Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-04-04
A BAND OF HOPE.
CHAPTER L.

CHAPTER I.
The town clock pealed the hour of
nine, on the last night of the old year.
The clouds which had all day hung
heavy and gloomy were now silently
falling into bits, covering the earth with
a mantle of purity. In the upper part
of the town, there was silence in de-
serted streets, for all were within enjoy
ing comfortable homes, and bright fire.
sides; but down alongside the black and
turbid river where, in rows of dingy
houses, dwelt many wretched and COM
fortress poor, the streets were neither
quiet nor dark, at the corner of every
block there stood a beer saloon with its
arch ofjewelled lights sparkling in the
gloom of the street while the gay music
from within attracted many a passer by,
made him pause, enter, there to empty
the poison that kills both body and soul.
In front of one of these places of attrac-
tive misery, the full glare of the light
shining on their rags, and pinched, wan
faces, stood three children listening to
the sounds of revelry and merriment
within, and casting anxious chances, as
the door swings to and fro.
l do wish father would conae," said
Kassy, the Oldest, a delicate girl of
fifteen, as she drew the thin, old shawl
around her own and her sisters SILVER
ing form " if he only knew how much
mother wants him.
g / don't wonder he likes to stay in
there, where it is warm and light and
NICE" said Sylvia; sat home it's so
dark and cold; and mother cries so
much. What makes her cry, Kassy?n
" KNOW" said Theo, shaking his fist
at the door; Sits because father comes
here and gets drunk, and leaves us with
nothing to eat, and then he's cross, and
strikes US, and seolds mother. It's too
bad When Pm man I'll kill all the
raen who make liquor, SO l will n
+" Hushr said Kassy, as the angry
little voice was broken by sob "you
must not talk of killing. What if the
police should hear you! Come up on
the door step and I'll wrap my dress
around you nice and warm-he'n not
be long now"
Did father use to drink p asked
Sylvia. when they were nestled together
IN the shadow of doorway.
"Oh no." Kassy answered cheerfully.
" remember when he was so nice, and
good, and strong, as he could be, and
our home was beautiful, and mother
would laugh and sing all day long; it's
very different now? p"
L suppose he'll go on getting drunk
always and always" said Theo from his
corner.
"We'l hope not; if he'd only sign
the pledge | think it would cure
him. said Kassy. "There he comes,
now must help him home you keep
close behind-he'd be angry if he should
see you"
Up the long street where the gloom
seemed to press quickly upon the glare
of the gas lights, Kassy led her father
homeward, while the children fright
ened and shivering, closely followed.
Often and often had this faithful daugh-
ter been like guardian angel to her
fathers staggering feet, when but for
her he might have persisted by the way.
Once he had been a strong, upright
man, with firm step and steady hand.
Kassy remembered his better days, but
the younger children only knew him as
he was now, with feeble gait, shaking
hands, and blood-shot eyes,-a poor,
pitiful wreck, that think the angels
could hardly have reached in the depth
of degradation to which he had sunk
| am sure that no one but an angel
could have reached him. An old ira
dition which tells how the angels fell
from Paradise, says that the thread
that first drew them was as thin as a
cobweb, but they did not resist it, and
it grew as strong as cable" So it was
with Joseph Burd; he had not resisted
the cobweb, and now the cable bound
him hand and foot, and he had no
power to rise again. His children
formed the last link that bound him to
God and his fellow men. In his sober
moments he took great delight and
pride in these dear ones whom God had
given to his care, and for whom there
still glimmered sparks of affection in the
heart that was nearly dead to all other
feelings. His wife, feeble and delicate
in health, had well nigh sunk under the
burden of trouble and suffering that he
had brought upon her. 1t was sad,
sad reality of the bright dream they had
pictured of their married life, when he
had brought her a happy bride to the
home that was then nice house in a
pleasant part Of the town; new stores,
saloons and factories had sprung up
around it, and time and neglect had
wrought sad changes; the decaying
clapboards had long been guiltless of
paint; y shattered windows, ricketty
steps and broken fences told the sad
story all too plainly. Inside, the furni-
tire, except for one or two rooms, had
Teen sold piece by piece, to buy The