The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-10-15

| lAVIV was tuV lciSV IVNSOu loA HaNSSAA0
anxiety, since even then, as cordially az
now, were merely "pretty' men held in
contempt in my estimation. My rather
freely-expresscd admiration ought to have
Quoted her fears, for woman will nc
| more praise the man she loves than birG
will flutter toward it's nest when the in
| truder is near.
So remember, young man, if the cir
you fancy tells another young man she il
glad to see him, chats gayly with him up
on all the topics of the times, and, wher
he leaves, asks him to cali again, you
need not be the least Jealous. She cares
not the t1irt of her fan for him or she
would have done none of these things.
Yet AlonZo c. had other qualities
besides clear complexion, deep hazel
eyes, and winning smile. He was in
tellectual and we'll educated, planned
| one would have said, for a true and noble
manhood
will give you brief sketch of his
| life, partly from the "few words OF
caution my mother felt it to be hcl
duty" to bestow upon me, and partly
| from my own subsequent observation.
of the most cnterprising book publishers
at the Hub" with good prospect of a
partnership. His employer had himself
suggested the probability of such an ar.
rangcment at no distant day, and mos,
people supposed, from certain unmis.
taxable signs. that another kind of part.
ncrship would soon be instituted be.
tween him and his employers fair
daughter
At that time lotteries were licensed by
law Whnfhnr II N,-oc ,,nI,,n hns m tn ha
rich, or Over-persuasion on the part of
some ticket vendors, or mere thought.
lessness that induced him to buy a
ticket, know not The act was the
turning point of his life. He had the
ill luck to draw the highest prize offered,
$50 900. He did not think it ill luck at
the time, however. He was nearly wild
with joy, so was his poor widowed
mother, so were his two young sisters
almost cnvious were his younger broth
ers, who Immediately commenced teas
ing for "A portion of it to buy
lottery tickets with, that they, too,
might become rich. More fortu.
nate than he, they drew blanks every
time, and, at last, disguised with their
luck" went back to their work, became
rich by honest trade, and so were able,
years aftcrward, to pay the expenses of
his last sickness, and give him decent
burial
Could that poor mother have been told,
rs, with brain almost bewildered with
Joy, she tried to realize the magnitude
of the sum, and plan the wonderful
things that they would do with it, that it
was the price of her boy-hOw would she
have shuddered-how earnestly would
she have tried to cast it far from her
Alas! how vainly she cried, in after days,
come back to me, poverty and toll, if
with you We can bring my son, pure and
true as when he shared with me your
privations.
How bitterly and passionately sobbed
forth to my sympathizing ear his young
sister, ooh! would l had never had Il
brother, or he had died in his innocent
childhood" For, even as she spoke,
tramp, tramp, up the stairway, through
the hall. past our chamber door, stop
ping only when it reached his room,
came the heavy tread of the night
police, beariLg their worse than lifeless
burden. 1t was an arrangement made
with the city watch by one of the lucky
brothers who only drew blanks, and so
were left to become rich and respectable
by honest industry, that. whenever the
unlucky drawer OF the $4,000 prize was
seen reeling through the streets or lying
in the gutter. he should be taken care of
by these faithful guardians of slumber-
ing city and conveyed or assisted to the
shelter of his own room under his moth
er's roof. Surely my friend forgot her
kind and manly brothers who were the
pride of her heart and the sOlace of their
mothers atfliCtiOn in her passionate grief
for his sin and shame.
The day he drew the prize he babe his
employer farewell. The money he re-
ceived in payment of his salary due that
day was the last he ever received hon
estly. For anything gained by any form
of gambling is not gained honestly.
That day he babe adieu to toll of hand
or head; he also babe adieu, although
unconsciously. to health, happiness, re-
spcctability and to wealth. He thought
his "luck'' had made his fortune. His
use of it closed the door of fortune and
barred it forever
He purchased lottery tickets by the
wholesale, but, except a few small prizes,
his "luck" seemed to have deserted
him. Upon the whole, he did not get his
money back again. Then he resorted to
other modes of gambling, sometimes los
ing, sometimes winning, as more eX-
perienced gamesters saw fit to allow him
to do, that they might lead him on to
higher stakes, which were invariably
lost. They persuaded him to drink that
he might play more recklessly, and when
he lost, as he usually did in the end, he
drank more freely in his desperation to
drown disappointment and forget his
losses.
OF course he soon acquired an appe-
tite for liquor, which quite reversed
this programme; for, having now lit
tie money to lose, he played in
hopes to win enough to purchase
the means of gratifying his appetite.
Losing still more frequently, rs he was
oftener under the influence 70 alcoholic
stupefaction, he at last pawned his
watch, the costly rings with which he
had delighted to ornament his lady-like
hands, and even his clothing, to pay his
gambling debts and procure liquor. Why
follow the fortunes of a now habitual
drunkard: We all know the steep de-
scent down which so many sons, broth
ers, husbands, fathers, have fallen
clinging with frantic despair to the
rocks along the pathway, yet only to
stay their fall for moment, and then,
with torn and bleeding hands, uplifted
wildly toward the weeping wife, the
frantic mother, the tattcred children
dragged half way down with them, and
now watching, trembling, agonized, the
last scene, which shall end alike their
slavery and his sufferings. His own
slavery, should have said, for the do
minion of sin is worse than that of sor
row.
Blessed, indeed, was it that he had
neither wife nor child to weep for his
shame. Never shall forget the JOY with
which one of my young friends men
toned to me his having enlisted in the
Mexican war.
at may be the means of his reform,
said she, land at least it will be a relief
to his poor mother and sisters"
~ think you mistake" l replied
with some bitterness; che will return
undoubtedly, and worse, if possible, than
now"
"What can be your reason for thinking
so?" asked she, adding, "All their friends
arc hOninp for the hest -