Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-10-11
Written for tie Spirit Of the Age.
LIFE IN GLIMPSES.
Ca q. The Cripple.
NE ASSOCIATE EDTT0.

GaT-Ae, 1ne GrIpple
/" Mother, the sun shines SO brightly therel
Can you see any clouds or shadows"
So said poor little Carrie.
Who was Carrie
You shall know.
Carrie Clayton was an only child. Away
back among early memories stands recorded
the day when James Clayton led the fair
Jenny, the farmers daughter, to the mar
rage altar. Old Granny Wilkerson said it
was an /" unlucky day" We have thought
SO a thousand times, without a.tinge of SUI
perstition. 1t rained in the morning, though
the sun never rose with a brighter flood of
light. but after the thunder cloud passed, the
dav was lovely enough, with it's bright rain
drops glittering in the grass and blooming
rose bushes, and falling in sparkling /" after
showers" from the leafy trees as the balmy
wind swept by. All said it was a goodly
match, and SO indeed it seemed. james was
a good mechanic and well to do in the world;
: and Jenny had all that was necessary IN
I those DAYS to go to house keeping"
7 Their nome was down the creek from the
i village about three quarters of a mile. You
I NAV have seen il fifty times, for what know,
/. for it stood Just up on the hill among a clump
of cedars from the old stage road, as it wound
I along under the cliff on the other side OF the
L creek. 1t was a lovely home, a neat little
!, white cottage, built by James himself espe-
cially for JENNY With sos 7masn a noWeF
n k5urdsn anu good lot, and a gravelled walk
q and elms and cedars. / have thought many
a time that / never saw richer belts and fecks
of sunshine, than used to fall down through
the cedar tops on the green grass in the yard
Of Jenny's home on the hill.
Is James was Industrious, and no man was
happier than he when he used at twilight to
walk up the path, whistling or singing a mer-
\ ry tune on his way from his daily labor
i The little white gate would go too with a slam,
the door was opened aud closed and James
o. and Jenny were shut in from the din and
trouble of busy life and enjoyed the bliss of
ne peace, and love, and happines. And then
ht there was Carrie, their only child, a sweet
IN little creature just budding into life, with
v golden locks, dimpled hands, rosy cheeks,
80 80 cherry lips and the brightest of eyes-bright
as the brightest silver.
Carrie was four years old, wheh James
ny was allured and entranced by a violent po-
rg litical excitement that then agitated his dis
oW trict. This excitement was The most intense
that had ever been known in the village OF
country around. Almost all men engaged
therein the two opposing factions were
y arrayed in bitter hostility, the one against
~ ~ the other, each struggling by fair means ane
SK foul for the final triumph at the ballot-box,
~y AAobAAS Oh0 OAA nv S0A OHS OAONA v
the day, and at these the rum glass was dill
,is- igently piled with all its subtle agencies
a . Designing men were at the bottom of thu
scheme, and aware of the frail nature of mai
they brought this corrupting agent to bea
against the opposition. Clayton was a NAL
me of strong and ingenious mind and possesse
witbaI Of considerable power as an orator.
u a At all the gatherings in reach of the villag
ght his voice might be heard. encouraging hi
FOR partizans to vigilance, in lauding their meas
GRO ures and INDUCING in their passionate burst
of genuine eloquence at the brilliant prospet
of victory. The war waxed hotly.
During this excitement, Clayton contra
it'll ted the habit Of occasionally joining his con
iced rades in a glass of champagne or brandy to-
llIv. dy. Hitherto he had been a man of strictl
ted temperate habits, but now in the whirl of tt
4 - political contest he was engaged in, he i
y dulged at first cautiously, then more freel
i until he lost his balance and went to his ha
old OF the shadow of gloom that fell on Il
but hearthstone, and Of the pang that shot thr
poor Jenny's heart, and Of the terror of lit
Carrie at seeing this, we shall not stop
\ 7 write. From that night Clayton was a chan
~ ed man. Flushed with the prospect of par
geC triumph, and at all times maddened with t
here debasing stimulus, he lost the finer feelin
mis- of husband and father, and became q NJ
mar DEMON Angry denunciations and blasph
your nous imprecations on the heads of his Wi
bboon and child supplanted the old time assurauc
of n ~changeless affection for his wife, al
" sweet and gentle play songs Tor Carrie.
liM- Election day came, when the great al
ock- absorbing question at issue was to be de
ould ded. Clayton ordered an early breakfast a.
pom was off at an early hour for the Polls. Wi
,ure. a sigh and a prayer trembling on her Iii
;doo poor hapless Jenny looked out through t
80 window after her husband, and tried in va
you to hope that he might not return in wol
condition than he was then. 1t was a S
dus day for poor Jenny all day long the inv
the untary sigh would burst from her bose
of and the unbidden tear would dim and tn
,urls drop away from the eye' Whlle little Car
n knelt at her feet aud wept too, and asked
Iuty, not sine to the sweet Yellow birds in the
.uen- dars, as she used to.
Rum reigned ruler at the precinct wht
for Clayton spent the day. Designing men or
exes. ped eagerly at the imbruting lever, and PIT
ed heavily at it to hoist them into Office.
ooob They made it their warsteed and rode o1
80 promiscuous heaps Of slavering drunken MT
oiu They made the damning liquid free as
not babbling brook of Gods pure water, and
such ged men to drink, to drink, to DRINK! Ea
party seemed to vie with the other as
eally which should pour the most I" free liquc
what uowh tne throats OF voters as a premium
G. their sutfrages, knowing that whichever ga
ed the ascendancy in this their chances
oeen success was the best. As a consequence
re II, freemen became imbruted the clamor
door the Babel of tongues rose up to heaven a
may drowned the gentle voices of nature bl
shall phemies, such as devils would fear to utt
sit tn trembled on the air above the head of
of excited populace fights, personal and o
, miscuous, were of constant occurrence q
! her the blood of the combattants mingled W
When the dust; and drunken songs and rude je
IN made up an Internal chorus over the bod
of those who slept in drunken stupor. III
beau reigned for one day in Time the rum dc
tnral at the little village of Woodstock.
- The polls were closed, and CIayton's pa
~" and men were beaten. The haunting ieer,
J en his opponents aroused the slumbering sp
But of fury in Clayton's breast. He became
short one possessed of a demon. His oaths
Good threats of violence were awful to hear,
A. even those hardened in crime shuddered
hear his blasphemous imprecations. Infan
with rum and half crazed with defeat
good had prepared his sumner and sat by the v
ldual dow looking out through her veil of tears
the pale moonbeams trembling on the or
bv n and slope that led down to the creek. Ii
= Harr;a bod Snnr borSalf to sloon in hor 1;