Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-12-24
MORNING LEADER.
ANNIE LEE;
The Happy Results Of a Mniden's Firmness.
GCOncluded.]

Self degradation will drive man or woman
to the most desperate extremitics. In some
stages of their disorder they are unable, if vii
lag, to bear up against the wind of their diff
eulties. Like dismantled ships, they drift help.
lessly on the lee shore of rum. It was so with
Harvey He was overtaken by adyersities, and
could not bear up against them, although he
still had the means. The spirit of the gambler
and tippler possessed him, and his property
wasted away like STOW in the sun. In him
self, hopeiessly degenerate, he had no hope in
the future, and became reckless. Long after
he had ceased to hold any communication with
Annie, or her father, q glimmering of his actual
position flashed across his mind and he vowed
a reformation; but it is oniy a terrible shock
that can rouse such beings 20 a sense of their
danger and duty. 1t came with electric force.
As he was proceeding homewards late one
night, and was passing the cottage Of the mis-
cradle tailor, he was arrested by the piercing
shrek of woman and the cries OF children
cries that never appeal valnl y to mans heart
By an impulse, which he could never after
wards account for, seeing the door open he en-
tered, and bebeld spectacle that curdled his
very blood. On the floor lay the tailor, dead
in fit of drunken passion he had burst a
blood vessel, and gone to his dreadful account
His three children were crying by his side, and,
on some rags in corner lay his wife, PROSTATE,
| dying in the last stage of consumption. The
crimson and black cloud, through which Harvey
hadllooked at the world for many a day vanished
his former self started up like bright angel,
and he applied himself vigorously to the exi-
| geneies of the case. He reused the neighbors,
procured the attendance of medical man, and
bestowed on the afflicted family all the money
he had about him.
"Annie will not let them starve," he mentally
observed as he proceeded to the farm, sad and
thoughtful. He found an execution on the
premises He was ruined, and knew it, but
did not lament or bewail his fortune. On the
contrary, he went to bed and slept soundly-
| The catastrophe he had witnessed had COM
| pletely revolutioniZed his morbid nature In
the course OF the week he arranged his affairs,
paid his creditors in tull, and, after giving up
possession of the farm to the landlord, found
himself worth about fifty pounds With that
in his pocket he disappeared from the neigh
borhood, and was never seen in it again He
bade adieu to none, not even to Annie, for
he was ashamed of himself He did pause at
bend in the road that commanded a view of
her home, and breathed prayer for her well
fare and happiness. 1t was the sweetest, ho-
Iiest prayer he had uttered since he had knet at
his mothers feet.
His disappearance did not create much on
| ishment in the village, but to Annie it was
source of deep heart-breaking grief Despite her
keen Judgment, she had heped-woman ever
does, even in the darkest hOurs-and now that
he has gone, without word or a token, the lit
tie flower that had hitherto bloomed amid the
winter of her disappointment, hung its head and
withered away. She herself dropped, the roses
| fed from her cheeks, and she took meIancho
pleasure in visiting the spots where, side by side
she and Harvey had passed some of the delicious
spring hours OF their young lives. During one
! Of these rambles, she came TO a retired place
some distance from the village, where they had
often met to talk of the future, and indulge in
the poetry of courtship. 1t was the margin of
| brook, beside which stood an aged oak, IN a
certain hollow OF which they used to deposit
their messages and love tokens. Annie almost
instinctively put her hand into the cleft. Tremb-
| ling, she drew forth a letter, which she perused
with tlutter of delight, mingled with fearful
sorrow. 1t ran thus
"DEAREsr ANNIE:-Grieve not for me- am
unworthy of you. go away to render myself
worthy of the past as regards your sweet self,
not with any views to the future. How could
1? Ny daily prayer shall be for your happiness,
and whether you wed another or not l shall be
faithful. l hare been so, and that is the only
| self consolation L can carry away with me. My
intention is to redeem my errors by honest in
dustry, and not to sink under either regret OF
despair | take with me some of your own
strong angelic spirit FAREWELL God bless you,
dearest Annie! FIJI.
=" P. ST. need not say to you that Jenny
| Thompson's children are fatherless and mother
less. l know nOic what you meant by the pale
face at the wicket gate
Wet and soiled as this missive was, Annie
placed it in her bosom, as she mentally said, 81
shall see Frank Harvey again"
The orphan children were provided for. An
ME undertook the charge Of the eldest, girl,
and the other two were placed by the influential
ladies of the neighborhood, in a. school, where
they could be reared and educated until able to
60 forth into the world
- Two years elapsed, during which Annie be-
came thin, and very staid in her demeanor, re-
pulsing all suitors at once and declsively still
she was not unhappy, for the little flower had
again raised its head and diffused a fragrance
throughout her soul. One day a letter arrived,
directed to herself When she had read it, she
with heightened color and a brighter eye,
| handed it to her father. The old man perused
it with visible satisfaction, and to conceal some
emotion, or possibly to correct what he deemed
weakness, he opened the old family Bible
| While engaged over the sacred volume, Annie
was in Ter chamber on her knees, with her face
| buried in the snow white coverlid of her bed
| After this, letters came more frequently, and at
last regularly once week, and 1t was notcea-
bic, that with each arrival the bloom on Annie
cheek increased, her step became irmer, and
her voice more cheerful. She was even occa-
sionally heard to hum snatches of old ballads.
Mr.. Lee, to the surprise of the whole village,
|
several weeks. The surprise deepened into
astonishment when, upon his return, he an
nounced his intention of disposing of his prop
erty, and retiring, for the remainder of his days,
to another part of England. His arrangements
were speedily completed, and father and daugh-
ter departed amid the tears of many. t9ll
As the reader has anticipated, they had gone
to share in and augment the renovated fortunes
of Harvey, who, TO use the old mans terse ex-
preston, had "regenerated himself" Having
offered his services to distant relative in York
shire, they had been accepted, and his knowI-
edge of modern farming having proved so really
excellent, in the course of a few years, with his
savings and influential recommendations, he
found little difficulty in obtaining farm for
HIMSELF in fact, his cultivated intelligence in all
matters relating to what is termed high farming
had procured for him the substantial favor of
one OF the most popular nobiemen and land own
ers in England So situated, he did not scruple
once more to offer his hand to Annie, and it was
accepted, her father volunteering liberal al
lowance of money.
We must pass over fewyears and introduce
our readers to the last scene in this little do
mestic drama which fell under our notice Let
them imagine tolerable-sizec residence, with a
fower-garden before it, fronting a good road,
and fanked by orchards. In the rear there
are kitchen gardens, and beyond them large