Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-05-15
MISC EuLANEOUS.
Of being Avariciou.

| Polilcai drama OF lne DAY, mas lately re-
turned to Paris, where some years since he
dwelt for long time. On his first visit to
the capital, young and already famous, he
marredinto the aristocracy Of the Fauboura
Saint German. The return of this person.
age has excited the curiosity of the Paris
ian world, justified, it would seem by form.
er eccentricities, and by strangeness OF
character which may be traced in the an
ecdote now going the rounds of the talk
mongers. The individual in question was
not born and educated in the class, where
he now finds himself placed by the right
of personal merit. Instead of being tenn
pered by early education, his disposition
naturally violent, ,undrestrained and uncul-
tvated, was rendered almost ungovernable
by the habits of life spent amid camps.
His fortune too, like his greatness, came to
HIM late; and it has been frequently re-
marked that those who obtain riches by
their own efforts and in middle life,possess
a lively and powerful attachment for the
wealth which long privation and laborious
conquest have taught them immoderately
to value.
So that at the time Of this illustrious
strangers entrance into the world of Paris,
those shrewd observers, the envious and
Jealous of others prosperity, remarked that
his shining qualities were darkened by two
very great taults-avarice and brutality.
The latter of these faults was a sad fea-
turc in his married life, and was the cause
of poignant suffering TO wife well born,
brought up in the most polished society,
surrounded by afiectionate relatives, and
accustomed TO all the rcGnements OF aristo-
cratic ood-breeding. 1t was not long be-
fore she was made to feel the change, for
the character of her husband began to dis
play itself in the early days Of her married
life, and shade of bitter to mingle with
the sweetness of the honeymoon. This
was sad, and all the promised happiness
faded away. The union which had COM
menccd under the most favorable auspices,
saw its charms destroyed by stormy half
hours which became more and more fire.
quent. 1t required all the rare virtue of
the young wife not to succumb to the trials
which humiliation, terror, injury and grief,
One day, after scene of conjugal vio-
lence which had occurred in the presence
OF many witnesses, the irasciblc husband
entered his own apartment, whittier he was
followed by an old and tried friend who
by his devotion and uprightness had earn
ed the right to speak plainly, right he did
not hesitate to exercise. Without needing
the still unsurpassed rage, he very freely
commented on the conduct of bis friend so
little becoming in gentleman. The cul-
prit listened with a gloomy air, and when
the lecture was terminated, said:-
Your rcproof sjust, deserve it, and I
rcproach myself more bitterly than you
have! 1t is stronger than l am, it is out of
my power to control it; | give way to my
passion, fly into a rage and forget myself.
When tbs over am ashamed, despairing,
and yet all this does not prevent me from
recommending, and sometimes even the
very next day. 1t fatal
Yes very fatal
i have need of good lesson, and viii
teach it to myself
And the culprit for some minutes strobe
thro' the apartment with rapid steps and
lowering brow, keeping silence and twist
ing in his fingers cigarette. The express
sion of his features and the contraction Of
his forehead, betrayed the painful thoughts
and stormy conflict which We're going on
within then, his resolution taken, he o.
pencd a drawer and took from it bank
bill for one thousand francs His friend
looked on with astonishment, unable to
imagine what he was about to do. He
rolled up the bill, put it in the taper and
lighted his cigar by the flame of the pre-
cious paper. The friend, stupeied at this
strange action, strange in man with whose
excessive parsimony he was so well ac-
quainted, rushed towards him.
Leave mc!' said the m;ser with chok-
ing vioce.
But, you are mad
No, l know what | am doing-I am
Furnishing myself
When the bill was nothing but small
heap of black ashes, our hero-and he may
be called one after this action-added, in
firm and solem voice:
Il swear, on my honor, that each time l
glveway to any brutality towards my wife,
| will punish myself in the most sensitive
part, my love of money
This oath was religiously kept. Since
that day thc miser has strictly paid for the
brutality of the husband After scene
of violence he appears before his selfap-
pointed tribunal, and submitting to the law
which he himself lays down, he pronounces
his sentence without appeal. The con
demned opens the casket which contains
his treasure. Pale and trembling with ef:
fort beneath which his passion bends, he
takes bank bill and burns it.
| The expiation was always proportion.
ed to the offence: he had traif graduated
by the degrees of crime;for a simple harsh.
ness the price was five hundred francs, 70,
a harshness before witnesses, ,one thousand
and ifgesture and action had followed the
spoken brutality, it was two thousand
francs. This course, his friend states
might have ruined him, for in single montl
1t cost him thirty thousand fancs. Bu
happily it turned out otherwise. He be
came an entirely changed man. His fault.
have completely disappeared. The Sc
verify of the remedy worked perfect cure
+ Now he is kind, gallant and amiable to
wards his wife, and his evenness of dispo
; sition is proof against all shocks; and wha
is stranger still. he has become liberal anc
generous, and spends his ample fortun
freely and intelhgently.
Happily they who have not only tn
force Of mind but the means of so eradica
ting vice. Whether many Parisian hus
bands will follow the example when the,
have faults to correct in themselves, is
matter Of considerable doubt.
Coarie~ 9cs Etafr Eass.