The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-07-20
Ghs gauiily gIrrle.
Written for the CRISES.
The Drunkard'S Wife.
q q - q IL 81

OUT WERR s
~ years ago there lived in one
ss0Js of the Southern States, the
S&IS subject of our sketch, then an
,enterprising young farmer. vii
liam Sanford possessed fine natura
abilities and prepossessing person
and was eminently social, impulsive
and fond of pleasure and excite
ment, and his gaiety and amiable
disposition won for him a large cir
Gle of warm friends.
There lived a few miles away, 8
very lovely and winsome young la
dy by the name of Mary Ames
whose soft blue eye and low sweet
voice won the heart Of our hero
For once the course of true love
ran smoothly, and in return for the
homage he offered her, she gave
him all the wealth of her pure af
fections, and they entered upon
their married life with. the pleasing
assurance Of a happy and prosper
Gus future.
William was industrious and bid
fair soon to become a thrifty farm
er. Mary was neat and tidy, and
with busy hands and cheerful song
she kept bright and CHEEKY the home
of her husband. One little olive
branch came to knit more closely
their hearts and strengthen the ties
that bound them together.
In the neighborhood in which
they lived, was one Of those curses
to any community, now become 50
numerous, village grocery. It
soon became a center about which
the young men of the vicinity gath
cred on Saturday evenings of each
week, when shooting, horse racing,
gambling and drinking became the
order OF the day.
In an evil hour for the happiness
of William Sanford and the fond,
confding wife whom he had pledg-
ed at the altar to love and protect,
he began to join with these disso-
lutte young men in their Saturday
evening sports, and yielding to his
natural love Of excitement, he soon
became as depraved as the worst,
and seldom went home sober. He
neglected his business, and all be-
came changed in this once happy
home. His unhappy wife lost her
air Of cheerful content; her fond
heart exchanged its igKtness and
bouyancy for the dread sense of
degradation and impending evil
that never fails to pale the cheek
and attenuate the form of the
drunkard's wife. The drunkard's 5
wife! How full of significance is
the phrase! How suggestive OF
miserable days and sleepless nights
full of anguish, toll, and care, and
wretchedness, of all that robs the
happy wife and fond mother of the
sunshine of her life and substitutes
for it the cheerless gloom of hone
less despair.
The once proud man, now sunk
so low as to shame his manhood,
progressed rapidly from bad to
worse, until the generous impulses
of his heart gave place to the bru-
tish instincts of the demon, anG the
gentle and loving wife, who so fond
ly looked upon the manly form oi
her husband in the days Of their
early love and joyed in her trusting
confidence, was made to feel the
strength Of the arm upon which she
so lovingly leaned, as in his drunk
en- fury he applied the cruel lash to
her shrinking form.
He would leave his plow on Sat.
urday at II o'clock and dress him
self, and repair to the place Of ren.
devious before mentioned. Who
can describe the torturing sus
pense and sinking of heart of the
miserable wife as she would await
with a quickened sense of terror, the
return Of her husband from his Wis
it to the village. The return Of the
demon with q drunken fury in his
eye and with a drunkard's curses
upon his lips, and with his right
arm nerved to strike the defence
less woman who silently and with
out reproaches, patiently bore his
brutal treatment, and went about
the discharge of her wifely duties
crushed beneath the burdens Of hel
woes.
The Saturday night would be fol
lowed by a Sunday dark and cheer
less in the home Of the drunkard
While heis stupidity sleeping offth'
effects of his last nights excess
his heart broken wife sits with he
thoughts, perhaps, going lovingly
] back to the brighter scenes Of he
former life, to the happy home o
her childhood, to the home Of he
! parents whom she is not permittet
now to visit, and, perhaps, forward
to the dark and forbidding futurl
that awaits her. Oh! who doe
/ a. 1-o-rIss ~ 8