The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1847-07-09

ny nuREHT Y. 6RErIg,
Liberty is born in Heaven,
Twas man that MAIDS the siare"

va man ihut ulduf the 6fnle
The life of felon what tissue
OF crimes casualties, adventures and
miraculous escapes; what com
.pllcation Of dark thoughts and still
darker deeds--of wrongs unatoned
and sins unrepented, are involved
in the simple sentence The Life
of a Felon!
We well remember how, in our
Sehoolboy days, as, grouped with
others about the ample hearthstone
of the old mansion, we listened with
sensations of mingled fear and curl
oSlty to the recital of some thrilling
story by one of our number, who,
regardless of the old pedagogue's
regulations, had contrived to get
hold of a book of desperate adven-
ture, our heart throbbed with alarm
and anticipation, while at the same
time we felt not a norsel of pity for
;hc hardened wretches, who, brand
ed as outcasts by their fellow men,
were denied the opportunity Of re-
forming from their evil practices,
and compelled by the very society
which had cast them out, to pclse-
we're in the self same courses for
which they stood condemned. The
causes by which they were led as.
trT never Tor a moment crossed our
mini, but as we listened with brist-
llnghair and trembling limbs to the
denoiement, sigh Of qualification
ESCAPED us, when We thought that
the scfold had claimed It's victim,
and the Felon had met his doom!
1t WIS cold December night,
/ III, rs r,,,',,fu .,.---ar ner4 o. %
% lie Snowwhich covered the ground
to a considerable depth was hard
and crisp, and the wind, which ra-
ged in the hoad and narrow streets
with all th fury of a hurricane,
bIockaded hors and windows, and
tearing shutters, signboards and tiles
from their iasenings, sent them rat
Ting and changing down into the
street.
But little cared the wealthy and
aristocratic family of Mr.. Joseph
Scammon, late Of the firm of Scam
mon, Cannon and Sponge, for all
this, They had no doubt, not the
least, that, All of doors, tie weather
might be ga little uncomfortable or
sos" (as the senior Scammon lelic-
itously expressed it, but there were
thcy-a happy family circle, con-
sisting Of tie aforesaid Scammon,
senior, Mrs. Jos. Scammon-Miss
Alphonsine and Master Theophilus
Scammon-all huddled around bla-
zing fire Of Liverpool coal, each en-
ploying him or herself IN manner
most congcnial to their several feel
ings, and all, it is needless to men
ton, as merry as grigsl
First, there sat Scammon himself
IN handsome wrapper, which could
not have cost less than twenty dol
lars, swaying his portly body to and
fro in heavily stuffed Boston rock
er, and amusing himself by coming
over the latest changes in the com
mercial columns of the newspaper
varying said amusement, from time
to time, by a glance at the police
reports, or the column containing
all the "melancholy casualties" and
"deplorable accidents" of the day.
Then Mrs. Seammon, in another
heavily stuffed Boston rocker, on the
opposite side of the handicapped
tabled by which her lord and master
sat reading, was deeply absorbed in
the pages of the last fashionable nov
81. Miss Alphonsine was at her tam
bour-irame, which bore the usual
impress of very fluffy, singular
looking cat, with pink body and
eyes of delicate purple, playing
with ball of worsted-thc ball by
the way being more natural than the