part of the house, the hard earth was their only floor every door was broken; from some whole pam