The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1845-02-07

promise not TO violate it, he furnished him
also with letters to a respectable mercantile
house ia Clnciunrti. IL left Mes o leans
immediately, aud was SHORTLY after his al
rival installed 10 Cincinnati as book keeper
To the firm Ia whom he vas recommended
, For year his conduct gave entire salts.
faction Out Of his salary he sent regular
reml,tances TO New Orleans, 10 pay III the
debts contracted during his term Of inebri.
city. During the year his regular upright
conduct aud attention 10 business so pleased
bis employers that, unsolicited, they raised
his salary, ipasnuch that he veniuIed 10
vii c 10 Mr.. Canning, to whom he had
promised neither 10 write TO his wife nor by
any verba! message endeavor t. Induce her
TO Jpin him. lie now wrote, confident il
his present upright course and tried abs'i
ncnce, praying that Ellen might be permit.
ted TO come to him. 4 kind ansNer was
returned and in another month l. len re
joined him in CINCINNATI.
Another year passed, and Uarstcp was
left comparatively wealthy by the d 'aih OF
his father, "a coffee planter in the Wast
lndic,) and had entered tho commercial
house Of Hhich he mad been book keeper,
us d partner. Daring that year bis family
had Uceived the addition Of boy, beau
lifnI, healthy child, and Marsion nigh, cv.
er be seen, when returning from his flee,
carrying tie rosy boy m his arms, bis ia.
voTitc, pride and pay thing. What though
he felt oil fathers pride n his eldest chld,
the beautiful lit lie Ahhpa, with her deep
blue eyes aud dark curling hair, still was
she To blm more as stranger, and he new.
rr replied 10 a question OF her aye, that she
vas four years old, without slghn. iutolun
tauly al the thought OF how snail por
ton of that time she had been permitted to
know him. None OF these harrow ing re-.
collections were his, as he I, ssed the rosy,
laughing boy on hlgh, or nightly whlsted
/ hun 10 slerr.
And l. len vas happy-happy in the az
ieciionate kindness If the man whom she
had never upbraided in his folly aud degta
/ d iilnn, new that he was restored 10 b. r. 10
himself and society. She once more, as
in the days when grief alone by that name
she knew, felt thankful for his relorna ion,
oud dreamed thai ulcyen days we're yet III
store for her.
Alas that the brightest dream &C n
fond wife and mothers existence should be
broken, tudely and forever, ly lha, fatal
,cursc.--ane more FIRST glass. Yet so It
was with poor Ellcn's dream Of hope and
happiness.
Ga returning from hrs "Gi;e ono evening
Narsion. being caught INA shower, oppcd
III tavern where were assembled many
Of his acquaintance, some reading the pa
pcrs, others to htng politics around the blt.
Mar,lun complained Of being wet, aud was
ad lsed 10 lake glass OF brandy he knew
full wtll his prnE eu-Iiy, and thattu be tenn
pefate he must abstain entirely, Vel he vas
now no longer the dependent clerk whose
lncbii 'ly might be punisa'd with instant
dismissal aud loss Of character; he stood
high now as merchant and man Of wealth
whom could il possibly iujpre--ih4l one
gldss' Besides, to whom was he account,
able
Man Marston ask to whom nccounla
bic 10 your VIE, your children, and =
your God Had he moi shaved that he
could keep his word whrn neressar, =
Had he not abStained totally tor the last
three years Then whom could this one
glass i.rcl The sequel showed.
When Marston turned home later ihan
usual his wife FASTENED 10 meet him with
his inraut boy IN her arms. Pushing past
her. he complained Of headache but Ellen
vas not deceived, the smell Of brandy,
though Of late unused 10 It, was never 10
b. mistaken. She had seen hu ,hus be.
o-c.
The babe cappcd his rosy hands and
crowcd for joy as he stretched out his little
arms 10 DO taken, but Marstou complaining
Of his Goisc put hm rrdely bnck. The
child aG.ghted put his head in hs moth
c ) bosom aud sobbcd himself 10 sleep.
The FIRST glass being iuduec6 in but crca
ted a desire for more, aud the next day
twas with unspeakabe horror that Ellen
shV, hy her husbands manner on his return
to dinner, that he had been drinking, but she
knew not how deeply.
Seeing tina, she was afraid to trust the
child 10 bis arms as Nas her Won, Mars.
ton wlIh the obsinacy peculiar to inebrely
INSISTED upon taking hun. But the little
fellow remembering his repulSe Of the PIE.
ccding nigh, or perhaps llI.h ened al the
violence OF bis manner, cluns the cInSer TO
his mother. Mdrslou, as has been said.
had been drinking more deeply ,han ms
wife suspected. The fumes Of the Iicaor
he had swallowed had risenio his brain, aud
maddcncd at what he called "ihr brat's ob
stinDcy," he snatched him from b mother.
Ellen cIasped her hands as she saw him
luriously swung on high, and called or re,h
err screamed, "Oh, hurt him no., Harry ?"
/ but ere the words were ended the helpless,
unctfudlng babe was dashed to the first
landing Of the stairs.
4 A scream from his wife 80 wild and
hen,less that the agony Of death seemed
to have passed in il, reused Mars,on TO q
full scensc of what he had done. lie ran
to raise the quveting frame Of that boy,
late so much his Joy and pride, and bore