Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-01-03

leSoiaUihg u neaFtn-St0ne around which child
zen and children's children had so long
gathered, and exulted in bis inhuman traffic..
Houses and lands were added to his posses
sions-he grew rich and was crowned with
honors, such as the vulgar are 80 ready to
lavish on those who hoard money-no matter
if it is coined from the very life-blood Of the
and the orphan, and stamped with
the tears of those who are perishing with
hunger and nakedness. Oh, why do not the
stones cry against such injustice, or the earth
open and swallow up those who thus poilute
its surface?
But though the destroyer was silently and
surely at work, there were no evidences Of
his ruthless hand upon the premises. The
land was faithfully titled, and the crops
faithfully harvested, and though he who toiled
diligently from morning till night often reeled
to his work, the little garden, exhibited no
signs ofneglect the hower-beds were as neat
ly bordered, and the honeysuckles and morn
ing-glories were trained and pruned as ten
derby as if the mind had not been shattered,
and the body wasted Gifts strength. The tall
shade trees interlaced their gigantic stems,
and formed a lofty bower about the dwelling,
but never were they left to look scraggy and
old. All without was neat, and trim, and
tasteful, but alas, all within was without
beauty or taste, or method. TIL freside
was never bright and cheerful. There were
no evidences of tae skillful hand of woman
on the walls, or the mantle-shelf, or the work
table. Everything had a sombre and repulsive
look, anu the atmosphere y chilly and I'M
wholesome danpness. You could not enter
the house without feeling that the refining
and enrolling influence of a pure-minded
woman had never shed its radiance there.
NNow and then, conscience, or rather the
fear of an untimelyR leath, awoke the slum-
bering energies of the self-destroyer, and
he would resolve to touch not, taste not,
handle not and for a little while would keep
his resolution and then would come the
tempter with his soft speech and f~attering
tongue, and resolution, and thought, and
energy would be drowned in the bewildering
: draught, and another step would be taken
| down into the deep pit of destruction.
:, The graveyard was often passed as he
s went to his daily labor, and one evening as
n he was staggering by, his companion pointed
f him to a fresh mound, beneath which had
recently been laid one who had been their
companion through all the days of b~oyhood,
? and youth, and %ripening manhood, and they
> had dearly loved. In the vigor and prime of
q life he had gone down to a drunkard's grave
Yes said his companion, and ere another
d winters SHOWS shall have melted from the
J. green sward, you will have followed him,
ri 4 AIlCoC " 1OoA ~ hNo oNSHOs
:, He might have lived a hale old man, of three
score years and ten, gathered ike a shock of
y corn fully ripe, had he lived a temperate and
sober man. But he was cut down in the
midst of his days, and his death was not the
less suicidal because it was produced in
" years instead of an hour
/ He who listened had already experienced
the horrors Of delirium tremens, and this
> terrible disease had terminated the life Of
y the friend upon whose grave they were now
= gazing, and there he made q new resolution
d. that he would cast off the letters that bound
es him-the chains that were dragging him to
I'd perdition-and lead a new life. For a year
A. the maddening cup did not touch his lips
= But there was no kind voice to cheer him on
l0 or commend his noble efforts. His fresidt
%, was no brighter, and the face of his wife nc
he less gloomy. His. former companions deser
IN ted him, and there were no new ones Of {
no better class to take their place. He was pros
trated without his usual excitement. anC
.od could not perform his ordinary amount o
~ labor. So he returned to his fdals, and move
! : again attempted to cast them away.
nj He loved his children, and was proud, a
nd fathers often are, of his daughters, who wer
nd pretty, and more than ordinarily interesting
nd But he had not the means of educating then
though they were fully impressed by thei
u: ignorant mother with the vulgar idea tina
~ their birth and lineage made them ladies'
IN They endeavored in many little ways to brigl
Ugh ten their home and make it more cheerful
its but the vices of their parents, which wei
like a weight upon their spirits, drove the
very early in life, to efforts for selfsuppoi
dod and they went forth among strangers to tc
as common servants to earn the bread while
their father sold for rum. His sons we
cen without ambition, and grew up coarse al
b as groveling in their tastes; and having
and healthy Indictment to labor at home,
an pleasure in the family circle, they too, ear
went forth into a world of temptation to
NV corrupted and destroyed.
So, day by day, and inch by inch, the mef
ow, and the pasture, and the hillside we
AMI bargained away, and still almost uncC
deli ~sciously for no mention was made of
bed counts, and the long column of debit a
the credit was not exhibited, and no warn,
MORO words were spoken, till the ~vultures w
and ready to swoop upon their prey.
. nv The farm, the homestead, and all his P
lgnU sessions had been b~artered, and he had
return a shattered constitution and an utt
s Of " debased and ruined mind. The cup
LEY, ruin had been drained to the dregs and
the whos only a little while ago, was the owl
o;do of a proud domain, might have lived t.
- green old age, comfortable and independe
~ and left a pretty inheritance to his chlldr
nc 10 went forth a begg9r, and is fast degenerat
into a helpless vagabond. He is only yet
shter middle life, and without home, or friends
lad a comfort! the victim of d~epraved appetit
@ he and soon for him also will open the dru
,str;- ards grave.
80 The pretty farm is sold-strangers
',o'e s~trolling leisurely in the shadows of til
now I'll old trees, which no reverence for the b
d TIL lat planted them, and only contempt
She him who, for worse than a mess &of pott;
high sold his birthright. They may be happy W
All in those grey old walls, on which he who b
He them, fondly hoped no name but his We
lei ever be inscribed, land within which none
ed by Alnuld ever dwell. Int NO Nv more ;nstly
give fNey come by their ill-gotten gains than
10 un- midnight thief and unprincipled marau
ing to They have no more reverence either
to her the God who avenges, and ne fear of retr
nrove. ton yeti it may come for there is awoe
GOLF nounced against those who lay snares
- their neighbours feet, and who put the
eu ror to their neighbours lips, and who lay
one to destroy. But may mercy be dealt OIL
e fond them instead of ~judgment, for terrible q
ed the would be theirs who had<done, not only
boon but all these things. ~
.ooo;on But the little household is wrecked,
- -: their inheritance passed away forever.
!" =" it is sad to see a home blighted, and the
upon an ancient hearth stone go out in
ana | naeco NM x-an D. L.