The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1855-11-06
NO. 47s2.



From the New York Five Points Monthly
Review, we select the ensuing scene from real
life
A few Sabbaths since, at morning servios
oneof the most degraded specimens Of human
ity that ever greeted my vision, came stag
gering into the chapel Of the House of Indus
try. His wild and frightful lookA ragged
and dirty beyond description, his face bruised
and swollen, rendered him an object Of dis
gust and terror He seemed to look ut the
children with wonderful interest, occasionally
muttering. a.
'Beautiful 0, that mine were hereE
He sat an hour or two more, and then
with long earnest look at the children, stag
gered out of the chapel, and then went up
to the dark "valley of the shadow of death"
Cow Bay.
As the bell rang for service in the afternoon
and while the children were clustering TO-
gether, the same Withholding man stagger
ed in once more. He surveyed tho faces Of
the children with the closet scrutiny. and at
length his eyes rested on two bnght-eyed
little girls, who were singing one their little
hymns. He sat immovable rs a statue du-
ring the whole service, gazing intcntly on
the faces of those two children.
The service closed, the congregation dis
persed, yet he fingered, and the tears came
coursing down his face thick and fast
DR.. S--asked him what was the mat
ter
81 am drunkard! wretch, an outcast,
homeless and without penny. Once had
home and friends-father, mother wife,
nd ~ff g.. ,1e vho
respected me. Time passed on, and l be-
came drunkard :,
"One friend after another left me; still
drank on, and down, down fell Father
and mother both went down to their graves
with broken hearts. My poor wife clung to
me when all others deserted me. still drank
on pawned one article after another, till all
was gone; and when my wife refused to give
me her wedding ring, which she had clung to
with tenacity of death grasp, ! felled her
to the earth, seized her finger, tore off the
ring, and pawned it for rum. That fatal
blow maddened her. and, in despair, she too
drank, and together we wallowed in the gut
ter.
"Penniess we begged our. way from Yer
mont TO this great city. Here we hired a
small cellar, in dark, dismal street, and
sent our children out to beg. Many weary
day we spent in that drcary cellar, while our
children were wandering in the streets, beg
ging for their drunken parents. About forty
days since my little girls went out to beg,
and from that our to this have not seen
them.
"Without food or fire clung to my dismal
abode, till hunger forced me out to search for
my children. My degraded wife had been
sent to Blackwelps Island, as vagrant, and
alone | went to the Island, te the House of
Refuge, to the Tombs, and in despair wan
dered to the Five Points, and for the last few
days have lived in Cow Bay, among beg
gars and thieves. To-day saw two children
who, if they had not looked so clean, and
sung so sweetly, / would have called them
mine. o! would to God they were"
''Tell me the name, said DR.. s., "and
l will see"
In few moments two interesting little
children were led toward him. At the sight
of this fearful looking man they shrank back.
The poor man sprang to his feet, excaim-
ing.
"They are mine! mine! My children,
don't you know your poor old father9 Come
to me children. Father loves you; he won
hurt you.
He reached out his arms: the little ones
were timid at first, but they soon climed up
their fathers knee, while the tears were
streaming down his face.
"Kiss your poor drunken father. my chill
dren." But the face of the man was so black
and filthy, not a place could be found. Soon
they forgot the dirty face, and remembered
their poor degraded father; and each entwin-
ed their little arms around his neck, and fond
ly kissing him, the elder one said, with
voice that touched every heart.
"Father, we are so happy here that wo
want to stay. Won't you come and live here
too, papa! What makes you drink so?-
Dear papa, do sign the pledge, and not drink
any mroe. Mr.. Pease found us in the street
begging and now we are happy. Do, papa
come and live here, and be good to us as you
used to be-"
The fathers heart was overwhclmed-he
sobbed and groaned aloud. For more than
an hour they sat together, till at last the old
man arose, still clinging to his children, and
exclaimed
"Thc pledge! will never drink again"
gave him the pledge, and from that
hour he has faithfully kept it. Ilo is now
man again engaged in business, earning ten
dollars per week, and none could recognize in
the well dressed man-who still boards in
the house--the degraded original, whose por
trait can still be seen at the House Of Indus
try, daguerreotyped in its striking deformity
and squalor.