Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-07-25


the mother, said: "Piease accept this
trifle as token of my regard and es-
teem, for your little girl has done me
"a kindness no wealth can ever repay.
And remember, whenever you are in
want you viii ever find in me a true
friend," at the same time giving her
his name and address. Taking her
child by the hand, she turned to go,
but pausing at the door, said:
"God bless you, gentlemen, and
please accept the heartfelt thanks of a
poor friendfess woman for the kindness
and courtesy you have shown her."
and before any one could reply she was
gone.
A silence OF several moments ensued,
which was last broken by the propri-
etor exclaiming:
"Gentlemen, that lady is right, and
1 have sold my last glass of whisky,
and if any of you want any more, you
win have to get it elsewhere.
Sand 1 have drank my last glass Of
whisky" said young man who had
been given up as utterly beyond the
reach of those who had deep interest
in his weltare-that he had sank too
low to ever reform.
"There is a Temperance organization
in this city called the Temple Of Honor,
and at their next meeting 1 shall send
up my name to be admitted. Who
will go with me?"
] "Ip' "I!" 81" and "1i" several
lexclaimed in a chorus, and fifteen
names were added to his.
True to his word, the owner of the
saloon where this strange scene was en-
acted, disposed of his entire stock the
next day, and is now in an honorable
business. Would to heaven that lady
: could go into every saloon, in every
/ hamlet, and town, and city throughout
} the country, and. meet with the same
} lcheering results.
!, Yes, the mothers and wives and sis
: tiers of the drunkard can tell what
: whisky has done and is doing. You
need not follow him to the sumptuous
and brilliant places erected by King
l Alcohol and his confederates to lure
4 him from the path of virtue and useful
mess to that.ofruin and disgrace. You
s need not follow him to the lowest den
-Iof crime and iniquity, as he daily reels
home or lies in the gutter in condition
f worse than the brutes of the field. No!
r but follow him to the place he calls
: home, the hollow cheek, the dimmed
eye, the tear that rolls down the pa.
r tient, careworn face of the forsaker
0 wife, and the cries of the starving chill
o dren, tell their own story in a language
/, inexpressible in words.
K You see young couple start ou
J, upon life joyous and happy, with n,
n cloud to darken the bright sky of tbei
4 happiness. The husband is true ant
Ilgenerous and kind. The wife lovinl
@ and devoted to him. She has chosel
J. him as a protector through life. In
u word, their home is all that content
IF ment, love and happiness can make il
IS But in a few brief months there is sal
g change. The cheeks of her you kney
2 in youth have lost their bloom, thos
ir bright eyes their briIliancy. You N
4 longer hear the cheerful and happ,
3 laugh, and her voice strikesiyour ca
ir with a mourful cadence, unlike tn
e, merry tones OF former times. Yo
a anMously inquire what is the trouble
a. She tells you she has been i'll, but
i'd better now. Not even to her neares
De friend will she reveal the awful, lift
W darkening secret, that her husband
1 la drunkard.
Id A few months after, as you sit i
~ your cheerful room, you are littl
shocked by the intelligence of ht
n death. You have been told her healt
o. for some time past has been declinin,
Irt and the world and her friends assig
the cause to some incurable disease, thl
er has been gradually but surely GROWN
an upon her. 1t was a fatal disease, bl
ie' not of the flesh.
The man who has pledged at Il
~ altar and before his God, eternal fidelit
nd who had solemnly vowed to ever Low
a cherish and protect the trusting beil
au- at his side, who placed her life in /
keeping, in an hour of temptation fC
gets that obligation in the e1hiliaratil
influence Of the wine cup; his lovil
wife, his dear children, his hap
home, all, all must be sacrificed to gr'
- :: ify his love and passion for the into1
,ad. eating cup.
The wife that first welcomed hi
home with joy and pleasure, now ha
his advent with fear and trembli1
The terrible thought that him wht
she honored and almost Worship,
l. him she loved to think Of as the nobl
of men, to have fallen SO low, so
d. based, SO degraded, is ever preying
vbv her heart. Her noble husband i
ldrunkard and she a drunkard's w
Even her children are tauntingly t
sie. a. by their schoolmates that they are
d. body-their father is drunkard. NJ
feel the disgrace more keenly than t
nv forsaken but devoted wife. Day
her day she droops and fails, until at
.ars, death comes to her relief, and she
rop- borne hroken-hearted to an early gra
the Thus has that husband, by his Q
her. folly, and the dissipated life he
ssly led, murdered his young wife, and
,e of assert, that in the light of heaven h
rr 60 as guilty of. murder az he zzho dali