The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-05-07

enemies who envled me because had
inherited some wealth-and, fancied,
enemies who envied me the love of
Mary Granville. p e4aTrfs
Another week passed and j became
more sad and lonesome. My business
was irksome to me, and my books and
papers afforded me no respite. In
fact / could not read, for my mind was
never. on the page before me. Another
Sabbath at church, and / saw Mary
again. She was paler than before, and
she looked as though she had been
weeping. d glegsog 2sd
During the succeeding week, | re-
ceived a visit from my college chum,
Jack Stanton, who had just opened
law Office at Berryville After sup
per, as we sat in our cosy parlor,
smoking our cigars, suggested that a
bottle of wine would not be amiss.
Jack shook his head.
"No, Charley" he said, q" well
leave the wine to those who need it. !"
You used to drink, jack a.v
Yes, but it never did me any
good"
And do you think it ever did you
any harm?"
As to that I viii not say; it never
shall do me harm. / know it has
harmed others who were as strong as |
am. By the way, Charlie, isn't Mary
Granville here?" IS es2a
Yes, said /. lgo mma
Do you know herr"
turned away my face and pretend
ed to have heard something at the
window. a0
L have seen her." replied, when
| had composed myself. "She plays
the organ in the church.
She and were schoolmates, "
pursued Stanton; and speaking of
wine brings her to my mind. Do
you know anything of her early life?"
Nothing" | answered.
Poer Mary! | never think of her
without feeling my resolution of total
abstinence grow stronger and stronger.
When we were school children to-
gether her father was the wealthiest
man in Berryville, and she and her
brother were among the happiest of
the happy.
Mr.. Granville was in the habit of
drinking wine, and the habit grew up
on him until he felt he could not live
without his brandy. He was of so
cial disposition, and in time it came
to pass that he was often grossly in
toxicated. Of course. under such cir
cumstances, one of two things must
happen-the man must reform or he
must sink. Mr.. Granville did not re-
form, and ere many years he died
drunkard's death. leaving his family
in poverty and suffering
Thomas, the son-four years older
than Mary-became dissipated, and at
the age Of eighteen was killed in a
street fight in New York. Mrs. Gran
vile survived her son but few
months-absolutely dying, the doctor
said, Of broken heart. g
Poor Mary, thus left fatherless and
motherless, without brother or sister,
at the age of fifteen, was forced to earn
the bread which she ate-and nobly
has she done it. IF you know her,
Charley, you know one of the noblest
women that ever lived. But-what's
the matter? You look pale as ghost.
/ struggled with myself, and told
Jack that / had swallowed lot of
cigar smoke. | rose, and opening one
of the easements, stepped out on the
balcony, where the fresh air restored
me-
I At late hour Jack departed for
the hotel, and when I had retired to
my chamber | passed to and fro until
long after midnight. | could no Ion
ger misunderstood the motive which
had aetuated Mary in rejecting my
hand. She knew that I was in the
habit of using wine, and on that even
ing when last we met she must have
discovered that / had drank enough
to bring a false flush to my cheeks.
L "Oh, my GodPi I calculated, as I
sank into chair, :" / wonder not that
she refused to place her future life in
my keeping" She had suffered
enough from the accursed cup. The
night of sorrow and desolation has
been long enough. She would be
worse than mad to take husband
whose opening path in life led towards
the pit into which the loved ones of
other days had fallen
But, j asked myself, 9 why did
she not tell me the whole truth?"
/ found no difficulty in answering
the question. She had shrunk from
wounding my feelings. | knew how
sensitive she was, and | knew that she
was afraid of offending me. Perhaps
she thought me proud and headstrong,
enough to resent such liberty on her
part, and perhaps she imagined /
might look upon her part as the of
fering of her hand in consideration of
my renouncing the wine cup, and that
/ might spurn her offer. o''dia
On Friday Jack Stanton left me,
and on Saturday evening I called at
Mary's boarding house. Mary her
| self answered the summons. She