The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-05-12

white klds sue looked Ike princess and o
very gay one too
See here, Mr.. Pyper,7 said she, what a
beautiful gift have found for my friend Mary
Ledyard, showing him an exquisite porte mon
naie, that cost only four dollars
Better save your money to pey my debts, .
replied he, very abruptly.
"Your debts! | did not know that had my
husbands debts to pay
"fou know how to make them was the
sharp retort.
Pray what is the matterlD asked Mrs.
| Piper. "You seem very unhappy
"You would be unhappy if you were in my
condition. am suffering usder embarrass-
ment from which | can never recover. am
ruined, and your lavish expenditure has done
it. thought married woman of some
sense, but have found out my mistake You
have destroyed me, and if you are beggar the
rest OF your life, you may thank yourself for
it,"
Mrs. Piper was offended, and made no re-
| ply. Dinner was soon announced, and never
! did that relative Of hers on a wool sack put on
moro dignity than she. Days passed, and she
relented not sufficiently to inquire into his
troubles.
He had no disposition to communicate tC
her the state of his affairs, for he expected nei
| ther counsel nor assistance He had been
| rather unfortunate in business, still he regard
cd her as the chief source of his embarrassment
He was unspeakably miserabe-bis mind Dor.
dering on distraction.
SO great was his mental agitation, that al
length, Mrs. Piper became seriously alarmed
he would SIT in the corner, with his arms fold
ed, his eyes fixed on the floor, for hours togeth.
err, perfectly unconscious of all that was going
on around him. He slept but little, and would
sometimes pace the floor during the entire
night and sometimes dodge from room to room,
as if pursued by malicious foe. He would
secrete himself in the attic, and in the cellar !;
but the presence of his wile, who sought out
his hauntsI appeared to restore his wandering
senses She tried to soothe him, and to turn
his thoughts in other channels. She made an
effort to get him to ride and sometimes sue
ceeded in doing 50. She brought AIDA to
amuse him, and the little one would try to
climb his knee, and would look earnestly into
his face, saying, Poor papa! What ais
papa!05 But he would thrust her aside, and
tell the mother to take hor away He did this
very rudely and spiteGully one day and when
little AIDA put up her lip to cry-for her heart
was nearly brokon--the mother said
"Dont, MIR. Piper - how cansyou be 50
cruel! The child has done no harm"
"'Tis not strange
That zen our loves should with our fortunes change"
mo telling what harm she may do,n replied
he " II she is as great spendthrift ~ her
| mother, she will curse some man as am cursed
and would rather see her die now, than to
know she would do that
Mr. Pyper, you are beside yourself You
certainly will kill me with your rcproaches II
| ] have done wrong, will try to do better in
future. IL you lose your property, why, let il
60. We can get living. | can work.
Why, in the name of heaven, then have
you not done 90 said he, very apgrly "You
have had three or four servants here, constant
ly, to wait on you, while you have been us help
less as child"
"Mr. Piper, you may dismiss every servant
to-day, and | will take care of AIDA, and do
the work myself | will do anything, rather
than see you 30 unhappy"
Tho day of rstYibution had arrived The
unhappy woman felt, that if the misery of O
whole lifetime were crowded into few brief
hours, it could not exceed hers. Regret, re-
pentance, modification, and dismal forebodings
by turns, convulsed her whole being; and, like
the trembling reed, that becomes the sport Of
the tempest 20 was she at the mercy Of thai
terrible storm that swept over their hearth anc
their home. Her husband now upbraided her
constantly. He cursed the day of their union
and called down the maledctions Of heaven
upon his entire household. He seemed to hate
his child, and to abhor everything that he had
once loved. twould be foolish to repeat what
no said-lt was the incohcrent speech, the
rawlings, Of a mailman.
The day before the note held by Ned Brown
matured, Mrs. Piper was sitting in her cham.
| Der, dwelling upon her husbands unhappiness,
and the gloomy prospects before them when,
suddenly, she was startled by the fall of some
thing in the attic, which Jared the whole
house She rang for the nurse to soc what it
was. But, fortunately, all the servants were
ont listening to an organ grinder in the street.
She accordingly went herself; and what, think
you, she found AT first, she saw nothing; but
in turning round a chimney, she uttered the
widest and most unearthly shrek that ever
fell upon human ears. Mr.. Pyper was there
he had fallen. rope was around his neck,
and staple, to which it was attached above
had come out and thus was his suicide dc.
feated
II were not giving veritable history of
this affair, might give a loose rein to fancy,
and allow Mr.. Piper to kill himself in n more
poetical manner. And yet, if man is fool
enough, or mad enough, to destroy himself,
when he finds out he has lived too fast, and
must necessarily abridgc some of his luxuries,
he may as well swing in the attic rs die by
less gross and violent means
Mrs. Piper did not swoon-sbe was not one
OF the swooning kind. Furthermore, she al
ways had remarkable presence of mind. She
went to her husband, took the rope from his
neck, and, quick as thought, thrust it, with tho
staple, into an old trunk that was standing
near.
The Lord have mercy" cried Biddy, who,
by this time, had reached the top of the stairs
Holy st. Francis !" responded John.
"Whats the matter wild him 20
Hush hush " said the mistress q he has
a ft.n
How naturally some people will utter false.
hoods--just as if they had always been used
TO it.
Mr.. Piper manifested some signs of life, and
the servants were ordered TO take him into the
chamber below. They were then dismissed,
and the wife applied herself assiduously 10 the
work of restoring him. The vital principle was
much more nearly extinct than she had sup
posed. At length he opened his eyes, and fixed
them upon her in amazemcnt Hc looked in.
quiringly, as IL trying TO ascertain whether he
was in this world, or that into which he had
made an efo.t to ruthIessly thrust himself
Slowly he recovered his consciousness, and the
manner in which his intentions were defeated,
he understood intuitively. With feeling OF
Impotence, he turned his face toward tho wall,
and exclaimed
"That staple that DAMNED staplo!n
Mrs. Piper could restrain her feelings no
longer. Like the pentu fire, which, when it |
once breaks forth, blasts with its consuming
breath everything with which II comes in con-
tact, 10 tho violent emotions and passions that
had been preying upon her innor life, expressed |
themselves in most startling and fearful aspect |
She became cold and rigid her face assumed |
the hue OF death Like statue she sat on the |
bedside, the impersonation Of hopeless misery