American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1855-04-26
GLINPSES BY THE WlYSIDE,

Inc sAge-noTn was ringing IN my ear
its warning that like time and tide, it wait
ed for no man, or woman either, but as
l hurried on through dim passage, Ihad
glimpse through halfoPen door at a
scene that has impressed itself on my
memory indelibly.
"Why didn't they hold me?" were
words uttered in such ire and anguish,
that they thrilled in my ear when the
stage had borne me far away from that
great city and its sins and sorrows, and |
determined 10 fling them as an alarum on
the winds, until statesmen and people,
mother and teacher, should set about forg-
ing bands to hold those that follow in the
footsteps of that dreadful sufferer A half
dozen fine looking men surrounded his bed,
the thrifty growth Of hair on their faces.
aud the glitter Of jewelry about their per-
sons, indicated as plainly as their baggard
features and wary eyes the order to which
they belonged, They were ofthat mystic
rious order Of knightbood, who seem to
have found the alchemist's coveted results.
They live in frst-class hotels, wear first
class clothes gold abounds with them, and
yet they hold labor, practically at least. in
supreme contempt. knew the object of
their care was one of their number, who
the night before, in a fit of delirium tre-
mems, had thrown himself from the win
dow in the upper story of the hotel He
did not toss from side to side as men US
ualy do when burning fever RACES on
them, for head, spine, limps, had all been
rendered useless by that fall; but his whole
frame quivered with agony, and from un-
derneath the matted, streaming masses of
hair that fell over his face, already wan
and wasted with suffering, his eyes glared
out fercely as wounded tigers.
"Why didn't they hold me?" he NUT
tered, and with his groans he mingled re-
proaches and horrd curses on the care
less watchers that had let him make that
terrible leap.
Why didn't they hold him? Why, they
did not realize The fearlulness of the ter
rors that encompassed him; they have ney-
er had delirium tremens-not yet. The
fiend that brandshes that naked sword over
his defenceless head, was invisible to their
eyes. They did not hear the hiss of the
serpents that coiled and wnlhed their sli-
my folds about his shrinking form. 0 no;
they did not see them, and it was such
rare sport, to see that staggering, buster
ing bully cover and crouch before his i'm
aginary tormentorsl So they mocked and
ieered and melted him on to combat with
lis phantom foes, until the window caught
his eye as hope for escape, and so, with
a veil and bound, he made that desperate
leep, and the next moment there was taken
from amid the mre and blood and shiyer-
ed glass in the street, a shriok!ng and man
gled wreck ofhumanity.
Whether that reckless and restless spir-
il has gone up to its awful account of mis-
spent time, or has yet TO beat out its weary
life against the prison bars ola crippled
frame, know not. God be merciful, and
heal, if he fingers, both soul and body
Why didn't they hold him? Not these
careless. heartless watchers of the other
night; the demon of drink was in him then
too strong for mortal control, but long
long ago, when he was blithe brigh
boy, as ] remember him, then his moth
or might have held him in the bonds o
GOOD habits, and trained him as she die
those fragrant vines about her door; ant
his virtues might have rendered another
home as iairas did those clustering branch
es her own sweet cottage. | remember
that household well. The father was {
man of high standing, filing arespeetabl'
and responsible office. The mother, gay
} indulgent, and afIectionate, surrounded by
, band of rosy girls and frolicking boys
| Fashion entered the holy circle first, viii
its baneful habits of idleuess.and extrava
gance With it came the custom of drink
f ing, because of fog or of frost, beoaus
t they were merry, or because they wer
sad. The wind was sown there; lonl
t years they have been reaPing the whrl
wind.
3 A taste for drinking rendered useful oc
a cupation disagreeable; gaming at once al
, forded excitement, and the promise of liv
: inc without labor. The boys drifted o
: into vagrancy, the father was degrade
Y from his station, and died in penury.-
!, The girls dropped like cankered flower;
t and God in pity took them. The home
# stead has passed into strangers bands, an
: now the poor old mother sits alone in
comfortless cabin, beside the same strear
S which rolled by the home of her earl
!, happiness and doubtless as It wanders by
s it often whispers of the time when sh
S might have held them all back 10y he
: counsel and example from their ruin.
+ Why did they not hold him long; Ion
: ago, when teachable, trustful boy, th
Fl noblest of group thatplayed in the gran
0 old forest shade, that sheltered our lowl
n sci dollhouse?
IS We were encompassed with noble assc
ciations-the Cumberlan range lifted i
d blue peaks in the distance, and the wind
o bore us the anthem Of its great cataract
s An old fort was mouldering in ruins bt
o side us, and the church. and the silel
q grave yard were close at hand. The teaci
v er often bade us heed how many little chi
: s dren's graves were there, and told us tbri
: ling legends of the Indians, and old pi'
q neers, who slumber SO dreamless inthe
y rest. Why did be not tell us, that o.
n fathers, who 50 bravely defended this for
had permitted a worse enemy than lndis'