The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-07-28

flew tn the window-the street below
was full of factory boys.
Some great - amused them might
liz. They ROM =. they danced. they
tossed their ragged caps OH high, they
siIriekeG in unnusical laughter; and
the object of all this mad mirth was
only too evident.
On the step of the public house op-
site stood Edward Holly, holding his
child i" his arms, and exhibiting for
the benefit of the delighted crowd all
those antics of which an intoxicated
man alone is capablel He called on
the grinning landlord of the gin-shop
to ''give this child some brandy" and
turning the screaming infant about in
a manner that left no doubt that he
would end by dropping it upon the
pavement.
Wild with terror, Ruth rushed out
into the street, and made her way
through the crowd to the spot where
her husband stood = hut before she
reached linn, the scene changed, some
boy, more brutal than the rest, bad
thrown a handful Of mud into Edward
Holly's face; and he realing and bias
pheming, had dashed forward to re.
venge the act.
The child had been flung away at the
first step, but fortunately, had been
caught by an unfortunate" who,
though degraded creature herself,
had enough of the woman remaining
to save an infant from injury.
And now the whole horde of boys
beset the drunken man, pelting him
with sticks and stones and decayed
vegetables from the kennel, and rev.
elling in the brutal delight with which
such scene always seems to inspire
boys OF the lower classes.
Ruth saw that her babe was safe, and
that her husband was in danger; and,
fOrgetful of all else, flew toward him.
She cared nothing for the jeers of the
mob, before them all she flung her arms
about him and interposed her beauti-
full person between him and his assail-
ants. The head that had carried it
self a little proudly in the presence of
the highest of the land, now dropped
itself low on the BOSOM of the drunken
wretch who was the ieer and the scorn
of a low mob; and only in love and
pity, not in anger, did she speak 10
him.
''Come home, Edward; they'll hurt
you, my poor love come home with me."
Mad as he was-filled with the de-
mons of drink, to the exclusion of the
soul God had given him-the soft,
sweet voice, the fond touch of the
white fingers awakened some memory
of the past in The mans breast.
$50 you home, GIRL" he whispered;
"l'll kill them. Don't tret. I'll kill
'em and"
Come home, darling" she whisper
ed again; and he stopped and gave her
kiss. At that the boys yelled derls-
lively, and flung more mud and stones
at them. One threw a stone-a heavy
stone, sharp-pointed and Jagged.
Whether he even intended to strike
the man is doubtful, but the missile
flew fiercely through the air, and crush
ed against the golden head of the de-
voted wife. A stream of blood gushed
from the white temple and poured
down upon her bosom. Only with a
quivering shudder of pain she felt for
the face of the man who had sworn to
love and cherish her, and had broken
that VOW so utterly while hers had been
so truly kept.
"Good-by, Edward" she whispered;
Il can't see you now-kiss me! Oh,
be good to babyl Be good to baby"
and no word more.
The crowd was hushed to silence.
The culprits skunk away in terror. A
sobered man bent over the dead wo-
man, whose hands had dropped away
from his breast; and the love, and
truth, and tenderness of the heart
were all manifest to him in that terri
bic monent-manifest in vain for re-
pentance could not restore her to life,
nor blot out the love which had crush
ed her heart through all those weary
days of her marrid life.
''What is the matter here?" cried a
voice, rs portly man forced his way
through the crowd. "a woman hurt?"
ga woman killed." said a policeman,
land that brute is the cause of ALL"
The gentleman bent forward, and
started back with a cry of anguish.
SIT is Ruth" he said. 'My Ruth"
and fell back into the policeman's
arms in death like swoon.
Forgiveness and repentance had come
alike too late for poor Ruth Holly. Her
father could give her nothing but a
grave.
The child, born amidst want and
penury, nourished by half starving
mother, pined away and died in the
luxurious home to which grandfather
bore it; and now, as the old man sits
alone in his splendid mansion, he some
times hears strange, wild cry in the
street outside. through which drunk
en- creature reels and staggers, bowling
ever and anon, Ruth, Ruth, Ruth"
1t is Edward Holly, who, ever in
his drunken madness, searches for his
murdered wife. 1t is the painful, hor-
rible, heart-breaking wreck of the once
splendidly beautiful man of talent,
who had only one fault.