The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1879-04-04
WINE AT THE WEDDING.
ny HATTIE Il. 4. CnEssY.


In u private parlor Of d firstclass
hotel, II lady Of great beauty and ex.
pensively dressed was half reclining on
the damask silk sofa, when enc OF the
servants entered the room in answer to
the bell.
"Bring me goblet of water and a
spoon" said the lady as the girl mp
preached her to take orders.
"You are looking i'll, madam; il there
nothing else ! can do for your
ooh, no, Jane, thank you; ! am not
III, but unhappy, and would sooner die
than live was tho sad reply.
Tho girl looked at the beautiful young
creature before her in utter bewilder-
ment. She had never been addressed
20 familinrly by the lady before. and
knew not what il meant.
ooh, Mrs. Lascombe. you are only a
little nervous, just now; you will feel
better by-and-by, ! hope" she replied,
as she went and brought tho spoon and
water, and, after quietly laying them
Oh the table, tiptocd out of the room,
lest the least noise might make the lady
more nervous. Then Ahe went directly
TO one Of the older servants and related
what Mrs. Lascombc said, adding 'If
she caAnot be happy / should not think
anybody ever could, 30 young. 10, / be
lievc lately married, and m handsome
as II picture rich, every wish grntilicd
still unhappy"
''i suppose her husbands drinking is
the cause of her misery, lcastwise /
heard the clerk .ay the other day,
young Lascombe WAS going il pretty
strong, aud guess that's what makes
her feel 10.
81 bet il is, answered Jane, rcsolv-
ing that she would bc more sympathetic
the next time the dear lady said any
thing about her troubles.
well. that's all 1 ever heard about
it, anyway, SO YOU need not run and
blab It ali over the house. Perhaps,
after all, the young man don't drink
more than Eome others"
Perhaps not" replied Jane but
It must be something awful to make
such il Lovely creature speak like that
to ont of US .ervhnts."
"Oh. laws tho likes Of her gets lone.
some like, and thinks they have nothin'
to live for, when, If they had somethin'
to do 10 take up their minds, as you
and do. Jane, they'd for t their little
troubles"
Maybe 10. indeed
Ill., IL II. q
servants. and nothing further Was heard
from Mrs. f.ascun,b,, till the follow trg
morning at . o'clock. Her husband,
then nwaking from drr,nkcn stupor,
discovered that III. beautiful Young
~ife WAS sleeping, nz hs feared. TIA.
sleep of death, a. ali his efforts to
arouse her wcrr iruiticss. PhyNiciaus
and friends were then called. and their
efforts, likewise, wcrr utavailing.
Laudanum had done the work which
the poor, crazcd lady desired. Her
husband stated that on going to his
rooms at l2 o'clock the previous night
he found his wife repoains Oh the sofa,
but went TO bed without disturbing her,
and. AZ he did not wake till . the fol-
lowing day, lac knew nothing Of her
condition until that time
The grief and remorso that over
whelmed him may be better imagined
than described. An his cruelty and
neglect TO his sweet wife, who, only five
months before, he had induced TO leave
friends and home to become his wife,
now came up vividly before him then
thoughts of the gay, fashionable we'd
ding flashed to his mind, and he in
wardly repeated what lac had said many
times previous, "Only that wine flowed
80 freely on that occasion, | might have
never become drunkard." Up to that
time he had never been in the habit Of
Oa that night he did, and
from that time up to the day his wife
lay before him corpse he had con-
tinued to imbibe more and more largely
of the beverage which destroys body
and soul. He now stood beside the in
animate form of her he had loved so
dearly, aud yet abused, and vowed that
he would never drink another drop that
would intoxicate. But even in his vow
there was maddening pain that could
not be appeased; it was that all his alb
could not repair the wrong
that he had done her, or recall her to
life. lie gave up the cup, however, but
has become an alien from society,
wanderer over the earth without rest
or repose of conscience.