The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-04-22
CoUDERsPoRT COUNTY, Pa THURSDAY, 22

liar connected with his early life, and we
were all attention in moment.
"'My story is very short one,' he
continued, 'and | can tell it in a very few
words. From the time of my earliest
childhood / never knew what it was to
have happy home. My father was a
drunkard Once he had been a good
man, and a good husband, but rum ru-
ined all his manhood, and made brute
of him. | can remember how cold and
cherries was the first winter of my life
to which my memory leads my mind
We had no fre-no food--no clothes
no joy-no nothing, nothing but misery
and woe! Ny poor mother used to clasp
me to her bosom to keep me warm, and
once-once | remember-wheu her very
tears froze on my cheek? Q, how my
mother prayed to God for her husband !;
and [, who could but just prattle, learned
to pray, too And | used to see that
husband and father return to his home,
and [ remember how my poor mother
cried and trembled.
"'When I grew older had to 90 out
and beg for bread. All cold and shiver-
ing waded through the deep snow, with
my clothes IN tatters, and my frozen feet
almost bare. And [ saw other children
of my own age dressed warm and COM
Portable, and | knew they were happy,
, for they laughed and sang as they bound
ed along towards school. These boys had
fathers and mothers. | knew that their
fathers were no better than mine had
been once, for my mother had told me
how noble my own father could be if the
accursed demon rum were not in his way
but the fatal power was upon him, and
though he often tried, yet he could not
escape.
"'Time passed on, and [ was eight
years old, and those Ell ght years had been
years of such sorrow and suffering as |
pray God | may never see another expe-
rience. AT length, one cold morning in
the dead of winter, my father was not at
home. He had net been at home through
the night. My mother sent me to the
: tavern to see if [ could End him. l had
gone half the way, when l saw something
in the snow by the side of the road. l
stopped, and shudder ran through me,
for it looked like human form. Invent
up to it, and turned the head over and
brushed the snow from the face. 1t was
my father-and he was stiff and cold |
laid my hand upon his pale brow. and it
was like solid marble. lie was dead. :"
"Poor Jack stopped moment and
wiped his eyes. Not one of us spoke, for
we had become too deeply moved. But
he soon went on.
"I went to the tavern and told the
people there what [ had found, and the
landlord sent two of his men to carry the
frozen body Of MY father home. 0, ship
mates, | cannot tell you how my poor
mother wept and groaned. She sank
down upon her knees and clasped that
icy corpse to her beating bosom, as though
she would have given it life from the
warmth Of her own breast. She loved
her husband through all his errors, and
her love was all powerful now The two
men went away, and left the body still
on the floor My mother whispered to
me to come and kneel by her side. did
so. My child she said to me, and the
/ big tears were yet rolling down her
cheeks, you know what has caused all
this. This man was once as noble and
happy and true as man can be, but 0, see
how he has been stricken down Prom
ise me, my child, 0, promise, here before
God and your dead father, and your bro
ken-hearted mother, that you will never,
never, never touch single drop of the
fatal poison that has wrought for US all
this misery
go, shipmates, [ did promise, then
and there, all that my mother asked, and
God knows that to this moment that
promise has never been broken. Ny IA
ther was buried, and some good, kind
nerghbors helped us through the winter.
When the next spring came could work,
and [ earned something for my mother
At length [ found chance to ship, and
| did and every time | 60 home l
have some money for my mother
"'And now,' Jack continued, you
know my story. Not for all the wealth
of the whole world would [ break the
pledge | gave my mother and my God on
that dark, cold morning. And, even had
l made no such pledge would not touch
the fatal cup, for | know that | have a
fond, doting mother who would be made
miserable by my dishonor, and | would
rather die than to bring more sorrow up
on her head. Perhaps you have no
mothers; and if you have, perhaps they
do not look to you for support, for know
you too well to believe that either of you
would ever bring down loving mothers
gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. That
is all, shipmates. Let me 90 now, and
you may enjoy yourselves alone, for | 40
not believe that you will again urge the
wine-cup upon me-
"AS Jack thus smoke he turnad to