Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-10-13
THE TWO PATHS.

heaven only KNOWS Wne0 We may meet
again. You are to settle among the hills
OF Berkshire in the West. and amid the
wales of Middlesex, in the East Just .
glass to our success"
"No, Malcolm : If would accept true
pledge of success I must not find it in the
wine cup. hold the cup Is signal OF
failure"
They were young men, both of them
just admitted TO the bar, and ready 20 en-
ter upon the practice Of their pFOlession.
And on this bright csisp. autumnai
afternoon George and Malcolm were to
separate. They had selected their fields
Of labor, and were prepared to enter upon
the work.
"Pooh!" cried Malcolm, in response to
his friends last remark, there's promise in
bright wine if one knows how to use it.
Come and take q parting glass with me"
"No, Mslcolm-you must not ask me.
Were to take the cup TO my lips, I should
fear it as might fear viper taken to my
bosom"
do you mean to say that you are going
to be teetotaler?"
"Upon that course am resolved, and
let the future decide between us!"
And shortly after this they parted.
Malcolm CARING removed to Middlesex
county, where he very soon gained for
himself host of friends and an extensive
practice. His intellect was brilliant; his
wit was ready and csustic; his humor
was rich and exuberant, and his flow OF
language was from fount Of thought and
imagery that never failed. His path
seemed pleasant one indeed. Only fow-
ers of rarest cOlors and most exquisite fra
ka4 ,,cso kov,
time to the dropping of the glittering
sands in the glass. 1t was the path he
had chosen from the first Its goal was
the highest possible plane Of the social
life, and the presiding genius was the
Spirit of the wine cup.
He reached the goal ere he knew It, All
the joys Of life he had chosen had been
tasted ere he reached his prime. A brief
space, and the flowers began to wither /;
the thOrns protruded, bare and sharp the
sweet music grew fainter as discordsnt
notes crept in to mar and break the har-
mony; and the sands OF the glsss-drop-
ping, dropping, dropping-had lost their
glitter, and now fell darby and solemnly
into the back flowing tide OF the time
that was lost.
George Nixon Briggs established him
the path he had chosen. All that he was
he owed to his own endeavors; and all
that he could hope for in the future must
come through the same channel. At the
age Of thirteen he had been apprenticed
to halter, at White Greek, New York,
where he remained two years. At the
age of fifteen his brother had taken him
from the hatter's shop and sent him to an
anQHamv In ono wear thproQftpr his
brother had died, from which time he had
been left to steer his own bark, and select
his own chart.
True to The loitier instincts of his ma
ture, he had selected the path of honor
and moral uty, feeling assured that if he
sought fret the kingdom Of God and His
righteo usness, all other things would be
given unto him. He was social man
pre-eminently so-and more genial com
panion never blessed the social circle |;
but he did not prostitute the higher ma
ture to the allurements Of the festive
board nor did he allow himself to be de-
ceived by the false glitter Of the baccha.
nalian tinsel. He lived true to the pledge
which he had taken in his early manhood
the pledge of total abstinence from in
tOxicating liquors-and the longer he
lived the more reason had he to bless God
for the choice he had made.
At the age of thirty he was elected to
Congress from the Berkshire district, and
in that capacity he was retained during
six successive terms, declining further
service in that direction upon being nom.
mated to the Office of Governor. At the
age of forty seven he was elected Gov
ernOr Of Massachusetts,, TO which Office he
n 1l,r nj. M
It was q cold, bleak day in March. Gov
room In the State House, and was leaning
against the railing which guards the statue
of Washington, in conversation with q
friend, when page approached and hand.
ed him note. He broke the seal and
informing him that man had been
by the watch, and was now pronounced
to be dying of delirium tremens. "He
says" wrote the Mayor, "that he knew
schoolmate. He will not give his name.
The Governor hastened down to the
City Building, ard with DR.. Smith, the
city physician, he went down into the pc.
AANO cboeAOL, WhCAO VIZ ROOA WoA ADys
Alas! he would never have recognized
In. that wasted, shattered wreck Of hui
mainly the friend of his youth; but 80 it
was. 0 what sad, sad sight!
HAS he any consciousness left" the
Governor asked.
"He has had one or two lucid spells !;
but the delirium has about spent itself.
He can rave no more"
At this moment the sufferer started,
and opened his eyes-dark, cavernous
eyes, bieared and CHASTITY, but with a
CLEAN Of intelligence in their sunken
depths.
"Who spoke ?" he demanded, in hol.
low, whispered tone,
Malcolm, it was l. Don't you know
met"
"The poor man struggled to raise him
SELF and the attendants helped him; and
when he had been lifted to sitting pos
ture, with pillows at his back, he looked
up.
II know the voice" he said.
"And don't you know the face! Look
at ma Malcnla