Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-10-20
Another Victim.

Come with me to the county farm" See
that old, old man in the chimney corner.
Wife, and children, and mind are gone, and
the worn body totters on the graves brink.
See that thin, pale, old woman, with her ev-
erlasting knitting work, the sole comfort
left to her. See that great, hearty " limo
cent" with her merciless, chattering tongue.
See that blind, deformed girl, who has never
known any other home She is the one hu-
maiizing element; to her, all are kind and
gentle, for all feel and know that nature, not
sin has brought her here
MANY others. the sick, the decrepit. the
old and ignorant are here, but we will pass
them by to stop beside tall, fine-looking
man, not yet thirty years old. How strong
and healthy he looks How intelllgently
he converses How sadly, too, for he has
no arms. Was nature so unkind? No. God
gave him a strong mind and strong body.
Did some careless conductor main him so
No no railroad would be permitted or wish
10 mutlate aud leave him Did he offer his
life to his country, aud she forget him when
h. gave her his arms No no country so
barbauu- as to forget her MANNED ones.
His story Is brief His good parents
worked hard aud lived frugally to pay for
aud stock the farm; TO repair and furnish
the cottage, aud to educate, not classically,
but well, their only child A handsome,
bright aud good boy he was, but farm life
and farm duties were not TO his taste, and a
Christian merchant took him into his store,
and he made fine and pleasant clerk. But
he slept, as country clerks do, in the store,
aud, unknown 10 his employer, he was en-
ticed to the billiard room, and to the odts.
The mother saw and felt the change in
her boy, but he laughed at her fears and
snaered at her oounsels, And the father
died. Aud the lone mothers eyes grew
weary with watching, and weeping, and
then closed forever. The farm was sold,
and the merchant offered him a partnership,
but he thought he did not fancy New Eng
land country village for home. lie would
| wait before deciding And in balls and bill
lizards, dancing and drinking, the uninvested
money just scattered itself-how, he couldn't
| tell where, he couldn't find. lie had forgot
ten that water will leak from a sieve as surely,
If not quite as quickly, as it will pour from
a bucket.
That night he had been playing billiards
and lost money, then drank glass TO con.
sole himself, and then another and so on
and on, aud he, the quiet gentleman grew
uproarious, and when they bade him 60 home
AiltN Nii MS AOtt anu iRAith hB hin 'iN'''7
to fight, and the proprietor, fearing his place
might be as disgraced as it was and is dis
graceful, bade two OF his employees take him
home, and they took him 10 the back store
door and left him. He must have fallen on
his body ia the snow, and his bare arms OF
the cold stone, and SO laid that zero night
The merchant found him and thought h'
was dead, but snow-bath and friction
brought him back to weeks of suffering ant
TO death in life long useless, hopeless years
win he who first dccoyed him--who lee
him on guardedly, but surely-who broke
his mothers heart--who pocketed most oi
that hardly-earned fann-who wooed hin
that night to drink, then let his men leave
him coatless in the darkness and the cold
will he pension him nowY win he boarc
him among noble Chistan friends whe,
society aud books may mitigate his weari
ness and hopelessness viii he send hin
the minister win he lead him to the hous,
of God, that he, from the bright aud glori
Gus future, may catch one beam to light the
dark, lone pathway he now must tread
viii he ay, will he Aud oh, youns
man will you be the dupe of one who can an,
does always betray and desert VIII you