The hydraulic press., 1859-01-29
A COMMON THING.

sIhali IL may be, has Its drunken butt
who lives upon the gifts of the charita-
BILE and repays them by affording oppor-
tunities for laughter.
The town drunkard What mourn
full, instructive spectacle,-yet who re-
CARDS it! What temperate drinker
takes one dram the less after seeing his
degraded fellow, bloated, ragged filthy
and despised? The answer to our que
~ would not prove very encouraging
but we are impelied to swell the number
of warnings, and to give the experience
of a town drunkard
Poor ''old Mose!" We remember
him well, though the rains of many a
California winter have beat upon his
grave and leveled its undistinguished
mound. A more afectionate heart, and
a more intelligent, humorous brain, nev-
err tenanted form six feet high. Like
go many who have sought our State to
better their fortunes, he left loving
family and comfortable home to find
here the miserable death of drunkard.
He emigrated early in 40, sober
man of large frame and strong muscles
we'll adapted for the struggle with moth
er earth. But his labors were unatten-
ded by success. Oppressed by disap-
pointment and anxiety, he sought con-
solation-or oblivion-in strong drink,
becoming, finally, habitually addicted to
its use,-unable to exist without its
stimulating effects. The fatal convic-
ton that luck was against him, filed
him with despair, and made him yield
to fate of his own conjuring.
OF course, as he became confirmed
inebriate, he ceased to labor; and was
known to the denizens of the small mi
ming village in which he wasted his life
as drunken Nose" What title for
a being endowed by nature with all the
glory Of manhood, grasping after immor-
tality His intellect was shattered, and
reason
"That column of true majesty in man.
fell forever!
The good humor Of Nose, and his
willingness to do small chores, made his
continual presence in bar-rooms bearable;
and procured for his appetite the graft
fcation it ceaselessly craved. Still, his
life was precarious one, generally with
out the essentials for it's support; and
he was often exposed to severe privation,
lying under the clear, innocent sky in
state of drunken stupor-a filthy OBJ
ject in uncharitable eyes, pitiable one
in the eyes of the benevolent. The Sc
we're winter of 1S49-50 set in, and
Nose was exposed to all its rigor, biding
the peltings of many a pitiless storm,
unnoticed by men as pitiless.
One day he went to the carpenter,
unusually sober, to appearance, and sa
luted him with
"Old Shavings, I want you to meas
ure me for coffin.
The carpenter was somewhat startled
at this request, but forced laugh as he
told Nose that it was ga curious joke"
"No joke at al" said Nose; 81 want
YOU to make me coffin"
"Why Mose," replied the maker of
cradles, "you mustn't die yet, you can't
afford to. Lumber is worth dollar and
a half foot, and you are six foot in
your stockings"
"Well," answered Nose, ri suppose
if l can't afford to die now, [ must put
it off for awhile: my friends amt able
to buy me coffin"
The carpenter took his measure, how
ever, to humor him, and Nose walked
off satisfied, leaving "Shavings" full of
commiseration. The first thing he heard
in the morning was, that Nose was
dead! He had expired in fit of de-
lirium tremens,-unattended, unwept
and unknown; and was hurried into his
last "claim," by those who had assisted
in his destruction.
The staggering gate, the idiotic smile,
the bloated face of cold Mose," were
seen no more His wrecked mind, his
laaartod usefulness his miserable death