Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-01-03
The Household w reck
BY MINNIE MYRTLE.

AND so the pretty farm is sold, and the
house which has been tenanted by those of
the same family name for nearly a century,
has passed into other hands. Strangers
are seen going in and out, and the garden
and terraced walks echo the footsteps of
those to whom it is not dear as the birth
place of their fathers and fathers fathers
for many generations. The pretty farm is
sold 1t echoes sadly on my ears, and
falls heavily in my heart. And what has
caused the ruin Of a Observation-Disclosures
the sons of an inheritance, and the daugh-
tiers of a home? All, til a sad story, and
yet the story of many thousand in our land
1t has all been mortgaged by inches, to buy
ram!
He who owned it, inherited it unincum-
bered. There was a rich meadow of many
broad acres, whose banks were washed by
the river which wound lazily round, beneath
the shadow Of tall elms and spreading oaks;
and the soil yielded abundantly with only
the ordinary labor of the husbandman.-
Over on the hillside were the dcnsely-wood-
ed timber lots, from which the winter fires
might have been supplied for centuries, and
still left the forest in all its grandeur. At
its feet stretched the sunny pasture, where
cowslips and clover grew in rich profusion,
and the sheep and lazy herds grazed all the
summer months, and slaked their thirst in
the pebbly brook which meandered along
its borders.
The house was an antique, and stood
upon the brow Off gently-sloping hin. Il
was built in the olden time when convent
ence was little studied by designers ant
builders, but the site upon which its found
ations rested overlooked all the surround
ing country. From the windows the owne
could look far away over the fields he cult
waited, see the river winding among the in
t%ervals, and the brook cleaning througl
the tassell6d shrubbery that hung over it
silvery surfacc-the road, with its man
curves and windings, along which the hal
vest men logged merrily with their loade
carts of new mown hay or golden sheaths-
the blue bills in the distance and the gree
hills near by, makinga landscape such
a Southern valley alone can present, an
q Southern farmer may behold with a
honest pride.
The garden lay smilingly out in the SUI
shine and a professed holticulturist coul
not have planned it more tastefully, or mar
tested more pleasure in trellising the de.
cate tendrils Of the grape. vine that climb
: over the latticed bower, or pruning Il
stems of the gay and parti-colored fowe
that decked the borders Of the beds, al
made a pleasant constrast with the brig
q green tufted mounds. How many tim
have | passed it, long after the shades
evening had gathered around the vale
and seen its youthful owner smoothing t
terrace, adding some beauty to the hill-sit
though all the day he had toiled in t
ID field, and would have only a little time
rest ere he must again go forth to labor.
e. He married young, a farmers daught
e. Oft n%eighboring county, and never haC
= young farmer a better prospect in the
n ginning of life than he. He was indust
Gus and frugal, but his wife did not pre-
either efficient or economical. ooh, h
a? much depends on the wife" is repeated
it is trite, but it is not half realized. s
was not so refined in her taste, not so hi
- minded or intelligent as her husband.
AZ her influence went to drag him down.
would have preferred companionship W
the cultivated, and might have been led
l. q gentle voice and a loving heart to Q
tn up all that was degrading. One who
derstood her mission. and was willin,
iSn study in all things to be a helpmeet to
husband, who was-also capable Of impr,
cir ment herself, might have won him to s
denial and a higherlife. But she cared
ay, no society butthe low and g~ossipping.
pm, surrounded him with those who were
of wine and strong drink. She enjoyed
coarse jests, vulgar ribaldry Of his |
,;r companions, and never on any occa
spoke a word to dissuade him from
/, downward course.
The Sabbath was a day of ~feasting,
ife, their house the resort of idlers, who ha
respect for things sacred. In a few y
the they were almost as much isolated froI
refined and cultivated society as if they
lived in the desert. Children grew up
soured and embittered feelings towar
around them. They were taught to
we, upon those who cultivated their minds,
adopted a style of living in accordance
,ht, good taste and refinement, as proud
Iold aristocratic, and encouraged to avoid ms
of initiating them. The store and taN
nth where the vulgar herds convened, were
places of diversion.
and In the meantime the poison was at v
and he who dealt it out, and allured the
wary 10 destruction, was growing rich
the spoils. Day by day he poured out
liquid fire, which he knew was burning