The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-03-18

reer that Charles Ransom had ever re-
ceived such 4 threat, and, bcwildered
and supplied as he was, his native pride
and scli-respect began to be aroused
The bar-room was almost full of men
many of them his acquaintance, and to
be rebuffed in this manner, and before
them, made the degradation doubly
poignant.
He staggered to his feet and caught a
chair, but ere hi. ALTERING arms could
raise it high enough for the object at
which he aimed, the Infatuated dram
seller hurled decanter, with such un-
crring precision that it felled the bcsotted
man to the floor with his head gashcd,
and the blood oozing from it frghtfully.
Get out of my house, you vaga-
bond,' cried the landlord, as, not con-
tent with seeing his victim helpless on
the floor, he applied kick after kick TO
his PROSTATE body.
"Get out with your villainous car
cass, tell We, and get off to your pau
per howell and your crying brat, and never
put foot inside this door again, or, by -,
I'll kill ye.'
This brutal speech sobered the drunken
man almost as by magic, and, with bound
which surprised the lookers-on and made
them stand back, he rushed upon his
assailant and strangled him till he cried,
"Help, men, for the love of God! The
fiend is numbering me"'
The infatuated man loosened his grasp
and broke forth:
ooh, yes, Bill Jackson, you thought
l was killing you, because you knew you
richly deserved it, not only from me,
| but hundreds of others. You sold me
| drink, and encouraged me to drink; you
said it would not hurt me, that it
would do me good, that it would drive
sorrow far from me and make me forget
my griefs. You were the one who, when
| said my temperament was one that
could not stand much drink, told me
there was no danger; that / should get
used to it as yourself had done; and you
lured me on and on, from one stage to an
other, until you got all my money and
nearly all | could turn into money; and
now when have nothing, and am poor,
and degraded, and low and sunken into
the gutter where you have dragged me,
you spurn me from your house, you kick
and beat me, and, worse than all, you
call my child, whom, with all my degrade
r I al.
you call my child a brawling brat
Curse you, Bill jackson, for the ruin
you have wrought But / will go from
your house; / will go home to my poor
child, and may the God whom l have so
grievously offended give me the strength
to resist the temptation ever to enter
your house or any other liquor shop
again as long as l have breath"
The penitent man was assisted to his
home by some of his companions; and,
upon entering the house, there they saw
that frail, fair child still kneeling on the
bare floor by her little bed. She had
fallen asleep in that position after praying
long and earnestly for her absent father.
But she awoke at their coming, and with
startled cry she ran to her father, and
asked what was the matter.
With her own hands she dressed his
wound, and, pressing her to his heart, he
told her he would try not to drink any
more.
40, dear papa!" she cried, 81 thought
God would answer my prayer. | have
prayed so much for you, and mamma
used to teach me that my prayers would
be heard and answered when God thought
it was best. Oh, won't mamma be happy,
up in heaven, to know that you won't
drink any more? and little brother
Jamie? And l know God will bless you,
dear father, and make you strong"
"May he bless you, sweet child, and
make me worthy of such precious
treasure Oh, what sinner l have been!
May God be merciful unto mel"
There was little sleep in that house
that night Charles Ransom was thor
oughly aroused from the torpor into
which he had plunged SO long, and he
marveled that he had ever fallen so low,
He had been snatched as brand from
the burning, but not by his own efforts;
the grace of God, SO unweariedly invoked
in his behalf by his praying child, had at
near the gate of destruction he had ap-
preached, and in this hour of penitence
he resolved no longer to rely on his own
strength, but to seek the aid of divine
grace to help him battle with sorrow and
adversely, for he had seen that "vain
was the help of man." and that human
nature, unslIstained and unrenewed by
grace, was the veriest weakness.
The happy days passed into months,
the months into years, and we behold the
reclaimed one a respected and honered
| member of society. The beautiful little
house which he used to own, and which
| he had sacrificed in his insane passion
| for drink, he re-purchased; and Mary,
the same devoted daughter to whose
PRAYERS he owed his salvation now de-
veloped into beautiful and gifted young
lady of seventeen, trains the flowers and
vines around their happy dwelling, and
with her love and care and goodness
makes it home which the angels seem
to watch over with peculiar guardian
ship. and in her prayers she never forgets
| t. say:
| "My God, / thank Thee that he who
was nigh unto everlasting destruction is,
by Thy mercy, restored, and he who was
| lost is found"
A WIFE's PowEH.-A good wife is to
man, wisdom strength and courage; a
bad one is confusion, weakness and des-
pair. No condition is hopeless to Il man
where the wife possesses firmness, de-