Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1853-09-01


my wife. children happiness and home;
to the accused demon of the bowl
once adored the gentle being whom |
injured so deeply.
was drunkard From respectable
ty and affiuence, plunged into degreda-
tion and poverty, dragged my family
down with me. For years saw her
cheek pale, and her step grow weary. l
left her alone amid the wreck of her
home Idols. and riotsd at the tavern.-
She never complained, yet she and the
children went buggy for bread,
One New Years night, | returned to
the hu; where charity had given us roof.
She was vet up, and shiverins over the
Goals. demanded food but she burst
/ into tears and told ne there was none
| fiercely ordered her to get some. She
turned her eyes sadly upon me, the tears
! falling fast over her pale cheek. At this
moment the child awoke and sent up q
furnished wall starting the despairing mo
ther like serpents sting.
! We have no food. James-have had
none for several days. have nothing
for the babe. My once kind husband,
must we starve?
That pleading face and those stream
ing eyes and the feeble wall Of the child.
maddenei me and Ives struck her d
fierce blow in the face and she fell for
ward upon the hearth.
The furies OF hell boiled in my bosom.
and with deepar intensity as / felt had
committed wrong. had never struck
Mary before. but now some terrible i'm
pulse bore me on. and stopped down as
well as could in my drunken state and
clenched both of my hands in her hair.
God of mercy. james! exclaimed ny
wife. as she looked mp III my fendsh
countenance. you Will not kill us-you
will not harm Willie and she sprang to
the cradle and grasped him in her EN-
brace. | caught her again by the hair
and dragged her to the door, and as lift
ed The latch, the wind burst in with a
cloud Of snow. With the yell of a fiend.
still dragged her on and hurled her out
into the darkness and storm. With a
wild ha! ha! | closed the door aud turned
the button; her pleading means mingling
with the wall of the blast, and sharp cry
Of her babe. But my work was not COM
pie &C..
turned TO little bed where lay ms
older son, and snatched him from his
sumbers, and against his half awakened
struggles, opened the door and thrust
him out La the agony oe fear he called
me by a'name | was no longer fit to
bear and locked his fingers into my side
pocket. l could not wrench that freu-
zied grasp way. and with the COO ness
Of a devil, and was. shut the door upon
the arm. and with my knife severed i. al
the wrist
The speaker paused a moment and
buried his face in his hands as if 10 shut
out some fearful drea n and his deep chest
heaved like storm swept sea. My faith
er had risen from his seat and was lean
ing forward his countenance bloodless.
and the large drops standing on his brow.
Chils crept back TO my young heart, and
| wished was at home. The old man
looked up, and never have since beheld
such mortal agony pictured upon hu
man face as there was on his.
at was morning when awoke and the
storm had ceased, but the cold was in
tense. first secured drink of water
and then looked in the accustomed place
for Mary. As missed her for the first
time shadowy scene of some horrible
nightmare began TO dawn upon my wan
dering mind. thought had fearful
dream. but invountariIy opened the door
with shuddering dread. As the door
opened the snow burst in, followed by
the fall of something across the thresh-
hold, scattering the snow, and striking
he aoor with sharp. bad sound. My
blood shot like red-hot arrows through
my veins, and rubbed my eyes to shut
out the sight. 1t was-it-O! God how
horrble it was my own injured Mary
and|ntr babe frozen to ice! The ever
true mother had bowed herself over the
child to shield it. and wrapped all her
clothing around it, leaving her own per-
son STARK and bare to the storm. She
had placed her hair over the face of the
child, and the sleet had frozen 1t to the
white cheek. The frost was white in it's
half.opened eyes and upon its tiny hn-
gers know not what became OF my
brave boy.
Again the old man bowed his head aud
wept and all that were in the house wept
with him. My father sob5ed like
child. In tones Of low and heart broken
pathos, the old man concluded:
81 was arrested. and for long months
| raved in delirium. | awoke. was sem
fenced to prison fo- ten years, but no for
tunes could have b.en like those | en-
dured within my own bosom. oh, God.
mol am not fanatic. | wish to in
iure no one, But while live, let me
strive to warn others not to enter the
path which has been so dark and fearful
one to me. | would see my wife and
children beyOnd this vale of tears"