Spirit of the age., 1853-06-29

on my land, followed by others like rain
drops. The old man brushed one from his
own eyes and continued
Men and Christians ! You have just
heard that am vagrant and fanatic. |
am not. As God knows my own sad heart,
| came here to.do good. Hear me and be
Just.
! / am an old man, standing alone at the
end of life's journey. There is deep sor-
row in my heart and tears in my eyes. /
have journeyed over dark and beaconless
ocean, all Iife's hopes have been wrecked. II
am without friends, home or kindred on
earth, and look with longing to the rest or
the night of death. Without friends, kim
dred or home 1t was not so once 2
No one could withstand the touching pa
thos of the old man. noticed tear trem-
bling on the lid ofmy fathers eye, and no
more felt ashamed of ny 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-
slVely for the shrines of the household idols
that once were mine, now mine no more Z
The old man seemed looking away thro'
fancy upon some bright vision, his lips apart
and bis finger extended | involuntarily
turned into the direction where it was point
ed, dreading to see some shadow invoked by
It's magic movements.
once had mother With her old
heart crushed with sorrows, she went down
to her grave. | once had wife, fair, an
gel-hearted creature as ever smiled in an
earthly home. Her eye was as mild as a
summer sky, and her heart as faithful and
true as ever guarded and cherished hus-
4 bands love. Her blue eyes grew dim as
D the floods Of sorrow washed away its bright
- ness, and the living heart l wrung until ev-
r, cry fibre was broken. | once had a noble,
le a brave and beautiful boy, but he was driv-
! en- out from the ruins Of his home, and my
le old heart yearns to know if he yet lives. |
had babe, a sweet tender blossom. but
le these hands destroyed it, and it liveth with
re one who loveth children.
r. DO not be startled, friends-I am not a
murderer, in the common acceptation of the
ne term. ct there is light in my evening sky.
er A spirit mother rejoices over the return Of
he her prodigal son. The wife smiles upon
nd him who again turns back to virtue and hon
he or. The child-angel visits me at nigbtfall,
&c. and I feel the hallowing touch of tiny palm
he upon my feverish cheek, ~ brave boy, if
In, he yet lives, would tfGSyo tfGGSy the sorrowine
de old man sp1 L treatment which drove him
s into the world, and the blow that manned
n have brought upon NE and mine ?
Y He again wiped tear from his eye. Ny
n father watched with strange intensity, anc
re- a countenance unusually pale, and excited
ID by some strong emotion.
os | was once a fanatic. and madly followed
Ie the malign light which led me to ruin.
was fanatic when l sacrificed my wife
- children, happiness and home, to the accur
uc sed demon of the bowl | once adored tn
az aS gentle being whom injured SO deeply.
H. was drunkard. From respectable
~ '9a and afauence l plunged into degradatio
~ ue and poverty. dragged my family dow
+. with me. For years [ saw her cheek pal
u1 n1 and her step grow weary. left her alon
oo amid the wreck of her home idols, and r
81, oted at the tavern. She never complained
ou yet she and her children went hungry fl
!" bread. ...
lcS, 'One New-Year's night, I returned la
.ou to the hut where charity had given US roc
;Sr 30, She was yet up, and shiyering over tt
-. ioii Goals. demanded food, but she burst in
"lS tears and told me there was none. | fierc
u ly ordered her to get some. She turned h
'oi' eyes sadly upon me, the tears falling ia
over her pale cheek. At this moment, t
old child in the crallc awoke and sent up
and famished wall, starting the despairing mot
er like a serpents sting.
nan We have no food, James,-have b
try none for several days. have nothing (
his the babe. My once kind husband, must
10 starve z
lns That sad, pleading face, and the
ia,, a streaming eyes, and the feeble vail of t
"o- child maddcned me, and I-yes, l stru
nce her fierce blow in the face, and she f
ion forward upon the hearth. The furics
7, pr, hell boiled in my BOSOM and with deer
'ieu intensity as felt that had committed
wrong l had never struck Mary befo
and but now some terrible impulse bore me
tier and stopped down as we'll as | could
tav- my drunken state and clenchcd both haI
lng in her har.
man God Of mercy James! exclaimed
'eln wife, as she looked up in my fendish co,
w auu tenance, you will not kill us-you will
as : harm Willie = and she sprang to the era
anu n and grasped him in her embrace. eau
..1 ene her again by the hair, and dragged her
/. una, the door, and lifted the latch, the "
lAou burst in with a cloud Of snow. With
';t: '.es' yell Of fend, still dragged her on,
,,oi' hurled her out into the storm. With a "
" VI ha ha closed the door and turned
: - - button, her pleading means mingling v
VII the wall of the blast, and sharp cry of
babe. But my work was not complete.
your turned to the little bed where lay
ends. older son, and snatched him from his sll
pc IN bers, and against his half-awakened ST.
Il of giles, opened the door and thurst him out
Hing In the agony of fear, he called TO me b
ands name | was no longer fit to bear, and i
thou ed his fingers into my side pocket. CT
most not wrench that frenzied grasp away,
that with the GOODNESS of devil, as [ was,
which the door upon the arm, and with my k
that severed it at the wrist