The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-09-11
AZ InoIdent in q qroggery.

On one Of the corners Of Mercer stree
there Is low drinking house. Al aroun,
the bar room there are arranged small table,
on which, Of an evening, some of the fro
quenters are resting their glassos but NOR,
! are shuning half worn cards, There Is nr
q name over the door, nor any number upon il
, Il seems 70 homo part Of the Keepers pan IA
attract iranSIcutQatrouagc, but rather TO de-.
pend ON "a regular line % customers," "A dol-
eu of whom were assembled sometime after
! / one night last week, where lhov might
have realized ~ much fan % Swodguborgs
evil spirits in the delights Of therordure but
for a most ahrspt interruption just as our
reporter chunccd TO be crossing into Broad
way.
81 want Andrew ONcil," The men at the
bar and the sittcrs hy the table looked toward
the door, whore stood young woman, poor
ly, hut not shabbily dressed, in whose un-
Spoiled face, hope aud desire were struggling
with despair, 81 want Andrew O'Ncil"
There was an energy behind the almost calm
y oico Of the woman, aud at lha second SUM
mons, mddle-agcd man, with pock-mark-
ed face, aud in whose mixed blood the Scotch
seemed to predominant, got up aud heavily
moved tuwurd the door
"What are you here for and away hom
home again Mrs,?'
For you, for you, O'Noil you're not to be
here spending your money aud me washing
the long day"
eco about your busincss-you might be
ashamed here among the Mercer street wo-
mon, I'm not going with you, no start or
and the scorer the bctior."
"Will you say that To mca Come here
now"
And saying this, the woman caught at her
husbands cap with one hand aud pulled him
by the arm with the other, when the brute
pushed her in the face, and sought TO cNci,c
his fellows against her by vile cpihctsi but
the first jccr he raised made the woman fran
tic, and snaiching an oyster knife, she rush
ed upon him with such wild fury that hc was
rescued with difficulty 10y the keeper Of the .
house and one or two Of the bysiaudcrs.
"ls this the way you talk to me- you white .
faced villain ?-is this what you promised
when lcn my good homc2 Look me in the
face, YOU skunk, and speak, II you saw c,cr
or heard ever aught against mo a, maid or
wife? I've not 10 :hc'housc what's comfort
able, and You here drinking and phymgnwny
the money should have for the boys, How
dare You look at nae 20.
The crozcd woman shrickcd this rather
than spoke IL, and the landlord, annoyed by
- a
To get her oui nc tulU ",' q" t" '"''', ''''
business -that &c ehe was aaugugt woman
she wouldn't be disturbing the town, and i'm
timatcd where the door was, out Of which she
must go.
"Do you tell me to go ? 10 youknow any
lLing -af M that's not dcccnt2 I'm ONeils i
lawful wife. I'm the mother Of his two boys
stepping close to him and drawing herself
unconsciously up to an attitude Of grateful
powcr)-do you dare to strike me or say
wrong ofmc You steal away my ioyi $ou .
steal away honest peoples earnings You SER
pcnt Yes, hold on to that post YOU cant T.
look am honest woman like Mary O'Ncil in I
the face no more can any man here, nor this .
pitifpl husband of mine, drinking with har-
lots and slulking here hook ut mr. +
This burst Of inycctiyc subduod all about
her. Her comcy face was radiant with in
dgnant passion. She stood on that miscra- .
bic floor a revelation OF unconscious clo- /
qucncc and original power before which .
covered the inferior people around her. |
There was reycling in the ST. Nicholas, near
BY The gilded bar-room Of that caravansc- /.
ra was crowned its drawing rooms and late .
supper tables thronged with fair women in
costly silks; but was there in anyone ofall that
brilliant asscmblagc 30 much of that native
power, force of character, and capacity for
s,.ift-sertiot, that mark where the rold-vcius
are in the quartz Of human formations was
there anywhere more of this than cleaned
from the features of Mary ONeil, with her
heart breaking there in the low drinking
room across the way
While she was speaking her husband
sncaked out through door behind the bar,
and the woman was left alone. Two or three
strang, RS in the crowd expressed their ndmi-
ration of her womanlness and their sympa-
thy for her misfprtuncs by compelling her TO
take small sum of money, and urging her
to give over looking for her worthless hus-
band then or ever thereafter. But her pa
thetic reply was, "bad as he is, love the
very ground he walks upon."-Ne,o York
/ Tribune
! Life in Nebraska.