Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-09-14
WRITTEN FOR THE SrIRrr OF THE AGE.
The Drunkard's Daughter
(coSrINUED.)
CHAPTER III.
BY SARAH ). c. wHrrrLEsEY.

emit citizen who manifested SO great solicitude ar
or Mr.. Raymond's safety on the occasion all th
uded to in the last chapter; and as Charles th
was q sutton for the hand Of Mr.. Raymond's al
and wealthy daughter Mary, his con- al
and tender care of the intoxicated OF
father, might reasonably be attributed to In
selfish motives, particularly when in that b
fathers years of poverty, Mr.. Percy, senior, Q
had disdained to recognize him as even a 81
common acquaintance. Indeed, Henry Ray n
moHd, in retrospecting his past life, recalled b
to memory the time when be had received a
an indign;ty from Charles paternal relative, e
OF mushrooms al Misrepresentation and be- v
longing, who, ignorant as the beast that Baa- r
lam rode on bis journey to Balak, and of very r
close affinity tn said animal in character and t
department, neglected no opportunity to en- I
deavor to impress an inferior in wealth, with !
al overwhelming sense of his superiority and |
grandeur without an atom of regard for gen. !
tlemanly bearing or individual feeling.
Mr.. Petcy's literary attachments had never 9
extended beyond simple Division, and MUIR |
rays rules for spelling and writing correctly
were as much Greek to the purse-proud gen. .
tleman, as the Communication traced upon a
chip, was to the aboriginal Indian during the
early period of our country's history. His
ignorance of Webster, and things generally"
was so intense and startling, consideringdhis
pecuniary circumstances and proud claims
to the highest seat in the synagogue of Upper
Tendon, that he had absolutely been heard
to remark, with all the dignifed gravity and
importance Of q selfsuficient ignoramus, that
the situation of a certain patient was utterly
hopeless, las the DIR. had positively decided
that he had a spine p
And the irrepressible smile that appeared
..~N- A. D.--A-l IT, a. EaA - 41ok A41n
sion, conduced to the attempted insult (for it
was a matter of impossibility to insult Henry
Raymond, who heartily endorsed the senti-
ment of Cowper:
"An honest, liberal, and we'll bred man.
Will rot insult me, and no other can,")
hof the poor, intellectual man, from the rich
numbScull.
But now the scorned of other years, could
compete. in wealth and magnifcence with
the mean-minded money -hugger, and he cour-
ted and caressed the highly favored son of
capricious fortune, with the blissful hope of
uniting the two aristocratic houses by the
silken cord of matrimony.
Mr.. Raymond comprehended his motive,
and smiled, p~ityingly, at the meanness of his
sordid soul, yet he was too noble hearted to
suffer the events Of the past to interfere with
his child's happiness, and sanctioned her be
trothal to Charles, knowing that her young
heart was wholly in the keeping of the est
mable son of so stupid and grovelling a father
Charles Percy was one of those rare speci
mems of manhood who united personal beaut.
with high mental endowments and acquire
ments, and was as unlike his leaden- braine'
slovenly p%rogenitor in physique and morale
as it is possible for imagination to conceive
His objectionable ignorance inspired hin
with an i~nsatiate thirst for knowledge, an
his mean cupidity and s~ycophancy enlarge
and ennobled his young, indignant soul, !
exact ratio with his increasing perceptions {
tb4aiiatttlhfasaSsffpp aaRda tee hiGixG 1s v his grel
ton of the community, who entertained th
belief in hereditary transmission, to find on
:. so Intellectual and estimable spring from S
" insignificant and morally stunted a stock, a
; it was to the Israelite in wkomfhere was n
, guile, to see something good come out
|. Nazareth.
: In Charles Percy were developed the higl
: er elements of character, that by proper Gu
!. ture and judicious training, might have EN-
: nently qualified his weak-minded father fl
: the exalted social position to which his wealt
: alone had elevated him, and which he file
: with abouta as much grace as an ourang -outar
: would a royal throne.
: To those who repudiate the doctrine of h
: reditary transmission, a more powerful arg
: ment could not be adduced in support of the
. heterodox views, than the virtues and int
: lectual superiority of such a son, in strikir
: contrast with the antipodal characters
such parents (for Mrs. P, was the preci
; counterpart, in mind, of her liege lord, ~
the only piece of advice she had ever be,
known to follow faithfully, was stake care
: the pennies, and the pounds will take care
= themselves" y only Mrs. P. had improved u
. on the maxim, and never lost sight of Il
greater in supervising the less.
. What they would have been by mental CT
ture and energetic exercise of the superi
" order of feelings, was demonstrated in the
son, for the established fact of mans fir
= agency refutes the argument that human n
! ture is ever so destitute of latent powers al
. embryo goodness, as to incapacitate one
J, Gods ENTHUSIASTICALLY born-from risi
70 from the slough of mundane meanness, al
= cutting its way, heroically, through a pt
lanx of Ignorance and constitutional bes
. ments, with the glittering sabre OF mo-
- courage and intellectual might else 1T
" dear God who loveth us, who made and love
!. all" were unjust in holding us responsil
!" for what we are incapable of resisting or p
forming.
81 Mr.. Percy gloried in Charles triumph o,
y the many suitors of Mary Raymond, ard
meaned himself with so much tenderness
~. a. wards the artless and credulous girl, that
~ quite won her young, unsuspecting heart, a
her pure love covered his multitude of 81
UT Had a Gypsy oracle feretold the agony of s.
his hypocritical pretensions, and mean
ne pidity would occasion her in coming yea
"a she would have laughed merrily, at the "
a. and absurd prediction.