The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1875-08-20
THE TWO SIDES OF ONE CAN
VASS.

tract No. l07 published by National
Temperance society IS Read Street.
New York /:
One beautiful afternoon in August,
there came to me the heart-broken
wife of State prison convict we
tried to plan for his pardon and res
toration to home and the world. 1t
was a very sad case. He was the
only surviving son Of very noble
man-one who lived only to serve
the poor, the tempted, and the criml-
nal. All he had, all he was, he gave
unreservedly to help thieves and
drunkards. His house was their
home. His name their bail to save
them from prison. His reward thelF
reformation. 1t was happy hour
70 hear him tell of the hundreds he
had shielded from the contamination
and evil example of prisons, and OF
the large proportion he had good
reason to believe permanently saved.
Out of hundreds, he once told me,
only two left him to pay their bail,
forfeited by neglect to show them
selves in court according to agree
ment--only two.
Bred under such a roof, the son
started in life with a generous heart,
noble dreams, and high purpose
Ten years of prosperity, fairly earned
by energy, industry, and character,
ended in a bankruptcy, as is so often
the case in our risky and changing
trade; then came a struggle for bust
ness, for bread-tem ptation- despair
-intemperance. He could not safely
pass the open doors that tempted
him to Indulgence, forgettulness, ana
crime. How hard his wife wrought
and struggled to save him from IN
diligence, and then to shield him
from exposure How long wife,
sister, and friends Iabored to avert
conviction and the State prison 81
would spare him gladly" wrote the
prosecuting attorney, if he would
stop drinking. lie shall never 60 to
prison if he will be sober man.
But all this wretchedness and crime
comes from rum"
ManfulIy did the young man strug.
gle to resist the appetite. Again and
again did he promise, and keep his
promise perhaps a month, then fall.
lie could not walk The streets and
earn his bread soberly while so many
open doors-opened by men who
sought to coin gold out of their neigh
bors' vces-lured him to indulgence.
So, trightfully, the State pressed ON,
and he went to prison, An honored
name disgraced, a loving home brok-
en- up, a wide circle Of kindred sore
ly panied, worthy, we'll meaning
man wrecked, Sorrow and crime
sail comes Of J1oH" says the keen
sighted lawyer.
As parted from the sad wife on
my door step, / looked beyond, and
close by the laughing sea stood a
handsome cottage, The grounds
were laid out extensively aud with
great taste. Over the broad piazza
hung lazily an Eastern hammock,
while all around were richly painted
chairs and lounges of every easy and
tempting form. Overhead were
quaint vases Of beautiful flowers, and
the delicious lawn was bordcred with
them. On the lawn itself gally
dressed women laughed merrily over
croquet, and noisy children played
near. A span Of superb horses
paved the earth impatiently at the
gate, while gay salutations passed
between the croquet players and the
fashionable equipages that rolled by.
1t was comfortable home as we'll as
a luxurious one. Nature, taste, and
wealth had done their best. 1t was
a scene OF beauty, comfort, taste,
luxury, and wealth. All came from
rlua Silks and diamonds, flowers
and equipage, stately roof and costly
attendance, all cane from, ran. The
owner was one who, in great city,
coined his gold out Of the vices Of
his fellow-men.
To me it was a disS0lciHg rieic. |
lost sight of the gay women, the frol
icsome children, the impatient hor
ses, and the ocean rolling up TO the
lawn. | saw instead the pale con-
Wet ia his cell twelve feet by nine
the sad wife going from Judge to at
torney, irom court to Governors
Council, begging mercy for her orc'-
tempted husband. | heard above the
children's noise, the croquet, laugh,
and the surf waves, that lawyers
stern reason for exactins the full pen
atty Of the law-aU inns comes from
rum.
Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor drink. Woe unto him that
buldeth his house Icy unrighteous~
ness aud his chambers by wrong, for
the stone shall cry out of the wall,
and the beam out Of the timber shall
answer it.
M1n1ArLn-S EALnL-NAE - y ON