Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-01
MARGH &.

snow, in heaks and crystals, white as wool,
hSeccd the Garth ; long icicles hung from
the caves of many houses and the creak-
Ing, cracking burthens bowed the strong
hands Of the forest. Such was the night
when Jacques st. Clair and his wife lay
upon the flor Of his wrctchcd hut, both
scnseles5 Of tho cold in the deep -slse2 of
drunkenness. A half emptied gin bottle
sat upon a bench near them and a dying
fire was glimmcring ia its ashy bed. On a
pallet Of rags the two little twin boys were
laying in each others arms moaning with
the cold aul whispering to each other a.
bout their drunken parents aud how good
big sister Martha was. They were now
nearly four years Of NJ, aud had learned to
feel the poignant shame of being the off
spring Of druaken parents. Until a late
hour they lay AMI listened to the sweeping
march Of the storm, and hullled near each
other among the rags when the strong blast
ratified iercely among the loose boards of
that comfortless hut. And then they slept.
Little bright eyed, tender hearted Ada
her Of tho sunny locks and rosy cheeks,
crouched over the dying cmbers AMI vainly
tried to warm her half frozen limbs. She
had that evening been driven, through the
snow storm, barefooted and in %tatters, by a
cruel father, to the gin shop to lay out the
last pennies Of Martha's earnings for gin
on which heaR1 Agnes might become drunk
en- aud forget the miscries and pangs oftheir
wretched life. lowering ever the Goals the
poor, suffering child remained, over and a
non throwing on a bit Of dry shaving and
holding her fingers over che Pickering blaze,
and then when it died away into a wreath
Of smoke she would sob ia her cold hands
striving TO warm them with the troubled
sjuPs o%utgushing woes. There were her
parents both drunken away in that cold,
dark corner we're her poor little brothers
sleeping happily unconscious Of their hun
ger; and she alone was all that gave sign
of life in that shattered hut, save now and
then an old rat scampering across the floor.
Long aud weary hours she cropched over
tho dying fire recounting her troubles and
Affections like an old veteran who had, for
three score and ten years, battled with life's
yexations. She was yet young, but her
heart had grown prematurely old in the
school Of trials and conflicts.
Late in the night she fell into an uneasy
slumber still crouching On the hearth
Wearied, fatigucd and overcome she sank
upon the half warmed rocks and slept sound
ly. She had a fearful dream it was of hot
air sitting her and rivers of melted metal,
like she had seen at the furnace, Surround.
ing her, rising higher and higher with their
sparkling waves and rapidly encroaching
upon her. With a scream she awoke. Hel
clothes were in a flame! catching from rag
to latter The tortured child shrieked wild
ly for help, Her mother opened her rec
and swollen eyes to gaze upon her burning
child-hcr first born-once the pride of {
generous heart! She struggled to arise t.
the relief of the agoning child but she wat
too drunk and she fell back by the side o.
her stupo6ed lord. There was her first born
shrieking for help and battling with the
consuming element and she unable to afford
her aid. Once she would have rushed thro
flames herself to rescue that darling from
danger, but now her moral sensibilities were
blunted-withered and destrnyad- All tn
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