Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-10-01
suasion to induce her to partake the forbid


ceeding year saw him sink lower and still
lower in that pit of degradation, at the bot
tom of which yawns drunkards grave
Business was neglected, accounts forgotten,
and work Of any kind abandoned for the bar
room, the gambling saloon, and ball-alley,
where alternate day and night found him
with his even more dissolute and wretched
companions. Poverty soon came striding
apace over his threshold, then gaunt, grim
want, until all that remained of former luxu-
ry-and almost of comfort, had gone to sat-
isfy the demands of hunger.
I Then it was that Adela's long-tried pa
tience gave way, and frequent and violent
were the storms of passion that burst from
those lips which had ever brcathed nought
but love and tenderness.
All, she had forgotten to ask patience and
wisdom of Him who hath said, my grace
is sufficient for thee, had forgotten to
kneel, as she used in infancy. beside her
pious mothers knee, and pray for strength
to bear the heavy burden of her Affections.
She had ever been fragile fower-wholly
untitled by nature to bear the chill, rough
winds that poverty now swept mercilessly
over her, and yet for many long months the
toll of her delicate hands had been the only
means Of support for herself and three help
less little ones, aye,-and had, oft times
(through fear) furnished her unfeeling hus-
band with the means of procuring the excit-
ing beverage, the effects of which sank him
beneath the. brute
It was after one of these cruel demands
upon her slender earnings had been made
by the unfeeling husband, that Adela gave
vent to the exclamation. which opens this
little sketch. n
Raymond had just left the room where his
wife was pursuing her wearisome toll, with
half the proceeds of her last weeks labor in
his own indolent hand, but had not reached
the outer door, ere those rash, bitter words
fell upon his ear. Had he been intoxicated
then, he would have turned back and retort-
ed--perhaps WITH, h..4
happened to be perfectly sober, and sud-
den purpose instantly entered his mind,
which dogged resolution enabled him to
carry into effect.
'.Her wish shall be gratiGed-I nerer aeiN
senter this house again alive, so help me
God p' and with the oath upon his lips, and
a curse in his heart for her whom he had
driven to the utterance of that terrible wish,
William Raymond turned his feet from the
home which his own vile passions had made
wretched.
Darkness shadowed the earth, Cynthia sat
high upon Nights sable throne. and yet the
husband returned not; and therein that
scantily furnished room, by the dusky light
of one small lamp-sat Adela, straining her
tear-dimmed eyes to finish the garment up
on which she had been stitching since early
dawn The non-arrival of her husband did
not alarm her, for very often were his nights
spent in those gateways to eternal ruin thro'
which thousands annually enter but to plunge
into the dead sea beyond.
Often was she obliged to lay down her
work, for the tears fell so thick and fast as
to blind her entirely; for memory was busy
at her heart, and, in the gloom and darkness
of that little room, she was living over the
last ten years that had been added to her
young life.
Away back, through tie long vista, she
beheld fair, fragile girl, the only bud up
on the parent stem, aud so all the more ten
derly cherished, surrounded by every appli-
ance that parental affection could suggest,
until another came and bore her away, to be
cherished and worn on his bosom, as she
then thought, to the end of Life's journey.
Again in memory she wept over her fathers
grave-that kind father, who, had he lived,
might now shield her from cruel want; a.
gain she saw her dear, sainted mother bear
bravely up for short season against the
cruel stroke that swept the means of her sup
port into the pockets Of greedy creditors,
but at length, sinking down beneath con-
SYMPTOMS fatal grlpe. until her loved form
was laid beside that of the husband and ia
ther, and she was left to tread her future.
dark, dreary path, with none to counsel,
encourage or assist.
Then she thought of all the sorrows, and
privations, and suferings of the last few
years, and all caused by him who once pro-
fessed to love her more than life-him who
she felt that she still loved more than all
things else, even though in moment of
anger she had uttered the dreadful wish that
he were dead, and as that fearful impreca-
tion rose up before her she shuddered lest it
might be fulfilled.
'.Oh, if he should die before I ever see
him again, ], could not survive the pangs of
regret that my rash temper had caused me.
God forgive me that terrible sin, and will
try henceforth to set seal of patience upon
my lips" and instinctively, ere she was a.
ware, Adela dropped upon her knees, and
poured out her soul to Him who alone is
near when all other help fails.