Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1854-07-05

again turns DICK TO virtue anu nONoT. Az
child-angel visits me at hightfall, and feel the
haliowing touch ofa tiny palm upon my fever
ish cheek. Ny brave boy he yet Ewes, would
forgive the sorrow of an old man for the treat
/ ment which drove him into the world, and the
blow that manned him for life. God forgive
me for the ruin have brought upon me and
mine
lie again wiped tear from MS eye. Ny
| father watched him with a strange interest,
i and countenauce unusually pale and excited
| by some strange emotion.
Twas once 4 fanatic, and madly followed the
| ,nalign light which led me to ruin. [ was a
fanatic when I sacrificed my wife, children,
| happiness and home, to the accursed demon OF
I the bowl. / once adored the gentle being
whom injured SO deeply.
! Il was drunkard. From respectability and
affiuencc, plunged into degradation and pov-
erty. dragged my family down with me-
For years saw her check pale, and her step
| grow weary. left her alone amid the wreck
of her home idols, and rioted at the tavern.-
She never complained, yet she and the chill
dren went hungry for bread.
eOne New. Years night, returned late to
the hut where charity had given roof. She
was yet up, and shivering over the Goals. l
demanded food but she bursted into tears and
told me there was none. | tiercely ordered
her TO get some. She turned her eyes sadly
upon me- the tears falling fast over her pale
cheek At this moment the child in the era
die awoke and sent up famishing wall, start
ling the despairing mother like serpcnt's
sting.
I'VE have no food, James-I have had none
for several days. have nothing for the babe.
Ny once kind husband, must we starve2'
sThat sad, pleading face, and those stream
ing eyes, and the feble wall of the child, mad
deued me, and Ives, struck her a fierce
blow in the face, and she fell forward upon the
hearth. The furies of hell boiled in my bosom,
and with deeper intensity as / felt had COM
mtted q wrong. L had never struck Mary be-
on. and stoopod as well as l could In my
drunken state, and clenched both hands IL her
hair.
God of mercy, James!' exclaimed my wife,
as she looked up in my fendish countenance,
.vou will not kill us-you will not harm VII
lie;' and she sprang to the cradle, and grasped
him in her embrace. caught her again by
the hair and dragged her to the door, and as
lifted the latch, the wind burst in with cloud
Of snow With the yell Of fiend, / still drag
ced her on, and hurled her out into the dark
ness and storm. With wild ha! ha, closed
the door and turned the button, her pleading
moans mineling with the wall of the blast, and
| sbarp crv of her babe. But my work was not
| complete.
Il turned to the little bed where lay my eld-
| ar son. and snatched him from his slumbers;
and against his half-awaked struggles, opened
the door thrust him out. / could not wrench
| that frenzied grasp away, and with the coolness
| of a DEVIL as / was, shut the door upon his
arm, and with my knife severed it at the wrist
The speaker ceased a moment and buried
his face in his hands, as if to shut out some
fearful dream, and his deep chest heaved like
a storm swept sea. My father had arisen from
his seat, and was leaning forward, his counte-
| nance bloodless, and the large drops standing
out upon his brow. ChiIls crept back to my
Young heart, and 1 wished was at home The
old man looked up, and 1 never have since be-
held such mortal agony pictured upoh human
face as there was on his.
st was morning when l awokc, and the
storm had ceased, but the cold was intense.
first secured drink of water, and then looked
in the accustomed place for Mary. AS miss
ed her, for the first time, a shadowy sense o
some horrible nightmare began to dawn upol
my wandering mind. 1 thought had had
fearful dream, but involuntary opened tn
outside door with shuddering dread. AS tn
door opened, the snow burst in, followed D.
the fall of something across the threshold
scattering the snow and striking the floor wit
a sharp, bad sound. My blood shot ike red
hot arrows through my veins, and rubbed m
eyes to shut out the sight. 1t was-O Goo
$ ,,;,;. hs; horrible lit was my own injured Mar
and her babe frozen to ice! The ever tr'
mother had bowed herself over the child,
shield it, her own person stark and bare 10 u
: storm.
. She had placed her hair over the face OF II
r child. and the sleet had frozen it to the VIII
d cheek. The frost was white in its half-cipent
IS eyes and upon its tiny fingers. I know n
y what became of my brave boy
l. Again the old man bowed his head and wei
:, and all that were in the house wept with hll
N Nv father sobbed like a child. In tones
Id low and heart broken pathos the old man &C
,e cluded:
~ II was arrested, and for long months raw
10 in delirium. I awoke, was sen fenced to pr
on for ten years, but no tortures conio ma
r been like those / endured within my. own
n. som. O God, no--I am not fanatic. WI
A to injure no one. But while l live, let
or strive to warn others not to enter the p'