Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-05-11
From the Home Journal.
Tales of the South.
BY A SOUTHERN MAN,
THE AVGNGER.
| Continued from last Week.

,'I forgive YOU my death, because | de-
serve to die by your hands. | Hm one of
YOUR fathers murderers. Listen, aud
will tell you, in few words, the story
of my life. Without knowing some
thing os it, you will not be able to under
stand why became both murderer and
gambler.
"I was bora in Savannah, Georgia.
Nv parents were obscure, but honest and
hard working. Having many children be-
sides myself, and being very poor, they
were hard pushed to support us and bring
us up in the way they wanted. My mos
ther was a quiet, gentle, deeply pious wo-
man. She taught me TO pray, kneellng
at her feet, with my head in her lap, every
night before | went to bed. | learned from
her. also, the most of the catachism, be-
fore | was able to read. But hard work,
care, anxiety, and the harassment of a
heavy debt which my father contracted
by securityship for a friend who broke
and run oft, soon brought her to the
grave was very young when she died,
but | remember how fair and sad she
looked as she lay in her shroud upon the
bed kissed her cold lips and cried Bit
terly, for my heart was very heavy.
had good reasen to cry and TO feel heavy
at heart, for had lost not only mother,
but friend, who, if she had lived, might
have kept my feet in the paths OF virtue,
and saved me from the vices which have
made my life miserable and brought me
to this untimety death.
"As soon as my mother died, my father
broke up housekeeping in Savannah, and
moved to a small farm which he rented
down on the coast. 1t was a very hands
some situation which looked out, in one
direction, upon the Atlantic Ocean, aud
in all Others upon rice plantations. l soon
grew to love the ocean, and used to play
for hours upon tie beach when the tide
was out. Its solemn roar and boundless
extent filed me with awe, and feeling
which cannot even now understand or
express would steal over me as | gazed
upon its restless waters. Somehow, rs
soon as revived to- day from the stun of
your ball, | felt my old love for the sea
return, and requested to be placed in the
situation you see me in, that might look
upon the waters of the Gulf. | wish, too,
! could see rice plantation with the
grain waving green and shiny IN the
breeze.
"As soon as | was old enough to labor,
my father put me to work. We continued
to live upon the same little farm for seve-
raj years, until my father took it into his
head to marry a second time. The woman
he married was bad-tempered, and a terri |
bic scold. She made my fathers house
unpleasant to all of his first wife's children |
who were with him, for some had married |
and settled in homes of their own; Others |
had gone into business on their own ac-
count ono was dead, and four OF us re-
NAMED at home.
| was sixteen years old could read
and write and cipher, and was very i'm
patient Of my stepmother's rule. My fa-
ther saw my unhappiness, and proposed
70 apprentice me to learn q trade.
gladly consented, and was put under
house carpenter in Savannah. For time
lgot on well with my employer, and made
rapid progress in the use of tools. But,
by degrees, | formed acquaintances with
young men of my own age and Older who
lee me into bad practices and the neglect
ptmy business. Ny father died, my em-
ployer discharged me, and ! started, with
one suit of clothes on my back, and lit
lie money in my pockets, to seek my for
tune in the world. concluded tnat l
would 60 up into the interior of the State
70 pursue my trade of a house-carpenter.
1 settled in a small village, got work,
made money, and began to prosper. In |
The immediete neighborhood lived a very
Eealthy planter who had son who was
ulssipated and reckless, His father, after
'ruitless efforts to reclaim him, cut off his
supplies Of money, and even threatened
70 exclude him from his house if he did
|not reform. This fired his pride, and he
E9ult the house of his own accord, and
|ufned to drinking and gambling, finger
ng all the while in the heighborhood, as
ior the purpose of annoying his father.
an evil hour formed his acquaintance,
nd he acquired, from the first, an un-
ounded influence over me. Step by step,
led me down the sleeps Of vice, until
q as fond of drinking and gaming as he
as; We spent all our money, had no
edlt, and scarcely knew what 10 do.