, 1841-12-11


throughout the circuit. Things went on thu:
for more than a year, and l believed mysel
fairly on the road to fame and fortune.
occasionally played cards; but | c~onsoled
myself with the idea that l only played with
gentlemen for amusement.
One night | accompanied some young men
to a gaming Shop, and. for the first time in
my life. | saw a Faro Bank. My compan.
ions commenced betting, and was induced
TO join them, altho' ] did not Understand the
game. Again ! played with success, and
when we left the house was more than two
hundred dollars winner. None of my com.
panions had been fortunate, and it was insis
ted that | was the lucky man. and that | must
treat. We accordingly repaired to my room,
where | ordered wine. and before we broke
up were all deeply intoxicated. With he
it was the first time, and the next day l re-
solved | would never play cards again. ]
adhered to the determination for nearly three
months, when | again Welded to the entreat-
les Of my dissipated associates.
| now played with varied success, and in
all cases found an excuse for resorting 10 the
wine bottle If | lost, | drank 10 drown sor-
row; If | won. treated my good fortune.
Thus | progressed upon my downward
course, unit! drinking and gambling became
my chief ~employments. All nv friends who
were worth preserving abandoned me. until
my own associates were drunkards and gam
blers. when almost reduced TO want, (for |
had left of business) received a letter inform
ing NE of the death ofmy father-that father
who watched over my early years-who loved
me so tenderlv. And did | act as an affec-
%tionate child No. Vice had destroyed
the human feelings of my heart, and left only
the animal passions end appetitrs as the
letter contained a check for $500, a part Of
my poor fathers hard earnings, | drowned
my grief that night in a Bachanallan revel,
and in a few days ] was again penniless. ]
will not dwell upon the every day scenes Of
my life. which were such rs may at all
times he witnessed at anv Of the two hundred
dram shops Of your city, where wretched
men squander the lite %pittance that justly
belongs to their suffering wives and children.
But, to pass on. For nearly three years ]
have been a drunken, wandering outcast.-
Six months ago ! received a letter from my
dear mother, enclosing one hundred dollars,
and informing me that she was fast sinking
with disease, and entrealing with all a mo-
theirs feeling, to come and see her before she
died. For a time | felt the appeal. and re-
solved to comply with her request; and ac-
cordingly took passage on a steam boat for
that purpose. For two DAYS ] refrained
from liquor; but my thirst became %insuppor-
ia le,-at length my appetite o~verpowered
my better feelings, and approached the bar
and demanded the liquid fire. ] was soon
intoxicated, when | madly sought the gam
ing table; and before the boat reached Lou
isville, ] was stripped Of every cent. Thus.
all hopes of seeing my diving mother cut of. I
remained at Louisville several weeks: in
which time Learned that my mother had died,
and that her last breath was spent in prayer
for her wretchrd child.
From Louisville / shipped on board the
steamer Brazil, as a deck hand and came
to this place, where ! was discharged for
drunkenness. Let every young man reflect
upon this picture. ]. who had moved in the
first circles Of society-had been the guest
Of distinguished public men, and a ~favorite
among the %litera'i of the country-was now
turned of as unfit for a deck hand on a
steamboat! yet intemperance had done this
much.
IIeitered about this city for several weeks
and was sometimes engaged in hosting up
the books of some dram shop, for which |
was paid in the liquid fire, kept for the accom-
modation Of customers. One evening ] fell
in company with a man who has lately been
lodged in Jail for passing counterfeit money.
We PLAYED cards, and | won from him the
three dollar bill in question. The next day
learned it was a counterfeit, and did not Of
fer to pass it for some days. But a, last /
- $50. Ill o~olor,,ap, Ih,J M o<har