Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-08-12


attained in their horrid craft. During the
fathers absence, the son was not idle. He
actually loosed the collar of my shirt, aud
then stood quietly awaiting the others re-
turn.
You could never imagine, unless placed in
Isimilar circumstances, what a multitude of
Thoughts passed through my mind in q few
minutes. / verify believe that every Christ
mas with its accomplishments Of fun andfeast-
ing at which I had assisted since l was the
height of the table, was reviewed In turn
Then I thought of the morrow, and the fair
girls | had left, and how, an hour before, /
was full of hope that ere another Christmas
came round | should call one my own
Still I found time for earnest prayer, and to
think of all sorts Of expedients to escape my
impending fate. Once I fancied, now there
was only one to contend with, I might do
something but just then the touch of the
muscular hand on my throat reminded me
that a movement would cause my instant
destruction. Indeed, / have often wondered
that the fellow did not strangle me in his
impatience. How bitterly did I reproach
myself for not raising an alarm when the
footsteps first became audible.
At length the fellew fairly knashed his
teeth with rage. and utteripg a smothered
exclamation of Hang the tippling beast,
he s at that wine again +, he also left the
apartment to recall the truant parent, and
fetch the Implement of murder.
Now was the time, and you may believe I
lost lone. The instant he left the room, /
was on my feet; noiselessly / approached the
door, dashed it to, turned the key, shut the
bolt, lighted the gas, and once more I stood,
my heart ready to jump into my throat with
joy and thankfullness, with my tTusty pis
toll in my hand.
There was no chance of their re-entering,
for their skeleton keys lay on the bench,
and every article of plumber was there also :;
for, intending to return, they had not con-
IFegedi it from the room,
/ made noise enough from the window nv
hostess and her damsel, now aroused, Join
ed the chorus, and soon, at the head of a
host of alarmed neighbors and a couple Of
policemen, we searched the house from top
to bottom. One Of the men l knew had left
the premises, as I heard him dash over the
area ratings, and down the tsreet but the
elder ruffian we discovered, stupidity drunk,
in the cellar, the danger of his position not
having .suficed to prevent his indulging his
~favorite propensity, when the temptation was
So strong.
We found they had gained a~dmittance by
cutting away the zine from the pantry win
dew, their skeleton keys having made the
rest easy.
Bill, the younger rufian, was too we'll
HrOxun.tn ran0oMn HaAao4toAt IL
tured in a few hours, and both he and his
father eventually obtained a free passage to
a distant land in q vessel provided for that
purpose by her most gracious Majesty.
The affair made a prodigious sensation,
and | became the lion of all Christmas par
ties that year; and the extraordinary sympa-
thy manifested by a certain fair individual
at the recital of my story, brought about a
most satisfactory explanation. My next
Christmas dinner was eatenin my own home,
with her as it's mistress.
/ have often blessed my. stars that good
Mrs. Wingate was not q member of the To-
tai Abstinence Society; for had it not been
for the liberal replenishing her cellar under
went a few days before Christmas, in readi-
ness for sons and daughters who were to
gather round her, and celebrate in her house
that true home festival, my throat would
have keen in no condition to perform its funo-
tions when the time arrived.
Thus have | told the only adventure of
any consequence in which I ever played a
part, and, let me add, that whereas rich and
poor alike welcome Christmas as a season of
joy and thankfulness, I doubt whether any
feel more keen emotions of the kind than I
id, since it recalls to mind an additional
mercy veuchsafed at that period.