The Portland daily press., 1862-11-05
MISCELLANY.
Not Beyond the Power of Love.

MIR, GouGH. in one of his recent lectures,
proceeded d to confute the idea that drunkardS
are so far brutes as to be beyond the power of
Christian love, saying: No, they are not brutes.
have abored for eighteen years among them,
and never found brute. have had men
to swear at me; have hada man dance around
me as If possessed of devil, and spit his foam
In my face; but | never found man that L
would give up. 1t may take long time to
reach his manhood but he is not a brute. /
think it is Charles Dickens who says, Away
up great many pairs of stairs, in very re-
mote corner, easily passed by, there is door,
and on that door is written, Woman And
so In the heart of the vilest outcast, away up a
great many pairs OF stairs, in a remote corner,
easily passed by, there is a door upon which is
written "Man."
Here is onr business-to find that door, 1t
may take long time but begin and knock
Don't get tired; but remember Gods long
suffering for US, and keep knocking long
time Ii need be. Don't get weary if there is
no answer? remember him whose locks were
wet with the dew. Knock on-just try it
you try it,; and just SO sure, by-and-by, will the
quivering lip and starting tear tell you you
have been knocking at the heart of manand
not of brute. 1t is because these poor wretch
es are men, and not brutes, that We have hopes
OF them. aN
once picked up man in the market place.
l.
took him home with me, and kept the "brute"
fourteen days and nights through his derium,
and he nearly frightened my vile out of her
wits one night. chasing her all about the house
with boot in his hand. But she recovered
her wits, and he recovered his He said to me
"You wouldn't think l had wife and child,
would you?"
swell, shouldn't"
II have, and-God bless her heart-my little
IL ~ ltttla
pee" raid the "brute."
"Where do you live?"
"Two miles from here"
"When did you see them last?"
1.-TWO years ago"
Then he told me his sad story. said:
"You had better go back again."
81 can't go back. My wife is better without
me. l have struck her, and kicked her, and
abused her. Can l go back agan?"
/ went with him to the house. knocked
at the door, and his wife opened it.
''Is this Mrs. Richardson 2"
"Yes sir'
"Well, that is Mr.. Richardson; and, Mr.
Richardson, this is Mrs. Richardson. Now
come into the house,
They went in. The wife sat on one side of
the room and the "brute" on the other. L
waited TO see who would speak first, and it
was the woman. But before she spoke she
fdgeted good deal. She pulled upher apron
till she got hold of hem, and then she pulled
1t all down again. Then she folded it up close
and jerked it out through her fingers, an inch
at a time, and then she spread it all down a
gain: and then she looked all round the room,
and said:
"Well, William"
"WeIl, Mary" said the "brutes
He had large handkerchief round bis neck,
and his wife said:
You had better take the handkerchief off,
William; you'll need it when you go out"
He began to tumble about it; the knot was
large enough; he could have united it if he lik-
ed but he said:
Will you unite it, Mary"
She worked away at it, but her fingers were
too clumsy, too and she could not get it off,
While thus occupied, their eyes met. The love-
light was notall quenched She opened her
arms gently and he fell into them.
If you had seen those white arms clasped
about his neck, and he sobbing ON her breast,
and the child looking in wonder, first at one
and then at the other, you would have said:
1t Is not brute but man, with great,
abi0 warm heart in his bos0mv -