Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1844-02-08
N I s. q IL Ia u a 81 z o
THE DRUNKiRD'S WIFE.
BY E.. punnrrr, THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH.

There arc n"w developments of human
character, which, like the distant stars. are vet
TO visit The eye OF man and operate upon hu.
man society. Ever since the image of the
Godhead was first sketchcd in Eden. its grea,
Author and angels have been painting upon
II; men have tried their hands upon il; i'll
tluences like the incessant breath of heaven.
have ltit each It's line upon the canvass still
the finishing stroke of the pencil will not be
accomplished until the last, lingering survivor
of "the wreck of matter and the crush of
worlds" "is changed in the twinkling of an
eye"
The hemisphere of the present age is stud
dcd all over with such pearls "and patines OF
bright gold," as. never shone before in the
heavens of the human soul. IN these latter
days the waves of time have washed up from
depths that angels never falhomed, 'gems of
purei light serene" than were ever worn be-
fore in the crown of man. We are now hut
half way advanced in new cycle of human
society. The race is but just emerging from
the long reaching shadows of an iron age. and
coming out into the starlight and sunlight Of
new influences. If, as we are assured, scores
OF new stars have taken rank with the heaven
ly hosts, during the last two centuries stars
brighter than they, have, in the same period,
kindlcd up new lights in the moral armament.
Among these new stars, one, a liue lower
than that of Bethlehem, has Just appeared
above the horizon. II Is the star of woman's
iniiuencc influential women is a being of
scarcely two centuries; up TO that period, and
almost hitherto, her influences have fallen
upon human character and society, like the
feeble rays OF a rising winters sun upon po-
lar fields of ice. But her sun is reaching up
ward. There is glorious meridian TO which
she shall as surely come as to- morrow's sun
Will reach his III our natural heavens What
man will be when she shall smile on him then
and thence. we are unable to divine but we
can found all anticipation from the influences
OF her dawning rays. Her morning light has
gilded the visions Of human hope, and sill
vered over the night shadows of human sor-
row. There has been no depth of human
misery beyond the reach Of her ameliorating
influence, nor any height Of human happiness
which she has not raised still higher Who
ever has touched at either Of these extremities.
or at any points, could attest that "neither
height nor depth, nor principalties, nor pow
ers, nor things present or TO come" could
divert or viiate, the accents and anodynes Of
her love. Whether we trace the lineameuts
of her character in the mild twilight of her
risen day, we find that she has touched hui
man society like an angel. ], would be ire.
weren't to her worth TO say, in what walks of
life she has walked most like an angel Of light
and love; in what vicissitudes, in what lows.
or sorrows, in what situations or circumstances.
she has most signaly discharged the heavenly
mnistrations of her mission what ordeals
have best brought out the radiance of her hid
den jewels; what iru,ions of earthly bliss.
or furnaces of affection. have best declared
the 6neness Of her gold. Still, there is a
scene which has escaped the svulure's eve,,
and almost every other eve, where she has
cast forth her costliest pearls, and shown
such qualities Of her native character as al
most merit our alteration. This scene has
been allotted TO the drunkard's rife How
she has filed this most desperate outpost of
humanity, will he revealed when the secrets
of human life shall be disclosed ITO more
worlds than this" When tie history ,c ho-
wells, and of murky garrett, shall be given in.
when the career of the enslaveG nebriate shall
be told, from the first TO the lowest dcgree of
his degradallon-there will be memorial
made of women, worthy of being told and
heard in heaven. From the first moment she
gave up her young and hoping heart, and all
lis treasures, into the hands of him she loved.
to the luckIess hour when the charmer, wine,
fastened around the loved one, all the serpent
spells o! It's sorcery--down through all the
crushing Of her young-born hopes--through
years of arrangement and strange insanity
when harsh Unkindness bit at her heart-slrinqs
with all adder's tooth---theuce down through
each successive depth Of disgrace and misery,
until she bent over the drunkard's grave
through all these scenes, halo Of divinity has
gathered around her, and stirred her TO angel
deeds OF love. When the maddehed victim
tried to cot himself adrift from the syuyathy
and society of God and man, she has,Sang !"
him and held him II her henrI vii 6OOkS ~