Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-02-04

In the direction where he pointed, dreading 70
see some shadow invoked by its magic moving
"I once had a mother. With her old heart
crushed with sorrsw she went down to the grave
once had wife-a fair, angel-hearted creature
as ever smiled in an earthly home. Her eyes
were as mild as a summers sky, and her heart
as fsitbfuI ana true as ever cherished . bus
hands love Her blue eyes grew dim IS the
floods of fsorrow washed away its rightness, and
the living heart wrung out till every fiber was
broken. Ionce had q noble, bright and beau
tiful boy. but he was driven out from the ruins
of his home. and my old heart yearns TO know
II he is vet living. once had a babe. . sweet,
ttsnder blossom: but these hands destroyed 1t,
and it lives with One who loveth children"
DO not be startled frienis-I am not q muir
derer in the common acceptance Of the term
Yet there is o light in my evening sky. Aspirtt
mother reioices over the return OF her prodigal
SON. The wife SMILES on him who turns back to
virtue and honor. The angel child vistts me at
nightfall, and teel the hallowed touch of a tiny
palm upon my cheek Ny brave boy. If he yet
lives, would forgive the sorrowing old man for
the treatment which sent him out into, the
world and the blow which MANNED him for life.
God forgive me the ruin which have brought
upon me and mine"
! He again wiped tear from hiseye. Ny father
watched him with strange intensity, and
countenance unusually pale. and excited by
some strange emotion.
"Iwas once a fanatic, and madly followed the
maIign light which led me TO ruin I was
fanatic when sacrificed my wife, children.
happiness and home, 10 the accursed demon oi
the bowl. ] once adored the gentle being whom
I wronged SO deeply. -.
"Iwas a drunkard. From respectability and
affiuence plunged into degradation and pow
erty. dragged ny family down with me. For
years saw her cheek grow pale, and ner step
weary. left her alone amid the wreck OF her
home idols, and rioted at the tavern, She never
complained, yet she and the children often
went hungry.
lone New Years night returned late to the
hut where charity haE given US a roof She was
still up, shivering over the Goals l demanded
food, but she burst into tears and told me there
was nome fercely ordered her to go and get
some. She turned her eyes upon me, the tears
fast rolling down her pale face.
"At this moment the child in the cradle awoke
/. and set up famished wall, startling the des-
pairing mother like serpent's sting.
I'VE have no food James-I have had none for
1.-TWO days. have nothing for the babe. My
once kind husband, must we starve?
THAT sad pleading face, and those streaming
aves- and the feeble wall OF the child maddened
me and I-yes struck her a fierce blow In the
face and she fell forward upon the hearth. The
| furies of he'll boiled in my bosom, and with deep
erintensity, as felt had committed wrong. I
/ had never struck Mary before, but now some
/ terrible impulse bore me on, and stopped down
as well as l could in my drunken state and
clinched both hands in her hair.
i "God of mercy" exclaimed my wife, as she
looked up into my fiendish countenance, s"you
4 will not kill us. you will not harm Willie" as
she sprang to the cradle and grasped him In her
embrace caught her again by the hair, and
dragged her to the door. and as lifted the latch
i the wind burst IN with cloud Of snow, With
"a wild aha har' closed the door and turned
the button, her pleading moan mingled with
the blast and the sharp cry OF the babe. Butmy
work was not yet complete. l turned TO the
bed where lay my eldest SON, and snatched
!, him from his slumbers, and against his half-
awakened struggles, opened the door and threw
him out. In an agony of fear he called me
name was not 1T to bear, and locked his little
fingers in my side pocket. could not wrench
thar frenzied grasp away, and with the coolness
of devil as 1 was, shut the door upon hisarm
: and with my knife severed his wrist.
h The speaker ceased moment, and buried bis
y face in his trembling hands. as IL to shut cut
Il SO ne fearful dream. and his deep chest hesved
) like a storm-swept sea- Ny father had arisen
= from his seat anf fFasleaning forward his coun-
,,,,,,,, his bro CbilIs crept back 10 my
lneort and Twisbed + was at home. Theold man
l hooked up and have never since beheld such
mortal agony pictured upon a human face al
/ there was on his. He continued:
' :. l. was morning when awoke, and the storm,
: had ceased. but the cold was intense. I hrs'
1 secured a drink af water, and then locked In
II the accustomed place for Mary. As missed
4 her. for the first time shadowy sense Of some
i-barrible nightmare began to dawn upon my
0 fwandering mind. thought had dreamed q
E fssarful dream: but involuntarily opened the
= on,side door with a shuddering dread.
LAS the door opened the snow burst in, fol
2 lloued nv q fail of something across the thres
! hold. scattering the snow and striking the doo
r with a hard. sharp sound My blood shot like
d redhot arrows through my veins and rubbed
d nv ores n sbut ont the sieht-It vas-it-Oh
God bow horrible 1T was my own injured
d Mary and 3,er babe frozen TO deatti!r
4 1. Tue evsr trre raother had bowed herselfove
S the child to shield it. leaving her own person
h1 .,orL and mare. She had placed her hair owe
Q the face ofthe child and the sleet had frozen Il
a ,o tte vvj,tte zFbe FROST was white in tn,
:. n, ewes AM aponits tiny dnRers Iknov
q r,,,t VIM ,,sfarne ,f NV brave boy.v
@ Apas., the old man bowed MS head and wept
q and all thai were In the house wept with him.
IS In tones of low. heart-broken pathos, the oit
= man continued
4 s.-.s. ! a., : ~, ,.r,.,,s r.ysdp :,
W. ,,'.- -, nr,so fo
1t -. ,,,,,i, s,ne, t,,o.. !,
It sn % /. -. ~ "a No, am NOT n IA
e ny ,.,sss, :. t'ss-s -,,or,a Rpt vI,ile rlfve
e na'lo' ~-sh = .,,ter tb
le. ie - sar,, a,,d s.r,,I one :,
e, paN -, - -, a,,r.I ,,o,bar wifi. an,
n nc 80 ,a..o,s ,,,;s ,,aIs of,so-sn
10 Tine old man sat down. but a spell as deep an'
ID stra,,peast at wrought by some wizards preatl
lie rested mon the audience. Hearts could hay