The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-07-20

aunt approaching his house, and he
suspected for the purpose -ofinduc-
ing his wife to leave him. Being
anxious to hear the conversation
they might have on the subject, he
left his pillow and made his way Sc
cretly to the rear of the house and
when he had gotten sufficiently near
overheard the aunt say:
"Mary, have long beheld your
suferings and the crue1 treatment
you receive at the hands of your
husband, who has become a drunk
en- wretch, and I can forbear no
longer to urge you to leave him.
You have but one child now and
you can easily support that and if
you remain with him you have no
thing to hope for and viii have to
endure all the horrors and wretched-
ness, that ever attends the life of
the drunkard's wife"
II love my husband" said Mary,
"and at the altar 1 promised to fol-
low him through evil as well as
good report. He once loved me
and was kind to me, and 1 will not
now desert him.
"Can nothing induce you to
change your purpose? asked the
aunt. ''Think of all that is in store
for you and your little one.'
81 am resolved on my course, my
dear aunt. I will follow the for
tunes Of my husband and the father
of my child, replied the noble wife.
William returned to his work and
said nothing to his wife on the sub
ject of the conversation. Next
Saturday; when he returned from
the field at II O'clock, he found his
clothes as usual, clean and neatly
folded and laid out for him to put
on before starting on his usual vis-
it to the village grocery. After
dinner instead of putting them on
he went back to his plow, and came
in at night sober. His surprised
wife, with a tremulous working Of
the lips, stole a glance at her hus-
band but said nothing.
William continued this course
for several weeks, and when on the
third Saturday evening he returned
from his work sober, and more like
his old self, and with the fond greet
ings on his lips for which the soul
of the loving wife ever thirsts, his
oveUoyed wife threw herself on his
neck exclaiming, 'Oh! my husband
this is the happiest hour of my
life"
As he gathered her to his heart
he replied, "Mary, overheard your
conversation with your aunt, I then
resolved to change my course and
make myself worthy the noble wife
whose love had survived the humil-
iation and wretchedness I had
brought upon her, and now my
darling, let us remember the past
only as the shadow that flies before
the returning light"
There was joy once more in the
home of the drunkard. How for
tunate for our hero that the love of
a true wife encompassed him about
as with a protecting Egis, and
ayerted fromhim the drunkard's
doom.
How fortunate for the happiness
of this noble woman that he whom
she loved had not reached that
point in his downward course to
ruin whence return was impossible;
for who does not know that a peri
cd comes to every drunkard in his
life time, when neither the love of a
true wife, the best interest of loved
ones, nor the hope of his immortal
soul can rescue him from the drunk
ards death. How pitiable then and
inexpressibly sad is the condition
of the man who, a slave to the in
exorable demon Of strong drink, is
cropping his way down through the
dark and chilling gloom that has
settled around him, into the drunk
ards grave. How little the mode
rate drinker recks Of the precipice
on which he stands though it be in
the beaten road that has led so
many into the abyss, in which is
swallowed up all that man holds
dear on earth, and the deathless in
terest of his immortal soul?
William Sanford kept his prom
ise. The Sabbath morn dawned
clear and bright in the home now
so full of hope and promise; and
who shall describe the happiness
Of the faithful wife when her hus-
band proposed that they should
visit her parents that day?
William, soon after this happy
change, moved to Texas, where, by
his industry and perseverance, lie
amassed a fortune, and is now one
Of the wealthiest men in the State;
and his wife, honored by her hus-
band and blessed by the love OF her
children, has her cup Of earthly
happiness filed to the brim.
If this true story brings a renew