The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1838-01-09

himself, and still the agoniZng reflection that III
mad reduced his wife and son from opucnce to
life labor. lin the days of prosperity he hat
loved her, in adversely she was doubly clea
10 her repentant husband.-In defiance OF thu
rough logs of her cabin, neatness and taste rem
dered it the abode ofelegance. She met him OF
his return from labor with smile Of affection
and blessed the day that gave her an opportuni
ty ofproving that she could abandon the gay and
Joyous world, and live i'll toll and secusion foi
HIM.
The human mind soon bends itself to surronn-
ding circumstances, and habit renders agreeable
things that once excited the most unpleasant emo.
! tons. Gilmore and Lucy soon became accus-
toned to their new mode Of life, and in few
years could hardly realize that they had ever en-
| Joyed any other. An air of superior intelligence
! nnd refinement alone distinguished them from
their neighbours who had settled around them.
Their days ghded on in calm tranquility, and
! they regretted not that a limited fortune would
secure their boy from the round of folly and I'M
substantial pleasures that allure the rich.
They learned that the real wants of life are few,
and that they who live by moderate, but con
slant labor, and know how to employ with books
the hours of leisure and relaxation, have already
attained the highest state ollelcty that earth can
bestow.
! During period of more than usual political
| excitement in this state, the leaders of q party
selected Gilmore us n candidate for high office.
At first he declined, for the rGcoections of the
past, and the tender tOrbodingS of his wife, con-
vinced him that few, even amongst the most
temperate could resist the torrent of ardent spir
its that custom rendered necessary 10 success.
The cntreates of his frends,an his own convic-
ton that the party would be defeated in case of
his refusal, at length prevailed over his own bet
ter Judgment and the admonition ofhis guardian
angel.
The contest was long and obstinate Princi-
pies were to be decided at the polls in which the
! ,bclo f.,lt nll intpr
The tug for victory that preceded the canvass,
has no parallel in the history of Illinois. Every
nerve was strung, and every art which ingenuity
could invent was employed by one party or the
other. Whiskey flowed free rs the rivers that
bound us for alcohol is considered the proper flu
ell to keep alive or kindle the flames of patriotism.
Not to have followed the example of others,
would haze been fatal to the success of Gilmore
and his party. Like others he was compelled to
drink with the electors, to keep his bottle in
readiness for all who called upon him. and 10
listen with apparent pleasure to the brute, whose
vulgarity and blasphemy compelled his wife to
leave the room. The day of election came
a1H Mm29EG rfGeGiHgfa nf66 6fs 7h3-e
scenes of dissipation and good fellowship know
no relaxation. The principles of Gilmore were
too feeble to stand this long protracted selge
lie once more became drlmkdrd. In one year
from that fatal election, you might on every day
of the week hvae seen that unhappy man stag
gerug about loathsome, den in the vicinity call
ed distillery.-The fears and intreatles of his
wife were now of no avail. He gave himself
up as lost and would not even promise amend
meut The affections Of n virtuous woman
shines brighter the darker are the clouds of add
versity that envelope the object OF her love.
Elmore was seized for debt by the unprncipled
wretch that furnished him with the means of
daily intoXicaon. lie judged rightly of the un-
dying affections of the injured wife. She as
signed over to the dstiller, in payment of her
husbands debt, the farm which constituted the |
only means ofsupport for herself and child
Nature cannot long withstand the habit Of dat
Nv intoXicaton. Gilmore attacked with |
mortal sickness. Removed TO the wretched cab
in into which his inemperance had driven his |
wife and son, Lucy watched over her dying |
husband with all the tender anxiety that churac-
terzed the happiest years of their union. All
that woman could do for the fondest, most de- !
voted husband, was done by Lucy for the lost,
Gilmore. When she found that his
recovery was hopeless every effort was directed
TO prepare him to appear in the presence of an Of
Tended God. She knelt by his bedside and inn
plored for hila the mercy he dared not ask tor
himself. The hour of death, filled as it is with
the struggles of expiring nature, is always pecu-
liarly.untitted to Il preparation Tor the unseen
world. How then Is it with the drunlard, his
mind in ruins and haunted with the sight of the
wife and children he has ruined.
We wish nor to withdraw the veil that con-
ceals his destiny for eternity. We will leave
him, and
"No further seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his fraties from their dread abode.
The last offices having been paid 70 the bloat-
ed remains of her husband, Mrs Gilmore had now
no tie to bind her earth but Frederick her son,
who was now fast emerging from childhood
As she gazed upon his ripenng form, the mother
felt her courage rise to the performance of the
task before her To lead him in the path ofvlr-
tue, to support her child and give him an educa-
ton that would fit him to discharge with credit
the duties of citizen, were all that remained for
her in life Disappointment had taught her wild
owed heart not to hope from earth iappiness but
such US arises from trca,ling the thorny path of
duty. The friends of her youth had descended
10 the grave, or forgotten on the busy theatre OF
this world, that one poor and stricken yet ex-
isted and she felt that all her resources for sup
port depended upon the blessing of the widows
God, upon her own prudence and untiring in
dustry.
In early life the finer kinds of needle work
4