The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1878-06-12
No one could withstand the touch.


through fancy, or some bright vision,
bis lips apart, and his fingers ex
tended. I inyoluntarily looked in
the direction where it was pointed,
dreading to see some spirit invoked
oy It's magic movements.
81 once had mother, who, with
her old heart crushed with sorrow.
went down to the grave. I once
had wife-a fair angel creature as
ever smiled in an earthly home Her
eyes as mild as u summer sky, and
her heart as faithful and true as ever
guarded and cherished a husband 8
love. Her blue eyes grewdim, as
the floods of sorrow washed away
their brightness, and her living heart
| wrung until every fiber was bro
ken. I once had a noble, brave and
beautiful boy; but he was driven
out from the ruins of his home, and
my old heart yearns to know if he
yet lives. / once had babe-a
sweet, tender blossom, but these
hands destroyed it, and it lives with
One who loveth children.
"Do not be startled, friends-I
am not q murderer in the commons
acceptation of the term. @
Yet there is light in my evening
sky. A spirit mother rejoices over
the return of her prodigal son. The
wife smiles upon him who again
turns back to virtue and honor.
The child angel visits nae at night.
fall, and ] feel the following touch
of tiny palm upon my feverish
cheek. My brave boy, if he yet
lives. would forgive the sorrowing
old man for life, and the treatment
chat drove him into the world. God
forgive me for the ruin that / have
brought on me and mine!
" I was once a fanatic and mad.
ly followed the malign light which
led me to ruin. / was a fanatic
when sacrificed my wife, children,
happiness and home, to the accursed
demon of the bowl. / once adored
the gontle being whom 1 injured SO
deeply.
i" I once was a drnnkard. From
responsibility and influence, plung-
ed into degradation and poverty.
For years 1 saw her check pale and
her step grow weary. I left her
alone amid the wreck Of her home
idols. and rioted at the tavern. She
never complained, yet she aud the
children went hungry for bread.
zone New Years night, I went
late to the hut where charity had
given US roof. She was yet up, and
shivering over the Goals. l demand
ed food: but she burst into tears,
and said there was none. I fercely
ordered her to get some. She turn.
ed her eyes sadly upon me; the
tears fell fast over her pale cheek.
At this moment the child ia the era.
die awofe, and set up q famished
wall. starting the despairing mother
|
like serpent's sting.
:" We have 20 food. James-have
had none for several days. I have
nothing for the baby. My once kind
husband, must he starve?" ~
THAT sad, pleading face, and
those streaming eyes, and the feeble
wall of the child, maddened me and
Ii-yes Il-struck her a fierce blow
in the face, and she fell forward up.
on the hearth. The fires of hell
boiled in my bosom, and with great
er intensity as I felt I had commit
ted wrong. had never struck
Mary before, but now some terrible
impulse bore me on, and / stopped
down as could in my drunken state,
and clenched both hands in her hair.
"God Of mercy, James !" exclaim.
ed my wife, as she looked up in my
fiendish countenance I" You will
not kill Hs-you win not harm Will
lie !" and she sprang to the cradle
and grasped him in her embrace. /
caught her again by her hair, and
dragged her to the door; and as /
lifted the latch. the wind burst in
with cloud of snow. With the
yell of a fiend I dragged her on. and
hurled her out into the darkness and
storm. With a wild ha hal / clos
ed the door and turned the button;
her pleading means mingled with
the wall of the blast and sharp cry
of the babe. But my work was NOT
yet completed. e eseoa
..I turned to the little bed where
lay my elder son, and snatched him
from his slumhers. and against his
half-awakened9 struggles I opened
the door and thrust him out In
agony Of fear he called nee by name
I was no longer tit to bear, and lock.
ed his fagers into my side pocket.
could not wrench the frenzied
grasp away and with the Ecoelness
OF q devil-as WAS l-ahut She door
upon the arm. and with my knife
severed it at the wrist