The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-10-01

money 50 Unexpectedly come into my pos
session, | would redeem my broken for
tunes. | went out into the streets, taking
the purse with me, scarce knowing what l
did, but musing on what to do. | met one
who had been a fellow-gamLlcr with me,
when at the University"
" la Fleming" :" be exclaimed, is
such man alive! expected that you
and your Prince would have crossed the
water together, or that you would have ex-
hibited at Carlisle or Tower Hill"
He spoke Of the run Of good fortune he
had had on the previous night-(for De was
a gambler still Five thousand, 7 said
be, rubbing bis hands, were mine within
five minutes"
Five thousand" | repeated took
my GATHERINGS purse in my band.
Lewis, some demon entered my soul, and
extinguished reason. Five thousand y /
repeated again q" it would rescue my
Catherine and my child from Penury," |
thought Of the joy | should feel IN placing
the money and her purse again in her hands.
| accompanied him to the table of destruc-
ton For time fortune, that it might
mock my misery, and not dash the cup ON
my lips until they were parched seemed .
smile on me. But | will not dweh u-
particulars; my friend " "l,ughed to see thc
madness rise" within me | became
desperate nay, | was insane-an1 all that
my wife had put into ny hands, p the last
coin, was lost. Never, until that moment,
did | experience how terrible was the
torture Of selfreproach, or how fathomless
the abyss Of human wretchedness. | wonld
have raised my hand against my own life
but, vile and contemplate as was, | had
not enough of the coward within me to
accomplish the act. thought Of my
mother. She had long dsowned me, partly
from my follies, and partly that she adhered
to the house of Hanover. But, though |
had squandeTed the estates which my father
had left me, knew that she was still rich,
and that she intended to bestow her wealth
upon my sister; for there were but two of
US Yet | remembered how iondly she
had loved me and | did not think that
there was a feeling in a mothers breast
that could spurn from her penitent SON
for nature at the slightest spark, bursteth
into a flame. | resolved, therefore, to 20
a. tie prodigal in the Scriptures, and to
throw myself at her feet, and confess that
lad snned against Heaven, and in her
sight.
| wrote a note to my injured Catherine,
stating that | was suddenly called away
and that l would not see her again perhaps
for some weeks. Almost without a coin in
my pocket, took my journey from Lon
don to Cumberland, where my mother
dwelt.
Night was gathering around me when
left London, on the road Leading to St. |
Alhsn's. But | will not 20 through the
stages Of my ledious journey; it i sufficient
to say that | allowed myself but little time
for sleep or rest, and, on the eighth day
after my leaving London, found myself, |
after an absence Of eighteen years, again
upon the grounds of my ancestors. Foot
sore, fatigued, and broken down, my ap-
pearance bespoke way-worn detection.
rather halted than walked along, turning my
face aside from every passenger, and
L.as.....l al tho Thought Of recognition. 1t |
was mid day " en- | reached an emnence,
covered with elm cees, and skirted by a |
hedge Of hawthorn. 1t commanded a view |
Of what was called the Priory, the house in
which | was born, and which was situated !
within a mile frcm where | stood. The |
village church, surrounded By a clump Of
dreary yews, lay Immediately at the foot Of
the bill to my right, and the road leading
from thence to the Priory crossed before
me. 1t was a raw and dismal day the
birds sat shiyering on the leafiess branches,
and the cold, black clouds, seemed wedged |
together in a solid mass, ready to fall upon
the earth and crush it and the wind moaned |
over the bare fields. Yet, disconsolate as
the scene appeared, it was tho soil Of child
hood on which | trod. The fields, the
woods, the river, the mountains, the home
Of infancy, were before me; and felt their
remembered sunshine kindling in my bosom
the feelings that made patriot. A thous-
and recollections flashed before me. Already
did fancy hear the congratulations of my
mothers voice, welcoming her prodigal--
feel the warm pressure Of her hand, and her
joyous tears falling on my cheek. But
again | hesitated, and feared that | might
be received as an outcast The wind
howled around me-I felt impatient and
benumbed and, as | stood irresolute, with
moaning chime the church bell knelled upon
my ear, \ trembling and foreboding fell
upon my heart and, before the first echo
Of the dull sound died in the distance,
mufled peal from the tower of the Priory
answered back the invitation of the house
death, announcing that the earth would
receive its sacrifice. A veil came over my
eyes, the ground swan beneath my feet /;
and again and again did the church bell
issue forth its slow, funeral note, and again
was it answered from the Priory.
/