Litchfield enquirer., 1853-04-14
A Great Man SeIf.Wrec Iked.


 The wrecks of TIME wake earnest pensive
 musings,
 Chastened emo;ons-betier felt than spoken. But moral wrecks, with more impressive
 voice,
 Speak to the inmost heart of youth and age, And utter solemn wasnings.-ANoN.
 EDGAR ALLEN POE.
 Many years ago-in the summer of tho year 1915 it was. or whereabouts = wealthy merchant of New York took charge of little boy who had been left an orphan. The parents of this child had been ac!ols of some slight celebrity in the theatres of the United States i; but, dying within short time of each other, they left behind them. in a state of complete Restitution. three young children. The eldest of these was a hadsome boy of six years of age, with quick eye. an active spirit and a re- markedly intelligent countenance. The merchant of whom we speak had known the parents of the child l; and out of pity for it's helplessness, he and his wife. who had no chilren. adopted it as their own.
 How happily the ardent boy passed his days in the house of his benefa;tor; how he was beloved by these two child> less people. how. in the strength of this affection. the merchant and his wife took him to Europe how he spent some four or five pleasant years under the ca'e and teaching of reverend gentleman near London how he cama back again to the city of his birth to finish his educatien; and how he was generally looked upon as the rich merchants heir--it would take long to tell. But we would fam finger upon this portion of our story 1; fain dwell upon his precious wit and apt ness for learning-his feats of strength and agili,y-his case and grace on horse> back. his dexteri'y in race and stream. and his success in all that seemed to promise for him brilliant future. But the truth must be told. no matter how unwillingly to the teller. He ~.s sent to the college at Charlottesville, amply pro- videi with money. In those days. dis sipation among the students of college was unhappily but too common; and among the most dissolate and extrava> cant, the widest rnffler of the town. the hardest drinkers and the most daring gamblers. there was ever to be found one more wild and desperate than them all --anL that one is the subject of our sto' ". now good looking free>hearted fsl' low of eighteen. Friends advised with him, and le made fair promises in plen' ty tutors rcmonstrated. and he declar- ed that he would amend and win the highest honore yet: companions tempt ed and vine alured, and he embraced the filthy siren and so fell. Instead of coming home from the university with honors. he was expelled.
 One would think thai disgrace so pub lie would have broken his proud spirit i; but it did not. Because his benefactor refused 10 pay the gambling debts he contracted at college. the wilful young man wrote him violent and abusive let ter, quilted his house, and soon afterward left his country with the avowed inten' ton of joining the Greeks. who were at that time in the midst of their struggle with the Tu,ks. He never reached his destination. and nothing was known or heard of him for more than year. At last, however. he was found. and in cir cunstances which left no doubt as to the manner in which his European experi- encies had been bought. One morning A.osc ok HQfAfc- burgh was summoned to save country man of his own from the penalties in~ cured in a drunken debauch. He came in time to rescue our prodigal from pIi> son and through his influence he was set at liberty, and enabled to return home. ;"
 The first to greet him on his landing I was his old palren, the merchant. who ! was now alone in the world, for his wife had died while the youth was away But he took the wanderer in his arne. and led him 10 the quiet home he had quilted so ungraciously. The question then arose as 10 what should be done for the yonth and on his expressing n wish to become a soldier. interest was made with the merchants friends. and the young man was entered as asshoIar in the military academy at West Point. For Iii,le time all went on well the young cadet was assiduous in his stud. ies, became the favotite of the mess, and was looked upon by the officers and pro fessors as one of their most promising pupils. But alas. and alas! the old hab' 1 it's of dissipation were too strong to be given up aii at once. He neglected h's duties he drank to excess: he diso- beyej orders he openly sneered at the regulations of the academy-and in ten months after his malriculaiion, he was cashiered. sa :, | Disgraced and humiliated. where could the wietched man find refuge but in the home of his adopted fathers Thisher. then, he went. and was again received with onen Mrne. During his stay at the