Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1853-02-25

! Il
came here to do good. Hear me and be
just.
II am an old man, standing alone at the
end of life's journey. There is a deep sor-
row in my heart and tears in my eyes. |
have journeyed over dark and beaconless
ocean, and all life,s bright hopes have been
wrecked. l am without friends, home or
kindred on earth, and look with longing to
the rest of the night of death. Without
friends, kindred or home. 1t was not once
sou
No one could withstand the touching pa
those Of the old MAJ. l not C d a tear treln-
bling on the lid of my fathers eye, and no
more felt ashamed of my own.
NO my friends, it was not SO once A
way over the dark waves which have wreck
ed my hopes, there is the blessed light of
happiness and home. | reach again convul-
siyely for the shrines of the household idols
that once were mine, now mine no more"
The old man seemed looking away through
fancy upon some bright vision, his lips apart
and his finger extended. | involuntarily turn
ell in the direction where it was pointed.
dreadinG to see some shallow invoked by its
magic movement.
IL once had a mother. With her old
heart crushed with SORROWS, she went down
to her grave | once had a wife, fair, an
gel-hearted creature as ever smiled in an earth
ly home. Her eye was as mild as a summer
sky, and her heart as faithful and true as ev-
er guarded and cherished husbands love
Her blue eye grew dim as the floods of sor-
row washed away its brightness, and the liv-
ing heart [ wrung until every fibre was bro
ken. | once had noble, brave and beau
titul boy, but he was driven out from the rl-
ins of his home, and my old heart yearns to
know if he yet lives. l once had babe,
sweet tender blossom, but these hands des-
troyed it and it liyeth with one who loveth
children.
''Do not be startled friends-I am not a
murderer IN the common acceptation of the
term. Yet there is light in my evening sky
A spirit mother rejoices over the return of
her prodigal son. The wife smiles upon him
who again turns back to virtue and honor
The child-angel visits me at nightfall, and
feel the hallowing touch of a tinny palm up
on my feverish cheek Ny brave boy, if he
yet lives, would forgive the sorrowing old
man for the treatment which drove him into
the world, and the blow that manned him
for life. God forgive me for the ruin have
brought upon me and mine"
He again wiped a tear from his eye Ny
father watched him with strange intensity,
and countenance unusually pale and excited
by some strong emotion.
Il was once fanatic, and madl, followed
the malign light which led me to ruin.
was a fanatic when sacrificed my wife, chill
dren happiness, and home, to the Accusing
demon Of the bowl. l once adored the
gentle being whom I injured so deeply
a was a drunkard. from responsibility
and affluence, plunged into degradation and
poverty. dragged my family down with
me. For years saw her cheek pale and
her step grow weary. left her alone amid
the wreck Of her home idols, and rioted at
the tavern. She never complained, vet she
and the children went hungry for bread
"One New Years night, | returned late to
the hut where charity had given us roof
She was yet up, and shiyerng over the Goals,
| demanded food, but she burst into tears
and told me there was none | tiercely or
dcred her to get some. She turned her eyes
sadly upon me, the tears falling fast over her
pale cheek. AT this moment the child in its
cradle awoke and sent up famished wall,
starting the despairing mother'like serpent's
sting.
1--WE have no food, James-haye had none
for several days. | have nothing for the babe
My once kind husband, must we starve.
THAT sad pleading face and those stream
ing eyes, and the feeble wall of the child,
maddened me, and Ives, | struck her a
fierce blow in the face and she fell forward
upon the hearth. The furieS of he'll boiled
in my bosom, and with deeper intensity as
felt that had committed wrong. | had
never struck Mary before but now some ter
rible impulse bore me on, and | stopped
down as well as | could in my drunken state
and cenched both hands in her hair
God of mercy, James" exclaimed my
wife as she looked up in my fendsh coun-
tenance, you will not xiii us-you will not
harm Willie" and she spraug to the cradle
and grasped him in her embrace, l caught
her again by the hair and dragged her to the
door, and as lifted the latch, the wind burst
in with a cloud of snow With the veil of
a tcnd, | still dragged her on and hurled her
out into the darkness and the storm. With
n wild ha ha. | closed the door and turned
the button, her pleading moans mingling
with the wall of the blast and sharp cry of
her babe. But my work was not COM lete
| turned to the little bed where Law my OIL
der son and snatched him from his slumbers
and against his half-awakened struggles, OPP
ened the door and thrust him out In the
agony of fear he called to me by name |
was no longer fit to bear, and locked his fin
gers into my side pocket. Icould not wrench
that frenzied grasp away. and with the cool
ness of devil as | was, shut the door upon
the arm, and with my knife severed the arm
at the wrist
The speaker ceased a moment and buried
his face in his hands as if to shut out some
fearful dream. and his deep chest heaved like
storm-swept sea. Ny father had arisen
from his seat aud was leaning forward, his
countenance bloodless, and the large drops
standing out upon his brow Chills crept