Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1858-10-14
GALLIPOLIs OHIO, @OCTOBER14, 1855

have only to lament that we are not the
same to each otherthat we once we're, y
"Why should we not be so again, y
asked he.
"Ask yourself and judge" she re-
Piled.
Misinterpreting her subdued. almost
tender tone and manner, he began
passionately TO eutreat for a renewal Of
their engagement. Annie, though her
heart beat violently as old memories
swept through her brain, was firm in
her refusal. She had disciplined her
self into the conviction that he bad no
right to demand any sacrifice on her
part. He was the transgresspr, and
from him alone must come the atone
ment. Would that al girls Similarly
placed would think as Annie didI
"You love me no longerl" exclaimed
Harvey, bitterly.
81 do not love the spectre Of Frank
Harvey" she replied. Return to your
former self. and you willfn Annie Lee
still Annie Lee"
Imagining she referred to his loss Of
he said, with a sheer, al see
how it is--you have heard of my mis-
fortunes, and we are not equal now. l
am poor now-and you scorn me be-
cause l am poor"
"Poorl" Rejoined Annie, warmly.
"You are only poor in character. Money
ofitself does not make or confer worth.
If yon had not penny in your pocket.
and were the Frank Harvey of other
times, / would gladly give you my
hand, and nv father would as gladly
consent. Oh, Frank, Frank, whether
you have been led astray by your own
evil promptings, or fallen before temp
tation, 'there is time to relent, time to
change, time to turn back to your for
mer self, and, l will say, to come and
see Annie Lee as you did in the bright
days before you fell away from me,
from yourself, and. OIL Frank, think of
it, from your Maker"
And so they parted without another
word, Harvey prey to remorse, for, as
he watched her receding figure, the
sound of Sabbath bells fell on his ear,
and as they awoke the past, they dis
turbed his stagnant and putrid present,
and he wept But the day Of his de-
liverance was not yet at band. Depravi-
ties that stop short of crime punishable
by the laws arg only corrected by the
severest chastisement, and thorough
cleansing Of the moral being.
Self-degradation will drive man or
wemsn-sotlem0sLdesperate s9tremises.
In some stages Of their disorder they
are unable, If willing. to bear up against
the wind of their difficulties. Like
ships they drift helplessly on
the lee shore of ruin. 1t was so with
Harvey. He was Overtaken by adversi-
ties, and could not bear up against them,
although he still had the means. The
spirit Of the gambler and tippler pos
sessed him. and his property wasted
away like snow in the sun. In himself
hopelessly degenerate, he had no hope
in the future, and became reckless. Long
after he had ceased to hold any com
with Annie, or her father,
a glimmering of his actual position
flashed across his mind, and he vowed
a reformation; but it is only a terrible
shock that can rouse such beings to
sense of their danger and duty. 1t
came with electric force.
As be was proceeding bomewards late
one night, and was passing the cottage
Of the miserable tailor, he was arrested
by the piercing shrek Of a woman and
the cries of children--cries that never
appeal vainly tot mans heart. By an
impulse which he could never alter
wards account for, seeing the door open,
he entered and beheld a spectacle that
curdled his very blood. On the floor
Law the tailor dead-in fit of drunken
passion he had burst blood vessel and
gone to his dreadful account. His three
children were crying by his side, and
On some rags in a corner lay his wife
dying in the last stage OF
The crimson and black
clouds through which Harvey had
looked at the world for many a day
yanished-his former self started up,
ike bright angel, and he applied him
self vigorously TO the exigencies Of the
Ease. He reused the neighbors, pro-
,ured the attendance of a medical man,
md bestowed on the afflicted family all
he money he had about him.
"Annie will not let them starve," he
mentally observed as he proceeded to
he farm sad and thoughtful. He found
m execution on the premises. He was
.uined, and knew it, but did not lament
,r bewail his fortune. On the contrary,
ie went to bed and slept soundly. The
catastrophe he had witnessed had COM
,letely revolutionized his morbid nature.
In the course OF the week he arranged
lis affairs, paid his creditors in full,
md, after giving up possession OF the
arm to the landlord, found himself
worth about fifty pounds. With that in
,is pocket he disappeared from the
,eiobborhood, and was never seen in
again. He bade adieu to none. not !
ven to Annie, for he was ashamed Of
iimself. He did pause at bend in the
cad that commanded view of her home,
nd breathed prayer for her welfare
nd happiness. 1t was the sweetest,
,oliest prayer he had uttered since he
.ad knelt al his mothers feet.
His disappearance did not create
much astonishment in the village, but
O Annie it was a source Of deep, heart
,reaking grief. Despite her keen judg-