The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-12-07
A Sad Story.

1t was sad but dramatic scene that was
enacted, when William G. Gilman walked
into the Court of General Sessions in New
York and pleaded guilty to the crime of
forgery. The dispatches say that the off
GERS of the court were affected unto tears at
the melancholy recital of the prisoners
confession in which he described the
gradual process of his temptation and
final ruin. 1t is not all surprising that they
were, for judges and ministers of justice
have no exemption from the human feelings
of pity and commiseratiOn, and the story of
Glman's fall as told by himself, was a most
woeful one.
Here was an aged man who had, through
II long life, enjoyed the repute of an honest
and upright man. He was neither profit.
gate nor debauchee, gambler nor para
site, but a worker and toler, living by his
own industry and thrift and contributingihs
share to the aggregate of human labor and
endeavor about him. Hr made bad invest
ments, by which he lost all the honest earn
ings ofyears of thrift and prudence They
were lying in his hands, idle and un-
employed funds belonging to other parties,
and he sought to save himself and recover
from his misfortunes by betraying a trast
| and using these moneys that had been en-
| trusted to him. This was the critical mo-
ment in his life, the hour of his first tempt
alton and concession. Here it was that the
evil spirit ua1a its suhtlaSt opnaoIs opJ
brought into play its most seductive arts. 1t
is not hard to imagine the alluring hopes,
the paltry justitications, this Mephistopheles
whispered in his ear, Turing him by degrees
from his honest purposes, pleading all man
ner of excavations and appealing to every
weakness of his poor human nature, till at
last the small voice of conscience was hush
ed in his heart. These trust funds were to
him that costlier casket of 'ebony, brimful
of pretty things" which Margaret found in
her press. When he overcame his scruples
and yielded to the temptation their msap-
preparation held out to him, he took the
first step in that downward course that leads
by such broad ways and easy stages to Aver
nus, The encroachments upon the funds en-
trusted to him, he says, began years ago,
and grew gradually and insensibly to such
magnitude that he lost all hope of ever meet
ing his deficiencies. Times grew worse in
stead of better, and he gradually drifted into
the sea of troubles, until at length, under
the pressure of adversely, he was driven to
forgery. Blindly hoping that the next step
would extricate him, he plunged deeper and
deeper, until the deepest depths were reach
ed by receiving Il sentence to the peniten-
| tiary as common thief
We might so on with the parallel we
have instituted between his temptation and
undOing and that of Margaret, for his con.
iession, freely given, proves his downfall to
have been the result of weakness rather than
of positive deprayity, while it holds out the
assurance that Saved !" may be written al
last opposite the record of his life.
We might show the gradual process o.
his ruin, how he went on from his first ven
ial sin to crime, as the poor girl yielded tC
the temptation that beset her, till that sad
night when she laid her head upon hel
shoulder and exclaimed
| "would that slept alone and uuobseryed,
| ia leave the bolt unshot tonight" !"
This is not necessary, however, to the i'm
pressing of the moral this story of tempta
ton and weakness teaches. We scarcely
think, either, that it can be made more i'm
pressive than it is in the simple way il
which it is told, even in the few short sen
fences of the despatch, which we have giyeI
almost word for word. The story is indee,
a sad one, but the moral must not be over
looked in sympathy that can hardly b
refused to the unhappy man whose downfall
it tells. Let all read it, and realize the dan
ger Of the slightest deviation from stric
honesty, the smallest violation of integrity
in their business affairs, Lett impress O
them anew that the only safety is in ster
and resolute integrity and honor, whic
temptation cannot even approach Verify
the descent to hell is easy.-Mew Orlean
Democrat.
A woman quarreling with her husban