Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-03-24

to find its unhappy writer. He is beyond the
reach of your noble generosity guilty, and a
! dying man. do not seek for life. There is
no hope for my future existence-and death
dark, and terrible, and mysterious as 1t may
seem, is less to be dreaded than the awful re-
aIities with which lam surrounded.
81 have little strength to tell you the story
of my fall. Lett be brief. You know how
we partel. from each other. You know the lof-
ty hopes, and the the towering feelings of am
bition, which urged me from your society
i from the enjoyment of that friendship.the mem
ory of which has ever since fingered like an
| upbraidlng spirit at my side. | arrived at my
place of destination; and aided by the introduce
tory epistles of my family, | was at once receiv-
ed into the first and most fashionables cities OF
| the city.
81 never possessed those principles of virtue
| and moral dignity, the effect of which has been
so conspicuous in your own character. Amidst
the fiatterles and attentions of those around me,
and in the exciting pursuit of pleasure; the
kindly voice of admonition was unheard; and
became the gayest of the gay: a leader In every
scene of fashionable dissipation. The princl-
| pies of nv new companions were those OF lnf-
deity, and | embraced them with my whole
soul. You know my former disposition to doubt
that doubt was now changed into settled
u
had once been taught to believe sacred and
holy.
'1Yet amidst the bane ful principles which
had imbibed, one honorable feeling still linger-
ed in my bosom, like beautiful angel in the
companionship of demons. There was one be-
ING young and fovely creature,at whose shrine
all the deep affections of my heart were poured
out, in the sincerity of early love. She was in
deed beautiful girl-a being to bow down to
and worship-pure and high-thoughted as the
sainted ones of paradise, but confding and art
less as a child. She possessed every advantage
of outward beauty-but it was not that which
gathered about her, as with a spell, the hearts
of all who knew her. 1t was the light of her
beautiful mind, which lent the deep witching
of soul to her fine countenance-fashing in her
dark eyes, and playing like sunshine on her lip
and crossing her fair forehead with an insellec-
| tual halo. -.
"AlIston look back to that spring-time of
love even at this awful crisis of my destiny,
with strange feeling of joy. 1t is the only
green spot in the wilderness of the past-an
oasis in the desert of being. She loved me,
Allston-and heart more precious than the
gems of the east, was given up to wretch I'M
worthy of its slightest regard.
Hitherto pride rather than principle had keptme
above the lowest degradation of sensual indul-
gence. Bnt for one fatal error might have
united to the lovely being of my affections and
oh if siness purity and persuasive love could
have had power over mind darkeued and per-
verted as my own, might have been reclaimed
from the pathway ofruin, | might have been
happy.
.But that fatal error came; and came, too, in
the abhorrent shape of loathsome drunkenness.
shall never, in time or eternity, forgot that
scene; it is engraven on my memory In letters
of fire. 1t comes up before me like terrible
dream-but 1t is dream of reality. 1t dashed
from my lips the cup of happiness, the fixed Cor
ever the dark aspect of destiny.
81 had been very gay, for there were happy
spirits around me; and drank freely and fear
lessly for the first time. There is something
horrible in the first sensations of drunkenness.
For relief, ] drank still deeper-andI was
drunkard-I was delirious-I was happy;I left
the inebriate assembly, and directed my steps,
not to my lodgings, but to the home of her
whom loved-nay, adored, above all others
Judge of her surprise and CONSERVATION when L
entered with flushed countenance and unsteady
tread! She was reading to her jagged parents,
when with an idiots grimace approached her.
She started from her seat-one glance told her
the fatal truth; she shrunk from me-aye, from
me, to whom her vows were plighted. and her
young affections given-with iear,wlth loathlng
and undisguised adherence. lrritated at her
conduct, approached her rudely, and snatched
from her hand the book which she had been
reading. / cast it into the flames which rose
brightly from the hearth. 1t was the volume
which you call sacred. saw the smoke
of its consuming go upward like a sacrifice to
the demon ofintemperance, and there, by that
christian ireside, cursed the book and its
author.
"The scene which followed, beggars descrip-
ton. The shrieks of my bethrothed-her sink
inp down in a state of insensibility-the tears
of maternal anguish-the horror depicted on the
countenance of the old man-all these throng
even nov confusedly over my memory. | stag
gered to the door. The reception | had met
with and the excitement thereby produced had
obviated in some measure the effect of intoxlca-
ton: and reason began to assume its EMPIRE
The full round moon was up in the heavens-and
the stars-how fair, how passing beautiful, they
shone down at that hour! had loved to look
upon the stars-those bright and blessed evil
dences of holy, and all pervading intelligence
but that night their grandeur and their exceed |
ing purity, came, like a curse to my weary Wis
ion. could have seen those beautiful lights |
extinguished, and the dark nights-cloud sweep
ing over the fair face of the sky, and have |
smiled with grim satisfaction, for the change |
would have been in unison with my feelings. |
sAllston have visited, in that fearless ag- |
ony which mocks at consolation, the grave of
my betrothed. She died of broken heart
From that moment E, all is dark and hateful, and
loathsome, in my history. Iamreduced to pow
erty-l am bowling to disease am without |
friend. have no longer the means of subsis-
tence; and starvation may yet anticipate the |
fatal termination of the disease which is prey
ing upon me-"
Such is the tale of the once gifted and noble |
st. Clair. Let the awful lesson it teaches sink |
deep in the hearts of the young and buoyant of
spirit. ]. G. w.
EARLY GENIUs.-The price of bread was
raised in Ayr on Tuesday week. A boy went |
halr A. -.