The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-04-14
A True story
GAINESVILLE Recorder

In the evening Of tie day on which
Alice arrived at s., a great Temper
ance meeting was to be held In one of
the churches Her friend who bad be
come euthua tic in the cause, urged her
TO go to the meeting, which Alice did
although with reluctance. The house
was crowded above and below. The
preliminaries usually appertaining to
such meetings having been arranged,
brief opening address was made by one
Of the ministers A reformed man then
related his experience with great effect.
After he had finished, there was pause
of nearly minute. At length man
who bad been seated far back, with his
face partly turned from the audiance,
arose slowly, and moved to the front of
the stage.
A half suppressed exclamation escaped
Alice, as here caught the well known
features Of herhusband, while aquick thrill
ran through her Then her frame trem
b,ed in accordance with her fiuttering
h art. The face of Mr.. De Lancy had
greatly changed since she had last looked
upon it. Is calm, dignifcd ele vatlon
had been restored, but what a differences!
IeMr. President he began IN a broken
voice, although had consented at your
urgent solicitation, to address this large
assembly tonight, yet have felt SO
strong a reluctance to do SO that it has
been with the utmost difficulty that |
could drag myself forward. But had
passed my word and could not violate it.
AS to relating my experience, that do
not think can venture upon. The PAST
I dare not recall. Would to heaven tina,
/ Just ten years of my life were blotted
out"
The speaker here paused moment,
already much affected Then resrming
| in a firmer voice, he said.
"But something must be said of my
own case, or shall fail to make that
impression on your minds. that wish to
produce.
/ Pictures Of real life touch the heart
with power, while abstract pretentions
| of trnth glitter coldly in the intellectual
regions Of the mind, and then fade from
the perception like figures in a diorama.
| Your speaker once stood among the
first members of the bar in neighboring
State. Nay, more than that he repre-
(sented his country for three years in the
! Assembly of the commonwealth, and
more than that still, occupied a seat in
Congress for two Congressional periods. "
i AT this period the stiffness of death
pervaded the croweed assembly.
I And yet more than all that he con,
tinued, his voice sinking into low thrill
ing tone he had tenderly loved wife
and two sweet children. But all those
honors all those blessings have departed
from him, he continued his voice grow
ng louder and deeper in his efforts to
control himself He was unworthy t.
retain them
His constituents threw him off because
h. had debased himself and disgraced
them. And worse than all-she who
had loved him devotedly-she who had
borne two dear babes was forced tt
abandon him, and seek an asylum in hel
fathers house.
And why? Gould become so changed
in few short years? What power was
there so to abase me that my fellow
beings spurned, and even the wife of my
bosom turned away heart stricken from
mcy Alas my friends, it was a mad
indulgence in mockery! A very demon
Ia Gree changing the human into the
bestial. But for this, were an honorable
and useful representative Congress
pursuing after my country's good, and
! blessed in the home circle with wife and
children But have told you all After
My wife separated from me, sank rapid
+ y. ~ ~ .-s...4
A state of sobriety brought too many
terrible thoughts; / therefore drank
more freely, and was rarely, if ever from
under the bewildering effects of intoxica
ton. remained in the same village fol-
lsome years, but never once saw her du
ring that time glimpse of n,5
children. At last / became SO abandoned
in my life, that my wife, urged on BY
her friends, filed an application for q
divorce, and as a cause could easily be
shown why it should be gran ed, sepa
ration was legally declared. To com
plete my disgrace, at the next Congress
ional canvass was left off the ticket, as
unfit to represent the district l left the
country and State where had lived from
Imy boynood up. s..
Three years have passed since then
For two years of the period, I abandon
ed myself to the fearless impulse of the
appetite I had acquired Then I heard
Of this movement the great Temperance
cause, At first sneered, then wondered
hesitated, and finally threw myself upon
the great ware that was swelling onward
in the hope of being carried by it far out
of the reach of danger, and I did not
hope witch vain hope. 1t did for me all
and more than could. have deemed pos
sibte. 1t set me once more upon nv feet
-once more made a man of me-. A wear
of sobriety, earnest devotion to my pro-
fession, and fervent prayer to Him who
alone gives strength ia every good reso-
luton, has restored to me much that had
been lost; but not all-not the richest