Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-11-22

at length he Gained himself, and stepping
back to his chair, he said:
'Shipmates, will you listen to me for
a moment?
Silence gave consent, and in a moment
more he resumed:
Since matters have come to this pass,
[ have resolved to tell you what I had
meant to keep locked up in my bosom.
We had always thought, from Jacks
manner, that there was something Pc
culiar connected with his early life, and
were all attentive In a moment,
my story is but very short one"
he continued. "and I can tell it in
very few words. From the time of my
earliest childhood [ never knew what it
was to have a happy home. MY father
was drunkard Once he had been
good man and a good husband, but rum
ruined all his manhood and madea brute
of him. I csn remember how cold and
cheerless was the first winter of my
life to which my memory leads my
mind. We had no fre-no food-no
clothes-no joy-no, nothing; nothing
but misery and woe My poor mother
used to clasp me to her bosom to keep
me warm, and once-once [ remember
when her very tears froze on my
cheek! Oh, how my mother prayed to
God for her husband; and I, who could
but just prattle, learned to pray too.
And used to see that husband and
father return to his home, and remem-
Der how my poor mother cried and
trembled.
"When I grew older I had to go out
and beg for bread. All cold and
shivering I waded through the deep
snow, with my clothes in tetters and
my freezing feet almost bare. And I
saw other children of my own age
dressed warm and comfortable, and
knew they were happy, for they laugh
ed and sung as they bounded along to-
ward school. Those boys had sober
fathers. I knew that their fathers
were no better than mine had been
once, for my mother had told me how
noble my own father could be if the
accursed demon rum were not in his
way; but the fatal power was upon him,
and though he often promised, and
though he often tried, yet he could not
escape.
"Time passed on and was eight
years old, and those eight years had
been years of such sorrow and suffering
as pray God may never see another
experience. At length, one cold morn
ing in the dead of winter, my father
was not at home. He had not been at
home through the night. My mother
sent me to the tavern to see if I could
find him. I had gone half the way
when I saw something in the snow by
the side of the road. I stopped, and a
shudder ran through me, for it Ilooked
like human form. went upto it and
turned the head over and brushed the
snow from the face. It was my father
and he was stiff and cold I laid my
hand upon his pale brow, and it was
like solid marble. He was dead p
Poor Jack stopped a moment and
wiped his eyes. Not one of us spoke,
for we had become too deeply moved.
But he soon went on.
CT went to the tavern and told tue
people there what 1 had found, and the
landlord sent two of his men to carry
th frozen body of my father home.
On, shipmates, I cannot tell you how
my poor mother wept and groaned. She
sunk down upon her knees and and
clasped that icy corpse to her beating
bosom, as though she could have given
it life from the warmth of her own
breast. She loved her husband through
all his errors, and her love was all pow
erful now. The two men went away
and left the body still on the floor. My
mother whispered to me to come and
kneel by her side. I did so. "Myschild,
she said to me, and the big tears were
rolling down her cheeks, "you know
what has caused all this. This man was
once as noble ana happy and true as
man can be, but oh, see how he has
been stricken down. Promise me, my
child, oh, promise here, before God
and your dead father, that you will
never, never, touch single drop of the
fatal poison that has wrought for us all
this misery"
"Oh, shipmates, I did promise, then
and there, all that my mother asked,
and God knows that to this moment that
promise has never been broken. My
father was buried, and some good, kind
neighbors helped us through the win
ter. When the next spring came I
could work, and I earned something for
my mother. At length I found chance
to ship, and [ did SO, and every time l
go home I have some money for my
mother. Not for the wealth of the
whole world would break the pledge
I gave my mother and my God, on
that dark, cold morning. And
even had no such pledge, l
would not touch the fatal cup,
for know that I have fond, doting
mother, who would be made miserable
by nv dishonor, and [ would rather die
than bring more sorrow upon her head.
Perhaps you have no mothers; and, if
you have, perhaps they do not look to
you for support, for I know you too
we'll to believe that either of you would
ever bring down a loving mothers gray
hairs in sorrow to the grave. That is
all, shipmates. Let me go, now, and
you may enjoy yourselves alone, for I
do not believe that you will again urge
the wine cup upon me-"
AS Jack thus spoke, he turned toward
the door, but Tim Black stopped him.
s'HoId on, Jack, cried Tim wiping
his eyes and starting up from his chair.
" You shan't go alone. I have got