Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-08-28
A Drunken Father

a correspondent and agent of the Chill
dren's Aid Society relates some revoI,;no
cases Of degradation and inhumanitv resn,t.
ing from intemperance, which he has witness.
ed In the dens of that Sodom and Gomo-r,b
OF America-New York city. We have bnt
room for single picture that of n "Drnnla,
Father" 1t is enough to make the b,oo3
DOH and stir the heart of humanity to II,
core to read the recitals of the abiect misery
and brutalized degradation of the heln,ess
wife and worse than orphaned children oe tho
once loving husband and kind parent trans.
formed into brute by the mad n,ss;o, fo,.
strong drink. When will the peopIe awaLa
70 the necessity of driving out from the;r
mus. the men whose trade it is to destroy
happiness and blight integrity As lonr as
grogshops are allowed to exist. so lonp will
oe chronicled the recurrence of this sad hu-
man picture Look at it:
meet too many cases Of novartv o.,,,o,
ooy lntemperance. Deserted wives and ch;IN
dren every day tell me their mel ,nehoIv hi.
torres The cruelty of some of these me-,
admits OF no extenuation. In n hons, on
pitt street found poor woman with 4 fam.
ny OF SIX children, all pretty little girls =
lhere was an expression of intense and set
tled SADNESS IN her pale features as she cold
me her story: "My husband is a tailor;,
out aiaS, SIR, he loves the dram more than
ne loves work. He must ALWAYS have tbo
rum-oottle on his work table. Ha i . vor,,
nard man in liquor, and beats me 40 badly
that lear he will kill me one day in his ON.
ger | wouldn't mind that, for it wonId he
release but what would the poor children
ooF lie beats them without the least feelinr
ior their age, or the tie that should make
MN protect them. 1t was only thrae
Gays ago he struck Emily "a fairhaired girl of
eleVen years. with the bottle she BROUGHT
empty from the corner store When he is
very druhk we have to fly from the house
anu hlde with the neighbors. Sometimes
20 " me statIon-house for protection. and
lhe chiidren have been driven to take ref
uee Ia low dance e-house in the next street:
'i". was IN winter, and they thought,
poor things, the dance-house waS NOT . GaJ
pace 70 shelter them, for there was n GOOD
IRE there, and they could warm themselves y
Ai1er some conversation With Ali ..ebe,,,
py woman. JcnIfdren on the foHow;no Snr'-
day little Emily appeared at the Snndav-
school with two of her sisters, and enioyed
the exercises very pleasantly. Her clothes
were bad, but provided her with better
ana furnished her sissers with dresses. |
expected them next Sunday, but | saw them
not. ealing at the house in which they
lived, found that their father had deprived
them Of their new clothes, pawned them.
ana bought rum With the money he had got.
persuaded him some time after to send
Emily and four other sisters to the Chihiron's
Aid Society, and we have had excellent letters
from the rescued and now happy girl She
Is Is, DONG well and in pleasant home
thoughts of her poor father, who is a con-
nrmed drunkard, and of her mother. the
victim OF his frenzy, sometimes dim her
pleasures, but she has learned that God or
ders all things for the best, and hopes that
IN his mercy he will save her parents as he
has saved herself"