Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-01-09
THE CHILD.

What sight more pitiable than that Of the chilli
of the wretehed Inebriate. Hhe turns his eve,
in upon the scenes of domestic suffering and
want, he finds nought but the g~loominess Of
hopelessness and despair if he looks out upou
the world for sympathy in his sad and desolass
condition, he is met by the cold, chilling gaze Of
scorn and contempt which his fathers sins have
unjustly entailed upon him ; or repulsed by tbs
stern heartlessness of the Implying throDg who
point with derision at the druakards hid
Sick at heart, and with every noble impulse
wounde and bleeding within him, he turns i.
the agony of his loneliness TO her who gave him
birth, and he finds on her once beauteous and
joyous face traced with the heavy pencil Of sor.
row, the dark lineanents Of hopelessness and
despair. ORR may be, that his No Their, like q
crushed and Eithered flower, has sicksped
dropped and died and now fits ap obscure graz.
in the potter's field, OH how unspeakablv
gloomy and cherries Is the sad fate of that DOOR
child. God be merciful to the helpless boy. and
save him from his fathers fate,
But it may be there is picture even mora
sorrOwful than this. He has an only daHokt.y,
upon whose youthful face fingers the strange
loyeliRess of her saiAted mother in the happy
days of yore, Wish no kind voice TO guide her
steps Alright and teach her the paths of virtue
and religion, she is doomed TO the performances
of all manner Of drudgery, the suffering and
sorrow incident TO degradatfes and crime. .x-
posed to she Vulgarisms Of She low herd which
iHfest the druAkard's lowly ho~el il his hourr
Of deSaucherY and blasphemy. What sight on
earth more calculated TO arouse the sympathi..
and excite the administration Of the benevolsp.
and true heartedt than such q scene As thi,r In
it 50 be wondered at that the victim of such in
6uenees is found pursuing the dark alleys of in
fanny and shame,
Pause, thou infatuated, drunken fsther, and
gaze upon this family -sketched scene far less
horrible than the soul-siekeaing reality that sur
rounds thee / If thou hast no regard for myself:
if all the noble impulses of the heart have been,
obscured by the dark blotebes Of sin and degra-
dation, and thou hast no pity Cor thyself, for
Gods sake and the sake OF all thou once held
dear, have mercy upon those of thine own house
hold, thine own flesh and blood, and saTe them.
from sE'iHfamy which belongetA to thee alone.
BY the virgin innocence and purity of thy wife's
fond. affection; by her undying devotion which
has clung to thee in the darkest hour of misfor-
tune by that schema vow of reform which she
eXterted from thee as-she lay in expiring agenies
upon her lowly pallet Of poverty by the love
with which thou first gazed upon the cherub-
faced boy whom thou art now burying in the
dark sea of misery or leading Oh the high road
to crime and ignominy /; by the virgin purity Of
thy angelic daughter, fit emblem of her mother
IN her days Of innocence and ioy-we coniure
thee to pause in thv downward career Stax
thy paricidal hand and rush not into the pres
ence of God with the blood of thine own chill
dren reeking on thine hakds. Thou eanst yet
be a maD-the Order Of the Sons of lem psrance
by a strict adherence to its principles, can yet
restore thee to responsibility, to honor and to
God. 1t has saved thousands-it will save Won.
if thou wilt adhere to is. Doubt not but strike
for thy freedom with a firm resolve.
There's no impossibili!y to him
Who stands prepared TO conquer every hazard
The fearful are the failing"