Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1879-07-19

~~A'S UsAes0 OsS WusVo uVA0o AZ nVuV
Of q twenty-five cent express wag.
on I" repeated the man in tones Of
surprise.
"Yes.0
swell, now, it's a curious case,"
he slowly continued. "We all
thought he'd gone to the dogs, for
sure, for he was drinking a pint Of
whiskey day /; but a few months
ago he braced right up, stopped
drinking. and now I hear he's in
good business and saving money.
1t beats all, for the last time saw
him he seemed half underground"
When you 60 home ct night and
find that all is we'll with your own
flesh aud blood do you 60 to sleep
reasoning that the rest of the world
must care for itselfi Do you ever
shut your eyes and call up the hund-
reds of faces you have met during
the day, and wonder if the paleness
Of death will cover any OF them be.
fore the morrow When you have
once been attracted to a face, even
if it be a strangers do you let it
drop from memory with your
dreams, or do you call it up again
and again as night comes down and
hope it may lose none of it's bright.
ness in the whirling mists of time y
So "Whiskey Bill" was hunted
down. An inquiry here and there
finally traced him to a little brown
cottage on a bystreet. He sat on
the step in the twilight, burly,
broad. .shouldered man of so, and in
the house three or four children
gathered around the lamp to look
over picture. book.
eyes, they used to call me 'Whis.
ky Bill down town." he replied, as
he moved along and made room,
''but it is weeks since 1 heard the
name. No wonder they think me
dead, for have not set eyes on the
old crowd for months, and I don't
want to for months to come"
"They tell me you have quit
drinking. One could see that by
your face" @
81 hope so. / haven't touched a
drop since February. Before that
was half drunk day in and day
out, and more of a brute than a
man. 1 don't mind saying that my
wife's death set me to thinking, but
didn't stop my liquor. God for
give me, but was drunk when she
died, half.drnnk at the grave, and !
meant to 60 on a regular spree that
night. It was low down, sir, but
was no better than a brute those
days."
Sand SO you left your motherless
children at home and went out and
got drunk I"
"No, said I meant to, but I did
not. The poor things were crying
all day, and after coming home from
the burial l thought to get 'em
tucked away in bed before ! went
out. Drunk or sober l never struck
one of them blow, and they never
ran from me when 1 staggered
home. There's four of 'em in there
and the youngest isn't quite four
years yet. I got the older ones in
bed all right, and then came little
Ned. He had cried himself to
sleep, and he called for mother as
soon as I woke him. Until that
night never had that boy on my
knee, to say nothing Of putting him
to bed, and you can guess the big
fingers made slow work with the
hooks and buttons. Every minute
he kept saying mother didn't do
that way, and mother done this
way, and the big chilcren we're hid
ing their heads under the quilts to
drown their sobs. When I had his
clothes off and his night-gown on |
was ashamed and sat down, and
when the oldest saw tears in my
eyes and jnmped out of bed to put
her arms around my neck l dropped
the name of "Whiskey Bill'' then
and forever"
"And little Ned I"
"Mebbe I'd have weakened but
for him." replied the man, as he
wiped his eyes. cater / got the
child's night-gown on, what did he
do but kneel right down beside me
and wait for me to say the Lords
prayer to him! Why, sir, you
might have knocked me down with
a featherl There l was, mother
and father to him, and I couldn't
say four words of that prayer to
save my life! He waited and wait
ed for me to begin, as his mother
always had, and the big children
were waiting, and when l took him
in my arms aud kissed him, 1 call
ed heaven to witness that my life
should change from that hour.
And so it did, sir, and I've been
trying hard to lead q sober, honest
life. God helping me, no one shall
call me whisky Bill again."
The four children, little Ned in
his night-gOwn, came out for a good
night kiss, and the boy cuddled in
his fnfhovsc ors,,S f.>r