The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-08-11

his ears like the music of village bells. But it
was only for an instant The rain beat heavily
upon him; and cold and hunger were gnawing
at his heart again.
BE rose and dragged his feeble limbs few
PAGES further. The street was silent and emp
ty; the few passengers who passed by at that
late hour, hurried quickly on, and his tremu-
lous voice was lost in the violence of the storm.
Again that heavy chill struck through his
frame, and his blood seemed to stagnate beneath
it. He coiled himself up i'll projecting door
way and tried to sleep.
But sleep had fed from his dull and glazed
eyes. His mind wandered strangely, but he
was awake and conscious. The well-known
shout of drunken mirth sounded in his ear, the
glass was at his lips, the board was covered
with choice rich food-they were before him ;
he could see them all he had but to reach out
his hand and take them-and, though the illu-
sion was reality itself, he knew that he was sit
ting alone in the deserted street, watching the
rain-drops as they pattered on the stones, that
death was coming upon him by inches, and that
there were none to care for or help him.
Suddenly he started up in the extremity of
terror. He had heard his own voice shouting
in the night air, he knew not what or why
Hark! A groan another His senses were
burst from his lips; and his hands sought to
tear and larcerate his flesh. He was going
mad, and he shrieked for help till his voice
failed him.
He raised his head and looked up the lone
dismal street. He recollected that outcasts
like himself condemned to wander day and
night in those dreadful streets, had sometimes
gone distracted with their own loneliness. He
remembered to have heard many years before
that homeless wretch had once beed found in
solitary corner, sharpening rusty knife to
plunge into his own heart, preferring death to
that endless, weary wandering to and fro. In
an instant his resolve was taken, his limbs re-
ceived new life; he ran quickly from the spot,
and paused not for breath until he reached the
riverside.
He crept softly down the steep stone stairs
that lead from the commencement of Waterloo
Bridge down to the waters level. He crouched
into a corner and held his breath as the patrol
passed. Never did prisoners heart throb with
the hope of liberty and life half so eagerly as
did that of the wretched man at the prospect
of death. The watch passed close to him, but
he remained unobserved and after waiting
till the sound of footsteps had died away in the
distance, he cautiously descended, and stood
beneath the gloomy arch that forms the landing
place from the river.
The tide was in, and the water flowed at his
feet. The rain had ceased, the wind was lulled,
and all was for the moment, still and quiet-so
quiet, that the slightest sound on the opposite
bank, even the ripping of the water against the
barges that were moored there, was distinctly
audible to his ear. The stream stole languidly
and sluggishly on. Strange and fantastic forms
rose to the surface, and beckoned him to ap-
proach dark cleaning eyes peered from the
oI 70 hi hnQI
while hollow murmurs from behind urged him
onward. He retreated a few PAGES, took a
short run, desperate leap, and plunged into the
water.
Not FIVE seconds had passed when he rose to
the waters surface-but what change had
taken place in that short time, in all his
Thoughts and feelings! Life-life-in any
form, poverty, misery, starvation--annythin1g but
death. He fought and struggled with the
water that closed over his head, and screamed
in agonies of terror, The curse of his own son
rang in his ears The shore-but one foot of
dry ground-he could almost touch the step.
One hands breadth nearer, and he was saved
but the tide bore him onward under the dark
arches of the bridge, and he sank to the bot
tom.
Again he rosc and struggled for life. For
one instant-for one brief instant-the build
ings on the rivers banks, the lights on the
bridge, through which the current had borne
him, the black water and the fast-fying clouds,
were distinctly visible-once more he sunk, and
once again he rose. Bright hames Of fire shot
up from earth to heaven, and reeled before his
eyes, while the water thundcrcd in his ears, and
stunned him with its furious roar.
A week afrcrward the body was washed
ashore, some miles down the river, swo len and
disfgured mass. Unrecognized and unpitied,
it was borne to the grave; and there it has
long since moldered away!