The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-12-02
From the True Democrat.
THE LAST LETTER OF THE DRUNK
ARD'S WIFE.
BY MRS. +. d. GAGE.

Oh, my dear Amy, that should live to tel
you such tale as nv pen must tell you this
morning. shut my eyes; clasp my cold
and almost paralysed hands over them to ex-
! cude the fearful vision, but it will not away
| No, il is there, horrid, sou-thrilling, heart
breaking reality. Amy, my sister, my more
than sister, can so crush thee.-So dash
from thy lip the cup of joy which thou art
now, even now, lifting, sparkling to the brim,
with hope and love. Yes, /, even must do
it. Hard and thankless as is the task, twill
be more kindly done by my hand than ano-
theirs, for love will soften every word, and
sorrow and deep pity veil every wrong.
Amy, William is dead; thy loved and loving
brother: my loved and loving husband is
dead. Even now while write these fearful
words, the long white sheet in yon corner
hides away from my sight the manly form, the
the fair broad brow and laughing lip Of Will
lam. Oh God! that this were all that could
tell you; that fever had wasted him, that
consumption had gnawed away his vitals, that
the murderer had struck him in the dark.
But alas! mol none of these forms of death
came to him, to rob the monster of his appal-
ling form.
But must still my .hrobbing heart and
wipe the cold sweat of agony from my brow,
and tell you all, aye tell you all, not to wound
but to warn, lest those who are now growing
up to manhood, in the same paths he trod,
may reach the final goal of life even as he.
You know, dear Amy, when We were MARI
led fveye agoyestcrday. (Oh! that fatal
yesterday William stood forth among the
crowd as the embodiment of noble manhood.
Just returned from his long tour of collegiate
/ study, "let loose" as he expressed it, in the
great pasture of life, he was the gayest of the
gay He told us that evening, with proud
look, that during his eight years study he had
not drank one drop Of ardent spirits or wine.
He had made the resolve, "touch not, taste
not, handle not" till the completion of his
studies, till he was old enough to control
himself, till his habits were formed and do
you remember it, Amy, OIL do you remember
it, ere had been ten minutes bride, his ia
ther brought him the wine-cup, and pledged
him in sparkling glass ''to his ne,o wife,"
J All, how trembed and shrank from that ia
theirs first kiss, how my heart misgave me,
how it throbbed when saw William my
adored William, yielding to a fathers tempta.
ton, following fathers example, and grasp.
ing without seeming thought the contents
of that cup.
"Nonsense, nonsense, Emily" said our fa-
ther, when family whispered, "Don't Will
lam, you have persevered so long, don't com.
mence now, but rather renewyour covenant
and resolve never to drink even wine."
Nonsense, Emily; little wine won't hurt
him. believe in temperance as much as
any one, but this sparkling Ca;awba' won't
hurt lady. Come, you must not teach him
any Of your squeamish notions"
knew then that the Sparkling Catawba"
had worked evil to my husbands father, or he
would never have spoken thus to me, He
the kind, the generous, polite and dignifed
to talk to me then of being "squeamish."
knew well that there was devil in the cuI
even of sparkling Catawba." Again ant
again William was pressed to drink This
was the first step. We came West--comt
10 city where all men, as it were, indulgel
in wine. My husband felt himself strong t,
resist temptation. His table could not be
set without wine. "How could he refuse to
others what was always offered to him!'
Thus, Amy, it was that he fell. Not in those
haunts of wickedness where the low ant
beasty bow themselves into the dust in sen
sualsm; not led by the wicked and depravet
into sin and shame; but by his own 6reside
at the altar Of his home, with his wife AM
children around him, his little ones stretchin!
, their arms to embrace him, and his wife plea
, fdiDg even loving against his weakness, h
grew worse. till, unwilling that should Sc,
him drunk, he learned to tarry at the Office
the hotel, the club room, in the weary watch
es Of the night; and then he grew cold, an
hard, anG-shall ! say it to thee, Amyl--bru
ltal. His bloated cheek, his red trimmed eye,
his distorted face, told every passer-by tn
a tale. Business forsook him; friends forsoo
him; virtue, religion, manl ness forsook hin
How could they tarry with the drunkard!