The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-04-17

| hheN tual 'le Saiuc prayer was uPoh III
ea's lips.
/ 1t was late when We rctire1, and we might
not have done so even then, had not John
fallen asleep in his chair.
| On the following morning l walked out
with my friend. told him Fwas sorry to
see him as saw him the night before.
/ "Oh," said he With a laugh, "oh, that
was nothing, only little wine party. We
had glorious time. ] wish you had been
there
At first ! thought Twould say no more,
but was it,not my duty knew his nature
better than he knew it himself His appe-
tites and pleasures bounded his own vision.
I knew how kind and generous he was
alas ! too kind, too generous.
"John, could you have seen Ellen's face
last evening you would have trembled.--
Can YOU make her unhappy p
He stopped me with--"Don't be a fool 4;
why should she be unhappy ?"
| sBecau=e she fears you are going dcson
hll" I told him.
'Did she say so ?" he asked, with a
flushed face.
| sNo I, read it IN her looks" said.
"Perhaps it is reflection of your own
thonqhts," he suggested.
"Surelv. thought 50 when you came
home" replied.
Never can forget the look he gave me
then, so full of reproof OF surprise, of pain.
&C, foreive you, for |. know you TO be
my friend but never speak to me like that
I going down hill You know better. That
can never be- know my own power, and
I know my wants My mother knows nae
better than Ellen does.n
All (! had that mother been as vie as she
was loving she would have seen that the
"wild OATS which her son was sowing would
grow up and ripen to furnish only. seed for
resolving But she loved hm-loved him
almost too we'll, or, should say, too hlindly.
But could say no more. ! only prayed
that God would guard him, and then we
conversed on other subjects. could spend
but day with him but we promised to
correspond often.
Three years more passed, during which
John Anderson wrote to me at least once
month, and oftcner sometimes but at the
end Of that time his letters ceased coming,
and received no more fer two years, when
again found myselfin his native town. 1t
was early in the afternoon when I arrived,
and took dinner at the hotel.
I had finished my meal, and was lounginc
in front of the hotel, when | saw funeral
procession winding into distant church
yard asked the landlord whose funeral il
was.
"Mrs Anderson's," he said and as he
spoke, noticed slight dropping of the
head, as if it cut him to say so.
"What John Anderson's wife ~ ven
tured.
"No," he said, cit is his mother :" and as
he told me this, he turned away But a
gentleman near by, who had overheard our.
conversation, at once took zip the theme.
''Our host don't seem inclined to converse
upon the subject" he remarked, with shrug,
inquiring, "Did yon know John Anderson ?"
"He was my schoolnate in boyhood, AID
my bosom friend in vouth,' told him.
Be then led me to one side, and spoke as
follows:
"Poor John! He was the pride Of the
town six wears ago This man opened his
hotel at that time. and sought custom by
giving wine suppers. John was present at
many Of them, the gayest of The gay, and
The most generous of the party. In fact. he
paid for nearly all of them Then he began
10 90 down hill, and has been going down
ever since At times, true friends have pre-
vailed on him to stop, but his stops were
Of short duration A short season of sun
shine would eleam upon his home, and then
the night came more dark and dreary than
before
"IIe said he would never net drunk again;
but still he would take glass Of wine with
friend That glass Of wine was but the
gate that let in the food Six years aeo he
was worth sixty thousand dollars. Yester-
day, he borrowed the sum of fifty dollars to
pay his mothers funeral expenses That
poor mother bore up as long as she could
She saw her son--her darling boy as she
always called him--brought home drunk
many times And she even bore blows from
him But now she is at rest. Her darling
wore her life away, and brought her gray
hairs in sorrow to the grave. Oh, hope
this may reform him
"But his wife p asked
"Her heavenly love has held her up thus
far, but she is only a shadow of the wife she
was six years ago." he returned
My informant was deeply ffected, and so
was ; consequently asked no more.
During the remainder of the afternoon
debated with myself whether to call upon
John at ALL But finally resolved to go.
though waited till after tea. Ifound John
and his wife alone They had both been
weeping, though could see at a glance that
Ellen's face was beaming with hope and love.
But, oh she was changed, sadly, painfully
so. They were glad to see me, and my hand
was shaken warmly.
Dear c., do not say word Of the past,
Int, l..