Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-08-29
her ears, and his Whereabouts was IN.


known TO her.
AS Mary had anticipated, he had ,Qos,
and his success had added fresh impulse
TO his lmpetuous nature, and hearing OF
snatch" to be played by two "distin.
guished mines" near distant city, there
he had gone, and flushed with success
''staked" his money again, repeatedly
lost and won, until the last dollar was
wrested from him. Alone In an iuhos.
pitable city, without friends, without
money, stang by remorse of conscience,
his mind reverted back to his weeping
and deserted family, and seeking to
drown the workings of guilty con.
science added anew the llbations OF des-
pair, and quafied the deadly draugh which
makes the mind oblivious of the past
and dread the uncertain future.
Drunk oh what horrors cluster
around this terrible meaning word
drunk. Home deserted, the partner OF
MS bosom weeping with anguish too deep
for utterance, too heavy for endurance.
Children clinging around the grief
stricken mother and vainly asking for
papa s return. The change is too great.
Her dear little ones entrusted TO her care
cannot be left TO seek the fallen, and the
pitiiul cries of helpless childern opens
again the wounds so deep and fresh.
Thus Mary suffered alone, without
any knowledge of the fateIof her hus-
band, who tosher in days OF sobriety
was kind, and of course thus an at
tachment hard to be broken had grown
strong through natural love. But moth
ing will so estrange husband from his
family as drunkenness and gambling.
The fascination of the game in which he
now so frequently engaged have entire
ly engrossed his mind and labor; home
and friends are sacrificed for the in
creasing RIGHTEOUSNESS OF base ball
playing and from the fact of it's gam
bling features Mary had solemnly pro-
tested against Johns entering into
play which was well calculated to bring
back the vices and habits Of former
days. But the advice of friends all
could not, keep him from entering into
the game, and asithe result of his de-
termined spirit, we now find him away
from his family, tainted by the very par
ticipation in that which had proved
Johns ruin, and which will prove the
ruin of thousands who undesignedly,
perhaps, enter into its healthful pleas
ure without being led into the whirl.
pool of gambling, so directly connected
with it, But John, though erring, must
receive the efforts Of friends in his be-
half therefore he is sought out and re-
turned to his family after an absence of
q week and oh can any one tell the
anxiety of that faithful wife in these
long days and nights?
She was kind to him on his return
and thought by such a course he might
be led to abandon that which had so eff
fectually brought ruin and desolation to
his household.
But the anxious pleadings of loving
wife and the entreaty of friends could
not dissuade him from the play. He
argured that doctors and divines had
givenstheir sanction to the game, and
thus his cause must be right and thus
we see what was at first designed for the
development of physical strength is
proving the moral ruin of thousands
But what remains of my story is brief,
although it is but the simple yet truth,
full story of one who two months ago
loved to play and fondle his pretty and
confding children, now is often seen
hooking the very prattle of his little
ones in his drunken debauches; and the
cheerful song of his hopeful Mary is no
longer heard, for the house is cherries,
and the necessary wants of his family
are unsupplied. And the one solemn
cry goes forth-oh ! what can be done
to bring back the necessaries OF life,
plucked from stricken family by a
game so ruinous to many.