Litchfield enquirer., 1876-11-23
\ WHOLE NO. 2634.

they CfackI0OS 1OfSetAu4H6SS WuOoo RAOC was decency. delicacy, and self-respectl I, perhaps resisted as long as any one of my companions the degradation of giving away to these temptations; but at length too fell
 One night in October the last hope of our firm gave way. We were helplessly bankrupt; everything had gone, and gone without redress. That night went to the Club; drank for the sake of drowning past, present, and future; drank till l ceased to be a man, and became Q beast {; till was forced to be carried home in an opportune cart, and dragged into my dus- ty. desolate, unaired bedroom; undressed by the rude hands of a contemptuous ser. want; and left in the dead stupor of drunken sleep, careless if woke in. heaV- en or hell.
 But at length l did awake. The sun of a late October afternoon streamed in- to the half curtained window my head l throbbed with pain, and weak shame choked in my throat I scarce dared open my eyes, yet I did open them. The | room was Odorous with that most spiritu- al scent, the breath of tea-roses; fresh and warm atmosphere displaced the dusty chlll of yesterday; every article of furni- l ture had returned to its graceful arrange | ment and exquisite neatness; o vRse of ! white tea.roses stood on little ebony ta- ble in the window; a tiny wood fire spar kled and snapped on the hearth; and leaning against the mantle-piece, Tn an attitude more pensive and oppressed than ever any Caryatide wore, stood Gratla the long folds of her white wrapper out lining her little figure, and her fair face restored to the full oval of perfect health, | yet pale and sad-for mel How l hated l hau IT md dread of meeting those eyes how gladly wonld I have crept away unseen, and l disappeared for ever and ever, rather than encounter the silent contempt or the dig | nified remonstrances of my wife l shut my eyes again and feigned sleep; but she l had felt my look-she knew my thought. scarce heard the light step that crossed l the room, before both of her arms were round me, her face laid on my hot cheek, and her sweet, cheerful vOice-steady as a fute-note-said in my ear,
 "Aren't you glad to see me back again, John?"
 That was all the reproach or scorn she ever measured out to me.
 And I spared her my confessions then; I was all broken down with past care and | recklessness. I was to ill too rise for more than one week; but Gratia was there, to nurse, to amuse, and to reign over me 1 and mine; through all never manifest ing by look or sign, that 1 had fallen from her esteem or forfeited an atom of her af- 1 fectlon.
 One day asked her if she had met any old friends at the Beach, and she an- l swered,
 Yes met Ellen Bond-Mrs. Yer non"
 ''And how do they get on together" ''l am afraid not very well, John. Mir. | Vernon has been scared by some scandal or other, and tried in an Ecclesiastical Court, and silenced. His property is sufficient for his support, so they do not suffer; but do not think Ellen is very forbearing with him. It Is annoying to be where they both are, for she seems to de- spise him and make no secret of 1t: while
 he clings to her enough to make her taunts and innuendoes especially enrag- l ing Poor man r'
 Gratia sighed as she said this, and echoed the sigh, remembering the night
 at Hill Beach when we talked about love. When was able to sit mp and attend
 to business, found that my father had come on while I was ill, and settled my affairs as far as anything could be settled
 where every thing seemed reeling and top
 bling to fall. had not been allowed to see him lest should suspect his errand, and over-exert myself to explain. Gratias
 property was inalienably secured to her
 by her fathers will; and after mnch con- sultation we resolved to go out to Califor- mia, and, taking farm as near the coast as practicable, begin life again after our brief experiment.
 This plan was put in operation, and the new spring saw us far on our way ,,E .1f krUSN per, never shook my wife's sweet and
 bright nature; she took the inconven- fences with the most childlike amuse-
 ment, and enjoyed the novelties with the same fresh spirit. Nor was she daunted
 by the lonely log hut that was all the shel.
 ter we found at our journeys end. Un- | der her quick hands it assumed home
 like aspect in the briefest time; and not | long after re-echoed to the most home-like hounds-the crying and growing of child, and the sweet broken nonsense of mothers baby tongue.
 Our farm fourished as only those Pacif- lc lands can; our gold grew on the surface, and saved us digging or washing of ores; our log-hut disappeared, to make room | for an elegant and convenient house, that tells of it's mistress, and praises her to every eye that sees its inner arrangements or delights in the garlanded vines and | roses without.
 I never go out or come in without l happy consciousness of her presence: l know we'll how much she must find in me that sinks below her wishes and dreams. know when any of my follies or weaknesses become visible to her, for l feel in my own mind their recoil of self contempt, and know that she perceivss them before I can. But her eye never changes; and her lip never curls. 1 only know that have been fool by the deep CT glow of smile when l turn toward | her, or a rare caress granted masked, as | if her heart reiolced and exulted in its overfowing depths; careless of my want, except so far as it afforded space for fuller 1 and deeper tenderness; careless of my in- capacity, save as the measure of her pow CT to hide it; forgetting, forgiving- ing all things, hoping all things, believ- ing all things: for "'love never faileth." sat last night upon the broad steps of the piazza that surrounds our house. 1 Eastward the snowy mountains stood on 1 the horizon, with rose flushed summits and trailing robes of forest folded over valleys far below; the splendid outlines glittered in thelr aerial height like the very battlements of heaven, and reflected I in tenderer tints the glories of Pacific sunset, that rioted in color through the whole abundant and exultaut clouds of the west I heard my child saying his evening prayer to Gratia He, too, with wandering eye, caught the glory of the glittering hills, and stopped to ask if heaven, where ''Our Father" lives was like that--''so pretty?" n.-. "Who told you about heaven being so pretty, Alex ?'' Inquired his mother, who does not believe in encouraging the theo- | logical inquiries of small children. "Papa did; asked him. Mamma, can go to heaven some day ?"
 II hope so, Alex"
 "But won't you take me, mammal" ''I can't take you. dear I'
 "Why. papa said you was goin' to take hIm, and ain't near so big as he is.
 "Hush! Alex; you don't recollect what