The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1855-04-28
From the New York Tribune.
WHY DIDN'T THEY HOLD ME?

W lily DlUN lNEf IiULU ME
The stage horn was ringing in my car its
warning that, like time and tide it waited for
no man or woman either, but as hurried
on through a dim passage, | had a glimpse
through half open door at scene that has
impressed itSelfon my memory indcliby.
why didn't they hold mc," were words
uttered in such an anguish that they thrilled
in my ear when the stage had borne Inc far
away from that great city and its sins and
sorrows, and determined to fling them as
an alarum on the winds, until the statesman
and people, mother and teacher should set
about forging 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 and the glitter of iewelry about their
persons indicated as plainly as their haggard
features and wary eyes the order to which
they belonged. They were of that mystcri-
Gus order of the knighthooa, which seems to
have found the alchemist S coveted power,
or at least to enjoy its coveted rcsults.-They
live in first class hotels, wear first class
clothes; gold abounds with them and yet
they hold labor, practically at least, i'll SUI
prcme contempt. knew the object of their
care was one of their number, who the night
before in fit Of ,iclirium tiemens, had thrown
himself from the window in the upper story
Of the hotel.
He did not toss from side to side as men
do usually when burning fever RACES on
them, for head, spine, limbs. had all been
rendered useless by that fall: but his whole
frame quivcred with agony, and from under
meath the matted, streaming masses of hair
that fell over his face, already wan and vast
cd with suffering, his eyes glarcd out ticrcey
as a wounded tigers.
"Why didn't they hold me ~ he muttercd
and with groans he mingled rcproaches and
horrid curses on the careless watchers that
had let him make that terrible leap.
Why didn't they hold him? Why, they
did not realize the fra,fulncsS Of the tcrrors
that cncompasscd him: they have never had
dclirim trcmcns-not yet.
The ticnd that brandiShcd that naked
sword over his defenccless head was invisible
to thcircyo They did not hear the hiss Of
the serprnts that coicd and wlithcd their
Shiny folds about his shrinking form Oh,
no they did not see them, and it was such
laIc sport, to see that staggering, clustering
| bully COVER and crouch before his imaginary
tormcnrors So they Knocked and jcr,cd and
melted him on to combat with his phantom
foes, until the window caught his eve as a
hope for escape, and so, with yell and the
| next moment there was taken upon from
amid the mirc and blood and shivcrcd glass
in the street, n shrinking and manglcd wreck
ofhumanity.
Whether that reckless and restless spirit
has gone up to its awful account of misspent
time, or has to beat out its weary life against
the prison bars of crippled frame, | know
not. God be mcrctnl, and heal. if he fingers
both soul and body. Why didn't they hold
him Not those careless, heartleSs watch
crs Of the other night: the demon of drink
was IN him then too strong for mortal con-
troll, but long, long ago, when he was a
bilthc, bright hoy, as ! remember him then
his mother might have held him III the bonds
OF good habits, and trained linn as she did
those fragrant vines about her door, and thus
virtue might have rendered another home as
fair as did those clustering branches her own
sweet cottage.
remember that household well. The
father was a man of high standing, filling a
responsible and respectable office. The moth
CT gay mdulgcnt, and aifcctonatc, surround
cd by a band Of rosy chocl; girls, and frollick-
ing boys. Fashion entered the holy circle
first, with its bancful habits of idlencss AND
extravaganza. With it came the custom of
drinking, because of fog or frost, because they
were merry or because they were sad. The
wind was sown there: long years they have
been Icaping the whirwind.
A taste for drinking rendered useful occu-
patton distatclul; gaming afforded at once
excitement and the promiS of living without
labor. The boys drlftcd off into vagrancy,
the father was degraded from his station, and
died in disgrace and perjury. The girls
dropped like cankelcd flowers, and God, in
pity took them.
The homestead has passed into strangers
hands, and now the poor old mother sits
alone in comtortlcss cabin, beside the same
streams which rolled by the home of her ear
ly happiness; and doubtless, as it wand,rs
by, it often whispers Of the time when she
might have held them all back, 10y her coun-
sci and example, from their ruin.