Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1867-03-27
A Sad Story.

Z
The " ruling passion y in the human
breast takes many shapes ;. sometimes
| it possesses one of the cardinal excel
lences, and, Of course. ouerdoes it (if
we may so speak, with an excess Of
virtue. The stern, Brutean sense Of
Justice in the unhappy father named
in the following account got the bet
ter of his reason, and produced, in a
moment Of haste, the violation of the
laws of natural affection and the laws
of God:
A Paris correspondent of the Phil
a;delnhia Sunday Dispdtoh announces
the death in that city Of the vener-
able and unhappy Monsieur NJ.
whose sad history he thus briefly re
cites:
He was at one time the head of a
large industrial establishment. His
rectitude was of the severe Roman
type, and yet, as sometimes occurs,
has son was immoral and unprincipled
IN the extreme. At the time l am
speaking Of, his wife and daughters
were dead, and the unworthy son,
then eighteen years of age, alone re-
mained to inherit the fathers INN cnse
wealth. AS have said. Monsieur
NJ --- was severe in the extreme.
land, IN order to put an end to his
sons dissipation, refused to grant him
more than the most ,nearre support.
One evening III received at
his house a friend, to whom he paid a
large sum. His son was present, and
the three dined together. At ten
o'clock the visitor retired, and al
though he had to traverse the wood
of Boulogne to reach his own house,
staIscd alone on foot. He confded
also in his pistols, which he always
carried at night. In the most soli-
tary part of his route his steps were
arrested by man with blackened
face, who presented a pistol at his
head and demanded, in the old fash
ioned way, the money or the Iifa Of
the victim. The latter at first re-
solved to part with neither without
struggle, but a CLEAN of certain re-
cosnition Suddenly flashed upon him.
His resolution was quickly made
Without word he gave the robber
his money, and, after waiting till the
latter disappeared in the woods, pur-
sued his way.
The next morning, at sunrise. lie
returned to the house Of Monsieur
Nj and related to him the event
-oS the preceding night.
The voice of the robber, his fig
ure and manner, notwithstanding his
disguise, make me certain that it was
your son -
My son ]" replied the father, with
a sickening pang. Bad as he is, he
surely has not fallen so low. But,
come. we viii assure ourselves beyond
doubt
And. accompanied by his visitor,
he softly entered the chamber Of his
child The father, with trembling
hand. drew the curtain, and permitted
the sun to fall upon the sleeping face.
The boys clothes were muddy and
torn :; a towel lay upon the floor
stained with the black tlat the guilty
youth had washed from his visage,
while hah-eoncealed beneath the pill
low was seen the stolen purse. Seiz-
ing the pistol that rested upon the
table. the wretched father, before his
friend could divine his purpose. dis
charged its contents at the head of
the boy.
- Monsieur M-- delivered him
self Immediately into the hands Of
Justice, and was, on trial. condemned
to transportation for life. After
serving ten years of his sentence he
was pardoned, and returned to Paris
where, until his death, he lived IN
complete isolation from the world.
-----
THE DRUNKARD's WILL.-I leave to
society ruined character, wretched
example, and a memory that viii
soon rot.
l leave to my parents. during the
rest Of their lives, as much sorrow as
humanity, in feeble and decrepit
state. can sustain.
[ leave to my brothers and sisters
as much modification and injury as /
could bring on them.
/ leave to my wife broken heart,
life of wretchedness and shame, to
weep over my premature death.
/ give and bequeath to each Of my
children, poverty, ignorance, and low
character, and the remembrance that
their father was brute.
An uncommonly powerful loeomo-
tive is now IN process Of construction
at the works Of the Camden and Am
Il. :