The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1869-07-21
public because .sot the illness Of the lee

tried to lide it, Literary work was neegect-
! ed also. Money was lost that might have
been easily won. Debts, grew and credit
| lessenetl; the handsome suite of rooms was
exchanged for ono quito shabby Ruth's
dress became poverty stricken, her husband
was out at elbows and at toesThe was lntox-
|, icated from morning until night, and yet she
loved him and chung to him, and in his sob
er moments he loved her as fondly as ever
Sometimes the old strength and the old hope
would be aroused in him. and he would
struggle to regain his old position, but it was
all in vain; rum tliumphed and five years
from her wedding day Ruth found herself
with her one remaining child, (the first had
died within year of its birth,) in the ding
lest of wretched tenement houses in state
bordering on beggary.
Edward had heen more madly intoxicated
that day than ever before; he had even given
her bloy; and now, as the night wore on,
he muttcred and raved and called for BRAN
dy, and cursed her and himself, until she
trembled with FEAR At last. as the clock
struck ten, he started to his feet and stag
gered out of the room, vowing to get drunk
somewhere.
Poor Ruth stood where he had left her, for
a few moments. The memory OF the past
was strong on her that night just at this
hour, five years before they had fled from her
fathers home together How tender he was,
how loving, how gentle! How he vowed
that she should never regret that night, and
how lie had kept those promises He had
broken every vow-he neither cherished nor
protected her. His worldly goods he had
given to the ravenous demon, drink; his
Love had become something scarcely worth
having !: and vet she loved him, and chung
to him. She tried to feel cold and hard to-
wards him, but she could not; she stroVe to
remember the blow lie had given her, the
oaths he had uttered, but she answered her
self as she did SO, A" 1t was not he who did
tit was rum" She listened to the uncer-
tam, reeling footstepin the street below and
burst into tears. .
"My poor darling,n she whispered, as she
thought some grevious calamity had smit-
ten him into the thing he was, and he had
not himself "put an enemy into his mouth
to steal away his BRAIN" unmindful of her
pleading, unmintlful Of her woe and of her
shame She thought of him reeling help
lessly along the street, and feared that some
harm would come to him. He might injure
himself, or some one might injure him. He
might fall in some out of-the way place and
lie there undiscovered, and so freeze to death
that bitter night; and in her agony of ter
ror poor Ruth GUILD not restrain herself
from following him.
" Her poor, weakly baby slept; she wrap
ped it in blanket and laid it in its poor
cradle Then she threw the warm shawl
over her head and fastened down the street,
busy this late Saturday night with market
going people of the poorer classes.
a little way before her rccled the hand
some, broad shnuldercd figure of her hus
band, and she, a lady bred and born, fastid7.
ious, elegant accomplished, reared in luxu-
ny, heard poor ia5orers' wives warn their
children to beware OF the drunken fel-
low.n ,t..a ..rF
She heard coarse laughs at his expense,
and under the shadow OF her shawl her
check burnt holly; bnt for all that she
never thought OF going back and leaving
him To himself. As soon us she could she
gained his side and called to him by name:
/" Edward Edward u ISL
He turned and stood unsteadily looking
at her, in bewildered way. e-l1a
90 "Youl" he said. g You ought to be at
home this time of night" llE dul
so ought We both," said Ruth "Come
DEAR l.. -.
He threw her hand off. 't''
"Tm my own MASTER" he said; "Tm not
tiedssto any woman's apron string!'' and
staggered away again, Ruth following,
through the long streets, with every face
turned toward them as they pissed some
laughing, some contemptuous, some terri
fled out at last upon the wharves, where
the beSotted man sat down more stupefied
by the liquor he had swallowed, in that
fresh, cold air. Ruth was thinly clad-the
chill of the sea-blast seemed to reach her
very heart She thought of the babe at
home, and tears coursed down her checks.
Again and again she pleaded with The mad
man at her side Again and again she tried
to bring to his mind some lingering memo
~ of the past days wien his love and pro-
lection had been hers. In vain; wild fam
cics filled his brains; demons, born of the
fumes OF rum, held ppssesslOn!of his senses
Sometimes he thrust her from him, some
times he gave her maudlin embrace and
babe her bring more liquor, but 60 home he
would not. The distant hum of the city
died out at last; all was still with the
strange stiffness of city. The frosty stars
twinkled over head. Now and then night
boat passed up the river, with measured
heat and throb. Once a ruffianly looking
fellow sauntered past them ON the pier; but
though he flung her an insolent word and
yet more insolent laugh, and went away
singing yet more insolcntly, he did not APP
preach them. So benumbed had Ruth
grown, so cold to the very heart Was she,
that the power of motion had almost de-
serted her, when at last as the church clock
not far away tolled the hour of fonr. the de-
graded man staggered to his feet and rceIed
homeward. She followed feebly; only by
clinging 20 the balustr;ude could she mount
the wretched stairs. 1t was bitter cold
within as without, but she was glad to find
herself at last under shelter Her baby
slumbered and she did not waken it. Her
frozen bosom could only have chilled the
lit lie creature. There were a. few bits of
broken wood in corner, and with these she
made ii fire in the old stove, and crouched
over it, striving to gain some little warmth,
while her husband slumbered heavily upon
the bed in the corner, to which lie had stag
gered on his entrance s.1 -a~ III
4 Thus an hour passed BY, and Ruth also
fell asleep. The silence, the pleasant warmth
at her feet, the fancy that all her trouble
was over for the night, luled her to pleasant
dreams. From them she was awakened by
the lod ringing of the factory bell. and by
the sound OF cries and shouts in the street
below. She cast her eyes toward the bed
her husband was not there! toward the
cradle-it was empty She few to the
window--the street below was full of factory
boys, with their tin kettles. Snme great
jest amused them nightly. They roared,
they danced, they tossed their ragged caps
ON lliuh thpu shrek ed in nnmnsicul Iannhf or